Western History of the Western film The Western

Western

History of the Western film � The Western was the most popular Hollywood genre from the early 20 th century to the 1960 s. Western films first became popular in the 1930 s. John Ford's landmark Western adventure Stagecoach became one of the biggest hits in 1939 and it made John Wayne a mainstream screen star. Westerns were very popular throughout the 1950 s and 1960 s. Many of the most acclaimed Westerns were released during this time, including High Noon (1952), Shane (1953), The Searchers (1956), and The Wild Bunch (1969).

Sub-Genres of the Western film �Non Fiction – Cowboys and Aliens, Back To The Future �Superhero – Logan (2017) �Black Comedy – The Sisters Brothers (2018) �Spaghetti Western -Django Unchained

Iconography of the Western film �The iconographies of the typical western films are cowboy uniforms, old fashioned pistols, whips, people on horseback, saloons.

Actors/Directors associated with Western films �Actors: John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, James Stewart, Gary Cooper. �Directors: Delmer Davis (High Noon), Sergio Leone (The Good The Bad And The Ugly), Henry Hathaway (True Grit)

Box Office – Top 10 films of the Genre � 1. Dances with Wolves - Orion - $184, 208, 848 � 2. The Revenant - Fox - $183, 637, 894 � 3. True Grit - Par. - $171, 243, 005 � 4. Django Unchained - Wein. - $162, 805, 434 � 5. Rango - Par. - $123, 477, 607 � 6. Wild West - WB - $113, 804, 681 � 7. Maverick - WB - $101, 631, 272 � 8. Unforgiven - WB - $101, 157, 447 � 9. Cowboys & Aliens - Uni. - $100, 240, 551 � 10. The Magnificent Seven (2016) - Sony - $93, 432, 655

Budgets – Top 10 films of the Genre � 1. Dances with Wolves - £ 22, 000 � 2. The Revenant - £ 135, 000 � 3. True Grit – £ 38, 000 � 4. Django Unchained - £ 100, 000 � 5. Rango - £ 135, 000 � 6. Wild West - £ 170, 000 � 7. The Lone Ranger – £ 215, 000 � 8. BTTFU Pt. 3 - £ 40, 000 � 9. Cowboys & Aliens - £ 163, 000 � 10. The Magnificent Seven - £ 90, 000

Critically acclaimed examples �Rango – Won Oscar for best animated film of the year (2012) �True Grit (2010) – Nominated for 10 Oscars, most noteably best picture. �Django Unchained – Two Oscar wins, Best Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino), Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Waltz) �The Revenant – 3 Oscars, Best actor in leading role, Leonardo Di Caprio, Best Director, Alejandro Lubezki.

Stretch and Challenge: Ideologies/Contexts