Tex Willer, a fictional and inspirational character who seems more real than many real characters, has turned 70 and continues not to age, despite having survived hundreds of ambushes.
Who is Tex?
Tex Willer was born on 30 September 1948, from the pencil and the imagination, of Gianluigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini. Bonelli was a real cowboy, Bolognese publisher, pioneer of Italian comics, he left the baton to his son Sergio. Tex had for a while the faces of Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Charlton Heston, then it was decided that he should have neutral features. He is a character who with his pards, Kit carson (the "old camel") and Tiger Jack, as well as his son Kid, never stops writing about himself. In fact, Tex, loved by many Italian artists, including Benigni and Guccini, is much more than a Texas Ranger. He is a timeless philosopher who can be read at all ages, offers a profound and problematic look at the immortal human theme of what justice is.
Why read Tex?
There are never easy answers, one-sided solutions to Tex's cases. Tex looks deeply into the human soul, even that of his enemies. Seek a higher law. It is dedicated to defending the cause of the weakest, the defenseless. Look for the reasons of the losers, when needed is on the side of the wrong, not always on the side of "reason", paraphrasing the Nomads. He does not like bullies. Its purpose is not to shoot and "do justice"!
Tex is Indian by adoption, he married Lilith, a Navajo woman and among the Navajo is Eagle of the Night, while his inseparable old friend Kit Carson is Silver Hair. Tex is a reading to be encouraged among the new generations, as a source of elementary universal moral principles, as well as being a pride of made in Italy for export. It is also a text rich in philosophy. A few lines full of adventures, for everyone, adventures that expand life and make you think and fantasize.
It is also the source of a rich language, sometimes "old fashioned", which can make those who read it for the first time, young or old, feel the pleasure of using certain old-fashioned expressions and words. Words that make you dream of a remote and lost world, perhaps never really existed except in the imagination of certain free spirits. Replacing the "Gran putifarre!", Of the amiably whiny old Kit Carson, for some violent and vulgar curses of today, could be a fun and a linguistic achievement. Indeed, even the dictionary of imprecations deserves to be varied in an increasingly poor, standardized and monotonous language!
The underlying philosophy of Tex
Not forgetting that you must always make time for "A three finger high steak, soft as butter, under a mountain of chips!", which always rewards the successes and feats of Tex and his friends. The unparalleled satisfaction of risking your life to seek yourself and justice, without receiving a broken penny! Do it to answer a call that is in the hearts of all men.
The philosophy of the Italian western
Tex is also part of the great tradition of spaghetti western, of the Italian western by Sergio Leone, set to music by Ennio Morricone. A unique and revolutionary western for the same reasons that make Tex original and philosophical. There was also a great philosophy behind two great protagonists of spaghetti westerns, Bud Spencer e Terence Hill. That is the cathartic idea of venting the wrath of the good against injustices, giving strength to those who have no strength to defend themselves from oppression and abuse, without however anyone ever leaving their feathers (the bad ones receive a "good lesson" but in the end they always get up and run away).
Bud Spencer's philosophy
The idea of ridiculing the bad guys, the monsters, the evil. Often this genre has been snubbed to say the least in Italy, yet it tells us a lot about the difference in perspective with the classic American western. There are no heroes, the good guys don't always win, the bad guys don't belong to stigmatized groups (like Indians or certain social categories), they're not that bad or that recognizable, and neither are the good guys who aren't always beautiful, infallible and perfect.
Bud Spencer and Terence Hill have also been and remain a great made in Italy export product, which continues to be exported and transmitted all over the world and in particular in the countries of Northern and Central Europe. One has even recently been installed in Budapest statue to Bud Spencer. Carlo Pedersoli in the registry office, great Olympic swimmer, who died in 2016, after having given many laughs and a lot of wisdom in his maxims such as: “There is no bad worse than a good when it becomes bad!”.
We know that the real monsters, of injustice and oppression, can be defeated and we know, we hope, that there will always be Tex, Kit Carson and Bud, to defeat them, first of all within ourselves.
