I get what you’re saying. I thought the same thing when I first saw the book on Amazon. But, the most interesting chapters are actually the ones that have nothing to do with politics. Like about Sandokan and the East German comics, like Phil stated. It’s worth a read for SW enthusiasts who want to get even nerdier about the genre.
That’s cool you were able to make it to Austin’s conference! It’s also fair to say that you not only been there and done that. You also got the t-shirt, lol 
. I definitely would have loved to have gone. Especially since I waa just starting to explore SW’s.
It’s a question of taste I suppose, or willingness to indulge some academic’s thesis - I’m clearly not the target audience. To me this type of writing is self indulgent twaddle, and that’s me being polite.
The only lecture/talk that I ever attended on SWs was by Christopher Frayling, and that particular hour or so was both entertaining and informative and never got away from what it is that makes these film so much fun.
I have listened to some of this academic analysis via recent Blu Ray releases … and it’s just god awful wank.
Enjoy film for what it is … but if one feels the need to dissect and regurgitate as some imagined political metaphor, expect some hostility from real film fans.
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It’s here, my epic review of Frayling’s “Sergio Leone - by himself”
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Is here anyone who has a copy of the first edition of 1983 of the Aurum Film Enzyclopedia The Western" by Phil Hardy?
I recently bought these two italian books written by Massimo Moscati (¿?), which I haven’t found published in any other language. I’m not sure at what point this seemed like a good idea to me, considering my only knowledge of Italian comes from whatever I may know through films and music, plus the fact that Italian and Spanish are relatively “similar”.
So, with some patience and the help of a dictionary, I’m confident I’ll be able to read them. Hopefully I’ll be back here in a few weeks to tell you if they’re worth it.
I have. I like to read in it and Hardy has a good eye for westerns of the golden age of Hollywood, but is most certainly no expert on spaghetti westerns. He seems to think that Arizona Colt has frequent sex scenes. You wonder if there has ever been a XXX-version of that film, otherwise I don’t understand how and where he got this crazy idea.
I have the first edition of Hardy’s book. I also have his horror and SF books. Hardy is largely an editor and most of the reviews are cribbed from the Monthly Film Bulletin. The reviewers of that periodical had little but contempt for Italian westerns. The book was written when the home video market was in its infancy so it is doubtful how many of these films were seen by the author. On Italian westerns it is less useful than Weisser.