West and soda (also known as The West Way Out) is a 1965 Italian animated Western comedy film directed by Bruno Bozzetto. It is a parody of the traditional American Western.[1]

West and Soda
2006 DVD cover
Directed byBruno Bozzetto
Written byBruno Bozzetto
Attilio Giovannini
Produced byBruno Bozzetto
StarringNando Gazzolo
Vittoria Febbi
Carlo Romano
CinematographyLuciano Marzetti
Roberto Scarpa
Music byGiampiero Boneschi
Production
company
Cineriz
Release date
  • 1 October 1965 (1965-10-01) (Italy)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

In an interview, Bozzetto claimed to have invented the Spaghetti Western genre with this film, an achievement usually attributed to Sergio Leone with his A Fistful of Dollars which was released the year before, but whose development started later and was faster than the traditionally animated West and Soda.[2]

Plot

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The plot of the film follows the traditional stranger arriving in a small western town. The stranger finds a pretty woman holding out from selling her uniquely green land to the local big shot, who is harassing her in hope of seducing her/buying her land. There is an ongoing mystery about how the stranger got a hold of the gold nugget he possesses, though at the end of the film it is revealed that he found it in a soap box (it is fake).

Cast

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Character Original English
Johnny Nando Gazzolo Unknown
Clementine Vittoria Febbi
The Boss Carlo Romano
Ursus Luigi Pavese
Slim Willy Moser
Esmeralda Lydia Simoneschi
The Boss's Horse Ferruccio Amendola

A PAL R2 DVD of the film has been released in Italy. It contains 40 minutes of extra material, including interviews, a completely restored version of the film as well as English subtitles.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bendazzi, Giannalberto (23 October 2015). Animation: A World History. CRC Press. ISBN 9781317519911. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  2. ^ Iondini, Massimo (3 October 2015). "Bozzetto: "Così ho inventato lo spaghetti western"" [Bozzetto: «So I invented spaghetti western»]. Avvenire (in Italian). Milan. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
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