50 most successful SWs

Town Hall
1

The 50 most successful SWs in Italy according to admissions (in thousands):

1 Continuavano a chiamarlo Trinita Barboni, Enzo 15 373

2 Per qualche dollaro in piu Leone, Sergio 14 672
3 Per un pugno di Dollari Leone, Sergio 14 269

4 Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo Leone, Sergio 12 071
5 Lo chiamavano Trinita Barboni, Enzo 8 646
6 C’ era una volta il West Leone, Sergio 8 077
7 Il mio nome e Nessuno Leone, Sergio/Valerii, T. 8 008
8 … e poi lo chiamarono il magnifico Barboni, Enzo 7 866
9 Soleil rouge Young, Terence 7 366
10 I quattro dell’ Ave Maria Colizzi, Giuseppe 7 180

11 Dio perdona … Io no!, Colizzi, Giuseppe 7 054
12 Un dollaro bucato Ferroni, Giorgio 6 857
13 I giorni dell’ ira Valerii, Tonino 6 815
14 Adios Gringo Stegani Giorgio C. 6 626
15 Giu la testa Leone, Sergio 6 224
16 Una pistola per Ringo Tessari, Duccio 5 903
17 Un genio, due compari, un pollo Damiani, Damiano 5 747
18 Il ritorno di Ringo Tessari, Duccio 5 537
19 La collina degli stivali Colizzi, Giuseppe 5 262
20 La resa dei conti Sollima, Sergio 5 259

21 100 000 dollari per Ringo De Martino, Alberto 5 193
22 Per pochi dollari ancora Ferroni, Giorgio 4 924
23 Arizona Colt Lupo, Michele 4 841
24 Una ragione per vivere, una ragione per morire Valerii, Tonino 4 526
25 Da uomo a uomo Petroni, Giulio 4 351
26 Wanted Ferroni, Giorgio 4 135
27 Django Corbucci, Sergio 4 087
28 Il bianco, il giallo, il nero Corbucci, Sergio 4 081
29 Vamos a matar, companeros Corbucci, Sergio 4 044
30 Sette pistole per i MacGregor Giraldi, Franco 4 000

31 Si puo fare … amigo! Lucidi, Maurizio 3 935
32 I lunghi giorni della vendetta Vancini, Florestano 3 912
33 Il prezzo del potere Valerii, Tonino 3 848
34 Faccia a faccia Sollima, Sergio 3812
35 … e per tetto un cielo di stelle Petroni, Giulio 3 757
36 Vivi o preferibilimente morti Tessari, Duccio 3 698
37 Il mercenario Corbucci, Sergio 3 551
38 Texas, addio Baldi, Ferdinando 3 500
39 Sette dollari sul rosso Cardone, Alberto 3 442

40 Ehi amico! C’e Sabata, hai chiuso! Parolini, Gianfranco 3 436
41 Keoma Castellari, Enzo G. 3 351
42 Le colt cantarono la morte e fu … tempo di massacro Fulci, Lucio 3 290
43 Vado, l’ammazo e torno Castellari, Enzo G. 3 282
44 Corri, uomo, corri Sollima, Sergio 3 278
45 Oggi a me … domani a te Cervi, Tonino 3 168
46 La vita a volte e molto dura, vero Provvidenza? Petroni, Giulio 3 094
47 Al di la della legge Stegani Giorgio C. 2 980
48 Amico, stammi lontano almeno un palmo … Lupo, Michele 2 802
49 Che c’ entriamo noi con la rivoluzione? Corbucci, Sergio 2 739
50 Tepepa Petroni, Giulio 2 726
51 … se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte Parolini, Gianfranco 2 698
52 Viva la muerte … tua! Tessari, Duccio 2679

Thanks to Col. Douglas Mortimer who provided me with the necessary data.

Additional informations are here:
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,957.0.html

I have transfered his box-office data with the aid of average ticket prices into admission numbers, the only accurate way to compare films which were released in different years.

No data were available for Blindman, who probably would have been in (Blindman grossed 15 mio. Dollars worldwide), even if Tony Anthony’s Stranger films were only minor successes in Italy, but did well in the USA.

And I have left out the Franco & Ciccio spoofs, some of them would also be in.

Everything without guarantee, of course! :wink:

2

I know we have discussed this before but I find it really interesting how Corbucci has become so well thought of as the years have gone by and yet none of his films feature in the top twenty here in pure ‘popularity’ terms. It would appear his style suits a modern audience more than it did his contemporary one.

3

Massacro al Grande Canyon 615
Minnesota Clay ?
Django 4087
Johnny Oro 1414
Navajo Joe 1078
I crudeli 682
Il grande silenzio 997
Il mercenario 3551
Gli specialisti 936
Vamos a matar, companeros 4044
La banda J. & S. cronaca criminale del Far West 1077
Che c’ entriamo noi con la rivoluzione? 2739
Il bianco, il giallo, il nero 4081

(Johnny Oro was made before, but released after Django)

Not that impressive, compared to Leone. Huhh ?

