Justus D. Barnes, from The Great Train Robbery

The Western is one of the classic American literary and film genres. Westerns are art works – films, literature, sculpture, TV shows and paintings – devoted to telling romanticized tales of the American West. Great Train Robbery still, public domain film Public domain film, from [1] The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Great Train Robbery still, public domain film Public domain film, from [1] The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States. ... The Great Train Robbery may refer to: a real event: The Great Train Robbery took place near Linslade in the United Kingdom in 1963 a film: The Great Train Robbery as directed by Edwin S. Porter in 1903. ... Wikisource Every Author - Online books and writers forums A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology (José Ángel García Landa, University of Zaragoza, Spain) Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning T... Even in the early days of film history, the audience appetite for new content was voracious. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Wikisource Every Author - Online books and writers forums A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology (José Ángel García Landa, University of Zaragoza, Spain) Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning T... The Hunters Supper, 1909, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 - December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, and sculptor who specialized in depictions of the American West. ... An American family watching television in the 1950s. ... The Mona Lisa is perhaps the best-known artistic painting in the Western world. ... Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement in the history of ideas; it originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... This article is for the American West. ...

While the Western has been popular throughout the history of movies, as the United States progresses farther away from the period depicted it has begun to diminish in importance.

What a Western is

Lash La Rue

Westerns, by definition, are set in the American west, almost always in the 19th century, from the antebellum period to the turn of the century. Many incorporate the Civil War into the plot, or into the background, although the west was not touched by the war to the extent the east was. This image is a book cover. ... This image is a book cover. ... Lash La Rue (born June 15, 1917 - died May 21, 1996) Lash La Rue Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana, USA of Cajun ancestry, he was raised in various towns throughout Louisiana but in his teens the family moved to Los Angeles, California where he attended St. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Antebellum is a Latin word meaning before the war. In United States history and historiography Antebellum is sometimes used instead of the term pre-Civil War, especially in the South. ... The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the northern states, popularly referred to as the U.S., the Union, the North, or the Yankees; and the seceding southern states, commonly referred to as the Confederate States of America, the CSA, the Confederacy...

Many westerns involve nomadic type characters who wander from town to town, their sole possessions being clothing, gun, and horse (the horse may be optional). The high technology of the era – such as the telegraph, printing press, and railroad – do sometimes appear, occasionally as a development just arriving, and symbolizing that the idealized frontier lifestyle is transitory, soon to give way to the march of civilization. Communities of nomadic people move from place to place, rather than settling down in one location. ... (See also List of types of clothing and Clothing terminology) Humans often wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments or attire) on the body (for the alternative, see nudity). ... The Colt Single Action Army, one of the most popular revolvers of all time A revolver is a multishot firearm, usually a handgun, in which the rounds are held in a revolving cylinder that rotates to fire them through a single barrel. ... Binomial name Equus caballus The Horse (Equus caballus) is a large ungulate mammal, one of the seven modern species of the genus Equus. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ...

The art of the Western takes these simple elements and uses them to tell simple morality stories, setting them against the spectacular scenery of the American West. With the best Western directors, the scenery essentially became a star of the movie. Morality is a system of principles and judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans determine whether given actions are right or wrong. ...

See also: Frederic Remington, Indian Wars, Continental Expansion of the U.S., Manifest Destiny, The West

The Hunters Supper, 1909, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 - December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, and sculptor who specialized in depictions of the American West. ... The Indian Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and Native American peoples (Indians) of North America. ... At its start, the United States was a collection of small colonies on the eastern seaboard with little international import. ... Manifest Destiny, meaning obvious (or undeniable) fate, was a belief originally held by Democratic Republicans, specifically Warhawks during the presidency of James Madison, that stated the United States had a divinely-inspired mission to expand itself and its system of government from ocean to ocean and to the western frontier. ... This article is for the American West. ...

