Spaghetti Westerns refer to the film genre made in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s produced and directed mainly by Italian filmmakers. It was often filmed in Spanish deserts because costs were low and they wanted to try and keep the landscape similar to those of traditional American westerns. However, as seen in Navajo Joe and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly there are many differences that can be seen between the traditional western genre and spaghetti westerns. From a cultural studies perspective Italians used these films not only to depict some of the troubles in their own country but also the view they had on American culture.
Europeans at the time viewed the United States as a very greedy and violent nation. This is depicted in the film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly; the plot surrounds three men in search of a buried treasure which included a large sum of coins. All three men are on separate paths to find this treasure, but many times run into each other and either try and take the other out or form an alliance with them. They will kill anything in their way, having no discretion on the amount of violence they use. One of the men sneaks up upon a woman in the dark and she shrieks Bill, the man he is in search of. So he beats the woman until she gives up the location of Bill, who happens to be the confederate soldier that knows the location of the buried coins. It isn’t till the revisionist western that there is physical harm done to women; there were times in traditional westerns were the woman would be viewed as objects but when they were seen playing the role of the housewife they were treating with nothing but respect. This view however could be the Italians pointing out the growing rate of domestic abuse in the United States in relation to the feminist movements. Another point that can be seen in relation to the culture of Italy is the portrayal of the Civil War going on in the movie. During the times these films were made Italy was a post-war society so many Italian directors would substitute the American Civil War into films in place of WWII.
The film Navajo Joe opens with a very violent and gruesome first scene. It pictures Duncan shooting an innocent Native American woman and scalping her. He would then bring the scalps into the sheriff; however the sheriff told Duncan he was now considered a murder because he was no longer killing troublemakers, but instead killing innocent women and children. Duncan is an example of how little respect many Americans gave to minority groups at the time. The protagonist of the film and character that could most be related to an alpha-male was Joe. But both Joe and Duncan do not carry characteristics typically associated with an alpha-male cowboy; both are very violent and their motives are either money or seeking revenge, neither is looking to carry out a “duty” to society. This is one of the major differences between Spaghetti Westerns and Traditional westerns, the main characters are much more violent and greedy and sometimes acting just out of revenge.
Navajo Joe shows a minority character moving out of a background role, but he is still looked down upon in some scenes such as the one in which he tells the town men that he will do the job but in return wants a dollar for every head and to be appointed sheriff. When he tells them this they all look at him with a dumbfound look, saying “an Indian as sheriff?” This portrayal of the Indian shows that in the United States minorities were beginning to take steps into society, but there were still many obstacles in their way and violent acts being taken against them.
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