Session: Spaghetti (with Different Sauces) Westerns, Week 2
Movie: The Treasure of Silver Lake (1962)
Directed by Harald Reinl
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.
Plot:
After a man is murdered for a map to treasure, his son races the bad guys to get that treasure. Hilarity ensues.
Reaction:
I have often said that what distinguishes a spaghetti western is that, instead of good guys and bad guys, there are bad guys and worse guys. With that in mind, The Treasure of Silver Lake is no spaghetti western. The heroes, Winnetou and Shatterhand*, are unambiguously good guys. Also absent are the sadism and sheer ugliness that overwhelm many spaghetti westerns.
I say that because I went into this expecting a spaghetti western. Instead we got a European-made western that was very much in the tradition of the old American Westerns. There were good guys and bad guys and cowboys and Indians and shootings, and beautiful vistas. Keith said that this palyed out like a John Ford movie. He's probably right, but I am not particularly familiar with John Ford movies. From my perspective, this was like a Louis L'amour novel come to life.
I went through a phase -- maybe ten years ago -- when I was reading lots of Louis L'amour. The good guys were good. The bad guys were bad. There was action and suspense, but L'amour had a basic contract with the reader. Everything would work out in the end, and goodness would prevail. And there was a certain comfort in that. And that's the way it is with Treasure. I kind of know, in macro terms, how the movie would end, even though I didn't know the specifics. And it was a fun ride watching it get there.
This may not be the best of movies or even the best of Westerns, but it's certainly an enjoyable view.
Ratings:
Me: 8.5
Christina: 8.2
Ethan: 8
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*After watching this, I want to legally change my name to Winnetou Shatterhand. Would that be a bad career move?
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