Ennio Morricone and the “Spaghetti Western”

The Italian composer Ennio Morricone died at the age of 91 in July. He was a very prolific writer of scores for films of all genres, but he might be best known for scoring a number of films made in Italy, France, and Spain that were set in the Old American West, films that are known affectionately “Spaghetti Westerns”. The most famous of Morricone’s themes and the most famous European Western was The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, the third in the “Man with No Name” Trilogy. Morricone scored all three, Sergio Leone directed all three, and Clint Eastwood starred in all three. The Spaghetti Western Canon is not terribly deep; very few besides the “Man with Name Name” trilogy have been available at libraries in Maine. In remembrance of Ennio Morricone, I purchased a few of the films he scored in the 1960s. They are available now at MML.

• The Great Silence (1968), directed by Sergio Corbucci (the other Sergio), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski. Available on DVD.
• The Big Gundown (1966), directed by Sergio Sollima (the other other Sergio), written by Sergio Donati (the other other other Sergio), and starring Lee van Cleef and Tomas Milian. Available DVD and Blu-ray Disc.
• A Pistol for Ringo (1965) and The Return of Ringo (1966), directed by Duccio Tessari, starring Giuliano Gemma. Both films are on one Blu-ray Disc.