In praise of … spaghetti westerns
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Version 0 of 1. After the American western shot itself in the foot somewhere between High Noon and the OK Corral, an unlikely rescuer emerged in the shape of the spaghetti western. Made by Italians, often filmed in Spain, with international casts, they injected operatic violence, a strong Latin flavour, and a new kind of mysterious, avenging hero into the genre. The revolver was transformed into a machine gun before its time by the hero's mastery of "fanning" in which the hammer is repeatedly struck to produce a spray of bullets that cuts down the villains. A poncho, a brown cheroot, and a nerveless, unblinking expression complete the ensemble, most notably in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood, made 50 years ago. It will be shown in a restored print at the end of the Cannes film festival, a fitting tribute to those who gave us an extra chapter in the completely inauthentic but nevertheless enjoyable cinematic history of the wild west. |