Western (genre)

The Western is an American genre in literature and film. Westerns are art works – films, literature, sculpture, television and radio shows, and paintings – devoted to telling stories set in the American West, often portraying it in a romanticized light.

Western films

A genre in which description and dialogue are lean, and the landscape spectacular, is well suited to a visual medium. Early Westerns were mostly filmed in the studio like other early Hollywood movies, but when locations shooting became more common, producers of Westerns used desolate corners of California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado or Wyoming, often making the landscape not just a vivid backdrop, but a character in the movie.

Related Topics:
California - Arizona - Utah - Nevada - Colorado - Wyoming

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The Western genre itself has sub-genres, such as the epic Western, the shoot 'em up, singing cowboy Westerns, and a few comedy Westerns. The Western re-invented itself in the revisionist Western.

Related Topics:
Epic Western - Shoot 'em up - Singing cowboy Westerns - Comedy Westerns - Revisionist Western

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Cowboys and Gunslingers play prominent roles in Western movies. Often fights with Indians are depicted, although "revisionist" Westerns give the natives sympathetic treatment. Other recurring themes of westerns include western treks, and groups of bandits terrorizing small towns such as in The Magnificent Seven.

Related Topics:
Cowboy - Gunslingers - Indians - Trek - Bandits - The Magnificent Seven

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The Classical Western film

The western film traces its roots back to The Great Train Robbery, a silent film directed by Edwin S. Porter and starring Broncho Billy Anderson. Released in 1903, the film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first cowboy star, making several hundred Western movie shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon had competition in the form of William S. Hart.

Related Topics:
The Great Train Robbery - Silent film - Edwin S. Porter - Broncho Billy Anderson - 1903 - William S. Hart

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In the United States, the western has had an extremely rich history that spans many genres (comedy, drama, tragedy, parody, musical, etc.). The golden age of the western film is epitomised by the work of two directors: John Ford (who often used John Wayne for lead roles) and Howard Hawks. Ford's 1939 epic, Stagecoach is considered one of the best westerns ever made.

Related Topics:
Comedy - Drama - Tragedy - Parody - Musical - John Ford - John Wayne - Howard Hawks - Stagecoach

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Spaghetti Westerns

:Main article: Spaghetti Western

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During the 1960s and 1970s, a revival of the Western emerged in Italy with the "Spaghetti Westerns" or "Italo-Westerns". Many of these films are low-budget affairs, shot in locations chosen for their cheapness and for the similarity of their landscapes to those of the Southwestern United States (southern Spain was the most popular choice). Spaghetti Westerns were characterised by the presence of more action and violence than the Hollywood westerns. But the best of the genre, notably the films directed by Sergio Leone, have a parodic dimension (the strange opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West being a reversal of Fred Zinnemann's High Noon opening scene) which gave them a different tone to the Hollywood westerns. Clint Eastwood became famous by starring in Spaghetti Westerns, although they were also to provide a showcase for other such considerable talents as Lee van Cleef, James Coburn, Klaus Kinski and Henry Fonda.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1970s - Italy - Southwestern United States - Spain - Sergio Leone - Parodic - Once Upon a Time in the West - Fred Zinnemann - High Noon - Clint Eastwood - Lee van Cleef - James Coburn - Klaus Kinski - Henry Fonda

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Revisionist Westerns

Beginning in the 1960s, in part due to the impact of the Spaghetti Westerns, many American filmmakers began to question many traditional themes of westerns. Aside from the portrayal of the Native American as a "savage", audiences began to question the simple hero versus villain dualism, and the use of violence to test one's character or to prove oneself right. Examples of "revisionist westerns" include Jeremiah Johnson, Little Big Man, Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven. Some "modern" Westerns give women more powerful roles, such as Open Range and The Missing. In 1969, Claudia Cardinale had a starring lead in Once Upon a Time in the West.

Related Topics:
1960s - Native American - Jeremiah Johnson - Little Big Man - Dances With Wolves - Unforgiven - Open Range - The Missing - 1969 - Claudia Cardinale - Once Upon a Time in the West

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Genre studies and Westerns

In the 1960s academic and critical attention to cinema as a legitimate art form emerged. With the increased attention, film theory was developed to attempt to understand the significance of film. From this environment emerged (in conjunction with the literary movement) a enclave of critical studies called genre studies. This was primarily a semantic and structuralist approach to understanding how similar films convey meaning. Long derided for its simplistic morality, the western film genre became to be seen instead as a series of conventions and codes that acted as a short-hand communication methods with the audience. For example, a white hat represents the good guy, a black hat represents the bad guy; two people facing each other on a deserted street leads to the expectation of a showdown; cattlemen are loners, townsfolk are family and community minded; and so forth. All western films can be read as a series of codes and the variations on those codes. Since the 1970s, the western genre has been unraveled through a series of films that used the codes but primarily as a way of undermining them (Little Big Man and Maverick did this through comedy). Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves actually resurrects all the original codes and conventions but reverses the polarities (the Native Americans are good, the U.S. Cavalry is bad). Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven uses every one of the original conventions, only reverses the outcomes (instead of dying bravely or stoicly, characters whine, cry, and beg; instead of a good guy saving the day, unredeemable characters execute revenge; etc.)

Related Topics:
1960s - Film theory - Little Big Man - Maverick - Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves - Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven

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One of the results of genre studies is that some have argued that "Westerns" need not take place in the American West or even in the 19th Century, as the codes can be found in other types of movie. For example, Hud, starring Paul Newman, and Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai), are possible examples of these. Likewise, it has been pointed out that films set in the old American West, may not necessarily be considered "Westerns."

Related Topics:
Hud - Paul Newman - Akira Kurosawa - Shichinin no samurai

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