The Evolution of the Western
Description
Explore the enduring influence of the Western - the quintessential American film genre - and its essential role in US and world culture.
Follow the entire history of the Western, from its roots in the pulp novels of the early 20th century, through the serials of the silent era and the mid-century classics of John Ford and John Wayne, to the recent award-winning revisionist works, like Unforgiven and No Country for Old Men, that provide a more complex and nuanced take on history of the West. Perhaps more than any other pop culture genre, the Western allows us to view how Americans have seen themselves over the last 150 years.
Build a foundational understanding of the genre with 5 introductory essays, exploring the development of the Western Mythos in the traditional Western, the heyday of the traditional Western in the post-WWII period, revisionist Westerns and the counterculture, race and identify, and the Western outside of the USA. Close to 100 encyclopedia entries examine one or more movies or television programs and show how their creation and plots demonstrate the overall evolution of the genre. Easily compare films and TV programs - from early genre favorites such as Gunsmoke to more recent releases like Django Unchained - with essential facts boxes accompanying each entry, with information on the director, studio, key actors, and box office receipts.
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Content
Preface
Alphabetical List of Entries
Introductory Essays
Essay 1: The Development of the Western Mythos and of the Elements of the Traditional Western: Or, How the Outlaw and the Cowboy Became Much the Same Figure
Essay 2: Western Fiction, Western Films, and the Post-War Heyday of the Traditional Western
Essay 3: The Emergence of the Counterculture and the Development of the Revisionist Western
Essay 4: Rights Movements, Multiculturalism, and the Development of New Academic Disciplines and Radically New Perspectives on the Western Mythos
Essay 5: The International Western
Encyclopedia
3:10 to Yuma (1957), 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
The Alamo (1960)
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
The Big Country (1958)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Bonanza (1959-1973)
Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) and Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981)
Buffalo Soldiers (1997)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1974)
The Cavalry Trilogy: Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Rio Grande (1950)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Cimarron (1931), Cimarron (1960)
City Slickers (1991)
Comes a Horseman (1978)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Deadwood (2004-2006)
Django Unchained (2012)
The Dollars Trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
The Electric Horseman (1979)
The Emigrants (1971) and The New Land (1972)
F-Troop (1965-1967)
Garden of Evil (1954)
Giant (1956)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Gunsmoke (1955-1975)
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Heaven's Gate (1980)
High Noon (1952)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Hombre (1967)
Hour of the Gun (1967)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Hud (1963)
The Iron Horse (1924), Union Pacific (1939)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Jesse James (1939) and The Return of Frank James (1940)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Kung Fu (1972-1974)
Lawman (1971) and Valdez Is Coming (1971)
The Left-Handed Gun (1958)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Little Big Man (1970)
The Lone Ranger (Film, 2013), The Lone Ranger (Television Series, 1949-1957)
Lonesome Dove (1989)
The Long Riders (1980)
The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Man in the Wilderness (1971), The Revenant (2015)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
The Misfits (1961)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
News of the World (2020)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Open Range (2003)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Pale Rider (1985)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
The Ranown Cycle: Seven Men from Now (1956), The Tall T (1957), Decision at Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Ride Lonesome (1959), Westbound (1959), Comanche Station (1960)
Red River (1948)
Ride the High Country (1962)
A River Runs through It (1992)
The Sea of Grass (1947)
The Searchers (1956)
Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Shane (1953)
The Shootist (1976)
Silverado (1985)
The Sisters Brothers (2018)
Soldier Blue (1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
Stagecoach (1939)
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
Thunderheart (1992)
Tom Horn (1980)
Tombstone (1993)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
True Grit (1969), True Grit (2010)
Ulzana's Raid (1972)
Unforgiven (1992)
Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
Westward the Women (1951)
Westworld (Film, 1973), Futureworld (Film, 1976), Beyond Westworld (Television Series, 1980), Westworld (Television Series, 2016-2022)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Wild Wild West (Television Series, 1965-1969), Wild Wild West (Film, 1999)
Winchester '73 (1950)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Yellowstone (Television Series, 2018-), 1883 (Television Series, 2021-), 1923 (Television Series, 2022-)
Young Guns (1988), Young Guns II (1990)
Zorro (Television Series, 1957-1959), Zorro, the Gay Blade (Film, 1981), The Mask of Zorro (Film, 1998), The Legend of Zorro (Film, 2005)
Postscript: Blood Meridian (Novel, 1985)
Index
About the Author