I Reckon Westerns Are Coming Back ...
Filed under: Fandom, Newsstand, Quentin Tarantino, Western
Sorry, Hugh Jackman ... I don't think its musicals that are back. I think it's the clink of spurs, and the fast draw that's enjoying a renaissance. I know, they say William Munny killed it along with Little Bill Daggett (and if so, it certainly went out with one hell of a last line), but then came The Missing, The Proposition, Open Range, 3:10 to Yuma, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Appaloosa. There's also been a few that stretched the definition beyond the classic, pistols-at-sunset sort and tackled a more modern definition and locale, such as All the Pretty Horses, Brokeback Mountain, No Country for Old Men, and Australia. Asia has gotten in on the fun with Sukiyaki Western Django and the upcoming The Warrior's Way.
Of course I'm leaving a few of them out (apologies to the Texas Rangers fans out there), and it's also worth noting that not all of them were successful or popular. Some of them were downright disastrous. But they were made when Unforgiven supposedly shot them down, and they were clearly popular or interesting enough to warrant a few more remakes and revivals. The Lone Ranger is set to call on Silver, the Coen Bros are re-hiring Rooster Cogburn, and Gerard Butler will reportedly try to duck the noose in The Hanging Tale. On the graphic novel end, you'll have Jonah Hex wrecking bloody havoc, and Preacher may finally go to Texas. Today, Variety is reporting that Roy Rogers may rise from the dead for a new film trilogy. It won't be a biopic, nor a traditional Western, but be some kind of "family-fantasy adventure" that will use the characters of Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger, capitalizing (their words, not mine) on their iconic status, and introducing them to a new generation.
Of course I'm leaving a few of them out (apologies to the Texas Rangers fans out there), and it's also worth noting that not all of them were successful or popular. Some of them were downright disastrous. But they were made when Unforgiven supposedly shot them down, and they were clearly popular or interesting enough to warrant a few more remakes and revivals. The Lone Ranger is set to call on Silver, the Coen Bros are re-hiring Rooster Cogburn, and Gerard Butler will reportedly try to duck the noose in The Hanging Tale. On the graphic novel end, you'll have Jonah Hex wrecking bloody havoc, and Preacher may finally go to Texas. Today, Variety is reporting that Roy Rogers may rise from the dead for a new film trilogy. It won't be a biopic, nor a traditional Western, but be some kind of "family-fantasy adventure" that will use the characters of Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger, capitalizing (their words, not mine) on their iconic status, and introducing them to a new generation.
It strikes me as a rather strange idea (I mean, Roy Rogers was Roy Rogers -- can you actually hire a replacement?) but hey, that whole Star Trek reboot was pretty crazy too, and that worked ok. I certainly think there's a chance to lure in the smaller set. Kids still love Woody in Toy Story and still dress up as him and Jessie for Disney parks and Halloween, so introducing their live action equivalent might just be a huge success.
But I'm more curious in the appeal this genre is holding for adults. I've lost track of how many Friday nights has seen frantic Tweeting about Sergio Leone and his successors. It seems as though a lot of people are watching Fistful of Dollars or Once Upon a Time in the West for the first time, or rediscovering a genre they dismissed in their youth. I'm certainly one of them, and it's a bit weird to see a personal interest (some might call it a new obsession, I call it research) be part of a larger zeitgeist.
Maybe it's a result of so many homages from the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Joss Whedon, and Gore Verbinski. Perhaps it's just adults just want their fairy tales back. That is what Leone called his films (I'm quoting Once Upon a Time in Italy -- again, research!) and I certainly get the appeal of spurs and squints the way I never have before. There's a lot of appeal about that mythical, lawless society that may or may not have existed as we see it onscreen -- which is why it's shamelessly borrowed for greater myths of science fiction and martial art movies.
Maybe the Western isn't having a renaissance. Maybe it just never left. After all ... you shoot to kill a man, you better aim for the heart.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-15-2009 @ 9:33PM
Moses Monster said...
How right I want you to be. I've spent many a day watching all the westerns I loved or missed in theaters. It does seem very likely that westerns are making more of a comeback, even if the movies that are being released aren't necessarily set in west.
I think the formula for westerns is what's poking through. The whole story about good and evil is pretty much a staple these days, but in westerns, they went beyond that, digging through science fiction territory, making you relate to characters and action, rather than the story as a whole. I heard great things about Appaloosa, even though it was not all that hot at the box office.
You think we might get that one western that will knock the socks off everyone and the studios will race to copy it like The Dark Knight did last year or Star Trek this year? *Fingers crossed it's Jonah Hex*
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6-15-2009 @ 10:14PM
Coleman said...
Yay you mentioned Sukiyaki Western Django!! The first time I saw that I kind of felt it to be like Kung Fu Hustle meets 3:10, ridiculous fun. Tombstone is one of my favorites though. Dunno why but it has been. I really liked The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada w/ Tommy Lee Jones too.
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6-16-2009 @ 2:12AM
Thomas said...
I have always thought Harrison Ford would be a natural for the western genre. It makes me a bit sad that we never saw four or five good westerns with him as the star. Though we can argue that Witness was a modern-day western.
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6-16-2009 @ 9:25AM
MDR said...
Open Range is one of my favorite modern westerns. Very underrated. I wish I had seen it on the big screen but I never miss it when it shows up on HDNet. Beautiful cinematography, great characters, and a great story. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to this. Appaloosa is another new favorite of mine. I'd like to see more westerns like these.
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6-16-2009 @ 12:17PM
Julie said...
Oh those spurs that jingle jangle jingle... How interesting that this post comes right on the heels of my having spent a weekend rediscovering Shenandoah with Jimmy Stewart and driving cattle overland from Texas to Montana with the cast of Lonesome Dove. I sat there crying over the return of the boy, and the death of Gus all over again. That's the true test of a great film. If you enjoy it on the 10th visit as much as the first. I had forgotten what a tough man Stewart played as the patriarch of the Anderson clan in Shenandoah.
It's been Twenty years since Lonesome Dove kicked up a cloud of dust, and the cattle drive is as great now as it was then. I really think that mini series marked the beginning of what we see now as the modern western. Certainly it seemed to bring about a rebirth of westerns in film. Suddenly everyone was reading Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy and haven't stopped.
I don't think the western was ever dead, just taking a bit of a hiatus. As a kid that grew up nearly choked to death by trail dust with all the westerns on TV and film, I'll admit to avoiding them at all possible cost for a very long time. It has been nice to revisit them and uncover some really great stuff amongst all that sagebrush and to add some really fantastic new work to the list. Here's to the Western, may there be many more gritty windswept prairies yet to cross.
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6-17-2009 @ 12:22AM
Gloria said...
Harrison Ford actually did a western (okay a western comedy) The Frisco Kid, back in the dark ages with Gene Wilder. Some good laughs there.
Can we sign Nathan Fillion to play Roy Rogers? I think it would be a match made in heaven. Both are so pretty!
I'm rooting for a remake of The Magnificent Seven, too.
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7-12-2009 @ 4:18PM
M.T. Fisher said...
Harrision Ford had a small part in another western, Journey to Shiloh.
6-27-2009 @ 1:13AM
Becky said...
Wow I hadn't ever thought of it before, but your right, Harrison Ford would do great in a Western. I actually just finished reading a great western titled, "The Shopkeeper" written by James D. Best, that I wish would be made into a movie. Harrison Ford would be an excellent candidate to play the main character.
http://www.stevedancy.com/stevedancy_003.htm
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