WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.540 Imagine a major Hollywood studio, right? Right. 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:06.219 Like releasing a movie tomorrow called The Avengers 00:00:06.219 --> 00:00:11.279 Part 5. Oh, boy. Yeah. Except it has absolutely 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:13.259 nothing to do with Marvel. Right. There are zero 00:00:13.259 --> 00:00:15.640 actual Avengers in it. And, you know, it was 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:18.239 filmed entirely in a Spanish desert by an all 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.339 Italian crew. The lawyers would be having a field 00:00:20.339 --> 00:00:23.500 day. Exactly. In today's entertainment landscape, 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:26.039 with all the trademarks and litigation, that 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:28.519 is just a billion -dollar lawsuit waiting to 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:30.820 happen. Oh, absolutely. But if you rewind the 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:34.420 clock to, like, 1967, that wasn't a lawsuit at 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:36.259 all. It was just a highly effective business 00:00:36.259 --> 00:00:38.520 model. It really was. I mean, it was the absolute 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:40.939 Wild West of international film distribution 00:00:40.939 --> 00:00:44.219 back then. You didn't need this, you know... 00:00:43.979 --> 00:00:46.979 globally synchronized, focus -grouped, franchise 00:00:46.979 --> 00:00:49.380 rollout. You just needed a catchy title, a couple 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:51.700 reels of film, and this totally unapologetic 00:00:51.700 --> 00:00:54.079 instinct for giving audiences exactly what they 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:56.619 wanted. Regardless of who actually owned the 00:00:56.619 --> 00:01:00.520 rights to the name, and that bizarre hyper -commercial 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:03.299 instinct is exactly where we are heading today. 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:05.900 Welcome to this deep dive. We are so glad you 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:07.459 are here with us. It's going to be a fun one. 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:09.299 It really is. We are pulling our source material 00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:13.079 today from a Wikipedia article detailing a 1967 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:16.900 Italian spaghetti western. It's called $10 ,000 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:19.959 for a massacre. Great title. Right. And our mission 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:23.099 today is to extract the completely fascinating 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:27.370 story of how a seemingly you know, run -of -the 00:01:27.370 --> 00:01:30.609 -mill genre film from the 1960s ends up revealing 00:01:30.609 --> 00:01:33.590 so much. It shows us the mechanics of cinematic 00:01:33.590 --> 00:01:36.049 marketing, the reality of international filmmaking, 00:01:36.450 --> 00:01:38.870 and ultimately how we decide what actually qualifies 00:01:38.870 --> 00:01:42.239 as art. Yeah, and, you know, you might hear 1960s 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.340 Italian cinema and immediately brace yourself 00:01:44.340 --> 00:01:46.799 for, like, a discussion about dense, slow -moving, 00:01:47.019 --> 00:01:49.319 highbrow academic films. Right, the really heavy 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:52.319 stuff. Exactly. But we are leaving the pristine 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:54.700 arthouse theaters completely behind today. We're 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:57.340 diving straight into the rich, dusty, completely 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:00.299 unapologetic pulp history of mid -century genre 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:02.280 cinema. I love it. This is about movies that 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:05.219 were made fast, sold hard, and consumed by millions 00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:09.050 of people. OK, let's unpack this. To really understand 00:02:09.050 --> 00:02:12.009 this specific film and the era it represents, 00:02:12.449 --> 00:02:14.810 we first have to grapple with the convoluted 00:02:14.810 --> 00:02:17.590 history of its title. Oh, the titles are amazing. 00:02:17.889 --> 00:02:20.349 Because the way this movie was named and marketed, 00:02:20.870 --> 00:02:23.750 I mean, it is just a master class in pure hustle. 00:02:24.069 --> 00:02:26.229 It's essentially a regional shapeshifter. The 00:02:26.229 --> 00:02:28.650 title changed depending entirely on the demographic 00:02:28.650 --> 00:02:30.650 the distributors were trying to lure into the 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:32.969 theater on any given weekend. Right. So the original 00:02:32.969 --> 00:02:35.710 Italian title is ten thousand dollars per Un 00:02:35.710 --> 00:02:38.430 Massacro. Which is a pretty straightforward translation. 