Origins of the "Western idea"

A handbill for Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, from 1899

The idea of the "Wild West" traces at least to Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows which began in 1883. In literature, Owen Wister's The Virginian (published in 1902) was an American start; but the German writer Karl May was writing Wild West stories as early as 1876. His books were a major influence on the founder of Universal Pictures, the German immigrant Carl Laemmle; and May himself traced ideas at least to the American writer James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote Last of the Mohicans in 1826. An 1899 poster of Buffalo Bills Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. ... An 1899 poster of Buffalo Bills Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. ... Buffalo Bill Cody Buffalo Bill (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was born William Frederick Cody in the American state of Iowa, near Le Claire . ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Buffalo Bill Cody Buffalo Bill (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was born William Frederick Cody in the American state of Iowa, near Le Claire . ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 - July 21, 1938) was an American writer of western novels. ... The Virginian is an album by Neko Case and Her Boyfriends, released on Mint Records in 1997. ... 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Karl Friedrich May (Hohenstein-Ernstthal, February 25, 1842 - Radebeul, March 30, 1912) was the best selling German writer of all time, noted chiefly for wild west books set in the American West and similar books set in the Middle East; in addition, he also wrote some lesser-known stories set... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Universal Studios logo Universal Studios is a famous Hollywood movie studio located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California, which is in the San Fernando Valley. ... Carl Laemmle ( January 17, 1867, Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany – September 24, 1939, Beverly Hills, California) was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios. ... James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851), was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. ... The Last of the Mohicans is an epic novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in January 1826. ... 1826 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Thus the "western idea" has a long history. They were a distinct literary genre before the rise of motion pictures; other important writers were Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour and Elmore Leonard. Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 - October 23, 1939), born Pearl Zane Gray (he later dropped Pearl and changed the a to an e in Grey) was an American author of popular adventure novels and pulp fiction that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West. ... Louis LAmour (March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was a American author of (primarily) Western fiction (see also Frontier, Western movie, and Wild West). ... Elmore John Leonard (born October 11, 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a popular American novelist. ...

Popular culture and Westerns

American popular culture loves cultures of honor, as opposed to cultures of law. The Western portrays a society in which persons have no social order larger than their immediate peers, family, or perhaps themselves alone. Here, one must cultivate a reputation by acts of violence; or they can be generous, because generosity creates a dependency relationship in the social hierarchy. Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... Honor (or honor) comprises the reputation, self-perception or moral identity of an individual or of a group. ... Law (a loanword from Old Norse lag), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow... A hierarchy (in Greek hieros, sacred, and arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things. ...

These themes unite the Western, the gangster movie, and the revenge movie in a single vision. In the Western, these themes are forefronted, to the extent that the arrival of law and "civilization" is often portrayed as regrettable, if inevitable. Gangsters are members of a professional crime organization, such as a gang or a mafia group. ... Revenge or vengeance consists of retaliation against a person or group in response to perceived wrongdoing. ... The Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan, Mexico. ...

The Western goes to Hollywood

Monument Valley, Arizona, a common setting for westerns

A genre in which description and dialogue are lean, and the landscape spectacular, is well suited to a visual medium. Western movies, usually filmed in desolate corners of California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado or Wyoming, made the landscape not just a vivid backdrop but a character in the movie. For other uses, see Hollywood (disambiguation) Greetings from Hollywood Hollywood is a district of the City of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., that runs from about Vermont Avenue on the east to just beyond Laurel Canyon Boulevard above Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevards on the west; the north to... Monument Valley, Utah, US - Hi res Found on pdphoto. ... Monument Valley, Utah, US - Hi res Found on pdphoto. ... East Mitten and West Mitten Buttes Monument Valley is located on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona. ... State nickname: The Grand Canyon State, The Copper State Other U.S. States Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Governor Janet Napolitano Official languages English Only State Area 295,254 km² (6th)  - Land 294,312 km²  - Water 942 km² (0. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... State nickname: The Grand Canyon State, The Copper State Other U.S. States Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Governor Janet Napolitano Official languages English Only State Area 295,254 km² (6th)  - Land 294,312 km²  - Water 942 km² (0. ... State nickname: Beehive State Other U.S. States Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. ... This is the article on the state. ... State nickname: Equality State Other U.S. States Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Governor Dave Freudenthal Official languages English Area 253,554 km² (10th)  - Land 251,706 km²  - Water 1,851 km² (0. ...

