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Why the Western Won’t Die
There is something in the western. For a long time, it has been one of the most popular genres in America’s entertainment landscape. From the 1930s through the 1970s, millions of Americans flocked to movie theaters each year to see stars like John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Clint Eastwood take on the bad guys. Louis L’Amour, the most prolific author of Western novels in history (and my favorite) has sold 225 million books. Western television dominated in America in the 1950s and 1960s, with around 120 television series produced. The record for longest primetime television show (1955 – 1975) is still held by Smoke, a western starring James Arness as U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon. That record may soon fall, however, as several show, including, believe it or not, The simpsons, are on the verge of equaling or surpassing this record. I guess nothing illustrates more clearly the changes that have taken place in our society over the past few decades than the mind-boggling fact that Homer Simpson may soon be accomplishing what loads of desperado villains haven’t been able to do in two decades – take down Matt. Dillon.
The golden age of the western has come and gone, but the western hasn’t faded away into the sunset. There’s no denying that since the 1980s, fewer movies and TV shows produced have been westerns. Yet, every once in a while, a brave soul in Hollywood takes a chance and succeeds. Like a monster in an old B-movie, the western refuses to die.
Although few in number, the TV Western has yet to be buried in Boot Hill.
- In 1988, CBS gave us Heaven, a primetime television series starring Lee Horsley as Ethan Cord, a gunman who takes care of raising his sister’s four young children after her death. It was a great show and was more family oriented than a shoot ’em up, but managed to work in a lot of action due to the circumstances of Cord’s past. It lasted almost 3 seasons.
- In 1989, CBS scored big with the made-for-TV miniseries lone dove, which was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry that spent 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It’s the story of retired Texas Rangers Gus McRae, played by Robert Duvall and Woodrow Call, played by Tommy Lee Jones undertaking the first cattle drive from Texas to Montana. Widely considered one of the best miniseries of all time, lone dove was not only critically acclaimed; it was a huge ratings success. Over the four nights it aired, it achieved an average viewership rating of 26.1 with an audience share of 39%. He has also won 7 Emmy Awards, 1 Peabody Award and 2 Golden Globe Awards. Praised for its gritty realism, lone dove proved that we still love a good western and if Hollywood produces one, we’ll watch it in droves. Apparently, even actors aren’t immune to the captivating charm of a good western. Robert Duvall has commented that of all the roles he’s played (and that’s a huge number considering he’s been playing since the early 1960s), his favorite was that of Gus McRae.
- In 1998, CBS tried its luck again by airing the TV show in prime time. The Magnificent Seven, based on the classic 1960 film with the same title starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. As a huge fan of the original film, I have to admit that I watched the pilot episode of the series prepared to condemn it as a cheap rip-off and an insult to the good movie it was based on. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It wasn’t just a great show, but the clever character tweaking paid homage to the original. The show starred Michael Biehn as Chris as Yul Brynner and Eric Close as Vin as Steve McQueen. Unfortunately, the network kept bouncing him off the show as so often happens and he never managed to find an audience. It disappeared in 2000 with only 22 episodes produced. It’s 2008, so I guess CBS should release a Western TV series this year if the pattern holds. Fingers crossed.
Cinema movies haven’t been completely devoid of Westerns since the 1970s, either.
- The 1980s – The long riders (1980), Pale Rider (1985) and Silverado (1985)
- The 1990s – dance with wolves (1990), tomb stone(1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994)
- The 2000s – Crossfire Trail (2001), Open Range (2003) and 3:10 at Yuma (2007)
This is by no means a complete list. I have just chosen a few examples for illustration purposes.
We now come to the heart of the problem. Why didn’t the western disappear? I have a theory why the American people are still receptive to the west.
The western speaks to us. It is perhaps the most quintessentially American form of storytelling.
We Americans are a simple people. We like our simple entertainment. The good guy versus the bad guy works for us. Europeans call us blunt and simplistic. Maybe we are. Maybe they just don’t understand a good old fashioned face-to-face to sort out a problem. Nuance is for sissies. We did not build this nation with nuances.
The western is the moral game par excellence. There is no room for moral relativism. It’s about good versus evil and no one sits on the fence. We like the idea that good opposes evil and defeats it. In this post-9/11 world, I believe most Americans understand the need to take a stand against evil and defeat it.
Nothing characterizes the American spirit better than the western. Tough individualists who face adversity with courage, dignity, a “can do” attitude and just plain courage is a concept that everyone can admire.
Westerns remind us of what it’s like to face difficult times without complaining about the harshness of life. When drought, floods or locusts destroyed crops, people choked them out and kept looking forward to better times next year. When a rancher shot a wolf or mountain lion after his cattle, he was not prosecuted by PETA. If a woman had to wield a gun to defend the farm while her man was away, she did not seek a therapist afterward and did not keep the children in school for counselling.
We love our heroes. Whether it’s Superman standing up for truth, justice, and the American way, Jack Bauer pursuing terrorists, or our brave armed forces troops fighting to defend our nation, we love our heroes. We need them. Our heroes are extensions of ourselves. They stand for what is right. They protect us. They defend the weak. Due to the very nature of the settings and circumstances of Westerns, there is more opportunity for heroic behavior than in more civilized and calm environments. The western lends itself to producing heroes.
We are proud of our country. We are proud of what we have accomplished in just over two centuries. We are proud of what it took to forge this nation from the desert. We are proud of what our country represents. Even the things we’ve done in our history that we can’t be proud of, like our mistreatment of the black man and the red man, can cause us to be proud because we’ve addressed those horribly unfair situations and tried to correct them. We admitted that we had done wrong and moved forward as a society. We’re not perfect, but we should be known for being honest about the darkest chapters in our history. I believe in a world where, in the 21st century, slavery still exists and where some nations are rewriting the history of World War II to absolve themselves of their guilt. The United States of America deserves not to be judged too harshly.
I believe that these factors explain the affection of the American people for the western. I believe it’s a lasting love story that will never end. I believe there will always be room for a good western on the American entertainment scene, whether in the form of a book, a television show, a play or a feature film. Yeah, there’s something about the western.
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