00:02:38.590 --> 00:02:41.430 Yeah, $10 ,000 for a massacre. Yeah. But if you 00:02:41.430 --> 00:02:44.050 were a moviegoer in a different country, or maybe 00:02:44.050 --> 00:02:46.110 if you caught a re -release a few years later, 00:02:46.530 --> 00:02:48.909 you might know it by entirely different, incredibly 00:02:48.909 --> 00:02:52.069 aggressive names. Oh, yeah. Like, in its international 00:02:52.069 --> 00:02:56.370 releases, it was heavily marketed as $10 ,000 00:02:56.370 --> 00:02:58.979 blood money. Which is such a brilliant pivot. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:01.159 It really is. Because mascara sounds violent, 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:04.039 sure, but blood money immediately introduces 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:07.280 this theme of greed and corruption. Yeah, totally 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.780 changes the vibe. And that played incredibly 00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:12.560 well to audiences who were just craving these 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.240 gritty, cynical anti -heroes at the time. And 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:17.740 if that didn't work, in other markets they just 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:19.500 stripped away the nuance completely and called 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:21.240 it guns of violence. It's getting right to the 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:24.159 point. Exactly. But here is the detail from our 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:26.319 sources that genuinely stopped me in my tracks. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:29.979 When this movie was actively in production, the 00:03:29.979 --> 00:03:33.020 working title on the script was Seven Dollary 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:35.840 Sue Django, which translates to seven dollars 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:39.039 on Django. Right. Now, our sources are very explicit 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:41.620 about the fact that this film, directed by Romulo 00:03:41.620 --> 00:03:45.639 Guerriere and released on March 3rd, 1967, is 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:48.620 an unofficial sequel. to the incredibly famous 00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:52.180 1966 film Django. Unofficial being the key word 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:54.259 there. Wait, so they just attached Django to 00:03:54.259 --> 00:03:56.340 the title to get people in seats, even if it 00:03:56.340 --> 00:03:58.099 was unofficial. That's exactly what they did. 00:03:58.139 --> 00:04:00.860 What's fascinating here is how entirely transparent 00:04:00.860 --> 00:04:03.400 that marketing strategy was. It's so bold. It 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.960 really reveals the mechanics of the 1960s film 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:08.879 industry, because the original Django was a massive, 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:12.280 unprecedented hit. It had immense cultural cachet. 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:15.060 The name alone promised action, you know, a coffin 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:18.509 dragging anti -hero. and guaranteed ticket sales. 00:04:18.589 --> 00:04:21.180 Yeah you see the name? You buy a ticket. So producers 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:23.860 like Mino Loy and Luciano Martino, they saw that 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:26.600 success and immediately instructed their teams 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:30.100 to build a movie around that exact keyword. It's 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:33.220 essentially the 1960s equivalent of SEO keyword 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:35.500 stuffing. Yes. They're just attaching the word 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:38.560 Django to their project to get people in seats, 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.220 even if it has zero official connection to the 00:04:41.220 --> 00:04:43.819 original creators. That's like slapping a famous 00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:46.339 designer label on a generic factory made product 00:04:46.339 --> 00:04:48.829 just to guarantee it flies off the shelf. And 00:04:48.829 --> 00:04:51.750 the distributors, companies like Variety Distribution, 00:04:52.209 --> 00:04:54.110 they actively encouraged this. You have to remember, 00:04:54.170 --> 00:04:56.750 this wasn't an era of global internet. Right. 00:04:56.850 --> 00:04:58.730 Nobody could just pull out a smartphone. Exactly. 