duff beer

I have kind of gone jaded over these, before yes i too was in love with them, but recently all of them even the dollars ones, it just .... i dont know, they all feel like too much like a circus to me. I have somehow just come back to admire the pre-spaghetti westerns more for being straight faced and actually the regular ones afterward. The gray line between badguys and goodguys has really worn thin, and even the soundtracks are really not enough to make me like them anymore. If i had looked at this post about a year ago i would have thought i was insane. I guess i've gone polar opposite, so be it.

DaveyJoe

They were fun but I'd rather watch the samurai films that most of them ripped off.

Jason

I was never terribly into them in the first place.

I greatly prefer the early-mid 60's westerns.

EddieMoney

I don't like spaghetti, soooo fuck 'em!

inri222

I was not aware that spaghetti westerns were a phase. While I am not a big fan of them, I do consider Once Upon a Time in the West to be the best western of all time.

Mondo Kane

If you've got Encore Westerns, tune in to Hate Thy Neighbor

You might rethink your opinion

riotinmyskull

i'm into them...not always in the mood for them but when i am, i normally watch a couple in a row.

Geofferson

Big fan of spaghetti westerns here. I still get a kick out of watching halfway decent ones I haven't seen. I fully admit some have such poor production values that I won't bother with them. One of the Sabata entries was on the other day and I watched it for an hour or so. Glad I did

Ash Ketchum

Yeah, I, too, have entered a tired-of-Italian-westerns phase. I actually bought a bunch of those box sets with lots of them and I've watched only a few of the total, including a few Sartanas and Djangos (there were tons of 'em), and I just can't get into them anymore. Even the Leones don't do anything for me anymore. I tried watching DUCK, YOU SUCKER on the restored DVD for one of the DVD Talk Challenges and I found all the political stuff really heavy-handed this time and I just couldn't get through it, even though it's been years since I've seen it. And the last time I watched FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, I realized I'd seen it one too many times. And I've idolized Leone since 1969.

On the other hand, I've been getting more and more into TV westerns and have been enjoying them immensely, whether Bonanza, Wyatt Earp, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, Death Valley Days, etc. I've just been immersing myself in them. I just got a 2-disc set of the last season of "The Gene Autry Show," the only season filmed in color, and they're just beautiful.

DaveyJoe

You guys are crazy for thinking these 40-50 year old B movies are starting to wear thin!

Ky-Fi

Nope, I still love spaghetti westerns. I have a pretty big collection, and I enjoy the genre. I do think there was a pretty big dropoff in quality after Leone, though. Corbucci, Sollima and others made some good ones, but none really at the level of Leone's work, IMO. I love the music, the vibe, the locales and the different atmosphere from Hollywoood westerns.

That being said, I think they were generally inferior to the best Hollywood westerns. The one thing that drives me nuts is when spaghetti western fans say things like "before they came around, it was just the good guys in white hats and the bad guys in black hats---John Wayne would never shoot anyone in the back". And, this nonsense gets put out there by people who should know better:

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I'm really dubious of this story about Wayne---I think it's more likely that Wayne felt his character in that movie wouldn't shoot anyone in the back, because for pete's sake in The Searchers he shot three guys in the back, mutilated a corpse, maybe robbed a bank, and set out on a quest to kill his niece because she had gone native. And in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", he



The 1950's and early 60's produced a LOT of rich, nuanced, morally complex westerns--I don't know what the heck Eastwood is talking about in that clip, other than it makes a nice-sounding story for people who don't know any better. Okay, that's my rant.

Ky-Fi

I've really appreciated a lot of these the last few years. I was too young too see them on their original broadcast, and I don't know if it was just the area I was in, but as a kid in the 70's and 80's I never saw any in syndication, either. But the last few years I've gotten into Have Gun, Will Travel, Wanted: Dead or Alive, and The Rifleman (every night on ME-TV!). I was surprised at the quality of a lot of these shows--really great writing and stories.

duff beer

Need to see those.

Paul_SD

Never really went thru a "phase" with these. I own the Leone films and have seen a few others here and there (like Navajo Joe which I found hugely disappointing). So, no. Just watched The Big Gundown recently and enjoyed it quite a bit. I would definitely be up for buying more of these on Bd, if they were well done for the genre.

I have, starting about 20 years ago, developed an increasing appreciation for westerns in general...and if anything that phase doesnt look to expire for me anytime soon. Just the opposite. Between quality TV content like Bonanza, Maverick, HGWT, and exploring the work of Boetticher, Mann and others I see a whole lot of fertile ground left to plow through.

'Bout the only genre I am well past is HK action movies. I burned hot and fast through those 20 years ago and have no desire to ever revisit the vast majority of them.

duff beer

I'm also past the phase of eurospy which i actually liked more than spagwesterns. Really into film noir now.

Guru Askew

What's the deal with this Beatlemania? I mean, enough, am I right?

duff beer

Yeah its marketing to stroke up one as the superheroes; in truth a lot of good bands came out but of course the companies cannot sell merchandise for them all, so they add in the superman factor of one only, one band, to rule them all to make the greens.

Charlie Goose

I never really cared for westerns at all, let alone spaghetti westerns, which is why I only recently watched the three Leone/Eastwood movies.

Guru Askew

What's the deal with slapstick? I mean, is it really that funny seeing a guy fall down? Come on.

Troy Stiffler

I'm hungry.

Ash Ketchum

It just started. (9AM EST Fri. Feb. 14)

duff beer

A lot of "b westerns" american made were good in themselves from the post war eras, the ones starring Audie Murphy for example.

Troy Stiffler

For me, spaghetti westerns are largely about the music. Something about that rich, stringy and horny music is really appealing to me. It really makes me feel something unique when watching.

Dr. DVD

Still like some, think some are kind of crappy.

Super X

I'm not sure it was ever a phase, at least for me. The ones I enjoy are not solely because they are spaghetti westerns. It's a combination of the filmmaking, writing, and acting. A good film is a good film and a bad one is bad, it doesn't matter what genre it is. And I rarely tire of watching good films, regardless of the genre.