Western Movies

Western Movies

Conventions, History and Examples

An Overview – Key Points

• Telling stories set in the American West

• Often portray films in a romanticised light

• Nostalgic historical feel

• Genre has been popular throughout the history of the movies

• Has diminished in importance as the United States moves further away from the period depicted in these movies.

Setting and Time

• Set in the American West• Almost always in the 19th Century• Incorporate the Civil War into the film

directly, or the background• May extend further back into the colonial

period• Or forward into the mid-twentieth century• May range geographically from Mexico to

Canada

The Hero

• Semi – nomadic characters• Sole possessions consist of clothing, a

gun and maybe a horse• Some high technology of the era present,

e.g. telegraph, printing press, railroad• Occasionally these referred to as a

development just arriving, symbolising the end of frontier lifestyle and the march of civilisation

Some general conventions

• Each movie is a morality tale

• Usually set against stunning American landscapes

• In some movies the landscapes are more the stars than the actors

• Stress the harshness of the landscape, or juxtapose the beauty of it with the dirtiness of a town

Some possible locations

• Isolated forts

• Ranch houses

• Isolated homestead

• Saloon

• Jail

Iconography

• Stetsons• Spurs• Colt. 45’s• Prostitutes• Saloon• Sheriff• Faithful Steed• Indians

Common themes

• Conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature, or the capture of territory from the natives.

• Depicts a society based on a code of honour rather than law.

• Social status is only achieved through acts of violence, or generosity.

• These themes are forefront, as in the western, the arrival of the law is often seen as regrettable.

Evolution

• Structure drawn from 19th Century melodramatic literature involving virtuous hero and a wicked villain who menaces a virginal heroine

• Action story, composed of violence, chases and crimes

• Introduction of the history of migration westwards and opening of frontier – films like The Covered Wagon (1924)

• Revenge structure, present in films like Billy the Kid (1930)

Sub-genres

• Classical Western

• Epic Western

• Shoot ‘em up

• Singing Cowboy Westerns

• Spaghetti Westerns

• Revisionist Western

Classic Westerns

• The Great Train Robbery (1903) was the first narrative film produced in US

• Starred Bronco Billy Anderson• He then starred in hundreds of western shorts• Genre epitomised by work of two directors –

John Ford who used John Wayne as his lead directed Stagecoach (1939), which is considered one of the best westerns ever made.

Spaghetti Westerns

• Revival of the western genre in Italy• Low budget affairs• Locations chosen for their cheapness, and

similarity to mid-West (southern Spain was often chosen)

• More action and violence than Hollywood westerns.

• Sergio Leone’s contributions were the most notable – Once Upon A Time in the West.

• Clint Eastwood started his career in these

Revisionist Westerns

• Questioned the role of native as a savage

• Questioned the hero versus villain theme

• Some gave women much larger roles

Clint Eastwood

Critical Thinking

• Long derided for simplicity

• Later came to be seen as a series of linked films which convey meaning – this links with Todorov’s theories of conventions of genre.

• Worked on the principle of semiotics as well – e.g. a white hat represented the good guy

Influences

• After 1960, heavily influenced by Japanese Samurai movies

• Magnificent Seven was remake of Seven Samurai (Dir. Akira)

• Western was a strong influence on Eastern bloc cinema

• Superheroes like Spiderman are modern, urban representations of the western hero

• Star Wars films use many codes and conventions of the western

And Finally…

‘As far as I’m concerned, Americans don’t have any original art except western movies and jazz…’

Clint Eastwood