00:04:59.170 --> 00:05:01.430 Audiences couldn't just fact check a movie's 00:05:01.430 --> 00:05:04.889 canonical timeline on IMDb. If a local distributor 00:05:04.889 --> 00:05:07.350 in a specific European market thought the name 00:05:07.350 --> 00:05:09.529 Django would sell out a drive -in theater, they 00:05:09.529 --> 00:05:11.870 just printed it right on the poster. If they 00:05:11.870 --> 00:05:14.990 thought $10 ,000 blood money worked better for, 00:05:14.990 --> 00:05:18.600 like, a late -night urban crowd, they swapped 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:21.459 it. The title of a film was not considered this 00:05:21.459 --> 00:05:23.720 sacred piece of the director's artistic vision. 00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:27.360 It was a fluid, totally flexible tool for pure 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.800 commerce. So they successfully trick, or at least 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:33.740 strongly persuade audiences to buy a ticket by 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:36.279 essentially hijacking a famous brand name. Yeah, 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:38.399 exactly. But that raises the obvious question, 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:40.560 right? What happens when the lights go down in 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:42.980 the theater? That's the real test. Does the movie 00:05:42.980 --> 00:05:45.160 actually deliver, or do audiences immediately 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:47.279 realize they've been sold a knockoff and demand 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:50.019 a refund? Because looking at the plot summary 00:05:50.019 --> 00:05:52.519 in our source material, I have to admit, I was 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:54.620 initially pretty skeptical. Steptical of the 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:56.660 narrative. Well, let me just read the core plot 00:05:56.660 --> 00:05:58.600 right from the source. Go for it. So a local 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:01.439 crime boss named Manuel kidnaps Dolores, who 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:03.620 is the daughter of a rich rancher named Mendoza. 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:06.680 OK. Her father then hires Django, played by Gary 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:10.420 Hudson, to free her. That is the engine of the 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:12.360 movie. And looking at that I'm thinking, is that 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:16.399 really it? It sounds like the absolute most basic 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:20.720 Western trope imaginable rich guy pays tough 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:24.279 guy to rescue his daughter from a bad guy. Where 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:26.589 is the depth? I mean, that is a completely fair 00:06:26.589 --> 00:06:29.310 reaction. If you are looking for a labyrinthine, 00:06:29.470 --> 00:06:31.829 highly original plot, you definitely won't find 00:06:31.829 --> 00:06:34.129 it here. Yeah, clearly not. But the depth in 00:06:34.129 --> 00:06:36.110 these films doesn't come from the narrative structure 00:06:36.110 --> 00:06:39.449 at all. The plot is intentionally stripped down 00:06:39.449 --> 00:06:42.209 to an archetype. And if you understand why they 00:06:42.209 --> 00:06:44.170 used archetypes, you start to understand the 00:06:44.170 --> 00:06:46.430 genius of the spaghetti western genre. So you're 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:48.829 saying the simplicity is a feature, not a bug. 00:06:49.230 --> 00:06:52.420 Hmm, precisely. Think about the logistical nightmare 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:54.980 of international film distribution in the 60s. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.720 OK. You have an Italian production company making 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.500 a movie that needs to be sold in Spain, France, 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:03.220 Germany, and the United States. All different 00:07:03.220 --> 00:07:05.279 languages, different cultures. Right. So if you 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:07.879 write a highly complex, dialogue -heavy script 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:11.060 with nuanced cultural references, it is going 00:07:11.060 --> 00:07:13.420 to get completely butchered in translation and 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:15.899 dubbing. Oh, that makes sense. But an archetype. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:19.579 The mercenary, the kidnapped daughter, the ruthless 00:07:19.579 --> 00:07:22.579 bandit that translates instantly across every 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:24.899 single language barrier on earth. It's like a 00:07:24.899 --> 00:07:27.259 fast food franchise model. Huh, yeah. Like the 00:07:27.259 --> 00:07:29.040 underlying structure of the burger and fries. 