Spaghetti Westerns
October is Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month, a good opportunity to recognize the Italian incarnation of that quintessentially American genre, the Western. Borrowing the conventions of the genre, the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and 70s employ them differently and to different ends, creating something new.
Keoma
Keoma means freedom!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1976
- Director Enzo G. Castellari
- Cast Franco Nero, William Berger, Olga Karlatos, Orso Maria Guerrini, Gabriella Giacobbe, Antonio Marsina
- Genre Action, Western
- Available on ARROW, Midnight Pulp, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Plex, Plex Channel
Vengeance Is a Dish Served Cold
(La vendetta è un piatto che si serve freddo)
After witnessing the brutal murder of his family by Native Americans as a child, Jeremiah Bridger becomes a merciless assassin.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1971
- Director Pasquale Squitieri
- Cast Leonard Mann, Ivan Rassimov, Klaus Kinski, Elizabeth Eversfield, Steffen Zacharias, Enzo Fiermonte
- Genre Western
- Available on Amazon Video
¡Mátalo!
A gang of cattle thieves rescue a criminal from the gallows and, with his help, rob a stagecoach loaded with gold.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain • 1970
- Director Cesare Canevari
- Cast Corrado Pani, Lou Castel, Claudia Gravy, Luis Dávila, Miguel del Castillo, Ana María Noé
- Genre Action, Drama, Thriller, Western
- Available on ARROW, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Compañeros
(Vamos a matar, compañeros)
Honor among thieves? We'll see about that...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain, West Germany • 1970
- Director Sergio Corbucci
- Cast Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Jack Palance, Fernando Rey, Iris Berben, José Bódalo
- Genre Action, Comedy, Western
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Plex, Plex Channel
They Call Me Trinity
(Lo chiamavano Trinità...)
Trinity and Bambino send the bad guys packing with humor instead of excessive violence, saving the day.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1970
- Director Enzo Barboni
- Cast Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Steffen Zacharias, Dan Sturkie, Gisela Hahn, Elena Pedemonte
- Genre Action, Comedy, Western
- Available on Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Plex, Plex Channel
Django, Prepare a Coffin
(Preparati la bara!)
Wanderer. Gunslinger. Executioner.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1968
- Director Ferdinando Baldi
- Cast Terence Hill, Horst Frank, George Eastman, Barbara Simon, Pinuccio Ardia, Guido Lollobrigida
- Genre Action, Western
- Available on Amazon Video
Once Upon a Time in the West
(C'era una volta il West)
There were three men in her life. One to take her... one to love her... and one to kill her.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, United States • 1968
- Director Sergio Leone
- Cast Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Gabriele Ferzetti
- Genre Western
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Epix Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
The Great Silence
(Il grande silenzio)
His voice was the silence of death!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1968
- Director Sergio Corbucci
- Cast Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, Vonetta McGee, Mario Brega
- Genre Action, Western
- Available on Film Movement Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Hoopla
Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!
(Se sei vivo spara)
Terror from the depths of hell!
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain • 1967
- Director Giulio Questi
- Cast Tomas Milian, Marilù Tolo, Piero Lulli, Milo Quesada, Francisco Sanz, Miguel Serrano
- Genre Action, Thriller, Western
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Night Flight Plus, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Django
Bloodshed abounds as a drifter and a runaway take on two vicious armies on the US-Mexico border post-Civil War.
- ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain • 1966
- Director Sergio Corbucci
- Cast Franco Nero, José Bódalo, Loredana Nusciak, Ángel Álvarez, Eduardo Fajardo, Gino Pernice
- Genre Action, Western
- Available on Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, ARROW, Midnight Pulp, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Plex, Plex Channel
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo)
A silent gunslinger, a renegade Mexican bandit, and an evil hitman hunt for 200,000 dollars in Confederate gold.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain, West Germany • 1966
- Director Sergio Leone
- Cast Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov
- Genre Western
- Available on MGM Plus, fuboTV, AMC+ Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Epix Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, The Roku Channel
For a Few Dollars More
(Per qualche dollaro in più)
Two bounty hunters pursue "El Indio," one of the most wanted fugitives in the western territories.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain, West Germany • 1965
- Director Sergio Leone
- Cast Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonté, Mara Krupp, Luigi Pistilli, Klaus Kinski
- Genre Western
- Available on MGM Plus, fuboTV, AMC+ Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Epix Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, The Roku Channel
A Fistful of Dollars
(Per un pugno di dollari)
A gunfighter with no name drifts into a small town and plays both sides as two corrupt families fight each other.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain, West Germany • 1964
- Director Sergio Leone
- Cast Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, Gian Maria Volontè, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, Joseph Egger
- Genre Western
- Available on MGM Plus, fuboTV, AMC+ Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Epix Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, The Roku Channel