161-429: Sergio Leone ( / l i ˈ oʊ n i / lee- OH -nee , Italian: [ˈsɛrdʒo leˈoːne] ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots . His films include
322-551: A Colt revolver that passed from owner to owner throughout the Old West, similar to Anthony Mann 's film Winchester '73 (1950). Donati indicated that Leone was interested in a more revisionist take on the genre than his earlier works, wanting to show the Old West "like it really was". Leone abandoned this project in favor of A Place Only Mary Knows , though Donati wrote a treatment and the project remained in gestation for years after Leone's death. An adaptation based on Leone's subject
483-552: A magnum opus . According to biographer Sir Christopher Frayling , Leone was deeply hurt by the studio-imposed editing and poor commercial reception of Once Upon a Time in America in North America. It was his last film. In 1988, he was head of the jury at the 45th Venice International Film Festival . Leone died on 30 April 1989 at his home in Rome of a heart attack at the age of 60. He
644-673: A Dish Served Cold , Renegade Riders , and others, while Beyond the Law has a bandit infiltrate society and become a sheriff. There would be a flamboyant Mexican bandit ( Gian Maria Volonté from A Fistful of Dollars , otherwise Tomas Milian , or most often Fernando Sancho ) and a grumpy old man, often an undertaker, to serve as sidekick for the hero. For the love interest, ranchers' daughters, schoolmarms and barroom maidens were overshadowed by young Latin women desired by dangerous men, for which actresses, such as Nicoletta Machiavelli or Rosalba Neri , carried on Marianne Koch 's role of Marisol in
805-509: A Few Dollars More , brought a larger box-office success, the profession of bounty hunter became the choice of occupation of spaghetti Western heroes in films, such as Arizona Colt , Vengeance Is Mine , Ten Thousand Dollars for a Massacre , The Ugly Ones , Dead Men Don't Count , and Any Gun Can Play . In The Great Silence and A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die , the heroes instead fight bounty killers. During this era, many heroes and villains in spaghetti Westerns began carrying
966-508: A Time in the West emerged as a long and violent dreamlike meditation upon the mythology of the American Old West, with many stylistic references to iconic Western films. Audience tension is maintained throughout this nearly three-hour film by concealing both the hero's identity and his unpredictable motivation until the final predictable shootout scene. Perhaps unsurpassed as a retribution drama,
1127-400: A Time in the West , Leone directed Duck, You Sucker! ( Giù la testa , 1971). Leone was intending merely to produce the film, but due to artistic differences with then-director Peter Bogdanovich , Leone was asked to direct the film, instead. Duck, You Sucker! is a Mexican Revolution action drama, starring James Coburn as an Irish revolutionary and Rod Steiger as a Mexican bandit who
1288-439: A Western parody with a marked spaghetti Western-theme; despite having been released a year after Sergio Leone's seminal spaghetti Western, A Fistful of Dollars , development of West and Soda actually began a year earlier than Fistful' s, and lasted longer, mainly because of the use of more time-demanding animation over regular acting. For this reason, Bozzetto claims to have invented the spaghetti Western genre. Because there
1449-528: A cast of Italian, Spanish, and (sometimes) West German and American actors. Most spaghetti Westerns filmed between 1964 and 1978 were made on low budgets, and shot at Cinecittà Studios and various locations around southern Italy and Spain. Many of the stories take place in the dry landscapes of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico , thus, common filming locations were the Tabernas Desert and
1610-506: A commemorative postage stamp honoring Leone. Critical reception to Leone's directorial features. Spaghetti Western 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 majority of
1771-528: A con-man ( The Dirty Outlaws ), an outlaw posing as a sheriff and a bounty hunter ( Man With the Golden Pistol aka Doc, Hands of Steel ), and an outlaw posing as his twin and a bounty hunter posing as a sheriff ( A Few Dollars for Django ). The theme of age in For a Few Dollars More , in which the younger bounty killer learns valuable lessons from his more experienced colleague and eventually becomes his equal,
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#17328524444361932-418: A contemporary adaptation of Cervantes ' 17th-century novel Don Quixote with Clint Eastwood in the title role and Eli Wallach as Sancho Panza . He had discussed doing the project throughout the 1960s–1970s, and he started seriously considering it toward the end of his life. In 1987, Sergio Leone contacted his old collaborators Sergio Donati and Fulvio Morsella, pitching an idea for a TV miniseries about
2093-447: A crucial role in national expansion. It facilitated expansion into the West by creating an inexpensive, fast, convenient communication system. Letters from early settlers provided information and boosterism to encourage increased migration to the West, helped scattered families stay in touch and provide neutral help, assisted entrepreneurs to find business opportunities, and made possible regular commercial relationships between merchants and
2254-437: A fashion magazine, with clearly drawn moral opposites, even down to the hero wearing a white hat and the villain wearing a black hat (except for the most successful of the "traditional western cowboys" – Hopalong Cassidy , who wore a black outfit upon a pale horse). Leone's characters were, in contrast, more "realistic" and complex: usually lone wolves in their behavior; they rarely shaved, looked dirty, and sweated profusely, with
2415-534: A few thousand French migrated to Canada; these habitants settled in villages along the St. Lawrence River , building communities that remained stable for long stretches. Although French fur traders ranged widely through the Great Lakes and midwest region, they seldom settled down. French settlement was limited to a few very small villages such as Kaskaskia, Illinois as well as a larger settlement around New Orleans . In what
2576-444: A few years, the pioneer added hogs, sheep, and cattle, and perhaps acquired a horse. Homespun clothing replaced the animal skins. The more restless pioneers grew dissatisfied with over civilized life and uprooted themselves again to move 50 or a hundred miles (80 or 160 km) further west. The land policy of the new nation was conservative, paying special attention to the needs of the settled East. The goals sought by both parties in
2737-453: A frontier line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc., it can not, therefore, any longer have a place in the census reports." Despite this, the later 1900 U.S. census continued to show the westward frontier line, and his successors continued the practice. By the 1910 U.S. census however, the frontier had shrunk into divided areas without a singular westward line of settlement. An influx of agricultural homesteaders in
2898-476: A legal challenge from the Japanese director, though Kurosawa's film was, in turn, probably based on the 1929 Dashiell Hammett novel, Red Harvest . A Fistful of Dollars is also notable for establishing Clint Eastwood as a star. Until that time, Eastwood had been an American television actor with few credited film roles. The look of A Fistful of Dollars was established by its Spanish locations, which presented
3059-462: A musical watch, after its ingenious use in For a Few Dollars More . Spaghetti Westerns also began featuring a pair of different heroes. In Leone's film, Eastwood's character is an unshaven bounty hunter, dressed similarly to his character in A Fistful of Dollars , who enters an unstable partnership with Colonel Mortimer ( Lee Van Cleef ), an older bounty killer who uses more sophisticated weaponry and wears
3220-468: A one-room log cabin. The main food supply at first came from hunting deer, turkeys, and other abundant game. Clad in typical frontier garb, leather breeches, moccasins, fur cap, and hunting shirt, and girded by a belt from which hung a hunting knife and a shot pouch—all homemade—the pioneer presented a unique appearance. In a short time he opened in the woods a patch, or clearing, on which he grew corn, wheat, flax, tobacco, and other products, even fruit. In
3381-540: A pair of heroes in three earlier spaghetti Westerns, God Forgives... I Don't! , Boot Hill and Ace High , directed by Giuseppe Colizzi . The humor started in those movies, with scenes with comedy fighting, but the Barboni films became burlesque comedies. They feature the quick but lazy Trinity (Hill) and his big, strong and irritable brother, Bambino (Spencer). The stories lampoon stereotypical Western characters, such as diligent farmers, lawmen and bounty hunters. There