00:07:29.379 --> 00:07:32.100 It has to be identical and recognizable everywhere 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:34.720 so you can mass produce it. But the local flavor, 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:36.879 you know, the bizarre toppings you add to it, 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:38.779 that's what actually makes the meal interesting. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.610 That is the perfect analogy. The archetypal plot 00:07:41.610 --> 00:07:44.750 is just the predictable base. The rich cinematic 00:07:44.750 --> 00:07:48.470 depth comes from the highly specific, incredibly 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:51.329 colorful elements layered on top of it. The toppings. 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:54.449 The toppings, exactly. And in $10 ,000 for a 00:07:54.449 --> 00:07:57.009 massacre, those toppings are the eccentric cast 00:07:57.009 --> 00:07:59.189 of characters. You don't just have a generic 00:07:59.189 --> 00:08:01.850 hero and a generic villain. Our source material 00:08:01.850 --> 00:08:04.870 gives us this incredible, vibrant roster. Yeah 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:07.110 the names are wild. You have Lord Anunnushiak 00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:09.529 playing a character named Mijanu. You have Claudio 00:08:09.529 --> 00:08:12.790 Camasso bringing life to Manuel Vasquez. And 00:08:12.790 --> 00:08:15.829 then you get into the incredibly evocative supporting 00:08:15.829 --> 00:08:18.189 names. Fernando Sancho plays a character named 00:08:18.189 --> 00:08:21.670 Stardust Vasquez. Stardust Vasquez. See that 00:08:21.670 --> 00:08:24.129 immediately changes the tone. You hear that name 00:08:24.129 --> 00:08:26.310 and you know you aren't watching a traditional 00:08:26.310 --> 00:08:28.870 squeaky clean John Wayne American Western. Not 00:08:28.870 --> 00:08:31.509 at all. And the world building through naming 00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:34.539 it doesn't stop there. You have A character literally 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:37.659 named Fidelio the Photographer. Which is so specific. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.980 It is. You have Panuccia Ardea, playing someone 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:43.860 named Seven Dollars. Think about the cynicism 00:08:43.860 --> 00:08:46.779 embedded in that name alone. Oh, wow. It's a 00:08:46.779 --> 00:08:49.580 human being whose entire identity is reduced 00:08:49.580 --> 00:08:52.820 to a meager sum of cash. You have Dada Galore, 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:56.659 playing Scarface's woman. alongside Aldo Taconia's 00:08:56.659 --> 00:08:59.059 Scarface. Unbelievable. There is even a character 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:01.659 credited simply as Card Sharper at poker, played 00:09:01.659 --> 00:09:04.419 by Renato Montalbano. I love that so much. When 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:07.039 your screen is populated by guys named Stardust 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:09.860 and $7 Crossing Paths with Fidelio the Photographer, 00:09:10.659 --> 00:09:13.159 the basic plot almost doesn't matter anymore. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.460 It really does. You're just completely absorbed 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:18.159 in the gritty, cynical atmosphere of this world. 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:20.500 You can practically picture the sweat and the 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:23.230 dust just reading the cast list. And... Creating 00:09:23.230 --> 00:09:27.090 that specific atmosphere required a massive international 00:09:27.090 --> 00:09:30.549 collaborative effort behind the scenes. The screenplay 00:09:30.549 --> 00:09:33.210 and story weren't the product of one isolated 00:09:33.210 --> 00:09:36.190 genius. Right. It was a team effort by Franco 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:39.309 Fogagnolo, Ernesto Gestaldi, Luciano Martino 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:42.149 and Saro Scavellini. You have cinematography 00:09:42.149 --> 00:09:45.149 by Federico Zanni capturing that harsh light 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:48.190 and editing by Sergio Montanari giving it that 00:09:48.190 --> 00:09:51.269 rapid aggressive pacing. And we absolutely have 00:09:51.269 --> 00:09:53.320 to talk about the music. which our sources note 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:55.840 was composed by Nora Orlandi. Yes, the music 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:58.580 is crucial. In these films, the score isn't just 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:01.059 background noise, because the dialogue was often 00:10:01.059 --> 00:10:03.440 heavily dubbed. I mean, sometimes with actors 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:05.600 speaking three different languages on set, the 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:07.500 music had to carry the emotional weight of the 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:10.340 scene. It elevates that simple fast food plot 00:10:10.340 --> 00:10:13.039 into something almost operatic. It creates a 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.059 heightened reality, and that surreal heightened 00:10:15.059 --> 00:10:17.639 reality is pushed even further by the geographical 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:19.659 displacement of the production. All the locations. