Through the 50s and 60s, the classic Western cowboy movie began to die out as the spaghetti Western took its place at the top. In the last decade of Westerns, the films The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe depict are a product of the spaghetti Westerns that reflect Americans changing and questioning of previous held values.
In The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, it starts with a bang. Literally. The rolling credits before the opening scene alone foreshadow and set the tone for the rest of the film as it blast with gunshots. The movie begins with violence and keeps that steady pace throughout the film as Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes go in search for their treasure and will go through any means to find it, even stabbing one another in the back. This greed drives each one to result to violence, which takes up the majority of the film with gunshots and shootouts overpowering words and conversations. Unlike classic Western films where the violent scenes are hyped up to be the climax, the spaghetti Westerns has violence in nearly every scene. For example, the first character to speak in this film does not do so until about eleven minutes into the film. And the conversation only lasts a minute or so until he and his son are shot dead by Angel Eyes, who then goes on to shoot the man who paid him to kill the first one. As time wore on, the Western film genre began to be more violent with the spaghetti films and no longer depicted heroes who upheld the American ideals but were violent, greedy, petty criminals who ruthlessly murdered others. Made in 1966 at the end of the Western film genre, the film reveals the conscience of Americans during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was sensitizing Americans to the issues of U.S. imperialism and warfare against non-white people, and comparisons can be made between American patriotism and the violence atmosphere of the cinematic Western. This picture of excessive and unnecessary violence can be further seen in the spaghetti Western Navajo Joe.
Following in step with the previously mentioned film, Navajo Joe opens with an Indian village being attacked by outlaws as one of them kills a woman and proceeds to scalp her. The credits begin to roll with the Wild West music accompanied by the screams of the Native Americans; it is clearly scene that the film has fulfilled the spaghetti Western film characteristic of excessive violence (not to mention what influenced Tarantino). When Joe finds his tribe attacked and massacred, he trails Duncan and his men and sets off on his rampage of revenge that, as expected of a spaghetti Western, packs the film with violence. Very different from the classic Western film, the Native American Joe is the heroic figure who has to defeat the white American outlaws for justice. In the 60s, America had already begun to shed light on the issue of racism, which destroyed the future for classic Westerns. The Western genre did not survive because it was one of the most racist genres of the century. Like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, this film was also made in 1966 and dealt with many of the same issues of the backlash of the Vietnam War and the change of American views. It is the product of the civil rights movement of the postwar era that killed the genre as filmmakers and Americans began to stray from and question the classic Western film formula, which was undignified violence against “others” mainly Native Americans.
Through excessive violence and reversal of roles, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe represent the spaghetti Western film genre and America’s progress towards being more politically sensitive and correct.
Through the 50s and 60s, the classic Western cowboy movie began to die out as the spaghetti Western took its place at the top. In the last decade of Westerns, the films The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe depict are a product of the spaghetti Westerns that reflect Americans changing and questioning of previous held values.
ReplyDeleteIn The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, it starts with a bang. Literally. The rolling credits before the opening scene alone foreshadow and set the tone for the rest of the film as it blast with gunshots. The movie begins with violence and keeps that steady pace throughout the film as Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes go in search for their treasure and will go through any means to find it, even stabbing one another in the back. This greed drives each one to result to violence, which takes up the majority of the film with gunshots and shootouts overpowering words and conversations. Unlike classic Western films where the violent scenes are hyped up to be the climax, the spaghetti Westerns has violence in nearly every scene. For example, the first character to speak in this film does not do so until about eleven minutes into the film. And the conversation only lasts a minute or so until he and his son are shot dead by Angel Eyes, who then goes on to shoot the man who paid him to kill the first one. As time wore on, the Western film genre began to be more violent with the spaghetti films and no longer depicted heroes who upheld the American ideals but were violent, greedy, petty criminals who ruthlessly murdered others. Made in 1966 at the end of the Western film genre, the film reveals the conscience of Americans during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was sensitizing Americans to the issues of U.S. imperialism and warfare against non-white people, and comparisons can be made between American patriotism and the violence atmosphere of the cinematic Western. This picture of excessive and unnecessary violence can be further seen in the spaghetti Western Navajo Joe.
Following in step with the previously mentioned film, Navajo Joe opens with an Indian village being attacked by outlaws as one of them kills a woman and proceeds to scalp her. The credits begin to roll with the Wild West music accompanied by the screams of the Native Americans; it is clearly scene that the film has fulfilled the spaghetti Western film characteristic of excessive violence (not to mention what influenced Tarantino). When Joe finds his tribe attacked and massacred, he trails Duncan and his men and sets off on his rampage of revenge that, as expected of a spaghetti Western, packs the film with violence. Very different from the classic Western film, the Native American Joe is the heroic figure who has to defeat the white American outlaws for justice. In the 60s, America had already begun to shed light on the issue of racism, which destroyed the future for classic Westerns. The Western genre did not survive because it was one of the most racist genres of the century. Like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, this film was also made in 1966 and dealt with many of the same issues of the backlash of the Vietnam War and the change of American views. It is the product of the civil rights movement of the postwar era that killed the genre as filmmakers and Americans began to stray from and question the classic Western film formula, which was undignified violence against “others” mainly Native Americans.
Through excessive violence and reversal of roles, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe represent the spaghetti Western film genre and America’s progress towards being more politically sensitive and correct.