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#17328524444363542-781: A party of 20 soldiers to find the headwaters of the Mississippi. He later explored the Red and Arkansas Rivers in Spanish territory, eventually reaching the Rio Grande . On his return, Pike sighted the peak in Colorado named after him . Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784–1864) led the Yellowstone and Missouri expeditions of 1819–1820, but his categorizing in 1823 of the Great Plains as arid and useless led to
3703-479: A post-Trinity Western, My Name Is Nobody , with Henry Fonda, and a caper-story Western, A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe . The following year, Franco Nero achieved a similar draw as a Django-style hero in Keoma . However, by the end of the 1970s, the different types of spaghetti Westerns had lost their following among mainstream cinema audiences, and the production ground to a virtual halt. Belated attempts to revive
3864-470: A principal trading center for Mississippi River traffic and inland commerce but remained under Spanish control until 1803. Thomas Jefferson thought of himself as a man of the frontier and was keenly interested in expanding and exploring the West. Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the size of the nation at the cost of $ 15 million, or about $ 0.04 per acre ($ 305 million in 2023 dollars, less than 42 cents per acre). Federalists opposed
4025-478: A profitable monopoly; he left the business as a multi-millionaire in 1834. As the frontier moved west, trappers and hunters moved ahead of settlers, searching out new supplies of beaver and other skins for shipment to Europe. The hunters were the first Europeans in much of the Old West and they formed the first working relationships with the Native Americans in the West. They added extensive knowledge of
4186-624: A pun referring to the three colors of the Italian flag, the star and to director Verdone, 1981) and Troppo Forte ( Great! , 1986). During this period, Leone also directed various award-winning TV commercials for European television. In 1978, he was a member of the jury at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival . Leone turned down the offer to direct The Godfather , in favor of working on another gangster story he had conceived earlier. He devoted 10 years to this project, based on
4347-421: A ragged, laconic hero with superhuman weapon skill, preferably one who looked like Clint Eastwood: Franco Nero , John Garko , and Terence Hill started out that way; Anthony Steffen and others stayed that way throughout their spaghetti Western careers. Whoever the hero was, he would join an outlaw gang to further his own secret agenda, as in A Pistol for Ringo , Blood for a Silver Dollar , Vengeance Is
4508-485: A remake of. Although the written treatment never got turned into a full screenplay, Leone's son Andrea had it published in a June 2004 issue of the Italian cinema magazine Ciak . It is not certain if the treatment's publication will ever lead to a full production in America or Italy. While finishing work on Once Upon a Time in America in 1982, Leone was impressed with Harrison Salisbury 's non-fiction book The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad , and he planned on adapting
4669-402: A salutary restraint upon the tribes, who would feel that any foray by their warriors upon the white settlements would meet with prompt retaliation upon their own homes. There was a debate at the time about the best size for the forts with Jefferson Davis , Winfield Scott , and Thomas Jesup supporting forts that were larger but fewer in number than Floyd. Floyd's plan was more expensive but had
4830-564: A spirit of nationalism and providing a necessary infrastructure. The army early on assumed the mission of protecting settlers along with the Westward Expansion Trails , a policy that was described by U.S. Secretary of War John B. Floyd in 1857: A line of posts running parallel without frontier, but near to the Indians' usual habitations, placed at convenient distances and suitable positions, and occupied by infantry, would exercise
4991-675: A storekeeper, a minister, and perhaps a doctor; and there were several landless laborers. All the rest were farmers. In the South, frontier areas that lacked transportation, such as the Appalachian Mountains region, remained based on subsistence farming and resembled the egalitarianism of their northern counterparts, although they had a larger upper-class of slaveowners. North Carolina was representative. However, frontier areas of 1700 that had good river connections were increasingly transformed into plantation agriculture. Rich men came in, bought up
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5152-405: A strong suggestion of criminal behavior. The characters were also morally ambiguous by appearing generously compassionate, or nakedly and brutally self-serving, as the situation demanded. Relationships revolved around power and retributions were emotion-driven rather than conscience-driven. Some critics have noted the irony of an Italian director who could not speak English, and had never even visited
5313-538: A suit, and, in the end, turns out to also be an avenger. In the following years, there was a deluge of spaghetti Westerns with a pair of heroes with (most often) conflicting motives. Examples include a lawman and an outlaw ( And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave ), an army officer and an outlaw ( Bury Them Deep ), an avenger and a (covert) army officer ( The Hills Run Red ), an avenger and a (covert) guilty party ( Viva! Django aka W Django! ), an avenger and
5474-459: A type of hero molded on the Mortimer character from For a Few Dollars More , only without any vengeance motive and with more outrageous trick weapons. Fittingly enough Sabata is portrayed by Lee Van Cleef himself, while John Garko plays the very similar Sartana protagonist. Parolini made some more Sabata movies, while Giuliano Carnimeo made a whole series of Sartana films with Garko. Beside
5635-557: A villain in Blindman and French rock 'n' roll veteran Johnny Hallyday as the gunfighter and avenger hero in Sergio Corbucci 's The Specialists . The story of A Fistful of Dollars was closely based on Akira Kurosawa 's Yojimbo . Kurosawa sued Sergio Leone for plagiarism, and was compensated with the exclusive distribution rights to the movie in Japan, where its hero, Clint Eastwood,
5796-511: A violent and morally complex vision of the American Old West . The film paid tribute to traditional American Western films, but significantly departed from them in storyline, plot, characterization, and mood. Leone gains credit for one great breakthrough in the Western genre still followed today; in traditional Western films, many heroes and villains looked alike as if they had just stepped out of
5957-538: Is Giorgio Capitani 's The Ruthless Four (in effect a gay version of John Huston 's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ), in which the explicit homosexual relation between two of its male main characters and some gay cueing scenes are embedded with other forms of man-to-man relations through the story. In the 1960s, critics recognized that the American genres were rapidly changing. The genre most identifiably American,
6118-457: Is Giulio Questi 's Django Kill . Other "cult" items are Cesare Canevari 's Matalo! , Tony Anthony 's Blindman , and Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent 's Cut-Throats Nine (the latter among gore film audiences). The few spaghetti Westerns containing historical characters such as Buffalo Bill , Wyatt Earp , Billy the Kid , etc., appear mainly before A Fistful of Dollars had put its mark on
6279-411: Is a priest who espouses Liberation theology . The film concerns oppression of poor Mexicans by rich Anglos, and ends on a call for arms, but it does not fit easily as a Zapata Western , for it lacks the typical hero pair of a flamboyant Latin revolutionary and an Anglo specialist. The Price of Power serves a political allegory about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and racism. The movie concerns
6440-408: Is conned into becoming a revolutionary. Leone continued to produce, and on occasion, step in to reshoot scenes, in other films. One of these films was My Name Is Nobody (1973) by Tonino Valerii , a comedy Western film that poked fun at the spaghetti Western genre. It starred Henry Fonda as an old gunslinger facing a final confrontation after the death of his brother. Terence Hill also starred in
6601-460: Is currently in production. Appointed director is Italian film-maker Stefano Sollima . Leone was also an avid fan of Margaret Mitchell 's novel Gone with the Wind and the 1939 film adaptation . His relatives and close friends stated that he talked about filming a remake that was closer to the original novel, but it never advanced beyond discussions to any serious form of production. In 1969, Leone
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6762-510: Is famous for classifying and painting in minute details 500 species of birds, published in Birds of America . The most famous of the explorers was John Charles Frémont (1813–1890), an Army officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. He displayed a talent for exploration and a genius at self-promotion that gave him the sobriquet of "Pathmarker of the West" and led him to the presidential nomination of