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:21.779 Yeah. Remember, this is an Italian language film, 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:24.399 backed by Italian production companies like Zenith 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.600 Cinematografica and Florafilm. Right. But our 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:29.539 sources point out that it was actually shot in 00:10:29.539 --> 00:10:31.500 El Maria, which is a province in the south of 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:33.879 Spain. Exactly. This is one of the most fascinating 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.480 contradictions of the genre to me. You have an 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:39.169 Italian crew. setting up cameras in the Spanish 00:10:39.169 --> 00:10:42.450 desert to shoot an unofficial sequel about the 00:10:42.450 --> 00:10:44.870 American Wild West, which they will then dub 00:10:44.870 --> 00:10:47.690 into multiple languages and sell globally. It's 00:10:47.690 --> 00:10:50.529 a logistical marvel, really, and that displacement 00:10:50.529 --> 00:10:53.110 is exactly why the spaghetti western aesthetic 00:10:53.110 --> 00:10:55.830 is so memorable. When you shoot in Almeria, you 00:10:55.830 --> 00:10:58.690 aren't capturing the historical reality of 1800s 00:10:58.690 --> 00:11:01.620 Texas or Mexico. No, not at all. The Spanish 00:11:01.620 --> 00:11:03.980 landscape is just slightly off from the real 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:06.720 American Southwest. The architecture is slightly 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.259 different. The light hits the dust differently. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.860 It creates a mythical, almost fantasy landscape. 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:15.759 Like a parallel universe. Yes. The filmmakers 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:18.659 weren't burdened by historical accuracy. They 00:11:18.659 --> 00:11:21.399 were building a stylized playground for action 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:23.799 and tension. Here's where it gets really interesting 00:11:23.799 --> 00:11:26.679 though. Because up to this point, we have painted 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:29.559 a very specific picture. We are looking at an 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:33.019 unofficial sequel. with a highly standard franchise 00:11:33.019 --> 00:11:37.259 model plot. It features a quirky, deeply cynical 00:11:37.259 --> 00:11:40.559 cast of characters, and it boasts a production 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.620 history that clearly prioritizes getting a commercial 00:11:43.620 --> 00:11:46.039 product out the door quickly and cheaply. It 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:48.419 is the absolute pinnacle of commercial pulp. 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:51.639 Exactly. So I am reading through the source material, 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:53.740 nodding along, picturing the drive -in theaters, 00:11:53.820 --> 00:11:56.659 and then I hit a detail that seems to completely 00:11:56.659 --> 00:11:58.500 break the logic of everything we've discussed. 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:01.809 Decades later, This movie, this unofficial cash 00:12:01.809 --> 00:12:04.049 grab, was shown as part of a retrospective on 00:12:04.049 --> 00:12:07.330 the Spaghetti Western at the 64th Venice International 00:12:07.330 --> 00:12:09.970 Film Festival. It is a stunning trajectory. It's 00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:12.230 completely wild. The Venice Film Festival is 00:12:12.230 --> 00:12:15.049 arguably one of the most prestigious, exclusive, 00:12:15.490 --> 00:12:17.450 historically significant art institutions on 00:12:17.450 --> 00:12:19.330 the planet. Without doubt. This is where the 00:12:19.330 --> 00:12:21.970 most elevated, groundbreaking cinema in the world 00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:24.809 debuts. and they are rolling out the red carpet 00:12:24.809 --> 00:12:28.190 to dedicate academic and critical study to a 00:12:28.190 --> 00:12:30.950 movie that was once called $7 on Django. It's 00:12:30.950 --> 00:12:32.830 quite the glow up. I mean, I have to push back 00:12:32.830 --> 00:12:36.049 here. How does an unofficial sequel with a working 00:12:36.049 --> 00:12:38.929 title trying to cash in on another movie's name 00:12:38.929 --> 00:12:41.309 make its way to the Venice Film Festival? That's 00:12:41.309 --> 00:12:43.309 like a knockoff action movie getting an invite 00:12:43.309 --> 00:12:46.049 to the Oscars. If we connect this to the bigger 00:12:46.049 --> 