The California's Alabama Hills, another common setting for Westerns

The Western genre itself has sub-genres, such as the epic Western, the shoot 'em up, singing cowboy Westerns, and a few comedy Westerns. The Western re-invented itself in the revisionist Western. Download high resolution version (1200x540, 82 KB)Image taken in September 2003 by Daniel Mayer. ... Download high resolution version (1200x540, 82 KB)Image taken in September 2003 by Daniel Mayer. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... Characteristic rocks of the Alabama Hills The Alabama Hills are a range of hills in the Owens Valley of California, near Lone Pine, California. ... The Epic Western is a sub-genre of the Western movie. ... The shoot em up Western is a genre of the Western movie. ... The revisionist Western traces to the late Sixties and early seventies as a new genre of the Western movie. ...

Cowboys and Gunslingers play prominent roles in Western movies. Often fights with Indians are depicted; though "revisionist" Westerns give the natives sympathetic treatment. Other recurring themes of westerns include western treks, and groups of bandits terrorizing small towns such as in The Magnificent Seven. The following list of cowboys and cowgirls was compiled to show examples of the cowboy and cowgirl genre. ... Gunslinger from The Great Train Robbery Gunslinger, also gunfighter, is a name given to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun. ... In South African history, the Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration of the Boers, descendants primarily of immigrants from western mainland Europe. ... for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... The Magnificent Seven is one of the English language titles for the Akira Kurosawa film Shichinin no samurai (1954), also called The Seven Samurai. ...

Tex Ritter, a singing cowboy; he sang the theme from High Noon

The Great Train Robbery, the first narrative film produced in the United States, was a Western

In film, the western traces its roots back to The Great Train Robbery, a silent film directed by Edwin S. Porter and starring Broncho Billy Anderson. Released in 1903, the film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first cowboy star, making several hundred Western movie shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon had competition in the form of William S. Hart. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... Tex Ritter Tex Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was an American country singer and actor. ... High Noon is a 1952 western film which tells the story of a town sheriff, who has just married a pacifist Quaker woman. ... Celebrate the Century stamp - The Great Train Robbery This image is a postage stamp produced by the United States Postal Service after 1978. ... Celebrate the Century stamp - The Great Train Robbery This image is a postage stamp produced by the United States Postal Service after 1978. ... Justus D. Barnes in a famous still from The Great Train Robbery The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 western film. ... A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. ... Edwin S. Porter (April 21, 1869 - April 30, 1941) was an influencial early film pioneer, originally from Scozia, Italy. ... Broncho Billy Anderson (March 21, 1880 – January 20, 1971) was an American actor, writer, director, and producer best known as the first star of the Western film genre. ... See also: 1902 in film 1903 1904 in film years in film film Events The Great Train Robbery, by Edwin S. Porter The Magic Lantern / La Lanterne magicue, produced by Georges Méliès What Happened in the Tunnel Births January 18 - Werner Hinz, actor (d. ... Categories: Actor stubs | 1872 births | 1946 deaths | Cinema actors | American actors ...

