Go West, young director
Robert Rouse
January 19, 2006
I am an unabashed fan of the Western. It is a genre I grew up with (thanks to being born in 1955). In the late '50s and early '60s, we only had three channels to choose from and nearly every hour of every night you could find a western. "Maverick" with James Garner and Jack Kelly, "Gunsmoke" with James Arness, "Cheyenne", "The Rifleman", "Wagon Train", and "Rawhide" with a young Clint Eastwood playing Rowdy Yates were just some of the bounty young boys were able to grow up with. We all wanted to be cowboys. We had cowboy hats, coonskin caps, and a desire for our very own BB gun.
The Western was also a staple of Hollywood. The very first film with a narrative story line was 1903's "The Great Train Robbery" featuring Gilbert "Bronco Billy" Anderson in three different roles (and this was a long time before Peter Sellers and Mike Myers). From that point forward, the Western was a great genre to tell tales of right and wrong - white hats on the heroes and black hats on the villains. Of course, a major reason for the great number of westerns was the extensive outdoors available near Los Angeles for location shoots. From singing cowboys to revenge minded heroes filmed in Spain, we have seen thousands and thousands of hours of stories told in the old west.
Westerns have the ability to tell intimate tales like "Angel and the Badman" (1947) or huge epics like "How the West Was Won" (1962). They can be extremely violent like Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (1969) or extremely funny like Mel Brooks "Blazing Saddles" (1974). But above all they can transport us from the hustle and bustle of modern life and take us back to a time that was innocent and dangerous at the same time.
The Western has made stars of several men, from Tom Mix to John Wayne to Clint Eastwood. John Wayne had kicked around Hollywood for several years before John Ford gave him his big break in 1939's "Stagecoach". The scene of the Duke, as the Ringo Kid, flagging down the stagecoach has become iconic. Clint Eastwood toiled in tripe like "Revenge of the Creature" (1955) and "Tarantula" (1955) before he was hired for "Rawhide" in 1959. Five years later Sergio Leone would tap the young Eastwood for "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964). It was a strange idea for a western - an Italian director takes a Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa ("Yojimbo" 1961), films it in Spain and hires an unknown commodity to film an American Western - but the results were spectacular. Eastwood and Leone would go on to make two more adventures for the "man with no name", "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966).
Wayne continued to make Westerns until his death and Eastwood would carry on the tradition for several more great films. However, as time dragged on, there were fewer and fewer Westerns. It went out favor by the studios that used to make their bread and butter on the genre. Eastwood made his last western, "Unforgiven" in 1992. The film went on to great acclaim, but Eastwood said it was his last. He claimed there were no more good stories for Westerns. I'm not buying it. I miss seeing a great Western on the big screen. I understand there can't be car chases and other modern contrivances, but to me a film is more about story and there will always be great stories that can be relayed through the Western format. HBO has given us the great series "Deadwood" which deals more with political intrigue than the traditional Western and I believe that is where the future of the genre lies. Yes, the traditional Western saga has been told time and time again, but imagination can be as wide and varied as the untamed West the stories are drawn from. I wouldn't mind seeing other series in the "Deadwood" mold. The real Dodge City and Tombstone were full of historical and colorful characters that could easily populate continuing sagas mounted around actual events. But this is just television, so I'm still looking forward to the next great Western of the silver screen. Just as long as it isn't a bad idea like a remake of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
The Western was also a staple of Hollywood. The very first film with a narrative story line was 1903's "The Great Train Robbery" featuring Gilbert "Bronco Billy" Anderson in three different roles (and this was a long time before Peter Sellers and Mike Myers). From that point forward, the Western was a great genre to tell tales of right and wrong - white hats on the heroes and black hats on the villains. Of course, a major reason for the great number of westerns was the extensive outdoors available near Los Angeles for location shoots. From singing cowboys to revenge minded heroes filmed in Spain, we have seen thousands and thousands of hours of stories told in the old west.
Westerns have the ability to tell intimate tales like "Angel and the Badman" (1947) or huge epics like "How the West Was Won" (1962). They can be extremely violent like Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (1969) or extremely funny like Mel Brooks "Blazing Saddles" (1974). But above all they can transport us from the hustle and bustle of modern life and take us back to a time that was innocent and dangerous at the same time.
The Western has made stars of several men, from Tom Mix to John Wayne to Clint Eastwood. John Wayne had kicked around Hollywood for several years before John Ford gave him his big break in 1939's "Stagecoach". The scene of the Duke, as the Ringo Kid, flagging down the stagecoach has become iconic. Clint Eastwood toiled in tripe like "Revenge of the Creature" (1955) and "Tarantula" (1955) before he was hired for "Rawhide" in 1959. Five years later Sergio Leone would tap the young Eastwood for "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964). It was a strange idea for a western - an Italian director takes a Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa ("Yojimbo" 1961), films it in Spain and hires an unknown commodity to film an American Western - but the results were spectacular. Eastwood and Leone would go on to make two more adventures for the "man with no name", "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966).
Wayne continued to make Westerns until his death and Eastwood would carry on the tradition for several more great films. However, as time dragged on, there were fewer and fewer Westerns. It went out favor by the studios that used to make their bread and butter on the genre. Eastwood made his last western, "Unforgiven" in 1992. The film went on to great acclaim, but Eastwood said it was his last. He claimed there were no more good stories for Westerns. I'm not buying it. I miss seeing a great Western on the big screen. I understand there can't be car chases and other modern contrivances, but to me a film is more about story and there will always be great stories that can be relayed through the Western format. HBO has given us the great series "Deadwood" which deals more with political intrigue than the traditional Western and I believe that is where the future of the genre lies. Yes, the traditional Western saga has been told time and time again, but imagination can be as wide and varied as the untamed West the stories are drawn from. I wouldn't mind seeing other series in the "Deadwood" mold. The real Dodge City and Tombstone were full of historical and colorful characters that could easily populate continuing sagas mounted around actual events. But this is just television, so I'm still looking forward to the next great Western of the silver screen. Just as long as it isn't a bad idea like a remake of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.