6923-434: Is no real consensus about where to draw the exact line between spaghetti Westerns and other Eurowesterns (or other Westerns in general), it cannot be said which film is definitively the first spaghetti Western. However, 1964 saw the breakthrough of this genre, with more than twenty productions or coproductions from Italian companies, and more than half a dozen Westerns by Spanish or Spanish-American companies. Furthermore, by far
7084-523: Is now New York state the Dutch set up fur trading posts in the Hudson River valley, followed by large grants of land to rich landowning patroons who brought in tenant farmers who created compact, permanent villages. They created a dense rural settlement in upstate New York, but they did not push westward. Areas in the north that were in the frontier stage by 1700 generally had poor transportation facilities, so
7245-571: Is sometimes used by historians regarding the time from the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to when the Superintendent of the Census, William Rush Merriam , stated the U.S. Census Bureau would stop recording western frontier settlement as part of its census categories after the 1890 U.S. Census . His successors however continued the practice until the 1920 Census . Others, including
7406-512: Is taken up in Day of Anger and Death Rides a Horse . In both cases, Lee Van Cleef carries on as the older hero versus Giuliano Gemma and John Phillip Law, respectively. One variant of the hero pair was a revolutionary Mexican bandit and a mostly money-oriented American from the United States frontier. These films are sometimes called Zapata Westerns. The first was Damiano Damiani 's A Bullet for
7567-590: Is to enroll men into the Union Army . The other is Richard Burns, a Southern shady businessman transplanted to the North after a successful heist with his ex-lover and partner, Mary. They try searching for the buried treasure left behind in an unmarked grave outside Atlanta in "A Place Only Mary Knows". Joined by a freed slave and an Italian immigrant , Francesco, who arrives via the Port of Boston , they try desperately to avoid
7728-584: The Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park , an area of volcanic origin known for its wide sandy beaches, both of which are in the Province of Almería in Southeastern Spain. Some sets and studios built for spaghetti Westerns survived as theme parks, such as Texas Hollywood , Mini Hollywood , and Western Leone , and continue to be used as film sets. Other filming locations used were in central and southern Italy , such as
7889-800: The Dollars Trilogy of Westerns featuring Clint Eastwood : A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966); and the Once Upon a Time films: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Duck, You Sucker! (1971), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Born on 3 January 1929 in Rome , Leone was the son of the cinema pioneer Vincenzo Leone (known as Roberto Roberti or Leone Roberto Roberti) and silent film actress Edvige Valcarenghi (known as Bice Waleran). His mother
8050-511: The Library of Congress and University of Oxford , often cite differing points reaching into the early 1900s; typically within the first two decades before American entry into World War I . A period known as "The Western Civil War of Incorporation" lasted from the 1850s to 1919. This period includes historical events synonymous with the archetypical Old West or "Wild West" such as violent conflict arising from encroaching settlement into frontier land,
8211-522: The West Coast and the deep interior, with settlements such as Los Angeles and Salt Lake City respectively. The " West " was the recently settled area near that boundary. Thus, parts of the Midwest and American South , though no longer considered "western", have a frontier heritage along with the modern western states. Richard W. Slatta, in his view of the frontier, writes that "historians sometimes define
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#17328524444368372-638: The West German Winnetou films and the Eastern Bloc Red Western films. Taking its name from the Spanish rice dish, " Paella Western" has been used to refer to Western films produced in Spain. The Japanese film Tampopo was promoted as a " Ramen Western". The majority of the films in the spaghetti Western genre were international coproductions by Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, West Germany, Britain, Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia, and
8533-408: The (supposedly) Navajo village is wiped out by bandits during the first minutes, and the avenger hero spends the rest of the film dealing mostly with Anglos and Mexicans until the final showdown at a Native American burial ground. Several spaghetti Westerns are inspired by classical myths and dramas. Titles, such as Fedra West (also called Ballad of a Bounty Hunter ) and Johnny Hamlet , signify
8694-462: The 1790–1820 era were to grow the economy, avoid draining away the skilled workers needed in the East, distribute the land wisely, sell it at prices that were reasonable to settlers yet high enough to pay off the national debt, clear legal titles, and create a diversified Western economy that would be closely interconnected with the settled areas with minimal risk of a breakaway movement. By the 1830s, however,
8855-564: The 1840s called for low-cost land for free white farmers, a position enacted into law by the new Republican Party in 1862, offering free 160 acres (65 ha) homesteads to all adults, male and female, black and white, native-born or immigrant. After winning the Revolutionary War (1783), American settlers in large numbers poured into the west. In 1788, American pioneers to the Northwest Territory established Marietta, Ohio , as
9016-499: The 1963–1964 spaghetti Westerns. For example, in Sergio Corbucci 's Minnesota Clay , that appeared two months after A Fistful of Dollars , an American style "tragic gunfighter" hero who confronts two evil gangs, one Mexican and one Anglo, with (as in A Fistful of Dollars ) the leader of the latter being the town sheriff. In Johnny Oro , a traditional Western sheriff and a mixed-race bounty killer are forced into an uneasy alliance when Mexican bandits and Native Americans assault
9177-456: The American West as lands west of the 98th meridian or 98° west longitude ," and that other definitions of the region "include all lands west of the Mississippi or Missouri rivers." Key: States Territories Disputed areas Other countries In the colonial era , before 1776,
9338-409: The American frontier, known as the frontier myth , have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining features of American national identity. Historians have debated at length as to when the frontier era began, when it ended, and which were its key sub-periods. For example, the Old West subperiod
9499-455: The American market, abandoning its flashback structure for a linear narrative. This version suffered heavy criticism and flopped. The original version, released in the rest of the world, achieved somewhat better box office returns and a mixed critical response. When the original version of the film was released on home video in the US, it gained major critical acclaim, with some critics hailing the film as
9660-651: The American studios. When director Mario Bonnard fell ill during the production of the 1959 Italian epic The Last Days of Pompeii ( Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei ), starring Steve Reeves , Leone was asked to step in and complete the film. As a result, when the time came to make his solo directorial debut with The Colossus of Rhodes ( Il Colosso di Rodi , 1961), Leone was well-equipped to produce low-budget films that looked like larger-budget Hollywood movies. Italian : Il cinema deve essere spettacolo, è questo che il pubblico vuole. E per me lo spettacolo più bello è quello del mito. Cinema must be spectacle, that's what
9821-581: The Americans, whose values focused on equality, democracy, and optimism, as well as individualism , self-reliance, and even violence. The frontier is the margin of undeveloped territory that would comprise the United States beyond the established frontier line. The U.S. Census Bureau designated frontier territory as generally unoccupied land with a population density of fewer than 2 people per square mile (0.77 people per square kilometer). The frontier line
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#17328524444369982-596: The Appalachian Mountains included the Connecticut River valley, and northern New England (which was a move to the north, not the west). Settlers on the frontier often connected isolated incidents to indicate Indian conspiracies to attack them, but these lacked a French diplomatic dimension after 1763, or a Spanish connection after 1820. Most of the frontiers experienced numerous conflicts. The French and Indian War broke out between Britain and France, with
