History Main / SpaghettiWestern

A sub-genre of TheWestern, so called because they were produced by Italian studios (and tended to feature quite a bit of violence -- spaghetti tends to look a ''bit'' [[ABloodyMess like viscera]]). These movies were typically [[CaliforniaDoubling shot in]] UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, since the Tabernas Desert looks similar to [[TheWildWest Hollywood's idea of the Old West]]. Since Spanish extras were readily available, Spaghetti Westerns often featured [[{{Spexico}} "Mexican" characters]] and themes, often focusing on UsefulNotes/TheMexicanRevolution, border problems, or [[{{Bandito}} Mexican banditos]]. There was a whole sub-sub-genre dedicated to politically-oriented westerns about the Mexican Revolution called the Zapata Western.

[[ItWillNeverCatchOn Spaghetti Westerns were originally scorned for their low budgets, fading Hollywood stars, and rougher and harder look at common Western tropes,]] although in general very few of these Westerns were especially political or informed enough about American history to be actual {{deconstruction}}s, and few of them ended up critically VindicatedByHistory outside of Creator/SergioLeone's films. Nonetheless, their [[BloodierAndGorier greater violence]] and [[DarkerAndEdgier rougher and harder aesthetic]] gave spaghetti westerns an integrity entirely at odds with the glossy and stagey Hollywoodian Westerns and, in time, the visual aesthetic of the Spaghetti Westerns later became staples of the genre. Most notably, the Spaghetti Westerns provided the staging grounds for the last great icon of the Western genre: actor[=/=]director Creator/ClintEastwood, who was a TV and BMovie actor in America before his appearance in Sergio Leone's films [[StarMakingRole made him into a major movie star]].

A sub-genre of TheWestern, so called because they were produced by Italian studios (and tended to feature quite a bit of violence). These movies were typically [[CaliforniaDoubling shot in]] UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, since the Tabernas Desert looks similar to [[TheWildWest Hollywood's idea of the Old West]]. Since Spanish extras were readily available, Spaghetti Westerns often featured [[{{Spexico}} "Mexican" characters]] and themes, often focusing on UsefulNotes/TheMexicanRevolution, border problems, or [[{{Bandito}} Mexican banditos]]. There was a whole sub-sub-genre dedicated to politically-oriented westerns about the Mexican Revolution called the Zapata Western.

* ''WebAnimation/SMG4MovieWesternSpaghetti'' by SMG4 is most definitely named after this trope, despite it being a meta horror.

Spaghetti Westerns were originally scorned for their low budgets, fading Hollywood stars, and rougher and harder look at common Western tropes, although in general very few of these Westerns were especially political or informed enough about American history to be actual {{deconstruction}}s, and few of them ended up critically VindicatedByHistory outside of Creator/SergioLeone's films. Nonetheless, their [[BloodierAndGorier greater violence]] and [[DarkerAndEdgier rougher and harder aesthetic]] gave spaghetti westerns an integrity entirely at odds with the glossy and stagey Hollywoodian Westerns and, in time, the visual aesthetic of the Spaghetti Westerns later became staples of the genre. Most notably, the Spaghetti Westerns provided the staging grounds for the last great icon of the Western genre: actor[=/=]director Creator/ClintEastwood, who was a TV and BMovie actor in America before his appearance in Sergio Leone's films [[StarMakingRole made him into a major movie star]].