The Delicious World of Spaghetti Films

[Music] H I can't decide what I want um excuse me waiter uh could you please tell me the specials again yes of course tonight I have a colorful and mysterious little dish known as jallo a Hardy and substantial entree which might even serve to horrify you or taste buds spooned over a bed of psychological horror Julianne Thriller and finally diced crime fiction G was a diverse influential dish stemming from Italia and even has its hooks in a large portion of American film the slasher movie ah very nice horrify my taste was okay do you have anything in a spaghetti um yes of course not a special mind you but we have a spaghetti western on the menu a rather Broad and Confused dish of varying clame don't get me wrong I believe it's an enjoyable meal and you will find some aspects enjoyable no doubt it is hard to find a line between this dish and others of similar structure however well I see you you know what I'll take both please excellent sir any appetizers for you this evening um yes I think to start I will have the those of you who have gone to film school like I unfortunately have will know all about Italian neorealism neorealism is such a fundamental period that inspired many other art movements in cinema Neo Neo Neo Neo Neo Neo NE Neo what the [ __ ] does neo mean I've seen it a lot with art movements Neo folk Neo Romanticism Neo Neo expressionist post witchcraft modernist visual-based techno or whatever the [ __ ] everything has to have a name I guess in a nutshell Neo just means new or revived contemporary just like how modernism doesn't exemplify our modern era rather a specific movement that was Modern for the time the prefix Neo defines former Contemporary Art movements that have evolved but what about Italian neorealism specifically what does that even mean well the movement itself stretched from 1943 to 1952 during and after you guessed it World War II and musolini these events naturally molded the course of Italian life in addition to changing the Arts because as we all know art imitates life or is it life imitates art you know [ __ ] it I don't know a good few Italian art movements involved both literature and film Italian neorealism and G are both literary movements which found their ways into Cinema my waiter did a pretty decent job of defining jallo actually but I'll go into depth on that later at the tail end of World War II Italy was devastated and War torn people lost their homes their lives their businesses and their families filmmakers Drew inspiration from their postwar lives and focused on realistic social themes as the basis for their films however it is important to note that Italian neorealism was in literature for decades before it showed up in film in the 1920s Italian Neo realism manifested as emotions opinions and experiences about the growing fascist regime due to the controversial nature of neorealistic Works they were naturally suppressed by the fascist government some authors were imprisoned exiled or forced into hiding here's a list of neorealism authors you can take a look at once the Italian fascist government fell after World War II neorealism finally made it out of the darkness and into the public eye anti-fascism was a common theme as were the themes of contemporary dread Ordinary People and resistance this was a very inspirational and unique time for film because of both presentation and production neorealist films were presented in a documentary type style that predates what we now know as the mockumentary the natural and realistic style of these films helped make all of the themes and actions seem way more realistic and really drive it all home in addition the Productions of these films were extremely fast-paced dare I say sloppy professional actors were less so used in favor of using actual people who lived through the experiences being presented the whole neorealist movement ushered in a United Focus towards economic and societal growth once Italy entered the 1950s a large economic boom basically rendered the depressing and anxious neorealism films irrelevant individual income increased as did National morale so films as art does evolved with the times shortly after came French New Wave Cinema but trust me that needs to be a video all on its own it's a hefty chunker of a topic wow that was one fing into Pasto I really don't know if I can even take a bite of my actual food well okay here comes the waiter your first entree sir I love spaghetti westerns they are distracting sometimes because of the overdubbed lines you can sure consider yourself much Lucky in your P get your P your P your but they cut right through the the conventions of American westerns leaving behind some really unique and fresh films the term Spaghetti Western allegedly originated from Spanish journalist Alfonso Sanchez but was then used as an insult by American critics to describe italian-made westerns they deemed lesser than the American equivalent an insane amount of Italian Cinema has been reduced to being described by the prefix spaghetti the dish spaghetti bolognese which I am most certain American critics are thinking of when using this prefix isn't even [ __ ] Italian of course the noodle spaghetti is but do you really think ye oldie American critics respond enough to either realize this or think of a more clever name for Italian films these are the Red Scare kind of critics I'm talking about not respectable