Westerns: Dead or Alive?

[LadyStarblade]

All right, just something I wanted to throw out there...I've heard time and time again that the movie Western is deader than a doornail. But there have been a handful of notable westerns since John Wayne and his ilk rode into the sunset...Dances With Wolves, Unforgiven, the new 3:10 to Yuma...I'd even throw Young Guns in there, but that might have something to do with my Kiefer Sutherland fetish...ahem...

TV "westerns" in the last 15 years (Brisco County, Firefly, Deadwood) are following a similar pattern...supposedly "dead," yet still cropping up from time to time.

So what exactly is a "western?" And does the genre still have a pulse? Thoughts?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[TheLuckyOne]

You mentioned Young Guns but not Tombstone?!? John Wayne just died. Again.

Seriously though, the western isn't dead, it's just hibernating. Like most genres (save comedies, romances and the like), it goes in stages. Slasher films came back, superhero movies are still going strong after 5 years, so as soon as someone makes a good western, I predict we'll see quite a few more.

3:10 To Yuma just might be that film, but we'll have to see.

-D

[CheshireKat]

I gotta go with the Boss on this one, and not just because he signs the imaginary paychecks.

The quick draw. The showdown. Tension-filled card games which at any moment can explode into a barroom brawl or even a gunfight. Innocent schoolmarms and hookers with hearts of gold. Riding horses into the sunset. "The last charge of Wyatt Earp and his immortals." Despite Westerns depicting a very specific place and time in history, they are yet timeless. Take a look at Stephen King's The Dark Tower who's main protagonist is a gunslinger, or Firefly.

I don't think the western can ever really "come back" because quite simply, it never went anywhere. Anybody wishing to challenge me on this point can meet me right here, high noon. I'm your huckleberry.

[pfrsue]

Let's not forget Maverick, Silverado and you could even argue that the Zorro movies qualify as westerns of a sort. There's another western in the pipe for this year, other than 9:10 to Yuma (which, btw, I am all over just as soon as I can get a night free. Christian Bale + Russell Crowe + horses all in one movie = happy Sue!) I don't think the genre is dead at all, but it does seem to have settled into a smaller niche than it used to hold.

[Head Mutant]

I think Westerns see more of a sporadic revival than most genres. It's not the most beloved type of movie out there, and there never is a massive demand for it, but when they pop out a good one every three or four years, it's almost "new" enough that people willingly go see it and enjoy Westerns all over again.

One problem with making one, these days, is that Westerns are steeped in a lot of things not considered as politically correct -- or even tactful. Such as racial stereotypes and epithets, the use of Indi- Native Americans as anything other than a tribe of wise, noble folks with 1001 uses for Buffalo intestines, smoking, etc. Of course, you could just throw all that to the wind and go Deadwood on us, and HBO has.

[StarOpal]

Westerns are one of those genres that never die. They just adapt, and go through quiet phases now and then.

Just last year Seraphim Falls, Bandidas, and that-really-violent-Australian-movie-about-the-brothers-that-I-can't-remember-the-name-of-right-now came out.

Then (to add to the list, but all the good ones have been taken!) there were The Quick and the Dead, Open Range, Wyatt Earp, Bad Girls, Hildago....... Dust (Sue may have forgiven me, but I can't forgive myself! The guilt! The guilt!)

Personally, I am excited for 3:10 to Yuma.

[Al]

staropal said:

Just last year Seraphim Falls, Bandidas, and that-really-violent-Australian-movie-about-the-brothers-that-I-can't-remember-the-name-of-right-now came out.

The Proposition

I think now that CGI has lost it's luster for a lot of people, Westerns *are* starting to surge back, but I can't see them ever reaching their pre-Star Wars popularity again.

Like some others have said, it comes in waves. The Magnificent Seven and A Fistful of Dollars kept it afloat in the sixties. The touchy-feely seventies and the 'we need a therapist on the bridge of a starship' eighties didn't produce much I can recall outside of Pale Rider, but the early nineties kicked up again with Brisco, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Unforgiven, and a bunch of others peoples already mentioned. Between Deadwood, Seraphim Falls, Open Range, and the avalanche of them coming out this year, we're definitely working on another comeback.

