Part of the appeal of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST has always been the presence of Claudia Cardinale. Not just her presence, but the character she plays is worth spending time with. On the screen, I mean. I’ve always thought Cardinale had the best role for women in spaghetti westerns until I saw Michele Mercier in CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES. She plays a woman so overwhelmed with grief she no longer cares who she hurts or whether or not she survives. After becoming accustomed to her light and frivolous performances as the adventuress Angelique in the Angelique series, Mercier surprised me with her emotional range and depth of feeling. There is a serious actress underneath, and she gives Cardinale a run for her money as the best female lead in a spaghetti western, which is a genre not generally conducive to female lead stories.
¿ Any other spaghetti westerns with good leading roles for women ?
These are the only two I can think of, but there must be more.
¿ Any care to nominate another title with a strong female lead ?
I nominate Sonny and Jed! Susan George plays the female lead and she’s quite good in it. Okay, so she’s not really playing a strong woman, but it’s a good role, she’s the star of the film just as much as Milian is. She plays a low-life outlaw wannabe who falls hopelessly in love with the misogynistic and abusive Jed. A thoroughly un-pc western with strong comedic elements (but I wouldn’t call it a comedy western), the ending is simply fantastic. A great film and a great role for George.
Also do check out Norma Bengell’s two SW ; The Hellbenders and Phaedra West. She plays two very strong-willed - and very different - female leads, the films are very good and Bengell is one of the best female actress to ever work in the SW genre, too bad she gave us only two performance in the genre.