and well-known ones like Ebert regardless the genre of spaghetti westerns is actually quite endearing and a few of them are widely considered to be some of the best films ever made still this is such a confusing genre because it's hard to draw a line between Spaghetti Westerns and other Euro westerns so let's work on defining the stylistic components while we look at some of the definitive Spaghetti Westerns Sergio Leon Eno moricone and Clint Eastwood three towering figures which defined a genre nay an era of film making in 1961 the film Savage guns was made in Spain after this film was released Spain became a viable location for filming westerns this is due to parts of Spain resembling the American West shortly after both A Fistful of Dollars and Weston soda came out in 1964 and 65 respectively even though Fistful of Dollars came out a year prior West and soda was in development before Fistful of Dollars so the director of West and soda Bruno boetto claims he invented the genre before Sergio Leon who directed A Fistful of Dollars despite who actually created the genre 1964 led to the Breakthrough of the spaghetti western with them flourishing in the commercial film Market and lowbudget environments let's talk conventions a large staple of American westerns are the heroic main characters John Wayne is such a well-known figure for his portrayal of commanding and traditionally good men in a [ __ ] ton of westerns that's not always the case with the spaghetti variety it's common to actually see anti-heroes in spaghetti westerns particularly the likes of Clint Eastwood and the ever amazing L van CLE mysteriously portrayed and set up for their own gain spaghetti western anti-heroes were a large Innovation to the genre many directors tried to get actors who looked like Clint Eastwood in their films after the success of A Fistful of Dollars with Franco Nero Anthony stefen and John Garo there are a few mystical qualities to Spaghetti Westerns which make them feel extremely different from the American ones some of these spaghetti anti-heroes have Aimbot levels of firearm accuracy The Man With No Name portrayed by Clint is one of the most competent and extraordinary Gunslingers in film history unmatched skill and a cool calm demeanor is very common with these protagonists on a story level some spaghetti western are inspired by The Works of classic literature and mythology Shakespeare's Hamlet and Homer's Odyssey have been adapted into spaghetti western through Johnny Hamlet and the return of Ringo due to these films being European I see these Inspirations as cultural aspects which help separate Spaghetti Westerns as their own thing all right let's talk production value and quality yes Spaghetti Westerns created a huge and successful Market but that doesn't mean they were were all high budget extravaganzas in fact a good few of them are actually lowbudget which makes sense because lowbudget means low risk especially in a popular genre that being said some of the most successful ones are also kind of janky there is a noticeable overdubbing of some characters because filmmakers had actors speak in their native languages then overdub the lines later in whatever language they wanted it can be distracting sometimes like watching an overdubbed kung fu movie however it's just part of the charm I guess no it's not all right Sergio Leon those of you who don't know about Sergio Leon don't worry that's okay I'm not disappointed just upset this man helped commercialize and popularize the genre which sparked the creation of so many films both good and bad his style utilized a large amount of character close-ups in these wide lengthy shots his partnership with anyam morone assisted in creating an influential genre the film score for spaghetti westerns is one of my favorite aspects of the genre due to a lot of budget constraints the film scores for these films were very minimalistic and Incorporated sound effects like whips gunshots and various other Western items the few instruments that were used consisted of mouth Harps guitars trumpets and whistling which I understand isn't an instrument the heavy sound effects used in the score helped accentuate the action and heavy amount ounts of violence on screen once budgets became higher for some spaghetti westerns any morone scores Incorporated more instrumentation became more orchestral with the harsh brass of the trumpet still being a fundamental component to his scores the best part of both ano morone and Sergio Leon is their collaboration they worked together in eight films until Sergio Leon's death in 1989 together they defined and set the foundation for the genre okay all right i' I'd be remiss if I didn't talk Quinton [Applause] [Music] Tarantino no matter how you feel about this guy as a filmmaker or a person graphic violence why not let us imagine a little it's so much fun Jan it he has been influential to the film industry in a very similar way to Spaghetti Westerns Quinton Tarantino is 100% inspired by spaghetti western even his non-western films have the mark of spaghetti all over them kilbo pays homage to the genre with its use of Music gratuitous violence and the Revenge plot I am going to Kill Bill Kill Bill coincides more with Ramen western or Samurai films but the stylistic choices are reminiscent of Leon closeups wide shots more con's music being used in the actual film D Jango Unchained is the more obvious example of a