Hello to everyone,
Please suggest the ultimate book that contains most(if not all)info the genre.Thanks for the suggestions.
What’s your preferred language for this book?
Cheers nameless. An overview gives this page: Category:Books - The Spaghetti Western Database
I prefer Bruckner’s “Für ein paar Leichen mehr” But it is in German.
I have now bought me Willkommen in der Hölle by Christian Kessler.
It has not that amount of dates like Bruckner, but it’s much more rewarding to read, despite that he is partly writing in an unnecessary loutish style.
Maybe the ultimate SW book is yet to be written but I’d recommend the WESTERN ALL 'ITALIANA (Glittering Images) trio of books by Bruschini & co, with text in Italian and in English. They’re expensive but worth it if you’re really into the genre, there’s so much information about important films, some well-known and some obscure. The English translations have errors and I don’t always agree with the reviews but they’re insightful, reliable and useful in many ways. Great poster and still reproductions.
Bruckner and Kessler are great and to my surprise I also enjoyed Bertil Fridlund’s recent SPAGHETTI WESTERN: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS. Don’t let the academic approach put you off as this is a surprisingly readable and lucid genre overview that gave me more new information and ideas (& buried pasta titles to check out) than the two Howard Hawks SW books combined…
He he, not Hawks, Hughes, and not THE HH.
Right, Howard whatshisname whose books aren’t bad but not very useful either if you already know the leading SW filmmakers. I’m envious of horror movie buffs who get inspiring books like Immoral Tales & Mondo Macabro (Pete Tombs) or Nightmare USA (Stephen Thrower) combining deep “buried treasures” research with love and wit. It’s light years ahead of the English-language SW literature that never really took off after the groundbreaking Opera of Violence by Staig & Williams.
Without the Internet and some notable exceptions (like the aforementioned Italian books) it would be quite depressing, a downward spiral of genre film writing avoiding 90% of the films out there…
[quote=“stanton, post:4, topic:812”]I have now bought me Willkommen in der Hölle by Christian Kessler.
It has not that amount of dates like Bruckner, but it’s much more rewarding to read, despite that he is partly writing in an unnecessary loutish style.[/quote]
Right right. Got Kessler those days… Very interesting. Especially the interview with Garko.
[quote=“Hud, post:7, topic:812”] Right, Howard whatshisname whose books aren’t bad but not very useful either if you already know the leading SW filmmakers. I’m envious of horror movie buffs who get inspiring books like Immoral Tales & Mondo Macabro (Pete Tombs) or Nightmare USA (Stephen Thrower) combining deep “buried treasures” research with love and wit. It’s light years ahead of the English-language SW literature that never really took off after the groundbreaking Opera of Violence by Staig & Williams.
Without the Internet and some notable exceptions (like the aforementioned Italian books) it would be quite depressing, a downward spiral of genre film writing avoiding 90% of the films out there…[/quote]
Well, I like Hughes book. He’s only writing about a few films (and the selection could be questioned), but he writes intensively about these films with many interesting (some false also) informations.
Good for a genre novice, good for a fan.
What do you think?
The Hughes, not Hawks books could have basically come out 20 years ago and in that case I’d have more sympathy for them (not that I hate them, actually I enjoy some parts). After the Millennium so many interesting films have been unearthed & re-issued and a lot of hard first-hand research (interviews etc.) has appeared in Italian specialist mags (Nocturno, Amarcord etc), the massive German-language SW tomes and various dvd documentaries. At least in theory this subculture is more informed than ever (though the info is often blocked by language barriers) and new books should reflect this, even canonizing best of selections written for layman readers. Hughes seems to rely on the (rather limited) English-language sources when he should have gotten translation help and gone international when casting his information nets. I’d recommend his books for completists and novices without Internet access but I feel the net is rendering books like this obsolete, if you surf the right places that is…
Maybe, maybe …
I’ve enjoyed the HH books.
I’d also like to mention the book ‘Italian Western - the Opera of Violence’ as an overview of the genre. It’s a good read and interesting because it was written close to the period (1975) (well - at least within the ‘twilight period’) and doesn’t have the ‘advantage’ of large historical hindsight. Quite a lot of films are referenced - and it reads well and is well illustrated (b/w). I’ve seen it go for silly money on ebay, and at other times for a few-ish (maybe 7 or eight) pounds.
It could be confusing to a newcomer, in parts. We all know how confusing the number of various and ‘crossover’ names there are for sw films. This book has stills from ‘Vengeance is Mine’ - but it’s not the ‘For $100,000 per Killing’ that we might more often refer to these days, it’s refering to what is more widely known now as 'A Bullet for Sandoval’
Highly Recommended by this fan.
Yes, I am a fan of this book…The Opera of Violence.
It may not be the most complete and is out of print etc, but the passion in this book really shines through.
For me being a big fan of film music, the music sections are just great.
Very pleased to have this in my collection.
Yep, it’s a winner. The first Spaghetti Western book I ever bought.
Books should be judged as products of their time and as a pre-VHS work (written before the genre had died out) THE OPERA OF VIOLENCE certainly makes the most of the resources that were available back then. I find it easy to forgive the writers mistakes like the description of a SABATA scene that’s not in the movie as they probably had only their memories to write about and no chance to check the film again. Staig and Williams put many video and dvd era historians with superior archival resources to shame and their writing is enthusiastic but never uncritical. The book is also a visual experience that reminds me of watching SWs on big screen, lots of effective close-up illustrations and even “montages”.
The Opera of Violence is up on ebay at the moment for 99p plus £2.50 postage with 21 hours to go if anyone is interested.
Can’t believe it will stay at this price, but if you haven’t got this book it is worth getting and long out of print.
Interesting new book up on the xploited website, comes in four different covers, dvd also has the film Vengeance (Italian only) Note the incredibly high price!:
http://xploitedcinema.com/catalog/spaghettiheroes-django-sartana-ringo-cover-book-p-13998.html
SPAGHETTI-HEROES: DJANGO - SARTANA - RINGO (COVER C) [BOOK + DVD]
$64.95
Publisher: MPW
Genre: Spaghetti Western
260 page hardcover book from Jasper P. Morgan chronicling the 3 heroes of the Spaghetti Western: Django, Sartana and Ringo. Hundreds of full color stills, lobby cards and posters of Spaghetti Westerns along with full plot summaries, reviews, commentaries and cast / crew details for films from the early days of the genre through it’s glory days.
The book is split into 3 main parts detailing the Django, Sartana and Ringo films along with their many offshoots. Full German and English text is included along with a DVD for Umberto Lenzi’s A GUN FOR ONE HUNDRED GRAVES. A true must have for fans of not only Spaghetti Westerns, but also aficionados of European Cult Cinema.
Approximately 8.5" x 11" / 21.5 cm x 28 cm - 3lbs - Full English and German text
I can’t decide what cover i like best :-\
I ordered “C” but they all have their appeal.
Kind of funny that they include the Lenzi & Margheriti films, which have none of the three characters discussed in the book!
Wow!..expensive…