Spaghetti Westerns

Spaghetti Westerns differ significantly from the standard American Western. Firstly, Spaghetti Westerns were made by Italian directors and usually filmed in Spain (because the Spanish terrestrial was very similar to that of the United States). The influence of a foreign director also shows us the outside perception on Americans. The characters which play in Spaghetti Westerns have very different personalities than those in American Westerns. They are much more self-centered and revolve their roles around self-interest rather than the well-being of the “whole,” seen in American Westerns. I find this particularly interesting because I am European, and I can see the self-centered personalities in the movie stars that Europeans are known for. the American Westerns, however, display characters with a much more work and time oriented personality who serve to better society’s quality.

The perception of American society, from a foreign point of view, is seen in the most famous Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The impression given by this film is that it was extremely violent. American Westerns do not seem to be as gory or feature so much murder. The plot of the film, the three main characters chasing after the large sum of money, also symbolizes the popular opinion that Americans care solely about money. The goal of getting the money was more important to the characters than anything else. They would do everything within their power (even kill mercilessly) to get to it. The second movie, Navajo Joe, was also radically different from American Westerns because it featured an alpha male who was Native American. This movie also revolved about restless chasing of money, concepts which are very different than what we see conveyed in traditional westerns.

Navajo Joe/ The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

These two spaghetti westerns differ from the classic western largely in terms of violence, race, and the overall portrayal of the American Western cowboy. In Navajo Joe, the movie starts out with gruesome and violent scalpings. Unlike a traditional western where Native Americans would be doing the scalping, this spaghetti western portrays American cowboys doing the scalpings. They show no mercy or code of honor as they destroy a whole village. Evidently the Italian film makers view white Americans to be just as savage as the white Americans viewed Native Americans to be. The next notable difference was Navajo Joe's use of a gun. In traditional American westerns, Native Americans were never seen using rifles, but bow and arrows and more barbaric means of killing. Navajo Joe not only uses a rifle but has the best shot in the movie. Not long into the movie is Navajo Joe seen as the alpha male. Soon the whole town is relying on his help. This spaghetti western portrays the western townspeople as completely helpless against any bandits. Not even the sheriff could stand up to such bandits. He stated that the townspeople do not even carry guns. This is completely opposite of what a traditional western portrays a western town and its sheriff. Also, the righteousness of the cowboys and Indians is changed in the spaghetti western. Navajo Joe portrays the cowboy as being righteous, fighting for the revenge of his people, while making the lead cowboy seem like a villain. The camera always shows Navajo Joe atop a large hill with righteous music playing. In a classic western, the Indians were always shown as barbaric and mysterious. They were never a main character.

One of the most obvious differences between the classic western and the spaghetti western is the violence. Not only is there a lot more violence in both Navajo Joe and the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but the violence is much more dramatic. In a typical western gun fight, if someone was shot the camera would simply pan away without long, over-the-top dramatics. In these two spaghetti westerns, especially Navajo Joe, when someone is shot their death is drawn out to show them screaming and falling in agony. The directors of the spaghetti westerns obviously really want to accentuate the killing in their films, as they believe violence is one of the most important aspects of the western. Also in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly there is a bit of racism. Why does the ugly have to be a Mexican? They portray the Mexican as a dirty cheater who is no match for Blondie (Clint Eastwood). The Ugly is always the one being tied around the rope and depending on Blondie. The last difference I noticed was the music. In the classic western the music seemed much more subtle. In these spaghetti westerns it seemed like there was a lot more instances where there was music for a more dramatic effect. The music itself seemed much more dramatic at times and almost too-western like for the movies. It seemed like the spaghetti westerns took every aspect of the traditional western and multiplied it by five. More violence, more music, more racism.

Spaghetti Westerns

Western films have many sub categories with Classical Westerns being the most notable. Star director John Ford made numerous Classical Western films which became instant classics with one of the most recognizable faces in all of America, John Wayne, as the lead character. Another popular subcategory of Western films is Spaghetti Westerns.