Oh, and 3:10 to Yuma was freakin' brilliant.

[StarOpal]

gunslingeral said:

The Proposition

That's the one!

The touchy-feely seventies and the 'we need a therapist on the bridge of a starship' eighties didn't produce much I can recall outside of Pale Rider,

In 1969 (which, you know, is practically the '70s) The Wild Bunch, True Grit*, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid came out. Then the actual '70s had: The Shootist, Rooster Cogburn, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josie Wales, the Sabata movies, and the My Name Is... movies.

The '80s saw the start of the TV movie Westerns. Most of which starred Sam Elliot and/or Tom Selleck.

Not to be all movie geek, but... "It's what I do. It's what I live for."

*True Grit has the best non-Tombstone Western quote ever.

[TheLuckyOne]

Oh man, we need a western quote thread...

"You a bounty hunter?"
"A man's got to do something for a living these days."
"Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy!"

"When I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long."
"I notice when you get to dislikin' someone they ain't around long neither."

-D

[Al]

staropal said:

Then the actual '70s had: The Shootist, Rooster Cogburn, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josie Wales, the Sabata movies, and the My Name Is... movies.

Yeah, I guess I probably should have done a bit more research before I posted. I just liked the 'therapist on a starship' bit.

[coccatino]

staropal said:

*True Grit has the best non-Tombstone Western quote ever.

That's because True Grit is AWESOME!
she said to me, "Reuben! A love of decency does not abide in you!"
"Goodbye, Nola, and I hope that nail-sellin' b****** makes you happy this time!"

[Hucklebubba]

Rooster Cogburn is the best Wayne character in existence, hands-down.

staropal said:

*True Grit has the best non-Tombstone Western quote ever.

Which would that be? All I can remember off the top of my head is, "Fill your hands you son-of-a-*****!"

And my quote contribution, from Open Range:

Spearman: "Sounds like you got this pretty well figured out."
Waite: "Yeah, all except for the part where we don't get killed."

[StarOpal]

hucklebubba said:

Which would that be? All I can remember off the top of my head is, "Fill your hands you son-of-a-*****!"

Well, of course.

I can't even tell you how many times this has been used as a challenge among my circle. Snow ball fights, water guns, video games, you name it.

Example (Actual conversation):

"You wanna play [insert fighting game title]?"
"Meh."
"Look, I'm sorry I beat you every game last time."
"... I won the last match."
"I let you win the last match."
"Fill your hands, you son of a *****!"

We're all very mature.

Other great Western quotes:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

Once Upon a Time in the West
"You deserve better."
"The last man who told me that, is buried out there."

"You know what? If I was you, I'd go down there and give those boys a drink. Can't imagine how happy it makes a man to see a woman like you. Just to look at her. And if one of them should pat your behind, just make believe it's nothing. They earned it."

Once Upon a Time in the West. Good Western. Henry Fonda's such a ******* in it though.

[TheLuckyOne]

"I haven't lost my temper in 40 years, but pilgrim, you caused a lot of trouble this morning that might have got somebody killed, and somebody oughta belt you in the mouth. But I won't. I won't. The hell I won't!"
~McClintock

"There's always a man faster on the draw than you are, and the more you use a gun, the sooner you're gonna run into that man."
~Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

"You're a good-looking boy: you've big, broad shoulders. But he's a man. And it takes more than big, broad shoulders to make a man."
~High Noon

"There are only two things that are better than a gun: a Swiss watch and a woman from anywhere. Ever had a good... Swiss watch?"
~Red River

"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
~The Shootist

"We're gonna give you a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging."
~Silverado

"Hell of a thing, killin' a man. Takin' away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have."
"Yeah, well, I guess he had it comin'."
"We all got it comin', kid."
~Unforgiven


-D

[Al]

I *love* Once Upon A Time in the West. The first ten minutes is the most exciting scene where nothing happens ever filmed. And Jason Robard's minispeech at the end

You know what? If I was you, I'd go down there and give those boys a drink. Can't imagine how happy it makes a man to see a woman like you. Just to look at her. And if one of them should pat your behind, just make believe it's nothing. They earned it.

always makes me shed mantears.