The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians.
The Great Silence is a 1968 revisionist spaghetti Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Corbucci. An Italian-French co-production, the film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Vonetta McGee and Frank Wolff, with Luigi Pistilli, Mario Brega, Marisa Merlini and Carlo D'Angelo in supporting roles.
The Grand Duel, also known as Storm Rider and The Big Showdown, is a 1972 Italian-language spaghetti Western film directed by Giancarlo Santi, who had previously worked as Sergio Leone's assistant director on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West. The film stars Lee Van Cleef as a sheriff who seeks justice for a man accused of murder.
Five for Hell is a 1969 Italian "macaroni combat" war film starring John Garko, Margaret Lee and Klaus Kinski. Italian cinema specialist Howard Hughes referred to it as a derivative of The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Death Rides a Horse is a 1967 Italian Spaghetti Western directed by Giulio Petroni, written by Luciano Vincenzoni and starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law.
Gianni Garko, often billed as John Garko and occasionally Gary Hudson, is a Dalmatian Italian actor who found fame as a leading man in 1960s Spaghetti Westerns. He is perhaps best known for his lead role as Sartana, starting with the first official film If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death and starring in three sequels as this character, the role played by George Hilton in the third film in the series.
Sartana is a series of Spaghetti Western films which follows the adventures of the title character, a gunfighter and gambler who uses mechanical gadgets and seemingly supernatural powers to trick his rivals. The series features five official entries: If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968), I am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (1969), Sartana's Here… Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin, Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay and Light the Fuse... Sartana Is Coming. The first film was directed by Gianfranco Parolini, with the remaining four directed by Giuliano Carnimeo. Sartana is portrayed by Gianni Garko in all films in the series except for Sartana's Here… Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin, in which he was portrayed by George Hilton.
The Fighting Fist of Shanghai Joe is a 1973 spaghetti Western kung fu film directed by Mario Caiano and starring Chen Lee as Shanghai Joe. It was released under a number of alternate titles in the United States, including To Kill or to Die and The Dragon Strikes Back.
If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death is a 1968 Spaghetti Western film directed by Gianfranco Parolini. The film stars Gianni Garko, William Berger, Fernando Sancho and Klaus Kinski, and features a musical score by Piero Piccioni.
Blood at Sundown is a Spaghetti Western film directed by Alberto Cardone. The film is notable as the primary inspiration for the Sartana film series, starring Gianni Garko as a antiheroic incarnation of the villainous character he previously portrayed in Blood at Sundown.
I am Sartana, Your Angel of Death is a 1969 Italian Western film directed by Giuliano Carnimeo and starring Gianni Garko as Sartana. The film is presented on some DVD reissues under its German title, Sartana - Töten war sein täglich Brot.
His Name Was King is a 1971 Italian Western film directed by Giancarlo Romitelli and starring Richard Harrison and Klaus Kinski.
Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead is the original release title of the 1971 Italian dramatic Spaghetti Western film directed by Giuseppe Vari, and starring Klaus Kinski and Dante Maggio. With its many international releases, the film had additional English titles of Pray to Kill and Return Alive, To Kill a Jackal, and Renegade Gun. The script by Adriano Bolzoni is inspired by American noir-crime films of the 1930s and 1940s, and Kinski's entry into the scene reprises Edward G. Robinson's presence in Key Largo (1948).
Black Killer is a 1971 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Carlo Croccolo and starring Klaus Kinski.
Heroes in Hell is a 1974 Italian Macaroni War film written, directed and lensed by Joe D'Amato, produced by Walter Brandi and starring Klaus Kinski, Luciano Rossi and Franco Garofalo.
Stranger in Sacramento or Uno straniero a Sacramento is a 1965 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Bergonzelli. It was based on the novel I Will Kill You Tomorrow by Jim Murphy.
It Can Be Done Amigo is a 1972 Spanish / Italian / French spaghetti western film directed by Maurizio Lucidi.
Django is a fictional character who appears in a number of Spaghetti Western films. Originally played by Franco Nero in the 1966 Italian film of the same name by Sergio Corbucci, he has appeared in 31 films since then. Especially outside of the genre's home country Italy, mainly Germany, countless releases have been retitled in the wake of the original film's enormous success.
Aldo Addobbati was an Italian film producer. In 1968 he produced Gianfranco Parolini's Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte, a western starring Gianni Garko, William Berger, Fernando Sancho and Klaus Kinski. He followed this by producing another of Parolini's and Kinski's in 1969 with the war picture 5 per l'inferno and he also co-produced the western Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino with Paolo Moffa. The film was directed by Giuliano Carnimeo and starred Gianni Garko.
La morte non conta i dollari 1967 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Riccardo Freda. The film is about Lawrence White who returns to his hometown of Owell Rock with his sister to avenge the father's death at the hands of a gang. The leader of the gang, Doc Lester has recently appointed himself the gunslinger Boyd as the new sheriff.
