Euro War, also known as Macaroni Combat, Macaroni War, Spaghetti Combat, or Spaghetti War, is a broad

subgenre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

that emerged in the mid-1960s. The films were named ''Euro War'' because most were European co-productions, most notably and commonly by

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

, as indicated by the subgenre's other nicknames that draw parallels to those films within the mostly Italian

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

genre. The typical team was made up of an Italian director, Italo-Spanish technical staff, and a cast of Italian and Spanish actors and sometimes German and French, sometimes a minor or fading Hollywood

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

. The films were primarily shot in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and later, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

History

From the mid-1960s, much like in the case of the Italian

spaghetti western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

in relation to American Hollywood Westerns, the Macaroni Combat film mimicked the success of American films such as '' The Guns of Navarone'', '' The Dirty Dozen'' and '' Where Eagles Dare''. Like spaghetti westerns, Euro War films were characterized by their production in the Italian language, low budgets, added violence, and a recognizable highly fluid and minimalist cinematography. This was partly intentional and partly the context and cultural background of the filmmakers. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the films were almost all set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with a few about mercenaries in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

following the success of '' Dark of the Sun'' and later, '' The Wild Geese''. In the 1980s most entries in the genre were set during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

following the success of '' The Deer Hunter'' and ''

Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkn ...

''. Some were also made to capitalize the success of Vietnam War rescue mission movies like ''

Missing in Action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty (person), casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoner of war, prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been ...

'', '' Uncommon Valor'' and '' Rambo 2''. Some were also made to capitalize on the success of movies having American involvement in Middle East missions against terrorist activities like '' The Delta Force'' and '' Death Before Dishonor, Delta Force Commando''. Some were also made to capitalize on the success of Soviet Afghan war movies like '' Rambo 3'' and '' Delta Force Commando 2''. Two popular examples of the Italian-made

films were '' Anzio'' (1968) and '' Hornets' Nest'' (1970) with their A-list cast members. Today, one of the better-known films to fit the Macaroni Combat archetype is the 1978 film '' The Inglorious Bastards'' directed by Enzo G. Castellari. Influenced heavily by the aforementioned 1967 American film, ''The Dirty Dozen'', it would later inspire

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

's 2009 film '' Inglourious Basterds'', an American-produced film influenced by the genre as a whole.

Films

* '' Some Like It Cold'' (1960) * '' Under Ten Flags'' (1960) * '' Then There Were Three'' (1961) * '' The Best of Enemies'' (1961) * '' La guerra continua'' (''Warriors Five'') (1962) * '' Torpedo Bay'' (1962) * '' Marcia o Crepa'' (''The Legion's Last Patrol'' / ''Commando'') (1962) * '' The Shortest Day'' (1962) * '' I due colonnelli'' (''Two Colonels'') (1962) * '' The Changing of the Guard'' (1962) * '' Attack and Retreat'' (''Italiani brava gente'') (1964) * '' War Italian Style'' (1966) * '' Dirty Heroes'' (1967) * '' Desert Commandos'' (1967) * '' Hell in Normandy'' (1967) * '' Commandos'' (1968) * '' Suicide Commandos'' (1968) * ''Quella dannata pattuglia'' (''The Battle of the Damned'') (1968) * '' Anzio'' (1968) * '' Battle of the Last Panzer'' (1969) * '' The Red Berets'' (1969) * '' Eagles Over London'' (1969) * '' Salt in the Wound'' (1969) * '' Bridge over the Elbe'' (1969) * '' The Battle of El Alamein'' (1969) * '' 36 Hours to Hell'' (1969) * '' Desert Assault'' (1969) * '' Hora cero: Operación Rommel'' (''A Bullet For Rommel'' / ''The Battle Giants'') (1969) * '' La legione dei dannati'' (''Battle of the Commandos'' / ''Legion of the Damned'') (1969) * '' Five for Hell'' (1969) * '' War Devils'' (1969) * '' Churchill's Leopards'' (1970) * '' Hornets' Nest'' (1970) * '' Heroes in Hell'' (1973) * '' The Heroes'' (1973) * '' Hell River'' (1974) * '' The Inglorious Bastards'' (1978) * '' Battle Force'' (1978) * '' The Wild Geese Attack Again'' (1978) * '' Tough to Kill'' (1978) * '' From Hell to Victory'' (1979) * '' The Last Hunter'' (1980) * '' Odd Squad'' (1981) * '' Tiger Joe'' (1982) * '' Last Blood'' (1983) * '' Code Name: Wild Geese'' (1984) * '' Kommando Leopard'' (1985) * '' Operation Nam'' (1986) * '' Strike Commando'' (1987) * '' Delta Force Commando'' (1988) * '' Last Platoon'' (1988) * '' Strike Commando 2'' (1988) * '' Striker'' (1988) * '' Born to Fight'' (1989) * '' Casablanca Express'' (1989) * '' Leathernecks'' (1989)

Personalities

Actors

* Lewis Collins * Richard Harrison * George Hilton *

Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a ...

* Guy Madison *

Frederick Stafford Frederick Stafford (11 March 1928 – 28 July 1979) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born actor. Born Friedrich Strobel von Stein, he spoke fluent Czech, German, English, French and Italian, and was a leading man in European spy-movies and in ...

* Bo Svenson *

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, particularly t ...

* David Warbeck * Fred Williamson * Jack Palance * Rod Taylor

Directors

* Enzo G. Castellari *

Umberto Lenzi Umberto Lenzi (6 August 1931 – 19 October 2017) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist. A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unre ...

* Antonio Margheriti * Roberto Bianchi Montero

History

Films

Personalities

Actors

Directors

See also

References

Further reading