In the United States, the western has had an extremely rich history that spans many genres (comedy, drama, tragedy, parody, musical, etc.). The golden age of the western film is epitomised by the work of two directors: John Ford (who often used John Wayne for lead roles) and Howard Hawks. Ford's 1939 epic, Stagecoach is considered one of the best westerns ever made. Comedy is the use of humour in the performing arts. ... Drama is a term generally used to refer to a literary form involving parts written for actors to perform. ... Tragedy is a form of drama characterized by seriousness and dignity, usually involving a conflict between a character and some higher power, such as the law, the gods, fate, or society. ... In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ... The art of singing and dancing in a prepared fictional play has been a time-honored tradition ranging to the early days of civilization. ... John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was one of the most accomplished American film directors of the 1930s to 1960s, known particularly as a director of the Westerns, although his tributes to the veterans of World War II and Americana are also equally effective. ... John Wayne (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), nicknamed Duke, was an American film actor whose career spanned the evolutionary phase of American cinema, appearing in silent movies and talkies alike. ... Howard Hawks (May 30, 1896 - December 26, 1977) was one of the more critically acclaimed directors of the Classic Hollywood Era. ... Stagecoach is a 1939 Western which tells the tale of Oprah Winfrey and some strangers thrown in a castle made of shoddy clothing on a stagecoach which is attacked by Dr Phil and the Bandits. ...

Beginning in the 1960s, many people questioned many traditional themes of westerns; aside from the portrayal of the Native American as a "savage", audiences began to question the simple hero versus villain dualism, and the use of violence to test one's character or to prove oneself right. Examples of "revisionist westerns" include Little Big Man, Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven. Some "modern" Westerns give women more powerful roles, such as Open Range and The Missing. In 1969, Claudia Cardinale had a starring lead in Once Upon a Time in the West. Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... Little Big Man is a 1970 film about a boy raised by the Cheyenne Nation assuming various roles in the Old West, including a guide who arranged the fanatical General George Armstrong Custers defeat at the Battle of Little Big Horn. ... Dances with Wolves is a 1990 film which tells the story of a cavalry officer who befriends a band of Dakota Indians, sacrificing his career and ties to his own people. ... Unforgiven is a 1992 Western film which tells the story of a retired gunslinger who takes on one more job for the money. ... Open Range is a 2003 movie based on the novel The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine, and directed by Kevin Costner. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... Claudia Cardinale (born April 15, 1938) is an actress born in Tunis, Tunisia to Italian parents. ... There were three men in her life. ...

Spaghetti Westerns

During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a considerable revival coming from Italy with the "Spaghetti Westerns" or "Italo-Westerns". Many of these films were fairly low-budget affairs, shot in locations principally chosen for the cheapness of shooting film, and are characterised by high-action and violence. But the best of the genre, notably films directed by Sergio Leone, have some parodic dimension (the strange opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West being a reversal of Fred Zinnemann's High Noon opening scene). Clint Eastwood became famous starring in these, although they were also to provide a showcase for other such considerable talents as Lee van Cleef, James Coburn, Klaus Kinski and Henry Fonda. Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... Spaghetti Westerns is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most of them were produced by Italian studios. ... Sergio Leone (January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989) was an Italian film director. ... Fred Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 - March 14, 1997) was a noted movie director. ... High Noon is a 1952 western film which tells the story of a town sheriff, who has just married a pacifist Quaker woman. ... Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood, Jr. ... Lee Van Cleef Lee Van Cleef from a scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Lee Van Cleef (January 9, 1925 - December 16, 1989) was a movie actor, who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. ... James Coburn (August 31, 1928 - November 18, 2002) was an American movie actor. ... Klaus Kinski (October 18, 1926–November 23, 1991) was an international film actor who was regarded as one of the best German actors of the second half of the 20th century. ... Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 - August 12, 1982) was an acclaimed American film actor and stage actor beloved for his roles as plain-speaking men of humane decency. ...

