Why are old westerns called “spaghetti westerns”?
A sub-genre of western movies, Spaghetti westerns came of age in the 1960s. Between 1960-1975, some 600 “next-generation” westerns were created by European production companies to satisfy popular global demand for a dwindling supply of the Hollywood-variety cowboy epic. Often shot in Spain and financed in Italy (hence the “spaghetti” designation), these violent, low-budget productions featured an international crew of young actors, speaking a multitude of languages, which was hastily dubbed into English in post-production. The genre peaked with the Dollar series by Italian director Sergio Leone. In 1964, the first of Leone’s classic trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars, launched Clint Eastwood’s film career. Leone was inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s
