Heh, Biblejoe’s list looks like it was created by random spag generator. No offense, biblejoe, interesting list. 
Anyone whose first choice for a Spag is Le gout de la violence, is a friend of mine and got my recognizion.
This reminds me I got to update my top 20
Exchanged Shalako. What’s the criteria for a spag? Italian (co-)production?
Yeah, Taste of Violence is incredible! Changed my mind on it, regarding its “western-ness” over the years. I think we are all probably far too focused on Fistful of Dollars being the “first” “real” Italian western, because it was so succesful financially and imitated so much. As some people already mentioned, Leone probably learned a lot from a film like Taste of Violence…
Basically this. But I think we have allowed pure spanish productions too.
Yea, basically Italian and Spanish Westerns from the 60s and 70s. We make some exceptions, like Cemetery Without Crosses (definitely a Spag) or Red Sun (not a Spag for me, but others here think it is one), but generally most other European westerns from e.g. British or German directors are not allowed.
I have not included Le gout de la violence in my Top 20 cause I don’t think it is a western at all. Btw how comes that, if you like Le gout de la violence so much, Cemetery Without Crosses does not make your list?
Fod was of course not the first Italian western, but for me it is still the first SW, the one that defined the style and the themes of the sub-genre.
Cut Throats Nine 
I like CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES, but was never a fan of those completely “hopeless”, desolate post-apocalyptic spags, where everything just goes from bad to worse. I do think it’s better than, say IL GRANDE SILENZIO (of which I’m not a fan, though I love Corbucci), but not Top 20 (or 50) material at the moment.
I might change my mind after repeat viewings - but I saw it on 35mm in French with english subs, so a DVD viewing at home probably isn’t going to change my mind that much.
?
It is a Spanish western, so not an exception, but always part of the game. Or what?
Wasn’t happy wity my first attempt at making a list so here’s my new one. This one feels much more right (at this very moment).
- For A Few Dollars More
- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
- The Great Silence
- Once Upon a Time in the West
- Django
- The Big Gundown
- Bandidos
- A Bullet for the General
- Day of Anger
- Black Jack
- The Return of Ringo
- A Fistful of Dollars
- Django Kill!
- Shoot the Living, Pray for the Dead
- The Mercenary
- The Machine Gun Killers
- Vengeance
- Blood on a Silver Dollar
- Requiem for a Gringo
- The Ugly Ones
Hi! Here’s my Top 20:
- The Great Silence
- Once Upon A Time In The West
- For A Few Dollars More
- The Big Gundown
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- A Bullet for the General
- God Forgives… I Don’t!
- The Return of Ringo
- Face to Face
- Companeros
- The Mercenary
- Death Rides A Horse
- Tepepa
- Django
- Sabata
- Cemetery Without Crosses
- And God Said to Cain
- Ace High
- Day of Anger
- A Fistful of Dollars
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My updated Top 20 (and with my IMDb ranking points) after a year as SW collector.
I can’t separate my opinion of a lot of films from each other so I put them in groups.
10p 1-2. For A Few Dollars More, Once Upon A Time In The West
9p 3-4. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, A Fistful Of Dollars
8p 5-8. The Big Gundown, Django Kill If You Live Shoot, Cemetery Without Crosses, My Name Is Nobody
7p 9-20. Death Rides A Horse, Day Of Anger, The Grand Duel, Sabata, Django, The Forgotten Pistolero, Anda Muchacho Spara, The Return Of Ringo, Requiem For Gringo, Ramon The Mexican, Johnny Hamlet, Requiescant
Outside my Top 20 but still likeable.
6p 21-25. Long Days Of Vengeance, The Unholy Four, A Pistol For Ringo, Face To Face, Mannaja
6p 26-28 Light The Fuse…Sartana I Coming, The Petiless Three, His Name Was KIng
I have amended my list based on rewatching some things in the past year. So updated -
- Once Upon a Time in The West
- The Good The Bad and The Ugly
- For a Few Dollars More
- The Big Gundown
- A Fistful of Dollars
- Death Rides a Horse
- Django
- Keoma
- The Return of Ringo
- Cemetery Without Crosses
- Hannie Caulder
- A Fistful of Dynamite
- Sabata
- Companeros
- The Great Silence
- A Bullet for the General
- Run Man Run
- If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death
- Day of Anger
- A Pistol for Ringo
A few comments:
I need to rewatch The Mercenary and Navajo Joe to give them a fair chance to break the list. I saw them years ago and I don’t remember loving them like many do.
From a strictly technical standpoint, Great Silence is terrific and would be much higher. It’s just so downbeat I don’t enjoy it as much as some of the more frivolous entries (Sabata for example).
Face to Face and the Trinity movies were near misses. I wasn’t sure about Hannie Caulder being technically a Spag Western so if the consensus on the board is ‘no, it’s not’ I would move everything after it up a notch and put They Call Me Trinity at No. 20.
UK production born from an idea of Welch’s husband, US director… in my opinion cannot be accepted, despite being filmed in Spain.
It is a good movie, though!
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Yes, it’s an US western. I take They Call Me Trinity as # 20 for the main list.
Ok, but are the films of your list inside the groups in order of preference?
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Thanks stanton! It’s so hard to make a list like this because I tend to suffer from recency bias and films having pristine blu rays tend to elevate their status in my mind. But certainly the top 6 or 7 are set in stone.
Under construction once again…
Another vote for Vengeance!
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Ooops I haven’t seen your question before.
No, within each group my preference is equal between the different SW.
Ok, but then it is tricky to put them in the voting for the big forum list.
Please, just rank them in order of preference from 1 to 20. And if there are 2 which are absolutely equally entertaining, just follow your heart … (in case you have one 
)
OK I will try.