The script was based on another Akira Kurosawa film, 'Yojimbo,' which eventually led to a lawsuit by the producers, and was made with a very modest budget. And Italian production companies wanted a piece of the popular moviegoing action.Ĭoincidentally, a young, up-and-coming talent named Sergio Leone was pitching an idea he was calling 'The Magnificent Stranger' - clearly a cash-in title. As more films continued to be produced in similar fashion ('The Singer Not the Song,' 'The Treasure of Silver Lake,' 'Among Vultures'), they began to redefine not only the genre but even unintentionally demythologize the vision of the American west.

The film essentially introduced the motifs which would later classify the subgenre, particularly the use of graphic violence, the anti-hero protagonist, and the unique, more realistic western setting. Directed by celebrated Hammer Studios producer Michael Carreras, 'The Savage Guns' (aka, 'Tierra brutal') is rightly seen as paving the way for what later became known as the Italian western, or as it's more affectionately called, the Spaghetti western.

To combat stock characterization and running the risk of formulaic plots, however, the filmmakers challenged the conventions of the genre in some very distinct and fascinating ways.

There was clearly something fresh and new about the film, likely Kurosawa's more daring and original storyline, which many Europeans found immensely entertaining. box-office failure of 'The Magnificent Seven' - a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai' - which, as a shock to everyone, became a major success throughout Europe. Conversely, European audiences couldn't get enough of the genre and started making their own westerns, namely Spanish serials based on the Zorro legend. But as TV-watching grew, along with popular western shows, these movies didn't receive much attention in theaters. Aside from some important exceptions, American studios were churning out features that were stale, tedious, and predictable - hokey productions with big-name actors intended purely for mass market appeal. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Western genre as a whole was starting to feel like a parody of itself.

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