The Western Epic That Influenced Quentin Tarantino in “Every Way, Shape, and Form” Is Leaving Free Streaming

Three legendary Italian directors united to work on one of the most acclaimed films of all time. The movie inspired generations of directors who came after, with perhaps the biggest fan being none other than Quentin Tarantino. A lifelong admirer of spaghetti Westerns — grimy European counterparts to the more straight-laced American Westerns — Tarantino paid homage to the iconic movie in several of his own films. His most recent release as a director owes its title to the classic, which will turn 60 years old in 2028. Now, the movie in question is streaming for free in the United States, but only for a little while longer.

Released in 1968, the film was produced as a sort of catharsis for director Sergio Leone, Tarantino's favorite filmmaker, following his culture-defining Dollars Trilogy. Leone worked on the film with Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci, and together, they made a classic that Tarantino credits for teaching him what filmmaking is. In the foreword of a book about the making of the film, he described it as "the movie that made me consider filmmaking, the movie that showed me how a director does what he does, how a director can control a movie through his camera." Tarantino added that the classic "affected my films in every way, shape and form."