Star Wars By Way Of Spaghetti Westerns
All movies and art, at some level, are derivative, taking from the things that have come before it. George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogy owes a large debt to the spaghetti westerns of Italian director Sergio Leone, especially his so-called Man With No Name films. Those were A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Star Wars Drew From Spahetti Westerns
Both Star Wars and Westerns are full of rough-edged anti-heroes, tense stare-downs, and sparse desert landscapes, among numerous other thematic similarities.
It isn’t difficult to imagine John Williams’ epic Star Wars score replaced with Ennio Morricone’s driving tunes. Each also inherited much from Akira Kurosawa’s various films.
Combining Star Wars With Westerns
Salt Lake City artist Tim Anderson combined the two trilogies for a trio of vintage-looking posters that cast the Star Wars movies as spaghetti westerns.
The images are simple and stark and totally capture the look and feel of the original Italian prints.
Check out these works of Star Wars art and see how perfectly they play between both of the franchises. Now imagine them hanging in your living room. Perfect.
Han Solo Standoff
This one of Han Solo facing off with Greedo is spot on. In fact, you may recognize this style and color scheme from Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. That, for sure, wasn’t an accident.
The blaster on the right leg for Han Solo is iconic, and we already know he can draw it quickly. As fast as the fastest guns in the West? Well, there’s only one way to find out.
Boba Fett Western Bounty Hunter
Few characters in Star Wars (or sci-fi in general) say badass gunslinger quite like Boba Fett. And what grim western would be complete without a merciless bounty hunter?
Getting even more backstory (and forward story) on Boba Fett over the years has only made him against this backdrop even more plausible. Westerns are known for their bounty hunters, and Boba Fett fits the bill there.
Luke On Tattoine
Slap a cowboy hat and a poncho on the figure of Luke instead of that robe, maybe stick a hand-rolled cigarillo in the corner of his mouth, and you’ve got yourself a tough-as-nails Star Wars leading man.
The Star Wars shots of Luke on Tattooine give much of the same vibe as the scene we see above. Sure, on those he didn’t have his lightsaber quite yet, but it’s easy to imagine in his hand.
The barren landscape, the hood, the weapon and just the sun(s) in the distance. It’s easy to love these images.
Even More To Offer
Check out his website to buy one or a set of all three. Anderson is the same artist behind a series of pulp novel-inspired pictures for science fiction films, and he definitely has an eye for mimicking styles. These Star Wars pictures are a testament to his skills.