Genre Studies and Westerns

In the 1960s academic and critical attention to cinema as a legitimate art form emerged. With the increased attention, Film Theory was developed to attempt to understand the significance of film. From this environment emerged (in conjunction with the literary movement) a enclave of critical studies called genre studies. This was primarily a semantic and structural approach to understanding how similar films convey meaning. So long derided for its simplistic morality, the western film genre was seen instead as a series of conventions and codes that acted as a short-hand communication methods with the audience. For example, a white hat represents the good guy, a black hat represents the bad guy; two people facing each other on a deserted street leads to the expectation of a showdown; cattlemen are loners, townsfolk are family and community minded; and so forth. All western films can be read as a series of codes and the variations on those codes. Since the 1970s, the western genre has been unraveled through a series of films that used the codes but primarily as a way of undermining them. Little Big Man and Maverick did this through comedy. Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves actually resurrected all the original codes and conventions and reversed the good vs. bad polarity (the Native-Americans were good, the U.S. Cavalry was bad). Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven uses every one of the original conventions, only reverses the outcomes (instead of dying bravely or stoicly, characters whine, cry, and beg; instead of a good guy saving the day, unredeemable characters execute revenge; etc.) Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Film theory seeks to develop concise, systematic concepts that apply to the study of film/cinema as art. ... Little Big Man is a 1970 film about a boy raised by the Cheyenne Nation assuming various roles in the Old West, including a guide who arranged the fanatical General George Armstrong Custers defeat at the Battle of Little Big Horn. ... Maverick can refer to: Samuel Maverick, a Texas cattleman from whom the term maverick originated. ... Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American film actor and director who has often produced his own films. ... Dances with Wolves is a 1990 film which tells the story of a cavalry officer who befriends a band of Dakota Indians, sacrificing his career and ties to his own people. ... Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood, Jr. ... Unforgiven is a 1992 Western film which tells the story of a retired gunslinger who takes on one more job for the money. ...

Due to genre studies, some have argued that "westerns" need not take place in the American West or even in the 19th Century. Hud starring Paul Newman and Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai) are possible examples of this. Likewise, films set in the old American West, may not necessarily be considered "Westerns." The term HUD has the following meanings: Hud, an Islamic prophet, also known as Heber. ... Paul Leonard Newman (born January 26, 1925) is an American actor and film director. ... Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明 Kurosawa Akira, also 黒沢 明) (March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a prominent Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter of films, many of which are considered highly influential worldwide classics. ... The Seven Samurai (七人の侍 Shichinin no samurai, 1954) is a movie by Akira Kurosawa starring Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune. ...

Other influences to and by Westerns

Westerns have drawn on other arts forms as old as the Norse Saga, as other art forms have drawn on the Western. The Norse sagas or Viking sagas (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. ...

To add to the international influences on westerns, many westerns after 1960 were heavily influenced by the Japanese samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. For instance The Magnificent Seven was a remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, and both A Fistful of Dollars & Last Man Standing were remakes of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, which itself was inspired by Red Harvest, an American detective novel by Dashiell Hammett. Japanese samurai in armour, 1860 photograph. ... Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明 Kurosawa Akira, also 黒沢 明) (March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a prominent Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter of films, many of which are considered highly influential worldwide classics. ... The Magnificent Seven is one of the English language titles for the Akira Kurosawa film Shichinin no samurai (1954), also called The Seven Samurai. ... The Seven Samurai (七人の侍 Shichinin no samurai, 1954) is a movie by Akira Kurosawa starring Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune. ... A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari in Italy) is a 1964 film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood. ... Yojimbo 用心棒 is a 1961 film by Akira Kurosawa, in which a ronin, portrayed by Toshiro Mifune, arrives at a small town with competing crime lords making their money from gambling, and convinces each crime lord to hire him as protection from the other. ... Red Harvest (1929) is a Dashiell Hammett story of a nameless detective, The Continental Op, whose client is killed before they met. ... ’’ Raymond Chandler, in The Simple Art of Murder Samuel Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. ...

Despite the Cold War, the western was actually quite a strong influence on Eastern Bloc cinema, which had its own take on the genre, the so called Red Western or Ostern. Generally these took two forms, either straight westerns shot in the Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the Russian Revolution and civil war and the Basmachi rebellion in which Turkic peoples play a similar role to Mexicans in traditional westerns. The Cold War was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and its allies (roughly speaking, NATO members) and the Soviet Union and its allied (roughly speaking, Warsaw Pact members), until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. ... The Ostern (Eastern) or Red Western was the Soviet Union and Iron Curtain countries take on the Western movie. ... The phrase Russian Revolution can refer to three specific events in the history of Imperial Russia. ... The Russian Civil War was fought between 1918 and 1920. ... The Basmachi Revolt, or Basmachestvo as it is called in the Russian language, was an uprising against Soviet rule in Central Asia. ... This is the disambiguation page for the terms Turk, Turkey, Turkic, and Turkish. ...