Spaghetti Westerns, named for the primarily Italian directors that made them, were characterized as being low budget films. With the majority of these films being shot in parts of Spain that resembled the American Mountain West, these films were notorious for having more action and being more violent than Classical Westerns.

The most famous of the spaghetti Westerns is the 1966 film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This film is dramatically violent with numerous killings. Another spaghetti Western, Navajo Joe, depicts an outlaw Duncan who has massacred an entire Indian village. The brutal violence and heavy action in directors Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci’s movies hoped to excite viewers about the Western film again which had become somewhat repetitive. Leone has been quoted as saying that he depicted such violent killings in his films because this was how Cowboys in the West actually were. Spaghetti Westerns were drawing on the violence that had become associated with America during the 1960’s.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly & Navajo Joe

Spaghetti westerns differ greatly from traditional American western films because they were filmed by Italian directors and provide us with an outside perception of American culture and society. They don’t follow the “classic” Western formula, which generally consisted of townspeople, outlaws or criminals who threaten the townspeople, and heroes who act on behalf of the townspeople and triumph over the outlaws. Whereas in traditional films the alpha male cowboys ultimately act on behalf of the people they are trying to help, the cowboys in spaghetti westerns act on behalf of their own self-interest. Themes that are continually emphasized in spaghetti westerns are greed and violence. As we see in the The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, all three characters are after one thing—$200,000 that is hidden in an unmarked grave in a cemetery. They stop at nothing to get to the grave, killing many people along the way. The “bad” especially displays a great deal more violence than we’ve seen in other villainous characters in traditional westerns. He is hired in the beginning of the film to kill a man after he retrieves information from the man, and before he kills him, the man gives Angel Eyes money to repay the favor to the person who wanted him murdered. Angel Eyes returns to the first man, and after sharing the information with him, murders him as well because he always goes through with something he is paid for. This kind of portrayal of Americans shows that foreigners believed Americans would stop at nothing to get what they wanted, especially if what they wanted was money. Americans acted on behalf of their own self-interest and no action was too violent to commit.

Navajo Joe is also significantly different from traditional Westerns because we see a person who was once an “other” in American films taking on a lead role in a film and becoming an alpha male character. This film focuses on revenge, as we learn that both Joe and the outlaw, Duncan, are both seeking revenge on each other throughout the film. Duncan and his band of outlaws sweep through an entire Indian village and brutality murders all but Joe. They scalp the Indians for cash, even when the sheriff says that he will arrest Duncan because he is now killing innocent Indian tribes as opposed to troublemakers. What we later learn is that Duncan’s father was murdered by Indians when he was a child, which is why he doesn’t stop murdering Indians. Joe is following Duncan and his men because they murdered his village and his woman, and he spoils Duncan’s plan to hold up a train that is carrying half a million dollars. Once again, money is the driving force behind everyone’s actions in the film, even Joe’s. He doesn’t want to protect the townspeople from Duncan unless they are willing to pay him. Both of these films represent greed and the violent crimes that men committed to get what they desired.

Spaghetti

When Watching Navajo Joe and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, there are clear differences between these and traditional American Westerns. The clearest difference comes from Navajo Joe. The main character, and apparent alpha male, is a native American. This is an immediate departure from American westers, where native americans were basically props in the background. Throughout the film, Joe is mistreated. This starts with Duncan killing everyone in his village. Then, the villages say they don't want to deal with a native american when offered help by Joe. Later on, Joe is tortured by the gang. Throughout the film, the injustices done against Joe are a clear representation of what the Europeans think of the way Americans Native Americans. While American films did not show Native Americans in a sympathetic light, the European films were not afraid to do this. In Navajo joe, we see a lot of the motivation for the characters revolving around money. Duncan is robbing a train to steal money, and Joe asks for $1 for each man he kills. However, this is even clearer in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The film starts out early with Angel Eyes killing for money, even finishing the job for someone who is already dead. Later on, we see Blondie turning in Tuco, only to save him and turn him in again for more money, showing a disregard for justice but great regard for wealth. But, after the story develops a little, all three characters begin to be driven by the gold that the soldiers stole. This is their only goal, and they are completely oblivious to anything else going on. They couldn't even be bothered by a war. The atrocities are only something that slow them down. This represents Sergio Leone believing that America is a ruthless capitalist state. He clearly paints a picture of Americans that only care about money, and are willing to kill for it.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Navajo Joe

