Western History of the Western film Western is

Western

History of the Western film � � � � Western is the most uniquely American film genre, and was the most consistently successful genre for over 50 years. Arguably the first true Western was Edwin S. Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery” (1903), which focused on escapes and defeating the enemy. In 1939, a Western directed by John Ford called “Stagecoach” won a pair of Oscars and started a new era of very successful Western films. The film was targeted at a wider audience, where before it was mainly targeted at children. The 1950’s were a golden era for Westerns and stars like Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne and Gary Cooper truly came into their own in these films. During the 1960’s, Western films started to lower in popularity, however the genre found a new audience in Italy. Italian produced films became known as ‘Spaghetti Westerns’, and were the most successful Western films in the 60’s As the genre started losing its appeal, directors would try and add their own twist to Western films; some took dark and graphic turns, whilst some added comedy. However, as the genre’s interest was lost, the genre lost its direction Modern Westerns still exist, however they have adapted into movies which are more from the action genre, specifically American cop movies.

Sub-Genres of the Western film Sub-Genre Example Australian George T. Miller’s The Man from Snowy River (1982) Civil War Howard Hawk's Rio Lobo (1970) Gunfighter Fred Zinnemann's High Noon (1952) Indian War Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970) Humorous/Parody Mel Brook's Blazing Saddles (1974) Black cowboy (protagonist of colour) Gerald Haslam's story Rider Spaghetti Western Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) The Epic Western William Wyler’s The Big Country (1958)

Iconography of the Western film

Actors/Directors associated with Western films

Box Office – Top 10 films of the Genre

Budgets – Top 10 films of the Genre

Critically acclaimed examples

Stretch and Challenge: Ideologies/Contexts