Good Westerns. John Wayne and James Arness Were Never Replaced. Are Westerns Dead in America?

Associated Content ^ | 1-11-2010 | Sherry Tomfeld

[stillafreemind]

Not only are there no stand outs as far as actors go, but writers don't seem to be able to come up with an interesting western story line without nudity, extreme violence and horrible language. Why is that? How did Gunsmoke last those many years without nudity? A shy grin, wink and a nod between Matt Dillon and Kitty was sufficient and somehow much more palatable than seeing them rip clothes off and get down to business.

[TexasCajun]

"Your Fault, My Fault, Nobody's Fault, I'm Gonna Blow Your Head Off!"

-Big Jake-

[Puppage]

Maybe they should play Cowboys & Muslims?

[Gun142]

Turn on speakers

http://www.oldfortyfives.com/thoseoldwesterns.htm

[dfwgator]

Maybe they should play Cowboys & Muslims?

I thought they were playing the Vikings.

[Puppage]

I thought they were playing the Vikings.

Now THAT'S funny

[Sherman Logan]

Kind of a very far south western.

Quigley Down Under.

[daniel boob]

Josey Wells is violent - but justifiable because of the gruesome way his family died.

The movie tells a good story of what was happening to the north and south (and thise caught between the two).

It was not, IMO, violence for violence sakes - no more than The Patriot, Saving Pvt. Ryan, We were Soliders or Braveheart (to name a few) were.

[Dr. Thorne]

The Western was killed by revisionist directors who wanted to make movies about how evil America was and is. It’s hard to watch that great American icon, the cowboy, turned into a venal, hate-filled monster.

[anoldafvet]

I love the series Bonanza. In fact my wife and I went to the 50th anniversary convention at Lake Tahoe this past summer.

[stillafreemind]

I agree with you and think you hit the PC button on the head. We live in a SMALL and RURAL area. At Halloween, our neighbor boy dressed up as a cowboy. Hat, boots and little six shooters. Home he was sent. His mother said there was no way that they could get him to understand why they sent him home.

[goat granny]

In the younger generation of males in acting, they are all girly men..I love a good western also, but the actors of today cannot manage to be men. The settling of this country was not done by metro-sexual men..Too PC for me. Not believable in the parts.

Never did like pretty boys like Montgomery Cliff. A face with character that doesn't have baby butt soft skin looks is a man. not a girly man..

[joe fonebone]

Clint Eastwood..........spaghetti western king

[AngelesCrestHighway]

[goat granny]

Outland was great, but Sean Connerly is one of those men that are not girly men..

[equalitybeforethelaw]

I have often wondered why the western genre has dissappeared, and my opinion is the western is dead because today’s Hollywood leading men all look like boys not like men. I can easily believe a western storyline when watching John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Jack Pallance, Jimmy Stewart, Hank Fonda, et.al, but put a Johnny Depp, Leonardo DeCaprio, Mark Wahlberg or Brad Pitt in one and it would become a farce. My impression is the male leads of the 1940s through late 1960s looked like men and could believeably play “cowboys, cavalrymen, and bank robbers”. Today, with the exception of Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, most actors seem like pretty pussies.

[goat granny]

You got that right...bad writing and throw in a naked woman and your a great writer

[Nakota]

“Get’em dog.”

Big Jake

[rednesss]

Tom Selleck and Robert Duvall are about as close as you’ll come to John Wayne I think.

Crossfire Trail
Open Range
Broken Trail
Geronimo
Monte Walsh
Last Stand at Saber River
Quigley Down Under - same director as Lonesome Dove
Lonesome Dove - all-time favorite

[GeronL]

Open Range? liberal crap

[buccaneer81]

Perhaps the settings will change from one frontier, the old American West, to another, namely space settlements. The 1979 (?) film “Outland” was a fairly close homage to “High Noon.”

Spot on.