Spaghetti Westerns: The Good, the Bad and the Violent (Thomas Weisser)

Town Hall Books & Resources
41

Yes, I am not claiming Weisser has composed a top 20 list from just two Mattei movies - what he has done is an indication that 10% of the SWs one really should see are directed by Bruno Mattei, which surely makes him one of the leading genre practitioners. Yes, of course a top 20 is just Weisser’s personal opinion on the movies he has actually seen, the real problems of the book don’t even start there.

I honestly don’t know about that. The book came out in the 90s (read: pre-Internet) in a country which had previously produced very little literature on the subject, so it’s not an impossible scenario.

I can take it as a joyride understanding what it is and what it’s not, but it took me a while to get there, that’s why I’m not sure if it’s OK for a newcomer. Correct factual information is more than a nicety, it should be the standard - and the main problem is not Weisser making mistakes, it’s Weisser talking about what he doesn’t know.

42

OK, so let me rephrase: I read the book and survived and am still here today :slight_smile: Do I use the book as reference? Certainly not, I know about the problems with the book, but nevertheless.

43

Whoops, actually it’s me who’s being erroneous here, I checked the list and Mattei was represented by just one classic, SCALPS and not WHITE APACHE as I remembered - apologies… Only two directors have got two entries in his list, Sergio Garrone and that other heavyweight Sergio Leone. As for much of the rest, no comment…

I think enough has been said of the entertainment value & usefulness of the book (though a list of corrections might make a rich thread), but what I’d like to ask is whether Weisser is being fair to the people he writes about in his play fast and loose style. Sometimes it feels as if foreign filmmakers are like fictional characters for him, unsourced behind the scenes myths can be spun about them if it makes the reviews more interesting and it doesn’t seem to matter whether it might affect somebody’s professional reputation.

If you were Carlo Lizzani, how would you feel about Weisser’s suggestion that Pasolini directed portions of your movie REQUIESCANT? (A Weisser rumor recently disputed by Lou Castel.) Or if you were DP Franco Villa, would you like to read that Sergio Garrone was so displeased with your work that he hired D’Amato to secretly reshoot your scenes? (see my previous post.) What were the “scriptwriting disagreements” that Sergio Corbucci had with THE SPECIALIST writer Sabattino Ciuffini, according to Weisser? I can’t falsify any of this gossip but so far I have not found much reason to believe it either.

A minor point I find ironic is that Weisser has the gall to attack fellow film enthusiasts for the “inaccuracy” that Sergio Leone had something to do with THE GENIUS - regardless of the fact that Leone directed the prologue, Weisser could have just checked the opening credits to see it was produced by his company!

44

Just out of interest, what are weisser´s top 20 films. I dont have the book and don´t plan on getting it, as this topic reads like a big warning.

45

There’s review of this book from 1992 in excellent WAI Garko issue:
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Westerns…_All%27Italiana%21

46

Here it is, an eclectic mixture of classic titles and plain odd choices - even after reading the reviews of Black Killer and Wanted Johnny Texas I still can’t quite figure why Weisser considers them top drawer stuff. I give it to AvatarDK that checking all of them out would not be such a bad introduction to the genre, though maybe a little baffling in some instances. As I’ve said before, I can take Weisser’s SW taste, it’s his “editorial policy” I disagree with.

Sergio Sollima: Big Gundown
Carlo Croccolo: Black Killer
Giulio Petroni: Death Rides a Horse
Sergio Corbucci: Django
Sergio Garrone: Django the Bastard
Sergio Leone: For a Few Dollars More
Lucio Fulci: Four Gunmen (sic) of the Apocalypse
Sergio Leone: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Paolo Bianchini: I Want Him Dead
Giuliano Carnimeo: I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death
Romolo Guerrieri: Johnny Yuma
Leopoldo Savona: Killer Kid
Marcello Andrei: Macho Killers (El Macho)
Sergio Martino: Man Called Blade
Tonino Valerii: Price of Power
Nando Cicero: Red Blood, Yellow Gold
Bruno Mattei: Scalps
Sergio Garrone: Vendetta at Dawn
Pasquale Squitieri: Vengeance is a Dish Served Cold
Emimmo Salvi: Wanted Johnny Texas

47

I find this book very interesting but am amazed at its ridiculess errors.

48

Ok, I’m going to vent.
Not that I am offering anything new, but I just gotta take this fucker to task.

Tom Weisser is either an incompetent fool or one of the lyingest sacks of shit to put pen to paper (probably both).

Last year I watched most of Guglielmo Spoletini’s Spaghettis. One of my favorite films in which he appears is Death Knows No Time (a.k.a. Tierra Brava).

