Why are "spaghetti westerns" called as such? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

This has always bothered me in that I don't know where the term "spaghetti western" came to describe that genre of film. Does anyone know?

 

[RobertR]

Simple. "Spaghetti westerns" were made by Italian directors. Spaghetti is an Italian dish. Hence the term.
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[Edited last by RobertR on September 16, 2001 at 06:30 PM]

 

[alan halvorson]

Well, they're made mainly by Italian directors and, you know, pasta is rather popular in Italy and so .....
I really don't know if this is it but it seems like a good guess.
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They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa To the funny farm. Where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats and they're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!!!!
- Napoleon XIV
[Edited last by alan halvorson on September 16, 2001 at 06:30 PM]

 

[Steve Christou]

Hmmmm I always used to wonder why the cowboys in these westerns were eating spaghetti instead of beans, now I get it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Below is a pretty good definition of "spaghetti western":

A dimissive name for the blood-spattered Italian imitations of American westerns which became popular in the 60's, using such actors as Lee Van Cleef and Clint Eastwood. They gained in international reputation and incidentally made Eastwood into a star through the work of Sergio Leone in the mid-60's, beginning with his "A Fistfull of Dollars". Leone orchestrated the action around dramatic close-ups, with a slow build to moments of extreme action, to the accompaniment of Ennio Morricone's plangent, percussive music. Eastwood set the pattern for the protagonist: a taciturn, laconic wanderer who was deadly with a gun. While he was "the man with no name", other recurring heroes of the genre were Santana, Django and Ringo.

Crawdaddy
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[Edwin Pereyra]

Spaghetti westerns took off in the 1960’s. Europe had a hard time getting American western films, so they decided to make their own. These films were usually more violent than their American counterpart. Sergio Leone was best known for the creation of these films (i.e. A Fistful Of Dollars, Once Upon A Time In The West, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, etc.).
~Edwin
Oops, Crawdaddy beat me to it.
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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/005780.html#8
[Edited last by Edwin Pereyra on September 16, 2001 at 06:59 PM]

 

[James D S]

And ironically, the 'spaghetti westerns' that created the term, FAFDM, FFOD, and GB&U, were shot in Spain.

 

[Holden Pike]

For a good easily digestible answer to the question, 'What is a Spaghetti Western?', click http://members.aol.com/sartana/index.html
[Edited last by Holden Pike on September 17, 2001 at 08:01 AM]

 

[Peter Kline]

They were filmed in Italy, which substituted for the American west. I suppose if they were made in China they'd be called "Noodle" Westerns.
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[Henry Gale]

Peter,
Could you name some that were filmed in Italy?
Jim

 

[Patrick Sun]

Thanks for the info, folks! I never realized that Italians directed westerns!

 

[Holden Pike]

Did you think Sergio Leone was Dutch?

 

[Peter Kline]

Jim,
Here's a list of S.W.'s, all "al dente":
http://www.imdb.com/List?keywords=sp...western&&tv=on
[Edited last by Peter Kline on September 18, 2001 at 02:42 PM]

 

[Henry Gale]

Uh, nevermind.