Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Books read in 2024: No. 44 -- 10,000 Ways to Die

by Alex Cox

Started: Oct. 4
Finished: Oct. 23

Notes: Written by a film director, this book is apparently an extensive look into the Spaghetti Western movie genre, a genre which happens to be one of my favorites (at least when done well). There have been several editions of this book over the last few decades, but I believe the copy I have is the most recent edition from a decade or so back.

Mini review: I've been in the middle of a move, so I've not had a lot of decent reading time of late. That being said, this book was perfect for such a situation. The author covers the Spaghetti Westerns pretty well, in my opinion, providing posts for a few dozen (or thereabouts) movies of the genre, mainly the better known films and a handful of others. Extensive? Exhaustive? Maybe, maybe not, depending on what one is seeking from such a book. I felt this one did a nice balance, and besides, there were thousands of Spaghetti Westerns back in the day, honestly many of them not very good, so it would be practically impossible for one book to cover every single one of them. Major actors and directors were covered well, in my opinion, but there is also plenty of information about other crew members, from the musicians to producers and more. This book reminded me of a number of films I have not seen in years, and happily so, while also bringing to my attention a few films of which I was not familiar. For instance, did you know there was a Spaghetti Western musical back in the '60s? Me neither. This one is worth checking out for fans of the genre. I would like to add, however, that I did disagree with the author's opinions on a number of points, especially his seeming distaste for Eastwood as an actor and director.

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