Spoletini is actually the “star” of this modest Leon Klimovsky directed Spaghetti. He plays a peon who is forced through circumstance to become an outlaw/revolutionary. It is a very good performance and he brings to it a nuanced approach, nearly the opposite of, for instance, Tomas Milan’s highly emotive style.
As I said, it is a small film but quite good for what it is and unusual to boot.

Well, we all have come to expect “Honest Tom” to be error ridden in nearly anthing he writes but I was taken aback by what he had to say about this film. I wish I had the book with me so I could quote it exactly but I can remember it well enough. Firstly, of course, he gets the details of the plot and characters so completely wrong that it is absolutely clear that he has never seen the film. As I said, no surprise there.
BUT, then he feels the need to offer an opinion about the film. I can’t remember now his exact words but he was completely dismissive of this movie and said something like it was “yet more ponderous nonsense” from Klimovsky.

How utterly galling. To have the temerity to not even see a movie yet to offer a highly negative evaluation of it under the guise of being an “authority”.
How does this cocksucker live with himself? >:(
Why does McFarland keep this book in print?

%#$^%#^%$(^&&(*&(%%&$#^#%&)&()(&%&$^%#^&$(^&^&^$%#@#@##^^)

Ah, better now.

1 Like
49

Have a lie down RF and think happy thoughts. :wink:

50

I did better. I just sent this email to MacFarland (corrections department):

Hello folks at McFarland,
I’ve purchased many of the books you publish and am grateful that a publisher is out there who will put into print some of the great titles you’ve taken up.

But I feel the need to complain about a certain book which you currently publish and get some understanding from you regarding what standards you employ when fact-checking.

The book in question is
Spaghetti Westerns: The Good, The Bad & The Violent: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography of 558 Spaghetti Westerns by Thomas Weisser.

I would be very surprised had you not already received many complaints/comments regarding Mr. Weisser’s book.

I’ve been a fan of Spaghetti westerns for some years now and have seen (and own on DVD) about half of the movies Mr. Weisser details in his critical filmography of the genre.
This book is so error ridden that it is almost shocking that it made it into publication. Most of the errors are to be found in the plot synopses and character summaries. It is obvious that Mr. Weisser has not seen many, many of the movies that he talks about. To add insult to injury, he offers qualitative evaluations of movies that he has clearly, obviously, never seen.
I have no problem with anyone offering an opinion about any film even, of course, if I disagree with the opinion. But this is absurd.

So my questions are:
How did this slip through to publication with so many demonstrable errors?
How does it STAY in publication with a quantity of errors that, I would hope, would make any reputable publisher blush with embarrassment?

Is is unfair to fault an entire publishing house for the foibles of just one book but the fact that this item carries your brand name ought to be a concern to you. I’m glad I was exposed to many of your fine publications before encountering this one.

I would be happy to compile and supply to you a partial but representative list of errors contained in this book if you care to see it.

Here is a link to a thread about Mr. Weisser’s book on a online forum dedicated to the Spaghetti Western genre: http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,797.0.html

I don’t know if the link is helpful to you but it can give you an idea about how knowledgeable fans regard this publication. Some of the language is powerful but it reflects the frustration felt by many who have read or used Mr. Weisser’s book.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.

51

Go get 'em RF ;D

Let us know if they send a reply!

52

Well written. I get pissed when he overuses parenthesis. Or maybe even when he includes a film he hasn’t seen in his top 20. He just pisses me off.

53

Jesus. The man is a giant phallus.

54

I’d be interested to know whether you get a reply to that email too! Perhaps we on the forum should take the book and do our own version - correcting all the mistakes, though that would be a pretty gargantuan task! Or list all the mistakes! I still have mine and must admit i found it useful in getting titles as when i bought it (the time it was released) i had barely been able to scratch the surface of the genre but for a newcomer, to rely on it as a guide of which films to seek out would be disastrous. I myself have been surprised a few times that way!

55

Here he is.

[attachment older than 600 days, deleted by admin]

56

It is not COMPLETELY valueless as you say. I use it to translate from English to Italian and back (titles)
And I did depend on it when I first started out. But when you are relatively new you are watching the most widely available Spaghettis. So Weisser has seen (some of) those. It’s when you start to get off the beaten path that you realize how big a fraud Weisser is.

Heehee. That’s just how I imagined he’d look.

57

Here is a thread from another forum about Weisser’s book and the errors:

http://www.lovelockandload.net/forum/index.php?topic=244.0

Weisser is a douche. He also did a book on Asian cinema. I wonder if that book is also not filled with errors?

58

I wish I knew what he looked like. Just to see what kind of person would do this.

But for the record, his book is good for reading in the bathroom.

59

I used to have that Asian cinema book, and yes, it was… >:( And he was downright offensive about a few of the actors…

60

Haaaaahaaaaaa. As the saying goes: a place for everything and everything in it’s place.