10143-548: The Bad and the Ugly ( Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo , 1966), completed what has come to be known as the Man with No Name trilogy (or the Dollars Trilogy ), with each film being more financially successful and more technically accomplished than its predecessor. The films featured innovative music scores by Ennio Morricone , who worked closely with Leone in devising the themes. Leone had a personal way of shooting scenes with Morricone's music ongoing. In addition, Clint Eastwood stayed with
10304-563: The Bad and the Ugly and Duck, You Sucker! but his idea of adapting the novel itself never got past the planning stages. Leone was an early choice to direct Flash Gordon (1980). Leone was a fan of the original Alex Raymond comic strip, but turned down the film because the script did not resemble Raymond's work. He received the America Award from the Italy–USA Foundation posthumously in 2014. In 2019, Poste Italiane issued
10465-551: The Black , Johnny Hamlet and also Seven Dollars on the Red . Another type of wronged hero is set up and must clear himself from accusations. Giuliano Gemma starred in a series of successful films carrying this theme— Adiós gringo , For a Few Extra Dollars , Long Days of Vengeance , Wanted and, to some extent, Blood for a Silver Dollar —in which his character is most often called "Gary". The wronged hero who becomes an avenger appears in many spaghetti Westerns. Among
10626-470: The British plan to set up a Native state in U.S. territory south of the Great Lakes. They explained the American policy toward the acquisition of Native lands: The United States, while intending never to acquire lands from the Indians otherwise than peaceably, and with their free consent, are fully determined, in that manner, progressively, and in proportion as their growing population may require, to reclaim from
10787-600: The East and A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe ), Spencer ( It Can Be Done Amigo ) and a pair of Hill-Spencer lookalikes in Carambola . A spaghetti Western old hand, Franco Nero , also worked in this subgenre with Cipolla Colt , and Tomas Milian plays an outrageous "quick" bounty hunter modeled on Charlie Chaplin 's Little Tramp in Sometimes Life Is Hard, Eh Providence? and Here We Go Again, Eh, Providence? . Terence Hill could still draw large audiences in
10948-587: The French horse country of Camargue (1911–1912). In Italy, the American West as a dramatic setting for spectacles goes back at least as far as Giacomo Puccini 's 1910 opera La fanciulla del West ( The Girl of the West ), which is sometimes considered to be the first spaghetti Western. The first Western movie made in Italy was La voce del sangue , produced by the Turin film studio Itala Film . In 1913, La vampira Indiana
11109-495: The French making up for their small colonial population base by enlisting Native war parties as allies. The series of large wars spilling over from European wars ended in a complete victory for the British in the worldwide Seven Years' War . In the peace treaty of 1763 , France ceded practically everything, as the lands west of the Mississippi River, in addition to Florida and New Orleans, went to Spain. Otherwise, lands east of
11270-478: The General and then followed Sergio Sollima 's trilogy: The Big Gundown , Face to Face , and Run, Man, Run . Sergio Corbucci 's The Mercenary and Compañeros and Tepepa by Giulio Petroni are also considered Zapata Westerns. Many of these films enjoyed both good takes at the box office and attention from critics. They are often interpreted as a leftist critique of the typical Hollywood handling of
11431-621: The Homestead Law of 1862, with a moderated pace that gave settlers 160 acres free after they worked on it for five years. The private profit motive dominated the movement westward, but the federal government played a supporting role in securing the land through treaties and setting up territorial governments, with governors appointed by the President. The federal government first acquired western territory through treaties with other nations or native tribes. Then it sent surveyors to map and document
11592-458: The Leone film. The terror of the villains against their defenseless victims became just as ruthless as in A Fistful of Dollars , or more, and their brutalization of the hero when his treachery is disclosed became just as merciless, or more—similar to securing the latter's retribution. In the beginning, some films mixed some of these new devices with the borrowed U.S. Western devices typical for most of
11753-750: The Mexican Revolution, and of imperialism in general. In Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly there is still the scheme of a pair of heroes vs. a villain but it is somewhat relaxed, as here all three parties were driven by a money motive. In subsequent films such as Any Gun Can Play (whose Italian title, " Vado... l'ammazzo e torno ", is itself a quote from Leone's film), One Dollar Too Many , and Kill Them All and Come Back Alone several main characters repeatedly form alliances and betray each other for monetary gain. Sabata and If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death , directed by Gianfranco Parolini , introduce into similar betrayal environments
11914-671: The Mississippi River and what is now Canada went to Britain. Regardless of wars, Americans were moving across the Appalachians into western Pennsylvania, what is now West Virginia, and areas of the Ohio Country , Kentucky, and Tennessee. In the southern settlements via the Cumberland Gap , their most famous leader was Daniel Boone . Young George Washington promoted settlements in West Virginia on lands awarded to him and his soldiers by
12075-703: The Missouri River, and such principal stream of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean; whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, or any other river may offer the most direct and practicable communication across the continent for commerce". Jefferson also instructed the expedition to study the region's native tribes (including their morals, language, and culture), weather, soil, rivers, commercial trading, and animal and plant life. Entrepreneurs, most notably John Jacob Astor quickly seized
12236-590: The Northeast, there was little competition on the western frontier for Transylvania University , founded in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1780. It boasted of a law school in addition to its undergraduate and medical programs. Transylvania attracted politically ambitious young men from across the Southwest, including 50 who became United States senators, 101 representatives, 36 governors, and 34 ambassadors, as well as Jefferson Davis,
12397-456: The Northwest terrain, including the important South Pass through the central Rocky Mountains. Discovered about 1812, it later became a major route for settlers to Oregon and Washington. By 1820, however, a new "brigade-rendezvous" system sent company men in "brigades" cross-country on long expeditions, bypassing many tribes. It also encouraged "free trappers" to explore new regions on their own. At
12558-623: The Royal government in payment for their wartime service in Virginia's militia. Settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains were curtailed briefly by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , forbidding settlement in this area. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) re-opened most of the western lands for frontiersmen to settle. The nation was at peace after 1783. The states gave Congress control of the western lands and an effective system for population expansion
12719-440: The United States, let alone the American Old West, almost single-handedly redefining the typical vision of the American cowboy . According to Christopher Frayling 's book Something to do with Death , Leone knew a great deal about the American Old West. It fascinated him as a child, which carried into his adulthood and his films. Leone's next two films, For a Few Dollars More ( Per qualche dollaro in più , 1965) and The Good,
12880-432: The United States. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978. These movies were originally released in Italian or with Italian dubbing , but, as most of the films featured multilingual casts, and sound was post-synched, most western all'italiana do not have an official dominant language. The typical spaghetti Western team was made up of an Italian director, an Italo-Spanish technical staff, and
13041-611: The West ) and Fernando Cerchio 's Il bandolero stanco , starring Erminio Macario and Renato Rascel , respectively. After World War II, there were scattered European uses of Western settings, mostly for comedy, musical or otherwise. A cycle of Western comedies was initiated in 1959 with La sceriffa and Il terrore dell’Oklahoma , followed by other films starring comedy specialists, such as Walter Chiari , Ugo Tognazzi , Raimondo Vianello , and Fernandel . An Italian critic has compared these comedies to American Bob Hope vehicles. The first American-British Western filmed in Spain
