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.
“.... my opinion is the western is dead because today’s Hollywood leading men all look like boys not like men.”
You nailed it! ...and not just westerns. Crime movies, war movies, mob movies...just doesn’t seem to work anymore.
there really is big market in hollywood that is untapped.
Why hasn't it been untapped?