ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE ITALIAN WEST - Howard Hughes

Subtitled: The Filmgoers' guide to Spaghetti westerns, this book is as comprehensive guide as you could need on this interesting and unique aspect of wild west cinema. The author was also responsible for the Pocket Essential Guide to Spaghetti Westerns and whilst that little book made for a good introduction this in the real deal.

Now although there are some exceptions the quality Italian Oaters were made from the early Sixties to mid Seventies. Perhaps Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars in 1964 and thus this year could be termed, "Year Zero" as far as the sub-genre was concerned. So taking it up to 1977 and A Man called Blade, maybe the last great Italian oater, that's a total of thirteen years when the genre was truly active.

This book prefers to end in 1973 with Valerri's My Name is Nobody which starred Terence Hill and Henry Fonda. Which is curious because it means classics like Keoma (76), A Girl named Apache (76) and the aforementioned Mannaja are not given a mention. However that's a small point and the author goes into depth on the core films between year zero and 1973 and provides a detailed essay for each film covered.


A brilliant reference to the Italian Western boom.