13202-519: The West and wholesalers and factories back east. The postal service likewise assisted the Army in expanding control over the vast western territories. The widespread circulation of important newspapers by mail, such as the New York Weekly Tribune , facilitated coordination among politicians in different states. The postal service helped to integrate already established areas with the frontier, creating
13363-517: The West was filling up with squatters who had no legal deed, although they may have paid money to previous settlers. The Jacksonian Democrats favored the squatters by promising rapid access to cheap land. By contrast, Henry Clay was alarmed at the "lawless rabble" heading West who were undermining the utopian concept of a law-abiding, stable middle-class republican community. Rich southerners, meanwhile, looked for opportunities to buy high-quality land to set up slave plantations. The Free Soil movement of
13524-514: The Western, seemed to be evolving into a new, rougher form. For many critics, Sergio Leone 's films were part of the problem. Leone's Dollars Trilogy (1964–1966) was not the beginning of the "spaghetti Western" cycle in Italy, but for some Americans, Leone's films represented the true beginning of the Italian invasion of an American genre. Christopher Frayling , in his noted book on the Italian Western, describes American critical reception of
13685-469: The Wilderness Road. Kentucky at this time had been depopulated—it was "empty of Indian villages." However raiding parties sometimes came through. One of those intercepted was Abraham Lincoln 's grandfather, who was scalped in 1784 near Louisville. The War of 1812 marked the final confrontation involving major British and Native forces fighting to stop American expansion. The British war goal included
13846-464: The assassination of an American president in Dallas, Texas, by a group of Southern white supremacists who frame an innocent African-American. They are opposed by an unstable partnership between a whistleblower ( Giuliano Gemma ) and a political aide. Although it is intimated in some films, such as Django Kill and Requiescant , open homosexuality plays a marginal part in spaghetti Westerns. An exception
14007-435: The battles of the ongoing war between the states. The film was to have been a homage to classic writers from literature such as Edgar Lee Masters ( Spoon River Anthology ), Ambrose Bierce ( An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge ), Mark Twain ( The Private History of a Campaign that Failed ), Stephen Crane ( The Red Badge of Courage ), and Margaret Mitchell ( Gone with the Wind ), whose novel he had wanted to film
14168-513: The book as a war epic. Although no formal script had been completed or leaked, Leone came up with the opening scene and basic plot. According to the documentary Once Upon a Time, Sergio Leone , the film opened in medias res as the camera goes from focusing on a Soviet hiding from the Nazis ' artillery fire to panning hundreds of feet away to show the German Army Panzer divisions approaching
14329-439: The change to a lighter and more sentimental mood. The Trinity-inspired films also adopted this less serious and often-maligned style. Some critics deplore these post-Trinity films and their soundtracks as a degeneration of the "real" spaghetti Westerns. Indeed, Hill's and Spencer's skillful use of body language was a hard act to follow, and it is significant that the most successful of the post-Trinity films featured Hill ( Man of
14490-486: The cigarillo, the poncho, etc. The spaghetti Western was born, flourished and faded in a highly commercial production environment. The Italian "low" popular film production was usually low-budget and low-profit, and the easiest way to success was imitating a proven success. When the typically low-budget production, A Fistful of Dollars , turned into a remarkable box-office success, the industry eagerly lapped up its innovations. Most subsequent spaghetti Westerns tried to get
14651-721: The coalition of hostile Native tribes. Meanwhile, General Andrew Jackson ended the Native military threat in the Southeast at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 in Alabama. In general, the frontiersmen battled the Natives with little help from the U.S. Army or the federal government. To end the war, American diplomats negotiated the Treaty of Ghent , signed towards the end of 1814, with Britain. They rejected
14812-450: The connection to Greek myth , the plays by Euripides and Racine , and the play by William Shakespeare , respectively. The latter also inspired 1972's Dust in the Sun , which follows the original more closely than Johnny Hamlet, in which the hero survives. The Forgotten Pistolero is based on the vengeance of Orestes . There are similarities between the story of The Return of Ringo and
14973-668: The conquest and settlement of Native American lands west of the Mississippi River , in what is now the Midwest , Texas , the Great Plains , the Rocky Mountains , the Southwest , and the West Coast . Enormous popular attention was focused on the Western United States (especially the Southwest ) in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, from the 1850s to the 1910s. Such media typically exaggerated
15134-479: The conventions of traditional U.S. Westerns. This was partly intentional, and partly the context of a different cultural background. In 1968, the wave of spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. Spaghetti Westerns have left their mark on popular culture, strongly influencing numerous works produced in and outside of Italy. According to veteran spaghetti Western actor Aldo Sambrell ,
15295-687: The creation of an Indian barrier state under British auspices in the Midwest which would halt American expansion westward. American frontier militiamen under General Andrew Jackson defeated the Creeks and opened the Southwest, while militia under Governor William Henry Harrison defeated the Native-British alliance at the Battle of the Thames in Canada in 1813. The death in battle of the Native leader Tecumseh dissolved
15456-678: The end of the gathering season, the trappers would "rendezvous" and turn in their goods for pay at river ports along the Green River , Upper Missouri, and the Upper Mississippi. St. Louis was the largest of the rendezvous towns. By 1830, however, fashions changed and beaver hats were replaced by silk hats, ending the demand for expensive American furs. Thus ended the era of the mountain men , trappers, and scouts such as Jedediah Smith , Hugh Glass , Davy Crockett , Jack Omohundro , and others. The trade in beaver fur virtually ceased by 1845. There
15617-544: The end, the cameraman dies on the day of the liberation of the city, when he is currently filming the surrender of the Germans. And the girl is aware of his death by chance seeing a movie news: the camera sees it explode under a shell". By 1989, Leone set the film's budget at $ 100 million, and had secured half of that amount in financing from independent backers from the Soviet Union. He had convinced Ennio Morricone to compose
15778-412: The establishment of law and order, the building of farms, ranches, and towns, the marking of trails and digging of mines, combined with successive waves of immigrants moving into the region, the United States expanded from coast to coast, fulfilling the ideology of Manifest Destiny. In his "Frontier Thesis" (1893), Turner theorized that the frontier was a process that transformed Europeans into a new people,
15939-400: The expansion, but Jeffersonians hailed the opportunity to create millions of new farms to expand the domain of land-owning yeomen ; the ownership would strengthen the ideal republican society, based on agriculture (not commerce), governed lightly, and promoting self-reliance and virtue, as well as form the political base for Jeffersonian Democracy . France was paid for its sovereignty over
16100-555: The film as the young stranger who helps Fonda leave the dying West with style. Leone's other productions included A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (1975, another Western comedy starring Terence Hill); The Cat ( Il Gatto ; 1977, starring Ugo Tognazzi ), and A Dangerous Toy ( Il Giocattolo ; 1979, starring Nino Manfredi ). Leone also produced three comedies by actor/director Carlo Verdone , which were Fun Is Beautiful ( Un Sacco Bello , 1980), Bianco, rosso e Verdone ( White, Red and Verdone – Verdone means "strong green" –
16261-455: The film score, and Tonino Delli Colli was tapped to be the cinematographer . Shooting was scheduled to begin sometime in 1990. The project was canceled when Leone died two days before he was to officially sign on for the film. Alex Cox offered to replace Leone as director, but was unable to secure the remaining $ 50 million required to produce the film. According to Frayling's biography of Leone, Something to Do with Death , he envisioned
