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

This is a book I would have liked to have written. Does a fantastic job of covering the Euro Western genre, with honest, well thought out critiques and info. Those looking or waiting for something other than another rehash of Leone studies are in for a treat; while there is the necessary Leone commentary ( can't ignore them) author Kevin Grant views the entire scope of the genre ranging from style, social relevance, the people involved in the making of the films (a huge deal for me- the bio section) and as complete a list of titles as you could hope for.

The review included here by Richard Oravitz says it all but I just had to put in my two cents by saying this is one of the first books besides Sir Christopher Frayling's scholarly works that allows the layman to appreciate and see the importance of the Euro Western. Mr. Grant has given us an exhaustive overview of the entire genre. It shows how the Europeans who were avid fans of the American Western needed to give a makeover to the slowly fading cliches which filled the screens. After the explosion of Sergio Leone's Dollars films which forever changed the look and feel of the Western, everyone including Hollywood got on the band wagon to try and top each other. The Leone films are finally regarded as classics but there were countless others which were made that were glossed over by critics and considered inferior due to bad editing and dubbing or released to television in horrible pan and scan transfers decimating the beauty of the images which the directors and cinematographers intended . Mr. Grant explores all aspects of this remarkable trend by sectioning each chapter to specific motifs and European standards for the times as Bounty Hunters, priests, families and even women gunslingers are studied within the context of the screenwriters , Musical Composers,cinematographers and directors. Finally , Directors such as Sergio Corbucci, Sergio Sollima, Tonino Valeri, among others get their due and certain actors such as Guiliano Gemma, Anthony Steffen, George Hilton among others are celebrated showing their importance to the molding of the genre. It also highlights underrated masterpieces of the genre including 'THE HELLBENDERS', 'DAY OF ANGER', 'THE PRICE OF POWER', 'CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES' among others giving inciteful footnotes and interviews with the craftsmen of these photoplays at the end of each chapter . The reverberations of the Euro Western is still being felt today in modern cinema such as Producer/Director Luc Besson's 'TRANSPORTER' series with actor Jason Statham, Vin Diesal's 'FAST AND FURIOUS' franchise and Actor/Director Sylvestor Stallone's 'THE EXPENDABLES'. These films are Westerns in camouflaged Action genre mode. So Mr. Grant, I would like to pour you a glass of JB, light your cigarillo and shake your hand if ever we meet on a job well done and showing the importance of viewing these wonderful films. Along side Author Tim Lucas's tome masterpiece 'MARIO BAVA- ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK' which celebrates not only the Horror genre but Italian Cinema in general, this book is essential reading and an important contribution to appreciating and seeing the significance and inclusion of the European Western alongside their American counterparts.

So, you may be asking yourself, why would I want to plunk this colossal tome into my Amazon shopping cart? Why this and not any of the other Spaghetti Western reference books also available? One HUGE difference and hence, reason. The author of this heavy volume (rumored to be printed on actual pasta, but that has never actually been proven) can actually WRITE, as in literature, as in GREAT LITERATURE and/or ART. If this was published in the 1920's and titled "Ulysses", we may not even know who James Joyce was today, because it would say Kevin Grant on the cover and people in that era would be puzzling over what a symbolic Spaghetti Western is and who the heck the mythical Tomas Milian was. Okay, okay, so I'm stretching this beyond my usual already far-fetched limits (good thing Klaus Kinski isn't the Sheriff on Amazon, or the local undertaker would be nailing together my cheap casket as I type this), but hopefully for your sake I've made my point because if you love this genre and are as confused by it as much as I am (it's not always exactly spelled out for you especially in light of how many available movies are public domain, European prints vs. Domestic and/or Television prints, etc.), then you need this book to blow the dust-storm off of the ghost-town that you always hoped you could know more about. So buy it, it's like, what, in it's THIRD printing already? It's Published by FAB Press, the saviors of the genre-studies-as-literature, to whom I genuflect whenever I see their logo on printed material. I can't say that I'm familiar with all of their output, but what I do own is enough to describe their decision to publish a book as to meet the requirement of indispensability necessary for obsessors of these genres to drop folding money on because WE KNOW WE CAN DEPEND ON THAT BOOK TO PROVIDE LASTING REFERENCE and COMFORTING WARMTH LACED with COOLING KNOWLEDGE throughout our lifetimes. So next time you're curling up next to the space-heater or below the ceiling fan watching Lee Van Cleef looking like a Praying Mantis about to make short, precise work of a cowboy who may or may not be an outlaw, and you are wondering who THAT actor is playing that unfortunate man, or how many times this film got sent through the re-titling machine until it ended up in the version you are now giving eye-credit to, and what was the original running time of the uncut edition anyway? There are 2 scenarios; you can simply say, shucks I should have ordered a copy of Kevin Grant's "Any Gun Can Play", I wouldn't be in this lonely predicament if I had, OR you can reach up and grab the copy that you bought and is sitting there whispering your name, take a terlet break and brush up on some replenishing info before getting back to the motion picture and your refreshing beverage and peanuts. Uh-oh, Sheriff Kinski is knocking at the door, gotta scramble!

