The Spaghetti Western/Cowboy movie influence is part of why the Jedi seem to fit into the Galaxy so well, too--look at how many Old Westerns were inspired by samurai movies, lol. Throwing in some laser sword-fighters in the old Space West feels perfectly natural.

I wonder if the lack of 'Old West' spirit in the PT has something to do with why it was ultimately so poorly received. The TPM visit to Tatooine kind of demonstrates that it was something other than just 'lol desert planet' that made us enjoy SW in the first place.