Many thanks Alk0
I am sure my stay will be informative and most enjoyable. ;D
This is by far the absolute best forum I have ever seen.
It does help that SWs are the main topic , as I have seen other inferior westerns forums
where the level of “knowledge” and “interest” was “lamentable” . So I left them. ;D
D’Amato (alias Aristide Massaccesi) must have been a good professional but Weisser goes out of his way in trying to make him a legend… Here are some samples from the book:
BASTARDO VAMOS E MATAR
“This was Gino Mangini’s only Euro Western, but he was strongly aided by the superb camera work of Aristide Massaccesi (Joe D’Amato) and the no-nonsense Sergio Garrone script. There has been unconfirmed speculation that Garrone clandestinely handled the directorial chores”
BEN AND CHARLIE
“Aristide (Joe D’Amato) Massaccessi’s cinematography is one of the film’s major strong points” (Actually here I fully agree -Hud)
BOUNTY HUNTER IN TRINITY
“As always, the excellent photography from Aristide (Joe D’Amato) Massaccesi makes this an enjoyable film”
DJANGO AND SARTANA ARE COMING
“Even though the plot is Swiss cheese, the film looks great, thanks to the superior camera work of Aristide Massaccesi who later became the controversial director, Joe D’Amato (Buried Alive, Trap Them and Kill Them, most of the Emmanuelle films with Laura Gemser, plus many more sleaze classics)”
FOR ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER DAY
“Especially noteworthy, Mario Pacheco is the director of photography, but future cult director Aristide Massaccesi (better known as Joe D’Amato) is the talented camera operator”
NO ROOM TO DIE
“And so, (normally competent) Franco Villa was tapped for the primary photography. As it turned out, Garrone, reportedly unhappy with his choice, hired the reputable Aristide Massaccesi (future Joe D’Amato) to act as “chief cameraman” with orders to secretly reshoot many scenes.”
SHOWDOWN FOR A BADMAN
“most of the credit should go to the star-studded cast and the always masterful camera eye of Aristide Massaccesi (later to become cult director Joe D’Amato)”
STRANGER THAT KNEELS BESIDE THE SHADOW OF A CORPSE
“strange, rambling, dreamlike prowl, aided by the potent camera work of Aristide Massaccesi (who later became the controversial sleaze and horror director Joe D’Amato”
TWICE A JUDAS
“The best thing about this film is the atmospheric camera work by Aristide Massaccesi who (under the pseudonym Joe D’Amato) made countless exploitation movies (Emanuelle in America, The Grim Reaper, Trap Them and Kill Them, etc.)”
Is it just me or do we see one or two patterns emerging here? Weisser automatically (or obsessively) singles out D’Amato’s cinematographic excellence, but gives no examples of what makes him so good. What did he do with the camera to deserve such praise? Instead, Weisser repeatedly zooms into his later works as director, dropping controversial titles instead of focusing on FOR ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER DAY or whatever film he should be talking about. For Weisser, the spaghetti westerns seem to be like a “prequel” to the 70s exploitation - why didn’t he write a book about that field instead? My examples also reveal his habit of sharing “unconfirmed speculation” of uncredited directing and shooting work - stuff that he often seems to be simply making up. It’s a miracle that the “ghost directors” uncovered by Weisser always had a controversial reputation and a name in the underground video market. 
I will be researching , studying carefully both Thomas Weisser’s Spaghetti “bible” and
the career of Joe D’Amato as these interesting postings have raised my curiosity. 
I have to confess that I had not spotted quite so many “errors” in Weisser’s book
but then I was not looking for any ! That will teach me to double check in future. ;D
Overall even with a few “mistakes” I like WEISSER’s Book a lot and it is essential. 
If it were a few, but there are dozens of them, and also essential ones.
Yes I fear that you are right Stanton but I hope Weisser will correct himself in his
future editions/updates of this essential reference Book.
The INDEX section at the back of Weisser’s book is very useful and essential.
Having said that I hope that he updates the book, corrects errors and adds extras.
www.terrorverlag.de - They sell it. 30 Euro.
I got it meanwhile via zvab.com. New, for the same price.
I also ordered from the same antiquary a new copy (9,90 €) from the forgetable/superfluous book Once Upon A Time In The West- 180 ausgewählte Italo- und Eurowestern by Michael Kraus.
But the Kessler book is great. He has interesting and reasonable things to say about the films, and despite some loutish formulations it’s always fun to read. But because of conceptional flaws it’s unavoidable to buy also the Bruckner book for the amount of dates and it’s complete(?) enumeration of every Eurowestern.
Compared to Bruckner and Weisser, this book is easily the best, and therefore recommended to every SW fan who understands the german language.
I have GOT both Bruckner’s excellent SW Book and Weisser’s very useful (with errors)
and I will leave it at that as I need money for my DVDs 
I just watched Days of Violence (I’ll talk about it in the appropriate thread) and happened to look up Weisser’s book to check something (what was I thinking??) I couldn’t resist entering Weisser’s synopsis here for all your benefit.
