Macaroni Combat
From The Deuce
Macaroni Combat is a term describing Italian exploitation war movies of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The term Macaroni Combat originates from the Japanese who coined the phrase. It is in the tradition of 'Macaroni Western' or 'Spaghetti Western' which describes the 60s-70s Italian western movies.
Throughout the late 1960s to the late 80s, the Italian film industry took inspiration from Hollywood war films such as The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Kelly's Heroes (1970) and put their own spicy Italian twist on the genre. Of course, the great Italian directors brought new ideas and flashy style to themes we already had seen such as the "men on a mission" storyline. Thus continuing what they had done with the American Westerns. The Macaroni Combat films were exciting, unique reinterpretations of the Hollywood war films.