Inspiration from Spaghetti Westerns take Red Dead Redemption 2 to New Levels

Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) is often praised for its realism or compelling storytelling. But something that is rarely talked about is its nods to the classic western movies that pioneered the genre. You may be wondering, “what is a spaghetti western?” Oxford dictionary defines the spaghetti western as “a movie about the American Old West made cheaply in Europe, typically by an Italian producer and director.” These movies were made in the 1960s.

When you play this game, you’ll notice how familiar the song is but also hear how it’s been updated like the classic western song “Navajo Joe” by Ennio Morricone and RDR2’s “My Last Son”. You feel totally immersed in a western as the music is playing and the characters seem to come to life. 

But songs are not the only things Rockstar took inspiration from its movie predecessors. Red Dead Redemption 2 re-imagines many scenes from iconic movies like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Back to the Future Part III (1990), and The Wild Bunch (1969). 

You may wonder what scenes inspired RDR2 in the mission “pouring forth oil.” The opening cinematic is an almost full re-creation of the train robbery from the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. 

This RDR2 scene where Dutch & Arthur cliff jump to their escape is an homage to the iconic scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where two outlaws have to jump off a cliff to avoid capture. The only difference is in RDR2, the people hunting them catch up to them.

A reference to A Fistful of Dollars in RDR2 is in the Rhodes plot line of the game. The gang takes advantage of two warring families much like Clint Eastwood’s character takes advantage of two warring gangs. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is also featured in RDR2 when Hosea talks about the time he was almost hung but a stranger shot the rope off. This is similar to Clint Eastwood’s character who shoots the rope off before Tuco could be hung.

Visiting one of the train bridges in RDR2 will remind you of Back to the Future Part III as you come across an old, wrecked train. Near the end of the movie, a train falls off the unfinished bridge. 

The final reference to other movies and possibly the most important is the reference to The Wild Bunch which takes place during the end of the west. It follows a gang looking for one last score, only to find that their big score was one big setup by an old gang member, and they run away into hiding. This is pretty much the plot of RDR2, where you follow an outlaw gang in 1899 when they are looking for one last score but then they get betrayed. Lots of their scores end up being set ups and lots of gang members die with the remaining going into hiding.I have been playing RDR2 for about 10 months with 391 hours clocked in the game. What drew me to the game was its amazing graphics and all the great reviews on the game that touted a great gaming experience. It does not disappoint. What keeps me playing the game is that it is never boring, I have played through the storyline three times, and I discover new things each time. It encouraged me to researching spaghetti westerns and find similarities in the game. Who knew that spaghetti westerns from the 1960s could help a software company like Rockstar games make a successful video game?