“The setting is a farm in Missouri during the Civil War. John and Clem (Peter Lee Lawrence and Lucio Rosato) are brothers. When the Union soldiers destroy the ranch and kill Clem, John retaliates by joining an outlaw gang called the Southern Rebels, led by a soldier named Butch (Luigi Vanucchi). However, the leader is more interested in robbing stagecoaches than fighting the Northern enemy. During a hold up, violence erupts and John is forced to kill a passenger. At that moment he becomes a wanted man. Even after the war he is still haunted by his past. Finally, urged by his girlfriend (Rosalba Neri), John exposes Butch as a true scoundrel and outdraws him in a showdown.”
Not bad for Weisser’s standards, but…
Lucio Rosato doesn’t play PLL’s brother he plays evil bad guy Hank. The outlaw gangleader, Butch isn’t played by Luigi Vanucchi he is played by Nello Pazzafini. Vanucchi plays Captain Clifford, the main baddie and actual killer of PLL’s brother. It is he who has the final shootout with PLL. Rosalba Neri is not the girlfriend of course, she is the sister in law and gets killed quite early on. The girlfriend, actually played by Beba Loncar, never urges PLL to do anything, especially not expose Butch or Clifford.
Weisser at his best!! ;D
Good Informative Posting Phil !
It really is amazing that a major SW Reference Book such as Weisser’s should make such
blatant errors. If you relied on Weisser before viewing the film you would be CONFUSED.
:o
I have been looking for this book, but any time i come across it the prices are extortionate.
However , after what has been said here i won’t bother with it.
I am a perfectionist when it comes to movies and i abhor errors in books such as these.
Another thing i can’t understand is why so many SW’s are cut unnecassarily, there are tons of movies out there with 10 times more violence that are not cut, so why they censor SW’s is beyond my comprehension. >:(
I can never understand why people bother with this book, with so many errors… ???
Its still a fun read 
When I started out and knew virtually nothing about the different spaghetti westerns out there expect the most common ones it was a fine place to start. Sure it’s got a lot of factual errors and what not, but at least it will lay the ground for your future studying in the genre. The factual errors you’ll discover yourself “the hard way” meaning actually watching the movies which aint that bad
For future reference purposes it isn’t very useable one should go elsewhere for that of course but for a new-comer I think it’s OK, especially if you don’t read German or Italian
It is indeed. I’ve got one copy that’s getting pretty tatty - which goes to show it’s had a lot of use. And now it’s past its sell by date, I scribble comments (and register innacuracies) and make personal observations in it ocassionally, when I can be bothered.
Back in the mists of time, I got myself another (pristine unopened) copy, as they seemed so hard to come by - which I’ll probably end up putting back on ebay one day. Yeah, it’s still worth having a copy. Like you say, it ain’t so bad doing the finding out for yourself, and it can be fun doing the comparison.
It may be flawed but, as you say, it was an invaluable reference. At least it was for me when I started out wandering down this dusty ol’ road.
[edit: I suppose I’d better say it first before one of my cynical brothers gets hold of this post ;)… 'course, I’m only sayin how good it is, in preparation for stickin my other copy on ebay one day ;D]
Wouldn’t the newcomer be better served with accurate information? Just think of a newbie / potential fan who takes Weisser’s all-time SW top 20 list (with more than one Bruno Mattei film!) at the end of the book as expert recommendation on what’s the very best in the genre, then watches the big man’s favourites, scratches her head and concludes that if the rest are even worse, the genre must really suck… Which is hopefully just my personal nightmare scenario. And of course these are just matters of taste concerning movies Weisser actually watched, the real problems don’t even start there… 
I haven’t burned my copy of the book, I read it now and then because there are still a lot of SW titles so obscure that any (dis)information will do. I’ve developed a habit of searching reviews of the same titles from the Italian SW guides and Internet, which often helps in trying to approximate what Weisser really knew about them - and may be too much for a newcomer who doesn’t have the patience. All the well known titles are better covered elsewhere and the book smacks of “how not to” pseudo research one could get away with in the 90s, but it will always be of some limited use.
There are other movies on Weisser’s list than Mattei-movies and some of them ARE indeed the creme de la creme of the genre. Plus there is a couple of other Top 20 lists alongside Weisser’s which may contain more “classic” Top 20 material. Still a Top 20 is personal and I think the reader would know that. What I’m saying is that when you come to the genre you may not care that much if a certain synopsis or what gives is a 100% (or even 30%) correct, you just want to get started in the genre. If you’re smart and DO look at the Top 20’s in the back of the book you’ll dig up the movies represented on all 4 Top 20’s and give THEM a go first and you’ll get blasted away.
I honestly don’t think Weisser’s book has scared away any potential spaghetti western fan. Sure correct factual information is nice but not a must. Take the book as a joyride. Unless of course you DO understand Italian or German in which cases you should get that there new Italian reference book (forgot title and author) and/or the Western All’Italiana-books, Bruckner’s Für ein paar Leichen mehr (THE bible) or Kessler’s Willkommen in der Hölle.
I am a perfectionist when it comes to facts…this book would ‘bug’ the hell out of me.
Thomas Weisser’s BOOK Spaghetti Westerns: The Good, The Bad and The Violent
is WORTH buying , reading and using for reference/curiosity DESPITE the errors in it.
The vast majority of the book is ACCURATE , Illustrated plus Informative
Other SW Reference books also have Errors/omissions so where do you go ? ???
BUY IT but have others books handy to double check