Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics, Violence and Popular Italian Cinema

Italian westerns of the 1960s often reflected the political upheavals of their time, yet their links to Italian politics have largely been overlooked. Austin Fisher's book is presented as the first in-depth study of militant political trends in these films.

Fisher examines the films of Damiano Damiani, Sergio Sollima and Sergio Corbucci in historical detail, showing how these directors responded to national and international events. He argues that they wove Italian Far Left revolutionary thinking, and a justification of violence, into the genre.

The book also places the Spaghetti Western within the wider European tradition of political filmmaking and considers its role in exploitation cinema. It is part of the International Library of Visual Culture. I.B. Tauris published it in 2011. It runs to 320 pages. ISBN-13: 9781848855786.