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Euro War, also known asMacaroni Combat,Macaroni War,Spaghetti Combat, orSpaghetti War, is a broadsubgenre ofwar film that emerged in the mid-1960s. The films were namedEuro War because most were Europeanco-productions, most notably and commonly byItalians,[1] as indicated by the subgenre's other nicknames that draw parallels to those films within the mostly ItalianSpaghetti Western genre.[2][3][4]
The typical team was made up of an Italian director, Italo-Spanish technical staff, and a cast of Italian andSpanish actors and sometimesGerman andFrench, sometimes a minor or fadingHollywoodstar. The films were primarily shot inEurope and later, thePhilippines.
From the mid-1960s, much like in the case of the Italianspaghetti western in relation to American Hollywood Westerns, the Macaroni Combat film mimicked the success of American films such asThe Guns of Navarone,The Dirty Dozen andWhere 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 duringWorld War II with a few about mercenaries inAfrica following the success ofDark of the Sun and later,The Wild Geese. In the 1980s most entries in the genre were set during theVietnam War following the success ofThe Deer Hunter andApocalypse Now.[2]
Some were also made to capitalize the success of Vietnam War rescue mission movies likeMissing in Action,Uncommon Valor andRambo 2. Some were also made to capitalize on the success of movies having American involvement in Middle East missions against terrorist activities likeThe Delta Force andDeath Before Dishonor,Delta Force Commando. Some were also made to capitalize on the success of Soviet Afghan war movies likeRambo 3 andand Delta Force Commando 2.Two popular examples of the Italian-madeWorld War II films wereAnzio (1968) andHornets' Nest (1970) with their A-list cast members. Today, one of the better-known films to fit the Macaroni Combat archetype is the 1978 filmThe Inglorious Bastards directed byEnzo G. Castellari. Influenced heavily by the aforementioned 1967 American film,The Dirty Dozen, it would later inspireQuentin Tarantino's 2009 filmInglourious Basterds, an American-produced film influenced by the genre as a whole.
Rossi, Stefano.Makkaroni Combat: The Italian way of war Movies (Kindle ed.). Amazon.com.ASIN B07RDL91M4.