spaghetti western because of the setting violence plot and character motives they even got Franco Nero in [Applause] [Music] there in glorious bastards is one of his best films and yes it is also similar to Spaghetti Westerns it plays against conventions and fits the mold very well I'd recommend analyzing some of his films because you'll see spaghetti western throughout almost all of them Spaghetti Westerns as a whole are a wide genre they've inspired an influenced Standalone genre and other Western genres such as space westerns horror westerns and acid westerns I really want to talk about them in the future filled with high levels of violence anti-heroes black humor dubious motives and epic music spaghetti western are as close to being the inverse of traditional westerns as possible they were commercially successful and their influence extends into our modern era of films we should not let the style of these films die to me it does doesn't seem as though Spaghetti Westerns ever died sure the European production style changed and Italian filmmakers moved on to different things but Clint Eastwood went on to make plenty of westerns after this they definitely had the touch of spaghetti westerns because of his time as the biggest spaghetti western star of all time it's undeniable that his stint making spaghetti westerns affected him as a filmmaker okay yeah my waiter was right kind of bland at times but I got a few perfect bikes in this dish oh here it comes again jeez hello sir your second Andre I apologize for the [Music] weight horror is such a saturated and diluted category inside and outside of the film industry even on my Coast we have horror attractions right out the ass YouTube channels are dedicated to scaring your pants off and horror films are cheaper to make than any other type of film the Preposterous amount of horror films aside I love Terror true Terror that really gets under my skin there are very few things which can actually do that but a cheap entertaining thrill most times feels like just what the doctor ordered what separates horror on an international scale is it culture production nature nurture blah blah blah let's take a look at jalo AKA spaghetti Thrillers and find out jalo literally translates to yellow in Italian this is because the original pulp Thriller novels which created the jalo genre had yellow covers calling a genre after the color of a novel's cover is the American equivalent to calling Autumn Fall because Leaf fall down from tree to Define Galo is to define the weather there are lengthy amounts of genres which fall into the jalo label as mentioned jalo began in the 1920s as translations of American and British pulp novels titled ilalo mandori popularity surrounding these novels grew into their colloquially known as G they then worked their way into 1960s Cinema as laid sexy and bloody Affairs audience interest and popularity led to an explosion of Jolo films in the 1970s with dozens being made every year before xalo made its introduction the Italian film Market was flooded with sword and sandal epics don't get me wrong there are Decades of important film movements and styles within Italian History however jalo is such a stray from neorealism that it's interesting to explore the jarring shift from one to the other the creation of jolo's Telltale visual style is credited to Dario orento and Mario Bava with their 1960s and70s films the bird with the crystal plumage and The Girl Who Knew Too Much the former was influenced by another Bava jalo film titled blood and black lace however argentos the bird with the crystal plummage is considered to be much more influential on jalo as a whole the film added stylized violence and copious amounts of suspense to the entire genre like with most things defining the genre was a team effort Bava introduced lurid color provocative sexuality in the black glove killer tropes in the 1960s Argento with inspiration coming from Bava added more stylish components to elevate the spaghetti Thriller to folon jalo as we know it now from the 1970s to the 1980s galo's popularity raged but naturally decreased as other genres were introduced and prioritized the GI lives on to this day through the modern day slasher film despite the decrease in popularity Jolly are still made to this day but as expected they are few and far between jallo films do end up feeling like style over substance at times because of the vibrant colors and occasional conventional tropy plots they are usually filled with enough suspense and violence to be considered fun rides through Italian cin at least in my opinion okay wow I am extremely stuffed I will not be getting two Entre next time I come here I can't even think about dessert I tried to keep all this as brief as possible but with like most things film related Italian Cinema is dense the script for this video ended up being very uneven favoring Spaghetti Westerns but that's just because they hold a very special place in my heart genres and styles influence each other while nowadays films are L one specific genre rather a mixture of multiple got to keep things fresh I doubt we will see a new Standalone genre anytime soon but if we do I am very curious to see what it is thanks for watching and see you

Channel: Dude, I Love Movies

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Id: AHOCh14me48

Length: 17min 44sec (1064 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 07 2024