Sunday, January 04, 2015

Favorite Spaghetti Western List


I was asked by a commenter to the blog to list my favorite Spaghetti Westerns so I decided to give it a little thought and produce a top twenty. What is odd is that I had to leave off several movies I love just to keep it from becoming a top thirty! 
In no particular order - 

1. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966)
2. DJANGO (1966)
3. FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965)
4. THE BIG GUNDOWN (1967)
5. DEATH RIDES A HORSE (1967)
6. COMPANEROS (1970)
7. A MAN CALLED BLADE (a.k.a.MANNAJA) (1977)
8. FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE (1975)
9. KEOMA (1976)
10. THE MERCENARY (1968)
11. A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1966)
12. SABATA (1969)
13. JOHNNY HAMLET (1968)
14. THE GREAT SILENCE (1968)
15. AND GOD SAID TO CAIN (1969)
16. CUT THROATS NINE (1972)
17. MY NAME IS NOBODY (1974)
18. FACE TO FACE (1967)
19. A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1965)
20. CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES (1968)



And, for no good reason, here is a list of five of my least favorites- 


1. ANY GUN CAN PLAY (1967) - I generally dislike jokey, acrobatic westerns
2. ACE HIGH (1968)- often lauded but this one bored me
3. MATALO! (1970) - snooze inducing
4. THE LAST GUN (1964) - not even Cameron Mitchell can salvage this
5. DJANGO AND SARTANA ARE COMING...IT'S THE END (1970) -almost incomprehensible


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Your favorite list includes many of mine and a couple I didn't expect to see. Almost everyone's list I've seen includes Once Upon a Time in the West, but not yours. Of the five least favorite I've only seen two and agree, b ut sadly I've seen worse. Will you post an underrated list? Thanks for posting.

Rod Barnett said...

I don't consider ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST a spaghetti western- I know this is slightly controversial but it was filmed in the US and so, doesn't fit in my opinion. If it were to be included it would be the best of all time - easily.

And underrated is a tougher list. I'll think on it!

Unknown said...

Controversial indeed. It was filmed in America and also Spain. I consider it a spaghetti Western. It has all the trademarks of one. Interesting way of categorizing them.

Rod Barnett said...

I realize this makes some American produced westerns questionable- like the second Magnificent Seven film - it was shot in Spain!