We know Tarantino loves a western, but what are his favorites?
Since the lockdown began, I have tried to educate myself on a lot of the classic films that I've missed. One of the specific areas I was lacking was westerns. Sure, I had seen the famous ones, but there were a ton I just never heard of or that I never found available.
And since 1.) I love living in Quentin Tarantino's world, 2.) he's such a knowledgeable person when it comes to making and researching films, and 3.) he knows his stuff when it comes to westerns, I figured I'd look to him for guidance.
Lucky for me, Tarantino put together a list of his favorite spaghetti westerns. These are movies that surely inspired his work on Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood.
Tarantino recently sat down with the Spaghetti Western Database to give them a list of his top films.
Let's dive ion.
Quentin Tarantino's official list of favorite Spaghetti Westerns:
1. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, by Sergio Leone (1966)
2. For a Few Dollars More, by Sergio Leone (1965)
3. Django, by Sergio Corbucci (1966)
4. The Mercenary, by Sergio Corbucci (1968)
5. Once Upon A Time in the West, by Sergio Leone (1968)
6. A Fistful of Dollars, by Sergio Leone (1964)
7. Day of Anger, by Tonino Valerii (1967)
8. Death Rides a Horse, by Giulio Petroni (1967)
9. Navajo Joe, by Sergio Corbucci (1966)
10. The Return of Ringo, by Duccio Tessari (1965)
11. The Big Gundown, by Sergio Sollima (1966)
12. A Pistol for Ringo, by Duccio Tessari (1965)
Video is no longer available: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR-lCD661wQ
13. The Dirty Outlaws, by Franco Rossetti (1967)
14. The Great Silence, by Sergio Corbucci (1968)
15. The Grand Duel, by Giancarlo Santi (1972)
16. Shoot the Living, Pray for the Dead, by Giuseppe Vari (1971)
17. Tepepa, by Giulio Petroni (1968)
18. The Ugly Ones, by Eugenio Martin (1966)
19. Viva Django, by Ferdinando Baldi (1967)
20. Machine Gun Killers, by Paolo Bianchini (1968)
Video is no longer available: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zT5KylDKGY
Sum it up!
Hopefully, this fills your movie queue. There are a lot of famous names here but there's also a ton you may have never known existed. And lots of them have scenes in the trailer we saw across Tarantino's other films.
It's so interesting to see how he uses homage to honor this stuff while putting his own spin on the story.
What are some of your favorites?
Let us know in the comments.
Up Next: Did Unforgiven End the Western Genre?
Loved looking at Tarantino's list? Westerns were all the range from the 50s through the 90s. Then Unforgiven came and gunned most of them down for a decade or more. What happened?
Your Comment
3 Comments
As a youngster, I was always mesmerized by Lee Van Cleef.
Those close ups on his face, sucking on a cigar, shifty eyes...ready.
I never saw all the Westerns mentioned in the article, but those that
I did will forever be etched in my memory.
July 3, 2020 at 11:05AM, Edited July 3, 11:05AM
have seen 3 of the Clint Eastwood movies from your list. So long ago. i need to go watch them again.
Good, the bad and the ugly
For a few dollars more
Fistful of dollars
July 3, 2020 at 11:44AM, Edited July 3, 11:44AM
Why should I care what Tarantino likes?
July 6, 2020 at 2:35AM, Edited July 6, 2:35AM