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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.

Cinematical Seven: Best Westerns Since 'Unforgiven'

Filed under: Brad Pitt », Johnny Depp », Cinematical Seven », Western »

Over the past century, the Western ranged from being by far the most popular genre to almost dying out completely. But as often as it has been pronounced dead, it has been resurrected. One of the genre's key resurrections was Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992), which emerged almost instantly as a masterpiece and a landmark film, but, despite that, actually went on to win four Oscars. After Unforgiven (and a previous Oscar-winner, Dances With Wolves), the Western had a minor resurgence; by one count, there were more Westerns produced in the 1990s than in the 1970s and 1980s combined. This year three excellent Westerns have been released, prompting many writers to use phrases like "the best Western since..." or, more specifically, to measure the landmarks. Here, to put the record straight, are the seven best Westerns sine Unforgiven.

1. Dead Man (1996, Jim Jarmusch)


Jim Jarmusch's brutal, black-and-white poem of a movie was, like Unforgiven, as well as Ride the High Country and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, a Western death-rattle, but it was something entirely unique as well, like a dream or a primal odyssey. Johnny Depp stars as William Blake, not the poet, who comes to the town of Machine for a job but winds up shot and dying in the woods, aided by an American Indian called Nobody (Gary Farmer). The great Robert Mitchum co-stars -- in one of his final roles -- as a monstrous town boss who sends out a band of killers after Blake.

 
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