00:12:48.850 picture, what we are witnessing is the powerful 00:12:48.850 --> 00:12:51.350 mechanism of retrospective validation. And to 00:12:51.350 --> 00:12:53.809 answer your question, yes, it absolutely belongs 00:12:53.809 --> 00:12:56.990 there, but not for the reasons we typically associate 00:12:56.990 --> 00:12:59.269 with high art. Walk me through the logic of that. 00:12:59.269 --> 00:13:01.909 How does time filter out the commercial trash 00:13:01.909 --> 00:13:04.710 and turn it into museum -worthy art? Well, when 00:13:04.710 --> 00:13:07.450 $10 ,000 for Massacre was released in March of 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:10.929 1967, the cultural datekeepers of the time, the 00:13:10.929 --> 00:13:13.429 major critics, the award shows, the elite film 00:13:13.429 --> 00:13:15.899 institutions, they didn't view it as high art. 00:13:16.139 --> 00:13:18.299 No, of course not. They viewed it exactly as 00:13:18.299 --> 00:13:20.759 it was intended. A product. It was a B -movie. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:23.820 It was entertainment meant to be consumed and 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:26.320 forgotten. Right. They saw it as $10 ,000 blood 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.860 money. A cheap thrill. Exactly. But the way we 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:32.460 evaluate media changes as distance grows between 00:13:32.460 --> 00:13:35.259 the release date and the present day. Decades 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.240 later, curators, historians, and film scholars 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.100 look back at the 1960s. They aren't just looking 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:43.639 for movies that adhere to the polite traditional 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:45.980 rules of 1960s cinema. What are they looking 00:13:45.980 --> 00:13:48.100 for, then? They're looking for films that capture 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:51.519 the pure, unadulterated energy of the era. And 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.620 they realize that these spaghetti westerns, with 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:56.740 their stark archetypes, their incredible international 00:13:56.740 --> 00:13:59.899 collaborations, their bizarre dubbing, and their 00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:03.120 completely unpretentious goal of simply thrilling 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:07.220 an audience, they are profound cultural artifacts. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:09.639 It's almost like the commercial limitations actually 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:12.299 became the artistic style. Because they had to 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:14.559 shoot fast in Spain, because they had to rely 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:17.019 on archetypes to cross language barriers, they 00:14:17.019 --> 00:14:19.500 accidentally invented a completely new cinematic 00:14:19.500 --> 00:14:22.929 language. That is exactly it. The Venice retrospective 00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:25.210 wasn't claiming that $10 ,000 for a massacre 00:14:25.210 --> 00:14:28.070 is a quiet, contemplative drama. It was making 00:14:28.070 --> 00:14:30.750 a much bolder statement. It was saying that this 00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:34.090 genre, in all its messy, pulpy, profit -driven 00:14:34.090 --> 00:14:37.710 glory, is undeniably significant to the evolution 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:40.570 of global cinema. The aesthetic choices made 00:14:40.570 --> 00:14:43.070 by Romulo Guerrieri and his crew out of pure 00:14:43.070 --> 00:14:46.330 necessity influenced decades of action filmmakers. 00:14:46.490 --> 00:14:49.389 From Quentin Tarantino all the way to modern 00:14:49.389 --> 00:14:51.710 blockbuster directors. Absolutely. The history 00:14:51.710 --> 00:14:53.610 of film is just incomplete without understanding 00:14:53.610 --> 00:14:56.029 the drive -in B -movie. It really forces you 00:14:56.029 --> 00:14:58.950 to respect the raw hustle of those filmmakers. 00:14:59.570 --> 00:15:02.429 Romulo Guerrieri, Franco Fugignolo, Nora Orlandi, 00:15:02.750 --> 00:15:04.769 they were out in the Spanish heat just trying 00:15:04.769 --> 00:15:07.009 to make a gripping, exciting movie. That was 00:15:07.009 --> 00:15:08.970 the goal. They were trying to get Gary Hudson's 00:15:08.970 --> 00:15:11.809 Django to rescue Dolores Mendoza and just give 00:15:11.809 --> 00:15:13.809 a working -class audience a great Saturday night 00:15:13.809 --> 00:15:16.009 out. They probably never in a million years imagined 00:15:16.009 --> 00:15:18.230 scholars would be analyzing their editing choices 00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:21.490 on a stage in Venetian. And yet... Their craftsmanship 00:15:21.490 --> 00:15:24.210 held up. The raw, visceral energy they captured 00:15:24.210 --> 00:15:26.590 on film transcended its original commercial purpose. 