With Taylor Sheridan having contributed to the rebound of the Western genre, which was thought to have become obsolete over the last few decades, a new generation of audiences can experience the joy of watching classics for the first time. This month presents them with the opportunity of checking out perhaps the greatest movie that belongs to the genre’s sub-category, known as spaghetti Westerns. This term was used exclusively for Westerns produced in Italy; as you’d imagine, they were soupier and saucier compared to the American Westerns of that era. Sergio Leone, who was widely regarded as the greatest spaghetti Western director of them all, made a groundbreaking trilogy starring Clint Eastwood.
The most acclaimed installment of that trilogy is now streaming on Prime Video. The movie was released in 1966, and remains the benchmark for the genre even six decades later. Quentin Tarantino was hugely inspired by it, calling it “the best-directed film of all time” and “the greatest achievement in the history of cinema.” He paid homage to the movie in his own work, going back to his debut feature, Reservoir Dogs. The film also inspired numerous homages across the world, and inspired Stephen King to write his magnum opus, The Dark Tower series.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
The Greatest Spaghetti Western Ever Is Only a Click Away
By now you’ve probably guessed that we’re talking about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Along with For a Few Dollars More and A Fistful of Dollars, it was part of Leone’s landmark Dollars Trilogy. The movie now holds a “Certified Fresh” 97% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Arguably the greatest of the spaghetti Westerns, this epic features a compelling story, memorable performances, breathtaking landscapes, and a haunting score.” The film also features Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef, and has a memorable original score composed by Ennio Morricone. Tarantino, who has famously avoided scores throughout his career, broke the trend when he had Morricone compose the music for his own spaghetti Western-inspired feature, The Hateful Eight. You can watch The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on Prime Video, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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