An offshoot of the western genre is the "post-apocalyptic" western, in which a future society, struggling to rebuild after a major catastrophe, is portrayed in a manner very similar to the 19th century frontier. Examples include The Postman and the "Mad Max" series, and the computer game Fallout. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Postman is also the English title of the 1994 Italian film, Il Postino. ... Mad Max is an Australian science fiction film starring Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky. ... Fallout is a computer role-playing game produced by Tim Cain and published by Interplay in 1997. ...

In fact, many elements of space travel series and films borrow extensively from the conventions of the western genre. Peter Hyams' Outland transferred the plot of High Noon to interstellar space. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the Star Trek series, once described his vision for the show as "Wagon Train to the stars". More recently, the space opera series Firefly used an explicitly western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. Outland has several meanings: Outland (comic) Outland (movie) Outland (shop) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... High Noon is a 1952 western film which tells the story of a town sheriff, who has just married a pacifist Quaker woman. ... Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek Eugene Wesley Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was born in El Paso, Texas, USA, and spent his boyhood in Los Angeles, California. ... The Enterprise boldly going where no man had gone before. ... Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic adventure, interstellar travel, and space battles where the main storyline is centred around interstellar conflict and character drama. ... Firefly is a science fiction television series, which was first aired in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ...

Elements of western movies can be found also in some movies belonging essentially to other genres. For example, Kelly's Heroes is a war movie, but action and characters are western-like. The British film Zulu set during the Anglo-Zulu War has sometimes been compared to a Western, even though it is set in South Africa. Movie poster for Kellys Heroes Kellys Heroes is an offbeat 1970 film starring Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland about a group of renegade U.S. Army soldiers who attempt to steal a cache of gold from behind the German lines during World War II. The screenplay was written... Zulu is a 1964 film depicting the 1879 Battle of Rorkes Drift between the colonial British and the Zulus. ... The Battle of Rorkes Drift The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between Britain and the Zulus, and signalled the end of the Zulus as an independent nation. ...

In addition, the superhero fantasy genre has been described as having been derived from the cowboy hero, only powered up to omnipotence in a primarily urban setting. A superhero is a fictional character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility and who usually has a colorful name and costume and abilities beyond those of normal human beings. ... Look up Fantasy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary For other definitions of fantasy, see fantasy (psychology). ...

The western genre has been parodied on a number of occasions, famous examples being Support Your Local Sheriff, Cat Ballou, and Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles. Cat Ballou is a 1965 comedy Western film which tells the story of a woman who hires a famous gunman to avenge her fathers murder, but finds that the man she hires isnt what she expected. ... Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, writer director, and theatrical producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and parodies. ... Blazing Saddles is a Warner Bros. ...

