Spaghetti Westerns

There’s a man in the distance, at least it looks like a man. The heat coming off the desert floor makes it hard to be sure. The air is still, hot and oppressive. The only movement is a lone vulture circling high in a cobalt blue sky. There are three bodies on the ground, gunslingers, outlaws by the look of them. The man in the distance is vanishing as he rides further and further away. A lone trumpet sounds and the credits role...

Spaghetti Westerns are a genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most were produced and directed by Italians, usually in co-production with a Spanish partner and in some cases a German partner. They have become iconic symbols of an American Western History that never existed. It is one of the ironies of film production that we define ourselves through the vision and sensibilities of foreign directors, writers and film makers.

Learn more about Spaghetti Westerns through our interactive display at the Al Harris Library.