Any Gun Can Play: The Essential Guide to Euro-Westerns - Hardcover

Grant; Kevin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1913051145 ISBN 13: 9781913051143

Publisher: Fab Press Limited, 2021

Synopsis

The success of Sergio Leone's 'Dollars' trilogy sparked a gold rush, as a legion of European film-makers - many of them sharing the get-rich-quick mentality of Leone's mercenary anti-heroes - followed the master's lead to create some of the wildest Westerns ever made. Stylish, bloody and baroque, Euro-Westerns replaced straight-talking sheriffs and courageous cowboys with amoral bandits, whose methods would shock the Hollywood Western heroes. These films were box-office sensations around the world, and their influence is still felt today. Any Gun Can Play puts the phenomenon into perspective, exploring the films' wider reaches, their recurrent themes, characters, quirks and motifs. It examines Euro-Westerns in relation to their American ancestors, and spotlights the unsung actors, directors, musicians and poster artists who subverted the 'code' of the Western and dragged it into the modern age.Based on years of research backed up by interviews with many of the genre's leading lights, including actors Franco Nero, Giuliano Gemma and Gianni Garko, writer Sergio Donati, and directors Sergio Sollima and Giuliano Carnimeo, Any Gun Can Play is the definitive work on the genre, that continues to satisfy both connoisseurs and the curious. Complete with a foreword by Euro-Western legend Franco Nero, this stunningly illustrated reference guide takes aim at the lingering notion that the genre has little to offer beyond the 'Dollars' films and a fistful of others, exposing the full, vibrant history of the Euro-Western.

About this title

About the Authors

Kevin Grant is a freelance journalist and film writer with a passion for exploitation movies. A fan of Westerns since childhood, he has contributed to a range of publications including Flesh & Blood, Delirium, Blood, Money and Vengeance, Hotdog and European Trash Cinema. This is his first book.

As the alter ego of Django and Keoma, Franco Nero's iconic status among Euro-western aficionados is second to none. He gave vigorous performances in more than a dozen westerns, and he remains an impassioned ambassador for the genre. One of relatively few Italian actors to make an impact on a global scale, he has appeared in more than 120 films since his breakthrough in the mid-Sixties, alternating starring roles in popular movies with character turns in more prestigious productions. A frequent collaborator of Sergio Corbucci and Enzo Castellari, he has also worked with Luis Bunuel.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fab Press Limited
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1913051145
• ISBN 13: 9781913051143
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 480