Are there any recording artists you just can’t listen too?

Oops, I see.  High Noon instead of The Wild Bunch.  I cannot remember much at all about that one except wasn’t the theme song The Streets Of Laredo?  I thought, to the best of my recall, that the intent of both High Noon and A Gunfight was the drama that led up to the duels. (Which, in my understanding, was unrealistic in itself.) Is that was Spag Westerns were about?  

@immatthewj Reservoir Dogs

You are probably right with the flash back editing. It did break up the film so it was a nonlinear story telling. To me Reservoir Dogs was comparable with 12 Angry Men and the confines of that film. The flashbacks in one versus the recalling of evidence in the other.

l never worked out how much percentage wise the film takes place in the warehouse, but the confines made that movie feel much longer than the actual running time. I am also speaking as an ex projectionist who showed the film many times in the 90s. It brought back memories of another film with an odd bunch of criminals…..The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and 4 henchmen with colour names. Tarantino may have been a fan of that film too….right after the Spaghetti Western boom.

If you want to watch a western (an Italian western) with a difference, try and view “Il Grande Silenzio” The Great Silence for another interesting finale. Tarantino was inspired so much from his “Spaghetti Western” heritage as an avid film goer and collector of Italian film music. All this is evidenced in his films and borrowed soundtracks he edited into his movies.

@immatthewj Spaghetti Western

They were made primarily in Italy, Spain, France and Germany. For example….The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was a Spaghetti (Italian) Western. Not an American production.

“A Gunfight” was an American Western that l was comparing to “The Wild Bunch” which was made by Pekinpah to emulate the success of the extreme violence evident in Spaghetti Westerns. Hence my American Spaghetti Western link. It was a pastiche in every way and wouldn’t have been made without the new trend of imported Italian and Euro Westerns.

In the 60s the old American format westerns were declared by critics (and the general public by falling attendances) as “dead” The Wild Bunch was so wild that the film was drastically cut to meet the censors strict codes and cinema distributors demands for a lower entry age. This was no High Noon film.

My comparison was really for “The Last Sunset” versus “The Wild Bunch”. I added High Noon as an example of the formulated American Western…..the showdown was always a dragged out conclusion. The guy dressed in white was the good guy. The one in black wasn’t

The song from High Noon was, “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin’ “  Dimitri Tiomkin’s Oscar Winning Song . Lyrics by Ned Washington

@mylogic , I had always associated Spaghetti Westerns with Lee van Cleef and a kind of trademark music that was frequently played.  (Was Clint East frequently in Spaghetti Westerns?)  The Good, The Bad And The Ugly is a title I remember well (I frequently refer to my three dogs as the good, the bad and the ugly), but I cannot remember anything about it, so obviously it made no impact on me.

As far as westerns go, in the late '60s and early '70s when I was quite young (and when we used to frequently play Cowboys and Indians) I used to enjoy going to see the rather generic westerns that were being made at that time.  I outgrew them probably before I grew into puberty as it didn't take long before they struck me as quite unrealistic.

But I don't mean to imply that I don't like all westerns; for a long time Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid was one of my all-time favorite movies of any genre, and I think Tom Horn is a pretty good movie even though I am not a huge Steve McQueen fan.

@immatthewj  Spaghetti and Macaroni Westerns.

The Japanese called the Italian westerns “Macaroni Westerns”

Clint Eastwood was in the first 3 Sergio Leone (all co productions with other countries) westerns. A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The first was a huge success and the Italian Cinecitta Studios in Rome churned out so many in Europe. Clint Eastwood’s career finally took off “after” these films.

You mentioned Lee Van Cleef. He had retired from acting before Leone convinced him to return for the second film in the “Dollars” trilogy. He then became a bankable leading man internationally, something he never achieved in Hollywood. The Big Gundown was the first followed by Death Rides a Horse (with John Philip Law) Day of Anger, and later two of the SABATA Trilogy amongst many others.

Over 500 European co-produced spaghetti westerns were made and only a select few distributed into the US. In the UK they were more popular with the best becoming supporting films as part of a double bill. Most of the output was criticised and demonised as too violent and broke all the traditional Hollywood rules. “Django” (1966) was refused a certificate in the UK because of the ultra- violence. The west was shown dirty, ruthless and crude. Tarantino remade the Franco Nero “Django” and even reused some original  music. Franco Nero was also invited back playing a cameo role.

Most Italian westerns gravitated towards a Mexico boarder area theme which reflected some European understandings and culture (for the Spanish) and became quite political in narrative.

Off topic, but you asked for more info ✔️