Female Characters in Spaghetti Westerns

So we all know that the attitude towards women in spaghetti westerns is “pretty neanderthal”. Women are depicted as either harlots or damsels in distress, which in either way are just objects waiting for our (anti)hero to have his way with them, but there is always more than meets the eye, exceptions that prove the rule, etc.

What do you think about female characters in SW? What would be noteworthy examples of strong female characters?
Here’s few thoughts on the subject from my side.

  1. Jill - Leone generally didn’t care much for female characters, in his movies they’re either there to represent the symbols or they’re completely missing, but he managed to steal the show in this category also with that woman we are all deeply in love with, a whore and a saint and a mother (matriarch), who is the central character in on of the greatest movies of all times.
  2. Corbucci - His treatment of female characters I count as one of the greatest virtues of his SWs. There’s strong female in most of his SWs, with Iris Berben and Giovanna Ralli being best examples, adding feminist overtones to Companeros and the Mercenary.

Other notheworthly examples:

  1. Quien Sabe? - one of my favorite SWs has everything, including strong, self-thinking woman in fiery Adelita, who is the most important supporting character in this movie, and also Carla Gravina has very important small role as Don Felipe’s wife.
  2. Cemetery Without Crosses - Example of much respected somber SW, with strong female lead in Michéle Mercier.
  3. Forgotten Pistollero - Female characters in this one are somewhat too one-dimensional, but so are the rest of the characters which are taken straight from Greeek drama. Nevertheless, two female characters and their relationship with the main character are at the core of this movie.

Pretty sure there’s already a topic about this.

EDIT:
http://forum.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/topic,1884.0.html

Interesting thread, for some reason I missed it.

[quote=“Bad Lieutenant, post:2, topic:3337”]Pretty sure there’s already a topic about this.

EDIT:
http://forum.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/topic,1884.0.html[/quote]

And here was I, inventing hot water. My title for the topic is much better tough.

True that

Funny, nobody mentioned Corbucci (or Jill) in that other tread. I thought it would be obvious first choice to show that SW is not all homoerotic macho stuff. Not that Corbucci is stranger to homoeroticism :slight_smile:

I agree on Adelita.

I should also mention Mary O’Donnell from ‘Viva la muerte… tua!’, an Irish journalist who comes to the guys’ rescue more than once. She punches out like, 10 or 20 soldiers. It’s just awesome.

As far as I know in all of them women who aren’t victims, or whores or wives have a form of sex appeal, even Mary O’Donnell from Viva la muerte… tua!, who is a take-charge action woman who almost gave up her sworn virginity to Victoriano Huerta to distract him from the battle going on outside (The plan is interrupted though).
Have a look at A Bullet for the General and write what you think of Adelita and Rosario, and how they are presented.
Rosario may be an exception to the general rule because though she is a wife she has more nerve than her husband.

Yep, but where are the leading ladies?

2 Likes

You’re talking in riddles. Did you once in ancient times have damsels here? Hard to belive.

Even though she hasn’t been around that much lately, there is one with 1860 posts created.

Yes, we do. it is for forum insiders, those who are here since eternity understand. Or those who have read some notorious stone-age old threads.

I apologize for my presumptuous sarcasm. I wonder who that may be. Can you give me another clue?

A shiny gray colour, or if you prefer an elegantly dressed character played by Peter Lee Lawrence :wink:

Of course Stanton referred to one of banned forum member SD’s sayings.

Mainly due to form or content?

Like silver?: :frowning:

Form?

Silver. I hope she didn’t read my stupid comment.

Perhaps a little strange that we don’t have any more female members. SW films should appeal, as they have quite a lot of strong female characters.By the way, is this one of the things that sets them apart from American westerns?

Not really.

Many Spags skip female characters, others have them only in secondary roles not that different from US westerns, and you also find some strong women in US westerns too.
Only in Spags more often the hero rides away without the girl.

Westerns were always a men’s genre (basically), and the SW surely was very keen to be very, very “manly” in that respect.

1 Like

I will not be the judge of that, as I haven’t seen many American westerns. But my impression is that there is a difference. In a spag the female protagonist is a professional or promiscuous woman rather than a farmer’s loving wife, she can take care of herself and exact her own revenge rather than being a damsel in distress, and she ends up dead more often than she is rescued by the hero. But, as I said, I might be wrong about that.

Not wrong, but there were already some older westerns with strong women, some who shoot and fight.

1 Like