The Western: What happened?

SaltyStix.com ^ | 09,05,2007 | Brett

[7thson]

Clint Eastwood once said, "I feel very close to the western. There are not too many American art forms that are original. Most are derived from European art forms. Other than the western and jazz or blues, that's all that's really original." People these days don’t really care for westerns anymore, unless Hang ‘Em High is on AMC or something. No one has made a decent attempt at a true western in a number of years. Sure, perhaps we get a Kevin Costner film every few years that takes place in the old west, but it’s not a western. Those are just emotional dramas taking place in a dusty town with lawmen and outlaws. Now with two new westerns debuting in a few weeks of each other, is it the same old song and dance, or revival?

[7thson]

An interesting article I came across. I do not know if I was allowed to post the entire article so I excerpted it.

The question remains, what ever happened to the western? My take - the western is a basic good versus evil storyline and Hollywood got out of that business years ago when it started to embrace multiculturalism.

Some of my favorite westerns -

Unforgiven

Shane

True Grit

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Lonesome Dove

The Shootist

[ovrtaxt]

Blazing Saddles rulz.

[ovrtaxt]

But seriously- The Jack Bull was a good, genuine recent western. Worth renting.

[ConorMacNessa]

Favorites here - any John Wayne western.

[yankeedame]

Three of my all time favorite movies that just happen to be Westerns -

Gunfight at OK Corral ("You'll die without a dime or a woman")

The Man who Shot Liberty Valance ("Put his boots back on!")

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ("Lest we forget...")

[cartan]

…

Chato's Land

The Wild Bunch

[nathanbedford]

High Noon
The wild Bunch
the outlaw Josie Wales
The Long riders
Black Robe
The Searchers (Seekers?)
Dances with Wolves
Jeremiah Johnson
True Grit

[johnny7]

“Alright... Lunger!”

[Jack Hammer]

“There are not too many American art forms that are original. Most are derived from European art forms.”

Seems to have forgotten Kurosawa’s Samurai Schichinin...

[MarkL]

Silverado was a good one, even thought it has Danny Glover...

Mark

[gate2wire]

“Silverado was a good one, even thought it has Danny Glover...”

I need to ignore his role in Lonesome Dove, also.

[cyclotic]

Not truly a western, but I love watching James Garner in “Support Your Local Sheriff.”

[Gay State Conservative]

What is Clint talking about.Brokeback Mountain was a *huge* hit not long ago!

[7thson]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was an excellent movie. Several years ago, Tombstone and Wyatt Earp came out at the same time. I liked Tombstone better. I liked how they showed running down the bad guys like dogs until they got them all. A philosophy surely missing today.

[7thson]

One scene I remember in Chato’s Land - at night, someone is killed and falls face down in the fire. He’s dead befoe he hits the ground because he doesn’t scream from the flames.

[Smokin' Joe]

Quigley Down Under.

[7thson]

That was a good one. For an offbeat kind of western, I also liked The Missouri Breaks with Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando.

[Smokin' Joe]

Two Mules for Sister Sarah was another good one.

[Caramelgal]

My top ten in no particular order:

The Professionals - Burt Lancaster
Silverado - Kevin Kline
True Grit – John Wayne
The Searchers - John Wayne
High Noon - Gary Cooper
The Shootist - John Wayne
The Cowboys - John Wayne
Unforgiven – Clint Eastwood
The Magnificent Seven - Yul Brynner
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon - John Wayne

And Blazing Saddles.....

[Dick Vomer]

Man who shot Liberty Valance

The Cowboys

[Dick Vomer]

"I'll be your Huckleberry..... "

[Mr. Jeeves]

Good recent ones? Any of them with Robert Duvall or Tom Selleck is worth watching.

[DangerDanger]

High Plains Drifter (not just my favorite western, but my second favorite flick of all time - right behind The Devil’s Advocate)

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Silverado

[johnny7]

LOL... “You're no daisy...”

[johnny7]

Tom Selleck does good westerns... 'Crossfire Trail' and 'Monte Walsh' come to mind.

[Let's Roll]

The Searchers

Lonesome Dove

Monty Walsh (TNT original?)

The Last of the Mohicans (I know it was an Eastern)

Electric Horseman

[DancesWithCats]

You bet. Duvall and Selleck. Broken Trail was good and that was very recent.

[relictele]

Hollywood managed to destroy yet another genre (see also: romance, whodunits) by injecting PC and the gay agenda.

20th century directors and studios gave us Westerns.

21st century directors and studios give us gay cowboys, sheepranchers, call them what you like.

[Dick Vomer]

"You're no daisy! You're no daisy at all. Poor soul, you were just too high strung".

" It would appear that the strain was more than he could bear.

[johnny7]

“Say when...”

[bruin66]

High Noon

Hands down. Also had the best theme song.

[Continental Soldier]

My favorite westerns: “Shane,” “High Noon,” “3:10 to Yuma” (the first one),”Ride the High Country,” “The Wild Bunch” and “The Stalking Moon.” Yes, the classic western is a re-enactment of the conflict between good and evil. It is mythical, not realistic. But the really goods ones are very, very convincing (”Shane,” “The Stalking Moon”). The ‘modern westerns (High Noon, 3:10 to Yuma) are somewhat contemporary social critiques, disguised as westerns, but, still, pretty darn good. :)

[SunkenCiv]

“What’s deservin’ got to do with it?”

[schu]

You are right on:

High Plains Drifter - absolute classic film
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Unforgiven

schu

[Mr. Blonde]

My take - the western is a basic good versus evil storyline and Hollywood got out of that business years ago when it started to embrace multiculturalism.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

I realize it Clint is billed as The Good, but really there are no good guys in that movie. Or really any of Leone's westerns.

[weegee]

“There are not too many American art forms that are original. Most are derived from European art forms. Other than the western and jazz or blues, that’s all that’s really original.”

comic books
rock and roll
the mystery novel (thank you Edgar Allen Poe)

there are more

He’s myopic.

[weegee]

He also forgot that the westerns he made were shot in Europe by a European director and scored by a European composer (and I’ll mention the Japanese source of the stories he appeared in).

[NCC-1701]

“...Quigley Down Under....”

Now that’s a western. In fact, it’s so far west, it would be shorter to go east to get west.

[NCC-1701]

How about “The Sacketts”? That was a good flick. Selleck and Sam Elliott were great in it.

[7thson]

In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that once your art form becomes European influenced, it tends to be degraded.