16422-666: The film series, joined later by Eli Wallach , Lee van Cleef , and Klaus Kinski . Based on the success of the Man with No Name trilogy, Leone was invited to the United States in 1967 to direct Once Upon a Time in the West ( C'era una volta il West ) for Paramount Pictures . The film was shot mostly in Almería , Spain, and Cinecittà in Rome. It was also briefly shot in Monument Valley , Utah . The film starred Charles Bronson , Henry Fonda , Jason Robards , and Claudia Cardinale . Once Upon
16583-608: The film's script was written by Leone and his longtime friend and collaborator Sergio Donati , from a story by Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento , both of whom went on to have significant careers as directors. Before its release, it was ruthlessly edited by Paramount, which perhaps contributed to its low box-office results in the United States. Nevertheless, it was a huge hit in Europe, grossing nearly three times its $ 5 million budget among French audiences, and highly praised among North American film students. It has come to be regarded by many as Leone's best film. After Once Upon
16744-565: The films in the spaghetti Western genre were international co-productions by Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, West Germany, Britain, Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia, and the United States. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978. Most spaghetti Westerns filmed between 1964 and 1978 were made on low budgets, and shot at Cinecittà Studios and various locations around southern Italy and Spain. Leone's films and other core spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticized or even "demythologized" many of
16905-596: The films, performed by Eastern actors—for example, Chen Lee in My Name Is Shanghai Joe , or Lo Lieh teaming up with Lee Van Cleef in The Stranger and the Gunfighter . Some spaghetti Westerns incorporate political overtones, particularly from the political left . An example is Requiescant , featuring Italian author and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini as a major supporting character. Pasolini's character
17066-769: The first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory . In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened to reach the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville . The Wilderness Road was steep and rough, and it could only be traversed on foot or horseback, but it was the best route for thousands of settlers moving into Kentucky . In some areas they had to face Native attacks. In 1784 alone, Natives killed over 100 travelers on
17227-400: The first three spaghetti Westerns by Leone, a most influential film was Sergio Corbucci 's Django starring Franco Nero . Django was one of the most violent spaghetti Westerns. The titular character is torn between several motives—money or revenge—and his choices bring misery to him and to a woman close to him. Indicative of this film's influence on the spaghetti Western style, "Django" is
17388-426: The first two decades of the 20th century, taking up more acreage than homestead grants in the entirety of the 19th century, is cited to have significantly reduced open land. A frontier is a zone of contact at the edge of a line of settlement. Theorist Frederick Jackson Turner went deeper, arguing that the frontier was the scene of a defining process of American civilization: "The frontier," he asserted, "promoted
17549-428: The formation of a composite nationality for the American people." He theorized it was a process of development: "This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward...furnish[es] the forces dominating American character." Turner's ideas since 1893 have inspired generations of historians (and critics) to explore multiple individual American frontiers, but the popular folk frontier concentrates on
17710-569: The formation of states." They explain, "It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America." Turner himself repeatedly emphasized how the availability of "free land" to start new farms attracted pioneering Americans: "The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development." Through treaties with foreign nations and native tribes , political compromise, military conquest,
17871-595: The forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase , giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as " manifest destiny " and historians' " Frontier Thesis ". The legends, historical events and folklore of
18032-430: The genre included the comedy film Buddy Goes West and a Spanish-American coproduction, Comin' at Ya! , which was shot in 3D , and Django Strikes Again . Some movies that were not very successful at the box office still earn a "cult" status in some segment of the audience because of certain extraordinary features in story and/or presentation. One "cult" spaghetti Western that has also drawn attention from critics
18193-407: The genre. Likewise, and in contrast to the contemporary German Westerns, few films feature Native Americans . When they appear, they are more often portrayed as victims of discrimination than as dangerous foes. The only fairly successful spaghetti Western with a Native American main character (played by Burt Reynolds in his only European Western outing) is Sergio Corbucci 's Navajo Joe , in which
18354-560: The good land, and worked it with slaves. The area was no longer "frontier". It had a stratified society comprising a powerful upper-class white landowning gentry, a small middle-class, a fairly large group of landless or tenant white farmers, and a growing slave population at the bottom of the social pyramid. Unlike the North, where small towns and even cities were common, the South was overwhelmingly rural. The seaboard colonial settlements gave priority to land ownership for individual farmers, and as
18515-416: The hero's name in a plenitude of subsequent Westerns. Although his character is not named Django, Franco Nero brings a similar ambience to Texas, Adios and Massacre Time , in which the hero must confront surprising and dangerous family relations. Similar "prodigal son" stories followed, including Chuck Moll , Keoma , The Return of Ringo , The Forgotten Pistolero , One Thousand Dollars on
18676-518: The hero), and pathos (terror and brutality against defenseless people and against the hero after his doublecross has been revealed). Ennio Morricone's innovative score expresses a similar duality between quirky and unusual sounds and instruments, and sacral dramatizing for the big confrontation scenes. Another important novelty was Clint Eastwood's performance as the man with no name —an unshaven, sarcastic, insolent Western antihero with personal goals in mind, and with distinct visuals to boot—the squint,
18837-745: The land. By the 20th century, Washington bureaucracies managed the federal lands such as the United States General Land Office in the Interior Department, and after 1891, the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. After 1900, dam building and flood control became major concerns. Transportation was a key issue and the Army (especially the Army Corps of Engineers) was given full responsibility for facilitating navigation on
18998-427: The last canto of Homer 's Odyssey . Fury of Johnny Kid follows Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , but (again) with a different ending; the loving couple leave together while their families annihilate each other. Some Italian Western films were made as vehicles for musical stars, such as Ferdinando Baldi 's Rita of the West , featuring Rita Pavone and Terence Hill . In non-singing roles were Ringo Starr as
19159-531: The meaning of ethnicity and friendship. It received a raucous, record-breaking ovation of nearly 20 minutes at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival (reportedly heard by diners at restaurants across the street from the Palais ), at a time in Cannes's history before marathon applause became a regular occurrence. Despite such a fawning reception, Warner Brothers felt it was too long. The studio drastically recut it down to two hours for
19320-416: The more commercially successful films with a hero dedicated to vengeance— For a Few Dollars More , Once Upon a Time in the West , Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die! , A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die , Death Rides a Horse , Django, Prepare a Coffin , The Deserter , Hate for Hate , and Halleluja for Django — those with whom he cooperates typically have conflicting motivations. In 1968,
19481-526: The most attention is arguably Luis Trenker's Der Kaiser von Kalifornien about John Sutter . Another Italian Western is Girl of the Golden West . The film's title alludes to the opera The Girl of the Golden West , by Giacomo Puccini , but is not an adaptation of it. It was one of a handful of Westerns to be made during the silent film and Fascist Italy eras. Forerunners of the genre were also Giorgio Ferroni 's Il fanciullo del West ( The Boy in
