"The Spaghetti Gang is the delightful memoir of Richard Guerrieri, a coal miner's son who grew up in the rough mountain town of Crested Butte, Colorado. It is the story of Italian immigrant people and their lives during the Great Depression and World War II. Crested Butte was a coal town, dominated by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. It was a true American melting pot made up of immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Guerrieri's account of his boyhood is wildly entertaining. His stories feature ranching, coal mining, Catholicism, World War II, hunting, skiing, and many other activities involving a young boy. He recounts the customs of the Italians and other ethnic peoples of Crested Butte who made blood sausage, dandelion wine, and got most of their food from deer, elk, and fish and from spectacular and well cared for gardens.The Spaghetti Gang is filled with the nostalgia of a young boy growing up at a time when Crested Butte families had very little. Readers are treated to vignettes about "strap-on ski's," "no bathing suits," "a horse named SOB," "the dreaded Catechism," and many other hilarious stories.Crested Butte was a microcosm of coal towns in America during the dark days of the Great Depression. In 1952 the Crested Butte coal mine shut down and three years later, the railroad tracks were torn up. Crested Butte's population fell to 300, a near ghost town before its revival as a ski town in 1961. Guerrieri's account of his early life and his family's transition from coal mining in Crested Butte to ranching in Gunnison, Colorado, shows that amidst the economic woes of the time there was fun and adventure to be had. His stories read very well and are brilliantly written. They make up a great picture of days gone by.The Spaghetti Gang tells a unique and heart-warming story of an ethnic coal town in American history. Crested Butte was, and is, a great mountain town with a rich history. The Spaghetti Gang brings it to life."

The 1960s and 1970s were the heyday of spaghetti westerns--low-budget films about the early American West mostly filmed in Italy. Though sometimes derided as excessively violent imitations of American-made westerns, they attracted a substantial following that has endured. With its classic elements of gunfights, gambling, heroes, sidekicks, love, and death, the genre is now perceived by critics as an intriguing object of study. This book analyzes the construction of the stories presented in spaghetti westerns. It examines the content of the Italian western using concepts and constructs borrowed from scholars studying "pre-industrial" narratives. Plot, the constellation of characters, their relationship to each other, and their motives are studied. Films examined in detail include the seminal A Fistful of Dollars as well as Django, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. There is also a discussion of the early spaghetti westerns. The study then probes the elements of bounty hunters, the deprived hero, partnerships, betrayal, and comedy. An appendix details the top grossing Italian westerns between 1964 and 1975, including title, director, lead actor and intake. A second appendix provides a list of films quoted by Italian title and then by English title.

Musical accompaniment were jazzed up renditions that basically fit the art form like a glove with a stylish beat that usually pounded out the action as the story unfolded. The music set the mood and the audiences followed. Most of these films would never reach America during the era, even though they were generally aimed at the American film goers. The Actors who went to Italy and got involved in these lucrative new genre spinoffs all enjoyed star status, recognition and glow of the limelight that came with it. These are the Actors were talking about here.

Since the silent days of cinema, Westerns have been one of the most popular genres, not just in the United States but around the world. International filmmakers have been so taken by westerns that many directors have produced versions of their own, despite lacking access to the American West. Nowhere has the Western been more embraced outside of the United States than Italy. In the 1960s, as Hollywood heroes like John Wayne and Randolph Scott were aging, Italian filmmakers were revitalizing the western, securing younger American actors for their productions and also making stars of homegrown talent. Movies directed and produced by Italians have been branded “spaghetti westerns”—a genre that boastsseveral hundred films. In Spaghetti Westerns: A Viewer’s Guide, Aliza S. Wong identifies the most significant westerns all’italiana produced as well as the individuals who significantly contributed to the genre. The author profiles such American actors as Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef; composers including Ennio Morricone and Carlo Rustichelli; and, of course, directors like Sergio Corbucci and Sergio Leone. The most memorable movies of the genre are also examined, includingCompañeros, Django; A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; and They Call Me Trinity. In addition to citing pivotal films and filmmakers, this volume also highlights other relevant aspects of the genre, including popular shooting locations, subgenres like the Zapata western, and the films and filmmakers who were inspired by the spaghetti western, including Quentin Tarantino, Richard Rodriguez, and Takashi Miike. An introduction to a unique homage of American cinema, Spaghetti Westerns: A Viewer’s Guide allows fans and scholars alike to learn more about a genre that continues to fascinate audiences.

The gangster, like the gunslinger, is a classic American character-and the gangster movie, like the Western, is one of the American cinema's enduring film genres. From Scarface to White Heat, from The Godfather to The Usual Suspects, from Once Upon a Time in America to Road to Perdition, gangland on the screen remains as popular as ever.In Bullets over Hollywood, film scholar John McCarty traces the history of mob flicks and reveals why the films are so beloved by Americans. As McCarty demonstrates, the themes, characters, landscapes, stories-the overall iconography-of the gangster genre have proven resilient enough to be updated, reshaped, and expanded upon to connect with even today's young audiences. Packed with fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information about real-life hoods and their cinematic alter egos, insightful analysis, and a solid historical perspective, Bullets over Hollywood will be the definitive book on the gangster movie for years to come.

The tales and travels of the Sugar Creek Gang have passed the test of time, delighting young readers for more than fifty years. Great mysteries with a message, The Sugar Creek Gang series chronicles the faith-building adventures of a group of fun-loving, courageous Christian boys. Your kids will be thrilled, chilled, and inspired to grow as they follow the legendary escapades of Bill Collins, Dragonfly, and the rest of the gang and see how they struggle with the application of their Christian faith to the adventure of life. An incredible discovery in an icehouse leads to an encounter with a criminal. Will the police come quickly enough to catch the man the gang trapped? Will the gang be able to deliver an important letter from Little Tom Till's mom before it's too late? In this tale from northern Minnesota, the gang learns about several kinds of fishing, the most important being fishing for men.