The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly and Navajo Joe

The two spaghetti westerns The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly and Navajo Joe have many differences from the tradional American western films. One difference between these films and other American westerns are the protagonists. Minorities have a leading role in both movies, whereas in American westerns minorities are cast as the “other”. Tuca was a central part of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and Navajo Jo was the leading actor in Navajo Jo. In Navajo Jo, the Native American was portrayed as the hero, and the Americans were portrayed as the outlaws. This is different from American westerns because usually the Native Americans are the ones being driven out of the city, rather than the Americans. The typical alpha male cowboy in American westerns, white male, acts in good faith. This means that he does things based on the duty of responsibility. In these two spaghetti westerns, the white male was cast as a greedy, money-seeking man. Alpha male cowboys in American films are also honest. The men in the spaghetti westerns were not loyal to each other, rather they were willing to cheat and scheme for riches.

Spaghetti westerns portray the European’s view of Americans. Americans in these films are depicted as violent, money-driven individuals who are willing to use any means to get to a certain end.