Centering on the explosion of Spaghetti Westerns that were made in Italy throughout the 1960's, this neat little documentary offers some choice behind the scenes footage of the shooting of "Run, Man, Run," "The Great Silence," "One Dollar Too Many," Sergio Leone's spectacular masterpiece "Once Upon a Time in the West," and "Kill Them All and Come Back Alone." The energetic Enzo Castellari choreographs a fight and describes his movies as escapist fare. French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant confesses that starring in a Spaghetti Western gives him a chance to do something outside of his established romantic persona. Chuck Connors astutely points out that the protagonists in these films are anti-heroes instead of pure heroes. Among the other things shown are a huge display of guns, shaving cream being used as snow, and various extras eating and drinking on location. Spaghetti Western regular Frank Wolff provides the witty narration. The jaunty score by John Ireson and Wayne Parham keeps things bouncing along (we also see the duo performing live in a club). Covering a good deal of ground in a breezy 38 minutes, it's recommended viewing for fans of the Spaghetti Western genre.
Review of Western, Italian Style