19642-400: The most commercially successful of this lot was Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars . It was the innovations in cinematic style, music, acting and story of Leone's first Western that decided that spaghetti Westerns became a distinct subgenre and not just a number of films looking like American Westerns. In this seminal film, Leone used a distinct visual style with large face close ups to tell
19803-465: The mountains for the proposed transcontinental railroad, but his expedition ended in near-disaster when it became lost and was trapped by heavy snow. His reports mixed narrative of exciting adventure with scientific data and detailed practical information for travelers. It caught the public imagination and inspired many to head west. Goetzman says it was "monumental in its breadth, a classic of exploring literature". While colleges were springing up across
19964-460: The new Republican Party in 1856. He led a series of expeditions in the 1840s which answered many of the outstanding geographic questions about the little-known region. He crossed through the Rocky Mountains by five different routes and mapped parts of Oregon and California. In 1846–1847, he played a role in conquering California. In 1848–1849, Frémont was assigned to locate a central route through
20125-425: The novel The Hoods by former mobster Harry Grey , which focused on a quartet of New York City Jewish gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s who had been friends since childhood. The finished four-hour film, Once Upon a Time in America (1984), featured Robert De Niro and James Woods . It was a meditation on another aspect of popular American mythology, the role of greed and violence and their uneasy coexistence with
20286-679: The opportunity and expanded fur trading operations into the Pacific Northwest . Astor's " Fort Astoria " (later Fort George), at the mouth of the Columbia River, became the first permanent white settlement in that area, although it was not profitable for Astor. He set up the American Fur Company in an attempt to break the hold that the Hudson's Bay Company monopoly had over the region. By 1820, Astor had taken over independent traders to create
20447-432: The opportunity for commercial agriculture was low. These areas remained primarily in subsistence agriculture, and as a result, by the 1760s these societies were highly egalitarian , as explained by historian Jackson Turner Main: The typical frontier society, therefore, was one in which class distinctions were minimized. The wealthy speculator, if one was involved, usually remained at home, so that ordinarily no one of wealth
20608-747: The parks of Valle del Treja (between Rome and Viterbo ), the area of Camposecco (next to Camerata Nuova , characterized by a karst topography ), the hills around Castelluccio , the town of Wuustwezel and the area around the Gran Sasso mountain, and the Tivoli 's quarries and Sardinia . God's Gun was filmed in Israel. European Westerns are as old as filmmaking itself. The Lumière brothers had their first public screening of films in 1895, and already, in 1896, Gabriel Veyre shot Repas d'Indien ( Indian Banquet ) for them. Joe Hamman starred as Arizona Bill in films made in
20769-543: The phrase spaghetti Western was coined by Spanish journalist Alfonso Sánchez in reference to the Italian food spaghetti . Spaghetti Westerns are also known as Italian Westerns or, primarily in Japan, Macaroni Westerns . In Italy, the genre is typically referred to as western all'italiana (Italian-style Western). Italo-Western is also used, especially in Germany. The term Eurowesterns has been used to broadly refer to all non-Italian Western movies from Europe, including
20930-498: The population grew they pushed westward for fresh farmland. Unlike Britain, where a small number of landlords owned most of the land, ownership in America was cheap, easy and widespread. Land ownership brought a degree of independence as well as a vote for local and provincial offices. The typical New England settlements were quite compact and small, under a square mile. Conflict with the Native Americans arose out of political issues, namely who would rule. Early frontier areas east of
21091-414: The possession of lands more than they can cultivate, and more than adequate to their subsistence, comfort, and enjoyment, by cultivation. If this is a spirit of aggrandizement, the undersigned are prepared to admit, in that sense, its existence; but they must deny that it affords the slightest proof of an intention not to respect the boundaries between them and European nations, or of a desire to encroach upon
21252-571: The president of the Confederacy. Most frontiersmen showed little commitment to religion until traveling evangelists began to appear and to produce "revivals". The local pioneers responded enthusiastically to these events and, in effect, evolved their populist religions, especially during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840), which featured outdoor camp meetings lasting a week or more and which introduced many people to organized religion for
21413-431: The president. Then when the population reached 100,000 the territory applied for statehood. Frontiersmen typically dropped the legalistic formalities and restrictive franchise favored by eastern upper classes and adopting more democracy and more egalitarianism. In 1810, the western frontier had reached the Mississippi River . St. Louis, Missouri , was the largest town on the frontier, the gateway for travel westward, and
21574-463: The production for the movie Bicycle Thieves in 1948. Leone began writing screenplays during the 1950s, primarily for the " sword and sandal " (or peplum ) historical epics, popular at the time. He also worked as an assistant director on several large-scale international productions shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome, notably Quo Vadis (1951) and Ben-Hur (1959), financially backed by
21735-532: The public wants. And for me the most beautiful spectacle is that of the myth. In the mid-1960s, historical epics fell out of favor with audiences, but Leone had shifted his attention to a subgenre which came to be known as the " spaghetti Western ", owing its origin to the American Western . His film A Fistful of Dollars ( Per un pugno di dollari , 1964) was based upon Akira Kurosawa 's Edo -era samurai adventure Yojimbo (1961). Leone's film elicited
21896-487: The region getting a bad reputation as the "Great American Desert", which discouraged settlement in that area for several decades. In 1811, naturalists Thomas Nuttall (1786–1859) and John Bradbury (1768–1823) traveled up the Missouri River documenting and drawing plant and animal life. Artist George Catlin (1796–1872) painted accurate paintings of Native American culture. Swiss artist Karl Bodmer made compelling landscapes and portraits. John James Audubon (1785–1851)
22057-441: The removal and assimilation of natives, consolidation of property to large corporations and government, vigilantism, and the attempted enforcement of laws upon outlaws. In 1890, the Superintendent of the Census, William Rush Merriam stated: "Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be
22218-603: The rivers. The steamboat, first used on the Ohio River in 1811, made possible inexpensive travel using the river systems, especially the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries. Army expeditions up the Missouri River in 1818–1825 allowed engineers to improve the technology. For example, the Army's steamboat " Western Engineer " of 1819 combined a very shallow draft with one of the earliest stern wheels. In 1819–1825, Colonel Henry Atkinson developed keelboats with hand-powered paddle wheels. The federal postal system played
22379-454: The romance, anarchy, and chaotic violence of the period for greater dramatic effect. This inspired the Western genre of film, along with television shows , novels , comic books , video games , children's toys, and costumes. As defined by Hine and Faragher, "frontier history tells the story of the creation and defense of communities, the use of the land, the development of crops and hotels, and
22540-621: The spaghetti Western cycle as, to "a large extent, confined to a sterile debate about the 'cultural roots' of the American/Hollywood Western". He remarked that few critics dared admit that they were, in fact, "bored with an exhausted Hollywood genre". American Old West The American frontier , also known as the Old West , and popularly known as the Wild West , encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with
22701-421: The state of nature, and to bring into cultivation every portion of the territory contained within their acknowledged boundaries. In thus providing for the support of millions of civilized beings, they will not violate any dictate of justice or humanity; for they will not only give to the few thousand savages scattered over that territory an ample equivalent for any right they may surrender, but will always leave them