It’s surprising that spectacular films like Navajo Joe and TGS did so low. Maybe the italians also liked their happy-ends.

And Django and The Mercenary did also not that well, in relation to their attractions, compared e.g.with the Gemma westerns.

But you can clearly see why he voted for comedies later to make his living.

Btw, What Do We Do in the Middle of the Revolution? wasn’t released in Germany (the only one), despite being successful.

4

Wonder which Corbucci westerns had more financial success outside of Italy then? (or if the information is in another thread please point me that way :)).

5

That’s a strange title in so high placing. I’ve never seen it or heard much about it. Does anyone have any clue why it was so popular?

6

SD would have said, because of talented, handsome Richard Harrison.

Haven’t seen it neither, but there are more rather unknown SWs in the Box office list compiled by the Col., at least in 65.

Seems like everything had success in the beginning.

7

I think Django was very popular in German since so many films were re-titled to make them look (sound) like Django movies;
maybe stanton knows more about this

If you look at the list it’s clear that there was a period that Leone and Gemma attracted large audiences, followed by a period dominated by Hill/Spencer

It’s more or less what I remember from my childhood; those films were released in Holland and Belgium
Actually, I remember that most films of the top 20 were released back then, the main exception being 100.000 per Ringo, a rather unknown film, as Bill already mentioned.
But I remember that some Corbucci’s were released theatrically too in Holland; I have seen Gli Specialisti, Il Mercenario and Companeros in cinema.

8

Sorry, not much available for Germany.

There is this web side: http://www.insidekino.com

But they start not before 68 and only with the 1st 10 films up to the mid 70s. And most up to 84 is more a guess than a fact.
There was also a page with several films of the 50/60s where I got the 25 mio for Treasure in the Silver Lake from, but it’s not there any more.

OuTW is incredibly still #3 out of all films since 68.

Spectators in thousands:

OuTW : 13 000 # 3
Trinity Is Still My Name : 12 267 # 5
My Name Is Nobody : 6 287 # 51
They Call Me Trinity : 6 028 # 61
Nobody Is the Greatest : 3 300
Buddy Goes West : 1 929
Keoma : 500

FoD (re-release 79) : 629

Spencer / Hill were so successful that the comedy dub re-releases of the Colizzi films in the late 70s/early 80s made again money, also the Trinity re-releases:

Boot Hill (78) : 850
God Forgives… (81) : 1 056
They Call Me Trinity (81) : 1 027
Trinity is Still… (82) : 850

9

Bud Spencer and Terence Hill were Cash Cows! :slight_smile:

10

One Euro western and a Zorro flic would be part of the list, if considered as SWs:

Zorro (Duccio Tessari) : 5 881

San Sebastian (Henri Verneuil) : 2 726

11

They are Italian co-produced and the Zorro-movies are normally regarded as SW’s so they should definitely be included.

12

[quote=“Søren, post:11, topic:975”]They are Italian co-produced and the Zorro-movies are normally regarded as SW’s so they should definitely be included.[/quote]I don’t think there’s need to start to define what’s sw and what’s not again but personally I don’t consider Zorro movies as westerns.

13

Zorro films are normally called … ähh don’t know, in Germany we are calling them “Mantel- und Degen Filme”. (Translation help needed!)

But some ot these Italian/Spain Zorro’s are indeed more westerns, but not this one.

14

San Sebastian is an american looking western, made mainly by a french/mexican crew, and was shot in Mexico. Even Morricone’s score sounds more like an american one.

I never considered this as a SW.

15

Agree not much spaghetti feel in that one. But then you should discount westerns like Corbucci’s Massacre at Grande Canyon also which feel and sound like an American western.

Bruckner includes all the Zorro-movies in his spaghetti western reference but it can of course easily be questioned if they are ‘real’ spaghetti westerns.

16

I think a direct translation would be “Cape & Rapier films” , the long “overcoat” and the sword :slight_smile:

17

Yes, but there certainly exists another definition for all this 3 Musketeers-like films.

18

Most important reason was, they would have kicked Tepepa out of the 50. He he

19

Interesting for germans:

Unter Geiern (Frontier Hellcat/Among Vultures) had also about 2 500 000 spectators in Italy!

20

[quote=“stanton, post:19, topic:975”]Interesting for germans:
Unter Geiern (Frontier Hellcat/Among Vultures) had also about 2 500 000 spectators in Italy![/quote]

This is really interesting and IMO it’s not one of the best Winnetou Movies. Is this the most successful German Western outside of the german Market?