The Classic American Western Essay

Submitted By kitkat465
Words: 841
Pages: 4
Open Document
Katherine Melhorn
Kevin Holdsworth
ENGL 2470 – Film Appreciation
July 27, 2010

The Classic American Western Western films have been around since the invention of the moving picture and have become a part of classic American history. When you hear the word “western” you immediately think of romantic landscapes, rugged terrain, cowboys, gunslingers and outlaws. After all “Like steam locomotives and town squares, Western movies are an indelible part of America's heritage.” (historynet.com)
Many filmmakers, like John Ford, were at ease in this genre. Audiences are also attracted to the western genre due to their simplistic nature and clear cut conflicts. "Because everyone wore a six-shooter, complex moral conflicts could be plausibly resolved in clear, clean violent action." (imagesjournal.com) Audiences enjoy the excitement of an outlaw life within the safety of the movie. We want to be reckless without suffering the consequences. I think that is why westerns have become so popular. In many fictional western movies there is an epic struggle between good and bad. For example, in “High Noon”, the entire movie is hinged on the arrival of a train carrying 1 bad man and a Marshal who feels obligated to clean up his own mess. Other western movies are about real people like in “My Darling Clementine” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. In this type of western, the characters involved like Wyatt Earp or Butch Cassidy are subject to Hollywood’s discretion. Their times and tribulations are often romanticized to help humanize these characters.
Movies of this day were mostly advertised by posters. A trailer like you see today was actually named so because it originally followed the movie. The essence of a western movie was captured in their advertising. These posters not only advertised the stars of the picture, but also told a story of the film in sheer artistry. Beautifully drawn and carefully choreographed artwork would line store windows and drawn in their audience.
In the early western, plots were simple and very easy to follow. In “High Noon” and “The Ox-Bow Incident” there was a single plot and you knew someone was going to die. You didn’t necessarily know who was going down, but someone was whether they were good or bad. As the films progressed, plots seemed to get a little more interesting. With Chihuahua in “My Darling Clementine” having jealousy issues and Dobbs letting his paranoia issues control his actions in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” Both of these people added depth to the plots of these movies.
All westerns are surrounded by the element of justice. It’s present in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” when they are followed by men paid to kill the men and it is present in “Hondo” with the Cavalry and also in “The Ox-bow Incident” even though it was corrupt justice. When you think of justice in western movies, you think of swift vigilante justice, not very many trials with it usually ending in a hanging.
Some westerns are based on fact, but Hollywood has taken many liberties with most of them. “Hollywood fed us a steady diet of Western myths, legends, and heroes for over five decades.” (imagesjournal.com) The fact is that there were many bad guys during that era and that there were not very many heroes. In a
Show More

Related Documents: The Classic American Western Essay

Film Noir Essay

Film Noir (literally 'black film or cinema') was coined by French film critics (first by Nino Frank in 1946) who noticed the trend of how 'dark', downbeat and black the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films released in France to theatres following the war, such as The Maltese Falcon (1941), Murder, My Sweet (1944), Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Laura (1944). A wide range of films reflected the resultant tensions and insecurities of the time…

Words 337 - Pages 2

Larry Mcmurtry's Lonesome Dove

other classic western novels, brings to his works the classic myths and traits of “the West,” this novel is made up of ”every element of standard western myth--cowboys, whores, outlaws, sheriffs”(Perrin). The style of Lonesome Dove is prolific with simple language that is capable of construing an image of the adventures the two Rangers manage to find and how they strive to survive and scratch out a living in Post-Civil War America. McMurtry’s style is used to show the worthiness of the western genre…

Words 2548 - Pages 11

The Myth Of The Frontier And Neighboring Natives Essay

Neighboring Natives Ursurla L. Waller Ashford University HIS 204: American History Since 1865 Instructor Jessica Schmidt 2015 January 8 The Myth of the Frontier and Neighboring Natives Movement towards the Great West, known as, "the existence of an area of free land." fortified a boundary line that runs between savagery and civilization. Populated and seized by the Europeans in continental areas bordering the United States of America, the Western Movement began after the first colonial settlement along…

Words 726 - Pages 3

Essay on All Quiet on the Western Front Summary

All Quiet on the Western Front is a fictional account of a German soldier’s experience in World War I. Although written and marketed as fiction, the novella relies heavily on the wartime experience of the author, Erich Maria Remarque. Remarque, a German veteran of World War I, wrote the novella to show how war can suppress the ability of an individual to cope with the drama and stress of battle. Remarque completed the novella in 1927, nearly ten years after he joined the German army at the tender…

Words 614 - Pages 3

Western Genre Essay

and their relative acceptance at any given time are a function of current events and attitudes, fads, and other social phenomena, as well as, the current trends in the artist medium. The defining American genre considered to be westerns. They were the first well­known type of movies. Westerns are characterized as classic plot elements such as cowboys, indians, outlaws, etc. The genre became less popular over the decades and have been refined and changed as well, but the layouts and plots have stayed the same…

Words 507 - Pages 3

Summary Of Great Desert By William Stevens

centuries, and are held together today by grazed cattle and a thin layer of vegetation. Stevens illustrates how vast stretches of the Great Plains (Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska, and South Dakota) have classic sand dunes covered by little vegetation, and that the Nebraska Sand Hills is the biggest dune in the western…

Words 183 - Pages 1

John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men And The Grapes Of Wrath

beloved character named Lennie. John Steinbeck’s works Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath are two commonly used books across the country. Even if one hasn’t read either of his works, they definitely have heard of them.His works are in important to American Literature because he wrote stories people hadn’t dared to think about and he never repeated any of his ideas. Steinbeck was quite fond with nature and the beauty of the Earth. Perhaps that’s why his works include detailed landscapes and settings…

Words 358 - Pages 2

Zildjian Columbian Exchange Essay

1. Before Christopher Columbus and his crew of sixteen starving, run­down, tattered sailors washed ashore in the Bahamas in 1493. And before he joined in on the _____ year remodeling of the western hemisphere, known as the age of exploration. Christopher and the rest of his fellow Europeans had no knowledge of the Americas. That means Florida didn't have oranges, pizza was sauceless, and the Irish were living solely off of potatoes. But when Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas in the…

Words 386 - Pages 2

Alexis De Tocqueville Democracy In America Summary

came to America in 1831 to study the American form of democracy and what it might mean to the rest of the world. After a visit of only nine months, he wrote a remarkable book which is regarded as a classic. De Tocqueville had unusual powers of observation. He described not only the democratic system of government and how it operated, but also its effect on how Americans think, feel, and act. Many scholars believe he had a deeper understanding of traditional American beliefs and values than anyone else…

Words 372 - Pages 2

Analysis: The Grapes Of Wrath

“Up ahead they’s a thousan’ lives we might live, but when it comes it’ll on’y be one.” In the popular American classic The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck impeccably portrays the troubles of a small family during the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl, which caused the 1930’s to be known as the ‘dirty thirties’, was a period where huge dust storms plagued the American and Canadian prairies. Dust storms caused farming to become more difficult and family farms became increasingly further into debt with banks…

Words 718 - Pages 3