Yes, You Should Watch A Western (Dammit)! Part II: The Post Modern
Of Revision And Spaghetti Dishes…
As mentioned in part I, I saw Westerns as psychological landscapes. Those deserts and plains and isolated towns put the complexities of human behaviors in sharp focus. As the ‘60s rolled in and the old studio system was dying, films began to use the genre to reflect more on contemporary issues. Stories moved further away from the white hat, black hat adventures, and into the realm of realistic or revisionist dramas. For simplicity, I categorize this period from the mid-’60s to the early ’90s (other sources like film historians may give a more specific in their time span). The box office appeal of the genre largely petered out at the end of the 70s. A film called Heaven’s Gate was a huge flop for the Western motion picture in 1980 (and the big film industry as well), and I see how that parallels the drop in the public interest. The ‘90s had a few high-profile movies made (Dances With Wolves and Tombstone for example) that did well, but the movie industry had largely moved on (or perhaps it was becoming too far removed from the genre’s source and time period).
Below are my suggestions from this Era.
The Man With No Name/Dollars Trilogy (1964-1966): For those of you who still have an aversion to the more melodramatic Westerns of classic Hollywood, this series is the best place to start. Leone’s westerns were still steeped in the iconography and tropes of the Western, but spiritually they were very different. In general, the high morality and romantic sentiments of the classic Western were replaced by a violent operatic world of grit and sarcasm. This version of the Wild West is of people and groups lusting for power and dominance in tiny, dirty isolated towns. Characters are driven by greed and self-preservation; Clint Eastwood’s laconic bounty hunter is rarely altruistic and is begrudgingly so. Any of these three films are recommended to start with, as they each stand on their own, but the Good, The, Bad and the Ugly is the most epic in scope, with more at play. These films made such an impression on the cinematic landscape, you can see their DNA in other films and genres frequently. They are also just great fun to watch.
Once Upon in Time in the West (1968): In contrast to his previous Westerns, Sergio Leone stayed closer to the romantic myths in this movie. The stage is set as more grand and serious– downplaying the pulpiness and eccentricities of the Dollars movies. All the archetypes are at play here: The lone gunslinger, the romantic bandit, the hooker with the heart of gold, and the greedy tycoon. The plot centers around an important piece of land, and its natural resource of water. Jill McBain, a former prostitute, legally inherits the land to build a township upon it, but a railroad owner wants the land for himself and has no qualms over getting his hands dirty to get it. This tale is a great example of a regular theme in the genre: industrialization and the taming of the frontier made the men and women of the “Wild” West quickly obsolete, soon passing into the stuff of legend.
Little Big Man (1970): The world’s oldest man is interviewed and recounts (perhaps unreliably) his colorful life living among Native Americans, being a gunslinger who knew Wild Bill, and being a survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn. The film has a satirical edge to it, mocking celebrated heroes and events of that time period. Also of note, is the picture’s portrayal of Native Americans is fleshed out, having for decades been portrayed as one-dimensional or as attackers. Dustin Hoffman stars as Little Big Man.
*Blazing Saddles (1974): This could really be defined as a cross-genre movie, but Mel Brooks’ comedy is a traditional Western through and through. It lovingly pokes fun of all the tropes of the genre and structurally, it has the same plot as many classic B movie Westerns. Clevon Little, Gene Wilder, and Madeline Kahn among others, are a blast to watch.
Unforgiven (1992): This was a Western that made me look at the genre seriously. It simultaneously presented itself as a deconstruction of the Wild West myths and as something larger than life— on a similar tier of that of a Greek epic or a timeless novel. Violence begets violence in this Western. What starts as a singular act in a small tavern crescendo into a bloody opera. Clint Eastwood’s Will Munny is a reformed outlaw, legendarily known for his rage and violence. He is pulled out of his life as a poor pig farmer when a friend convinces him to help him with a bounty. The film is peppered with lots of little episodes of how the Wild West was often fabricated: the heroic sheriff is really crooked, a gentlemanly gunfighter was really rather savage, and gunfights were really horrible affairs where luck played a role more than skill and finesse, far removed from dime story accounts.
Other Worthy Picks: Lonesome Dove, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Jerimiah Johnson, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Spaghetti Westerns: Django, Sabata, They Call Me Trinity.
Part III will be up next: A look at the Neo-Western and how the genre transformed again after 9/11.