In our classic western films, there is template in which the film is run. It is very traditional and the alpha male’s actions are pretty similar across the board. In spaghetti westerns, we see how external countries perceive America. These films tend to be much more violent than our original westerns. Navajo Joe is a very different film compared to our original westerns. The plot behind this film is about an Indian seeking revenge on a group of outlaws. This is the first time we have seen an Indian as the main role of a film. Also, Joe successfully becomes the hero in this film because he is hired by the townspeople to protect them from the outlaws. Usually the Indians are the ones the townspeople need protection from. Not the other way around. The townspeople are usually looking to the alpha male cowboy to help keep them safe, but Joe is that role in this film. The townspeople required Joe’s protection and even almost showed a dependency. Indians were shown as more than equals in this movie. They are able to hold their own and demonstrate many of the qualities of an alpha male cowboy. This could exemplify countries beliefs on American Exceptionalism. They believe that we really aren’t independent and need others to help us get by.
In our second film, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, we see another spaghetti western with Clint Eastwood as the main character, “The Good”. The bad and the ugly are both played by non-white characters. We see some aspects of racism between the Tuco and Blondie during this film. The two of them appeared friends in the beginning of the movie, but once Blondie leaves him in the desert the two are now enemies. This constant battling after the issue in the desert demonstrated some of the race wars we had in America at the time. Another aspect of this film is the scene with the soldiers. Clint, Tuco, and Blondie were able to trick soldiers with little to no effort. America’s army took a hit from this rendition because it made them appear to be unorganized and unprofessional.

Spaghetti Westerns

The spaghetti westerns that came out of the 1960s and 70s are able to provide a differing point of view from what we are traditionally used to seeing in classic westerns. The Italian directors such as Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci who directed The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe, are a departure from the John Fordesque representation of life in the west. Most notably is the Italian directors’ use of violence in their films. When it is shown, the action is brutal and bloody. Gun fights are loud long and seem to always result in a death. The tough guys are always asserting their force on anyone that they see. They burn, punch, shot, and steal. Acts like these often didn’t appear in the classic western. The violence that existed in those films were much more subdued and controlled. Violence only seemed to be used when needed by a John Wayne character whereas the spaghetti western cowboys have an easy trigger finger. With the spaghetti westerns we are seeing what Europeans think and feel about Americans. Culturally this suggest that Americans are viewed as a violence society at the time. They are quick with the gun and lack the ability to properly reason. And it can be seen in the foreign policy that of the United States at the time. The Korean and Vietnam Wars showed the United States preference of force over diplomacy. Both resulted in brutal and bloody wars like what is played out in the spaghetti westerns.

American greed also appears in these two films. Both films are centered on groups seeking to rob seek richest quickly. Navajo Joe shows the outlaws wanting to pull off a big train robbery while The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes all competing for the fortune that was buried in the cemetery. Both films stress on the need for getting rich quick by any means necessary. The Europeans are criticizing the American lust for money. To get that money, unnecessary and brutal force is always used. The classical western doesn’t often compete over money but rather territory or ideas. Money tends to be a secondary issue in the classical western. But in the spaghetti western it is in the forefront suggesting Americans love of money is a very powerful but brutal force. Monetary issues give American’s a negative appearance since they drive individuals to undesirable actions. And actions over money appear all throughout the spaghetti westerns.