Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most were produced and directed by Italians. In the film Navajo Joe, the opening scene is of a massacred Indian village. The outlaw, Duncan finds his men falling victim to a solitary rider, Navajo Joe. The main character in this movie is a Native America which is different from the classic westerns that depict the alpha male as a white cowboy. Joe saves two prostitutes who have overheard Duncan plot to steal a train full of money belonging to the bank. Spaghettic Westerns show the true greed of cowboys by the main plot in both Navajo Joe and The Good, the Bad, the Ugly surrounded on the idea of money and the pursuit of being rich. The two main characters in The Good, the Bad, the Ugly Tuco and Blondie team up to scam towns into thinking they have caught a wanted man, Tuco, and Blondie stands on the outskirts of the town after collecting the reward and shoots down Tuco before he is able to be hung. Also, after Tuco finds out of a buried teasure he does whatever is in his power to get to the money and become a rich man. The Italians seem to judge Americans to be greedy and money driven. We do whatever it takes to be rich and will show no mercry to anyone who stands in the way.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an extremely violent film, which is a characteristic of spaghetti westerns. This film depicts Americans in a negative light, and it is what Europeans think of the United States. The movie shows Americans as people who are violent by nature and looking out for their own self-interest. In the film, Blondie, the Good, and Tuco, the Ugly, team up and use each other to obtain rewards from each town. Several times, Blondie captures Tuco and turns him in to get the reward and then seconds before the town is about to hang Tuco, Blondie shoots him town and they ride off and share the money. This shows that the Europeans view Americans as people who are always moving around and driven by money. The characters move quickly, never staying anywhere for too long, and constantly tricking people into rewarding them with money. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly also depicts the Civil War, which is a reflection of the Vietnam War as both being ruthless between the two sides, but ultimately both pointless battles.
ReplyDeleteIn the film Navajo Joe, the roles of the Indians and the white cowboy are reversed. In classic westerns, the alpha male cowboy is a white man seeks to take revenge on a band of Indians who ruthlessly attacked his family, such as in The Searchers. Navajo Joe depicts the brutal effects manifest destiny had on the Indians, slaughtered and pushed onto reservations to make way for the white man. In the opening scene of the film, Joe's village is being slaughtered by Duncan and his band of outlaws. The spaghetti western outlook of these films shows Indians as innocent people and the outlaws as ruthless killers.