Sergio Leone's "The Man with No Name" trilogy kick-started the popularity of the spaghetti western and remains its most famous and most influential set of movies. Comprised of "A Fistful of Dollars," originally released in Italy in 1964; "For a Few Dollars More" in 1965; and "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" in 1966, the trilogy starred Clint Eastwood in his first major film role. They were huge successes. While originally panned by many American critics, they have come to be accepted as some of the finest films to come out of the 1960's. These three films inspired hundreds of imitators.
Sergio Corbucci, "The Other Sergio," introduced the character Django in the eponymous film "Django" in 1966. Corbucci made the themes of spaghetti westerns even more explicit, making Django a very dark hero and making his film much more violent. An international hit, it was in many ways just as influential as the "Man with No Name" trilogy. In addition to its official sequel, it spawned dozens of movies reusing the character.
Sergio Sollima introduced an important new theme in his films, that of leftist politics. These films were dubbed Zapata spaghettis as many of the films are placed during the Mexican Revolution of 1913, the time of the famous revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. Sollima and his imitators used the Mexican Revolution to draw parallels to the political turbulence taking place in Europe during the 1960's. Sollima's most famous film is "The Big Gundown," released in 1966. Another more readily available film is his 1968 film "Run, Man, Run." You can also see Sergio Leone's take on the Zapata spaghetti with the rarely-watched 1971 film "Duck, You Sucker."
One final film is essential: Enzio Barboni's satirical take on spaghetti westerns in his 1970 film "My Name Is Trinity." Immensely popular internationally, the film poked fun at some of the excesses of the genre. Its popularity spawned a sequel: "Trinity Is Still My Name."