There are a lot of great elements that make a great Western. For starters, there is the setting of the Old West, or in the case of a Spaghetti Western, the countryside of Italy that doubles as the American frontier. There are character arcs for the film's protagonists that fit the mold of the times in America and all our struggles. They often times mimic the old mythology of the samurai, only in this case, it's a lone gunman rather than a swordsman.