00:15:26.669 --> 00:15:28.710 It survived the test of time. So what does this 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:31.509 all mean? We started this deep dive looking at 00:15:31.509 --> 00:15:33.509 a Wikipedia page for a movie we might have otherwise 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:37.929 just scrolled right past. A 1967 unofficial Django 00:15:37.929 --> 00:15:41.049 spinoff shot in Almeria, Spain, featuring a guy 00:15:41.049 --> 00:15:43.690 credited as Fidelio the photographer. Classic. 00:15:44.009 --> 00:15:45.909 And we followed that thread all the way to a 00:15:45.909 --> 00:15:48.090 prestigious retrospective at the Venice Film 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:51.210 Festival. I think... If you are listening right 00:15:51.210 --> 00:15:55.129 now, this deep dive proves that valuable, fascinating 00:15:55.129 --> 00:15:57.909 history doesn't just live in textbooks or pristine 00:15:57.909 --> 00:16:00.289 archives. Definitely not. It can be found in 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:02.730 the most unexpected, fiercely commercial places. 00:16:02.990 --> 00:16:05.190 You don't have to look exclusively at prestige 00:16:05.190 --> 00:16:08.490 dramas to find art that matters. Sometimes the 00:16:08.490 --> 00:16:10.690 most culturally significant artifacts are hiding 00:16:10.690 --> 00:16:13.190 right in the late night drive -in theater lineup 00:16:13.190 --> 00:16:16.309 from 1967. This raises an important question, 00:16:16.450 --> 00:16:18.190 though, and it's something I hope everyone takes 00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:20.509 away from this analysis. What's that? The journey 00:16:20.509 --> 00:16:23.809 of this film forces us to synthesize how we actually 00:16:23.809 --> 00:16:26.830 categorize art versus entertainment in our own 00:16:26.830 --> 00:16:29.870 daily lives. We all have this ingrained tendency 00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:32.250 to build a massive wall between the two. Oh, 00:16:32.289 --> 00:16:35.629 absolutely. We put the important media, the documentaries, 00:16:35.830 --> 00:16:38.490 the award winners on a pedestal, and we dismiss 00:16:38.490 --> 00:16:41.450 the loud commercial generic media as a guilty 00:16:41.450 --> 00:16:43.970 pleasure. Right. But this film proves that wall 00:16:43.970 --> 00:16:46.740 is completely imaginary. I would challenge anyone 00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:48.419 listening to think critically about the media 00:16:48.419 --> 00:16:51.320 they consume today. Are you dismissing something 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:54.159 right now as just brainless entertainment that 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:58.000 might actually possess a profound amount of artistic 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.159 merit and cultural reflection. That is a brilliant 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:03.340 point. And it completely shifts how you look 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:06.039 at the landscape of pop culture today. If you've 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:07.940 ever scrolled through a streaming platform and 00:17:07.940 --> 00:17:10.339 rolled your eyes at a blatant knockoff, you might 00:17:10.339 --> 00:17:12.859 be looking at the exact same instinct that drove 00:17:12.859 --> 00:17:15.440 this movie's production in the 60s. Very likely. 00:17:15.740 --> 00:17:18.059 And that leaves me with one final lingering thought 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:20.579 for you to mull over today as we wrap up. We've 00:17:20.579 --> 00:17:23.579 seen how $10 ,000 for a massacre was originally 00:17:23.579 --> 00:17:25.880 just a mechanism to capitalize on the Django 00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:29.019 brand name. It was a quick, unofficial cash grab 00:17:29.019 --> 00:17:31.960 that eventually earned deep academic validation 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:34.519 decades later. So think about the media landscape 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:38.099 right now, in this exact moment. How many beloved, 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:40.640 critically acclaimed pieces of media in our culture 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.680 today, things we universally consider absolute 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.480 masterpieces, actually started off as nothing 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.180 more than a quick, unofficial cash grab trying 00:17:49.180 --> 00:17:51.380 to ride the coattails of somebody else's success. 00:17:51.539 --> 00:17:53.940 It makes you wonder. It really does. The next 00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:55.779 time you are scrolling through your TV and you 00:17:55.779 --> 00:17:58.079 see a ridiculous title trying to catch your eye, 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:01.359 well, maybe, just maybe, you are looking at tomorrow's 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:01.599 masterpiece.