Tomb

What happens when spaghetti westerns include Asian characters or when westerns get made in places like Japan, Korea and Thailand? Read on to find out.

• The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008): Still making the festival circuit, this fantastic oddity is already on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United Kingdom, but we're still waiting over here. South Korea's take on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) is fast, frantic and fun, with loads of brilliant action sequences. The plot isn't original, but nobody will care, as the three bigger-than-life title characters try to beat one another to the location of a buried treasure. “The Good” (Woo-sung Jung) is a cool-as-ice bounty hunter, always turning up unexpectedly wherever a well-placed shotgun blast is needed. “The Bad” (Byung-hun Lee) is alternately suave and twitchy as the fearsome yet damaged crime-boss villain. Best of all is the scene-stealing “The Weird” (Kang-ho Song), a freewheeling amoral bandit who breezes through shoot-outs with his dual Walther pistols, a ridiculous leather aviator's cap and a comically laconic expression on his face. You might recognize Song from his brilliant performance in the Korean monster film The Host (2006) and he's just as memorable here. His character survives time and again not because of skill at arms, but simply because he keeps a cool head under fire and uses whatever tools are at hand (diving helmets, motorcycle sidecars, dynamite) to keep himself alive.

Let's hope that a Canadian theatrical release is forthcoming; this one really deserves to be seen on the big screen!

• The Stranger and the Gunfighter (a.k.a. Blood Money) (1974): Putting kung fu icon Lo Lieh into a spaghetti western alongside Lee Van Cleef was a stroke of genius. The film isn't quite as memorable as you'd expect for such a brilliant bit of casting, but it's certainly worth a look. The two stars team up to track down another buried treasure, but with a twist. This time, portions of the treasure map are tattooed on the asses of four beautiful women, all of whom were mistresses of Lieh's rich, dead uncle. The duo travels the American West trying to find the various ass maps, while engaging in the occasional shoot-out or kung fu fight.

• Sukiyaki Western Django (2007): A Japanese homage to Italian westerns, filmed entirely in broken English (with subtitles!). Cult filmmaker Takashi Miike puts his weird and wonderful stamp on the various western clichés, throwing in references to Django (1966), the Genpei Wars of Japan and two characters played by a certain Quentin Tarantino. Utterly berserk from start to finish, this will leave most viewers scratching their heads, but is a real treat for fans of eastern-western cinema.

• Samurai (a.k.a. Il bianco, il giallo, il nero, a.k.a. The White, The Yellow and The Black, a.k.a. Shoot First… Ask Questions Later) (1975): Sergio Corbucci, the director of Django (1966), made this loony western comedy about the hunt for a kidnapped Japanese pony. The pony in question is the responsibility of a stable boy-cum-samurai played by Cuban actor Tomas Milian with his eyes taped down and an aggressively awful “Japanese” accent. He's assisted by a suave gunfighter known as “The Swiss” (Giuliano Gemma) and by a hapless sheriff named “Black Jack Gideon” (Eli Wallach). The trio resorts to cross-dressing in order to infiltrate the bad guy's lair and let me tell you — Eli Wallach looks hideous in a dress.

• Tears of the Black Tiger (2000): Hoo boy! This over-the-top Thai western is one of the most ridiculously melodramatic movies you'll ever see. Hard-bitten Asian cowboys choke back emotion in searing close-ups in scene after scene... and it's hilarious! Betrayal, heartbreak and a tragic love triangle are portrayed so loudly and earnestly that you won't be able to keep a straight face. The emotions are so extreme that when one character breaks out a rocket launcher in the middle of a gunfight, it makes perfect sense. Most ridiculous of all is the colour scheme, which pours so many hyper-saturated pastel hues onscreen that your retinas will squeak. Cowboys in frosted pink shirts and lavendar neckerchiefs stare balefully at one another before a backdrop exploding with freakishly bright reds, blues and yellows. Seriously, if the horses turned out to be those garish little “My Little Pony” toys, they'd fit right in.