22862-502: The story of a hero entering a town that is ruled by two outlaw gangs, and ordinary social relations are nonexistent. The hero betrays and plays the gangs against each other to make money. He uses his cunning and exceptional weapons skill to assist a family threatened by both gangs. His treachery is exposed, and he is severely beaten, but in the end, he defeats the remaining gang. The interactions in this story range between cunning and irony (the tricks, deceits, unexpected actions and sarcasm of
23023-400: The support of settlers and the general public who preferred that the military remain as close as possible. The frontier area was vast and even Davis conceded that "concentration would have exposed portions of the frontier to Native hostilities without any protection." Government and private enterprise sent many explorers to the West. In 1805–1806, Army lieutenant Zebulon Pike (1779–1813) led
23184-406: The territories of Great Britain. [...] They will not suppose that that Government will avow, as the basis of their policy towards the United States a system of arresting their natural growth within their territories, for the sake of preserving a perpetual desert for savages. As settlers poured in, the frontier districts first became territories, with an elected legislature and a governor appointed by
23345-407: The territory in terms of international law. Between 1803 and the 1870s, the federal government purchased the land from the Native tribes then in possession of it. 20th-century accountants and courts have calculated the value of the payments made to the Natives, which included future payments of cash, food, horses, cattle, supplies, buildings, schooling, and medical care. In cash terms, the total paid to
23506-569: The town. In A Pistol for Ringo , a traditional sheriff commissions a money-oriented hero played by Giuliano Gemma (as deadly but with more pleasing manners than Eastwood's character) to infiltrate a gang of Mexican bandits whose leader is played typically by Fernando Sancho . As with Leone's first Western, the Dollars Trilogy strongly influenced the further developments of the genre, as did Sergio Corbucci's Django and Enzo Barboni's two Trinity films, as well as some other successful spaghetti Westerns. After 1965, when Leone's second Western, For
23667-504: The tribes in the area of the Louisiana Purchase amounted to about $ 2.6 billion, or nearly $ 9 billion in 2016 dollars. Additional sums were paid to the Natives living east of the Mississippi for their lands, as well as payments to Natives living in parts of the west outside the Louisiana Purchase. Even before the purchase, Jefferson was planning expeditions to explore and map the lands. He charged Lewis and Clark to "explore
23828-598: The walls of the city. The plot was to focus on an American photographer on assignment (whom Leone wanted to be played by Robert De Niro) becoming trapped in Leningrad as the German Luftwaffe begin to bombard the city. Throughout the course of the film, he becomes romantically involved with a Soviet woman, whom he later impregnates, as they attempt to survive the prolonged siege and the secret police , because relationships with foreigners are forbidden. According to Leone, "In
23989-437: The wave of spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. However, the considerable box-office success of Enzo Barboni 's They Call Me Trinity and its pyramidal follow-up, Trinity Is Still My Name , gave Italian filmmakers a new model to emulate. The main characters were played by Terence Hill and Bud Spencer , who had already cooperated as
24150-588: The west was of high priority for settlers and politicians. The American frontier began when Jamestown , Virginia, was settled by the English in 1607. In the earliest days of European settlement on the Atlantic coast, until about 1680, the frontier was essentially any part of the interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing settlements along the Atlantic coast. English , French , Spanish , and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement were quite different. Only
24311-657: Was The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw , directed by Raoul Walsh . It was followed by Savage Guns , a British-Spanish Western, again filmed in Spain. It marked the beginning of Spain as a suitable film-shooting location for any type of European Western. In 1961, an Italian company coproduced the French Taste of Violence , with a Mexican Revolution theme. In 1963, three non-comedy Italo-Spanish Westerns were produced: Gunfight at Red Sands , Implacable Three , and Gunfight at High Noon . In 1965, Bruno Bozzetto released his traditionally animated feature film West and Soda ,
24472-432: Was a resident. The class of landless poor was small. The great majority were landowners, most of whom were also poor because they were starting with little property and had not yet cleared much land nor had they acquired the farm tools and animals which would one day make them prosperous. Few artisans settled on the frontier except for those who practiced a trade to supplement their primary occupation of farming. There might be
24633-517: Was a wave of Trinity-inspired films with quick and strong heroes, the former often called "Trinity", or coming from "a place called Trinity", and with few or no killings. Because the two model stories contained religious pacifists to account for the absence of gunplay, all of the successors contained religious groups, or, at least, priests, sometimes as one of the heroes. The music for the two Trinity Westerns (composed by Franco Micalizzi and Guido & Maurizio De Angelis , respectively) also reflected
24794-629: Was already a huge star due to the popularity of the TV series, Rawhide . Leone would have done far better financially by obtaining Kurosawa's advance permission to use Yojimbo' s script. Requiem for a Gringo shows many traces from another well-known Japanese film, Masaki Kobayashi 's Harakiri . When Asian martial arts films started to draw crowds in European cinema houses, the producers of spaghetti Westerns tried to hang on, this time not by adapting storylines, but rather by directly including martial arts in
24955-410: Was buried in the cemetery of Pratica di Mare . A treatment for an "Americanized" Western was written by Leone, Luca Morsella, and Fabio Toncelli. It is speculated to have been Leone's last Western and was to have starred Mickey Rourke and Richard Gere as the two main leads. Set during the height of the American Civil War , the story focused on a Union drafter, Mike Kutcher from Georgia , whose job
25116-509: Was contracted to direct 99 and 44/100% Dead with Marcello Mastroianni and Charles Bronson starring. He was replaced as director by John Frankenheimer , while Mastroianni was recast with Richard Harris . Leone was a fan of Louis-Ferdinand Céline 's novel Journey to the End of the Night and was considering a film adaptation in the late 1960s; he incorporated elements of the story into The Good,
25277-533: Was developed. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 abolished slavery in the area north of the Ohio River and promised statehood when a territory reached a threshold population, as Ohio did in 1803 . The first major movement west of the Appalachian mountains originated in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina as soon as the Revolutionary War ended in 1781. Pioneers housed themselves in a rough lean-to or at most
25438-460: Was of Milanese and remote Austrian descent. During his schooldays, Leone was a classmate of his later musical collaborator Ennio Morricone in third grade. After watching his father work on film sets, Leone began his own career in the film industry at the age of 18 after dropping out of law studies at the university. Working in Italian cinema , he began as an assistant to Vittorio De Sica during
25599-533: Was released; a combination of Western and vampire film. It was directed by Vincenzo Leone , father of Sergio Leone , and starred his mother, Bice Valerian , in the title role as the Indian princess Fatale. The Italians also made Wild Bill Hickok films, while the Germans released backwoods Westerns featuring Bela Lugosi as Uncas . Of the Western-related European films before 1964, the one that attracted
25760-490: Was the outer boundary of European-American settlement into this land. Beginning with the first permanent European settlements on the East Coast , it has moved steadily westward from the 1600s to the 1900s (decades) with occasional movements north into Maine and New Hampshire, south into Florida, and east from California into Nevada. Pockets of settlements would also appear far past the established frontier line, particularly on
25921-425: Was wide agreement on the need to settle the new territories quickly, but the debate polarized over the price the government should charge. The conservatives and Whigs, typified by the president John Quincy Adams , wanted a moderated pace that charged the newcomers enough to pay the costs of the federal government. The Democrats, however, tolerated a wild scramble for land at very low prices. The final resolution came in
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