I am a fan and collector of Western Films and anything that has to do with the Wild Wild West. I own about 800 western films, many of them the so called ¨Spaghetti Westerns¨ that actually, most of them were filmed in Spain. When I saw this book on Amazon, I knew I had to get it. and I'm so glad I did, because it is one of the best books written about that particular western genre from Italy. The book is well written and documented and if you are a fan of these kind of films this book is for you. Not only you'll get a great information about all the spaghetti westerns, but also on the European films with lots of pictures and posters from those films. I truly believe that this is the only book you'll need to buy to get a full knowledge on these films. I know i have learn a lot since I bought it.

Il libro è certamente costato tanta fatica all'autore Kevin Grant ed è certamente piacevole da sfogliare per cogliere suggestioni random dal genere soffermandosi su foto e poster. Ma il risultato purtroppo è molto troppo dilettantesco. Molta carne al fuoco di chi ha certamente entusiasmo ma cucinata malissimo. Questo è tutto fuorché quanto dice la copertina: "Essential Guide". No, non è una guida perchè manca l'ordine, la struttura e la leggibilità di una vera guida (controesempio? Il meraviglioso Dizionario del Western all'Italiana di Marco Giusti). Il libro non ha capo ne coda! E' confusissimo. Misteriosa la sequenza degli argomenti trattati. Pessimo l'editing, pessimo l'indice analitico illeggibile, pessima la scelta di ordinare i film per titolo inglese invece che italiano. Veramente scarso e superficiale, o spesso assente, l'analisi storica o sociale dei film trattati. Non mancano gli errori e questo contribuisce alla confusione (es. capire l'anno di uscita di un film è difficilissimo, cambiando senza motivo scorrendo il libro). Consiglio questo tomo solo a collezionisti del Western Spaghetti (altro che Euro-Western! solo perchè aggiunti sconosciuti film tedeschi o spagnoli?).

As a long time fan of euro westerns, I was quite happy to order this book. Upon receiving the order, I could not be happier. Lots of info on countless films. If you are a western fan (esp euro westerns), you should get this book!

A very informative book about Euro Westerns, dealing from the pre-Leone westerns to the late cycle of spaghetti westerns in the mid 1970s. It give a very good insight on these movies and how they developed from the early 1960s. If you are interested in westerns, this is a good source book to learn about the Euro-westerns

livre trés instructif et de belles photos. malheureusement quelques pages sont manquantes ou imprimées 2 fois vers la fin. erreur d'impression.

Hello wild west fans, Under youtube, the essential guide to euro westerns Äny gun can play" you can really watch in the book. With a foreword by franco nero, this English book about the euro westerns is the best book written about the subject so far. Any gun can play puts the phenomenon into perspective, showing its themes, characters and motifs. The actors, the musicians, the directors and the films relation witch their american ancestors are brought in the spotlight. Interviews with the main actors, directors and musicians makes this book of Kevin Grant a beauty into your bookshell. With 64 pages in colour, the book is nice in combination with books like "the screen greats Clint eastwood" (exeter), Clint a retrospective (sterling) or Christopher Frayling's Sergio Leone once upon a time in Italy or "spagetti western buch (german language). M Ritzen