Book excerpt: THE EURO-WESTERN BEYOND LEONE The full, vibrant history of the Euro-Western, offering everything any fan of Euro-Westerns could ever want to know. The success of Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy in the 60s sparked a gold rush, as a legion of European film-makers, many of them sharing the get-rich-quick mentality of Leone's mercenary anti-heroes followed the master's lead to create some of the wildest Westerns ever made. Cynical and stylish, bloody and baroque, Euro-Westerns replaced straight-shooting sheriffs and courageous cowboys with amoral adventurers, whose murderous methods would shock the heroes of Hollywood Westerns. Any Gun Can Play explores the films' wider reaches, their recurrent themes, characters, quirks and motifs. It examines the American models and explores the mechanics of the Italian film industry. - Features the genre's leading lights, including Franco Nero, Giuliano Gemma and Gianni Garko, writer Sergio Donati, and directors Sergio Sollima and Giuliano Carnimeo - Foreword by Euro-Western legend Franco Nero This stunningly illustrated reference guide demonstrates why these films became box-office sensations around the world, and their influence can still be felt today.