Ah, there's nothing like an Italian western for entertainment!
I think most spaghetti westerns are kind of corny, but one thing I like about them is that they seem to be more true to life where the grit of being a cowboy or prairie person is concerned. (Prairie Person?? Did I just create a politically correct term? LOL!)
Life in the old west wasn't as clean and wrinkle free as some movies and even western tv shows (like another one of my favorites, BONANZA) would have us to believe, there was dirt on faces and under fingernails. Men and women would both sweat in the heat of the sun dressed in the many layers of clothing worn in those days. You can almost taste and smell the sweat in spaghetti western close ups. Is that a disgusting remark, or what?! I'm sorry, I hope you weren't eating or drinking anything when you read that. But if you compare the spaghetti westerns to the others we have, the others are far more tame, for the most part.
Even some of the better westerns we have, like One Eyed Jacks or Kid Vengeance -- as gritty as they depict the wild west, they don't hold a candle to spaghetti westerns.
The "true" spaghetti westerns were all "westerns" (cowboys and indians type of deal) that were shot in Italy in the Italian language, then dubbed in English, and were filmed in the 1960's and into the early 1970's. They were not well respected or tolerated among Hollywood types, they were considered as cheap and did not display the same quality of cinematography. Typical spaghetti westerns contained a lot of close up shots and "narrow" shots, so you didn't generally see a whole lot of background "pretties". I think that was a good thing, it helps the viewer remain focused on the movie and not the pretty mountain scenery in the back ground, but don't tell any producers I said that. lol!
Watching spaghetti westerns can be pretty entertaining. While the quality of the films seems low because they were usually filmed on a small budget, a person who doesn't take movies too seriously can truly enjoy these. The story lines are usually pretty unrealistic and corny anyway, but how can you take a movie seriously when the actor has stopped talking and his mouth is still going? Or the other way around, he's talking before his mouth starts to move.
So if you like a little unrealistic entertainment once in a while, grab your Orville Redenbacher's Movie Theater Popcorn (Don't forget to nuke it first, unpopped popcorn is hard on the teeth and tastes nasty), a tall bottle of your favorite carbonated beverage, and a huge box of Raisinettes, pull up a comfy chair, and enjoy the heck out of yourself.
Oh, and just to clear any confusion, Orville Redenbacher's isn't paying me to promote them, but I will say they're my favorite.
What kind of popcorn do you like to eat while watching these movies? Send me a comment about that.
This Week's Movies
Boot Hill
China 9 Liberty 37
It Can Be Done, Amigo
The Belle Starr Story
Death Rides A Horse (OK, it's not new, but we did recently add it to our collection. We were playing someone else's, now we're playing ours.)
Grand Duel
Be sure to visit our new Spaghetti Westerns billboard so you can watch our other spaghetti westerns, too!
Last Week's Top 10
Attack of the Giant Leeches
Virus
Jack and the Beanstalk
Long John Silver
They Call Me Trinity
Tom and Jerry Festival
Voyage To The Planet of Prehistoric Women
Angel On My Shoulder
The Gun and the Pulpit
God's Gun
Have you seen these?
Law of the Timber
Western Mail
Law of the Rio Grande
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