Television Westerns

The Saturday Afternoon Movie was a pre-TV phenomenon in the US which often featured western series. Audie Murphy, Tom Mix, and Johnny Mack Brown became major idols of a young audience, plus "Singing cowboys" such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Rex Allen. Each had a co-starring horse such as Rogers' Golden Palomino, Trigger, who became a star in his own right. Other B-movie series were Lash La Rue and the Durango Kid. Herbert Jeffreys, as Bob Blake with his horse Stardust, appeared in a number of movies made for African American audiences in the days of segregated movie theaters. [1] (http://www.cowboydirectory.com/J/J-ea.html). Bill Pickett, an African American rodeo performer, also appeared in early western films for the same audience [2] (http://www.famoustexans.com/billpickett.htm). An American family watching television in the 1950s. ... Audie Leon Murphy (June 20, 1924 – May 28, 1971) was the United States most decorated combat soldier of World War II. He later became an actor and singer/songwriter. ... There was also a fictional cowboy called Tom Mix in an early Western fiction scenario. ... Johnny Mack Brown (September 1, 1904 – November 14, 1974) was an All-American college football player and successful film actor. ... Gene Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998) was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television. ... Dale Evans & Roy Rogers Leonard Frank Slye (November 5, 1911 - July 6, 1998), became famous as Roy Rogers, a singer and cowboy actor. ... Lucille Wood Smith name changed in infancy to Frances Octavia Smith famous as Dale Evans (31 October 1912 - 7 February 2001) was a prolific writer, movie star, singer/songwriter and the wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers. ... Rex Allen, born December 31, 1920 - died December 17, 1999, was an American actor, singer, and songwriter. ... Trigger (1932-1965) was a golden Palomino horse made famous in American Western films with his owner/rider, cowboy star Roy Rogers. ... The term B-movie originally referred to a film designed to be distributed as the lower half of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters or vampires. ... Lash La Rue (born June 15, 1917 - died May 21, 1996) Lash La Rue Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana, USA of Cajun ancestry, he was raised in various towns throughout Louisiana but in his teens the family moved to Los Angeles, California where he attended St. ... Herbert Jeffreys (born September 24, 1911 in Detroit, Michigan) is a Black American jazz singer and actor. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... Segregation means separation. ... Willie M. Bill Pickett (December 5, 1870 or 1871 - April 2, 1932) was a cowboy and rodeo performer. ... Note: For the ballet or orchestral piece written by Aaron Copland, please see Rodeo (ballet). ...

When the popularity of television exploded in the late 1940s and 1950s, westerns quickly became a staple of small-screen entertainment. A great many B-movie Westerns were aired on TV as time fillers, while a number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right. Notable TV Westerns include Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Have Gun, Will Travel, Bonanza, The Big Valley, Maverick, The High Chaparral and many others. The peak year for television westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during prime-time. Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the V1 flying bomb and the first ballistic missile, the... Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... A western television show is a cowboy story which takes place in the old west and involves cowboys, cattle ranchers, miners, farmers, Indians, guns and horses. ... Gunsmoke was a long-running old-time radio and television western drama program. ... The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger was an early, long-running radio and television show based on characters created by George W. Trendle of Detroit, Michigan and developed by writer Fran Stryker of Buffalo, New York. ... Have Gun, Will Travel was a popular American television Western that aired from on CBS 1957 through 1963. ... This article discusses the television series. ... The Big Valley was a television Western which ran on ABC from 1965 through 1969. ... Maverick is a comedy-western television series that ran from 1957 to 1962 on ABC. The series starred James Garner as Bret Maverick, a wise-cracking gambler, and Jack Kelly as his brother Bart. ... The High Chaparral was a Western-themed television series which aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971. ...

The 1970s saw a revision of the western, with the incorporation of many new elements. McCloud, which premiered in 1970, was essentially a fusion of the sheriff-oriented western with the modern big-city crime drama. Hec Ramsey was a western who-dunnit mystery series. Little House on the Prairie was set on the frontier in the time period of the western, but was essentially a family drama. Kung Fu was in the tradition of the itinerant gunfighter westerns, but the main character was a Chinese monk who fought only with his formidable martial art skill. The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams was a family adventure show about a gentle mountain man with an uncanny connection to wildlife who helps others who visit his wilderness refuge. Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... McCloud was an American television police drama that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1977. ... See also: 1969 in television, other events of 1970, 1971 in television and the list of years in television. For the American network television schedule, please see 1970-71 American network television schedule. ... Little House On The Prairie was an American one-hour dramatic television series that aired on the NBC network from September 1974 until the spring of 1982. ... Kung Fu is a television series that ran for three years beginning in 1972, about the adventures of a Shaolin monk in the Wild West armed only with his skill in martial arts. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... Grizzly Adams is the name of a television series character loosely based on an actual trapper, James Adams which was primarily played by Dan Haggerty. ...

The 1990s saw the networks getting into filming Western movies on their own. Like Louis L'Amour ‘s Conagher, Tony Hillerman’s The Dark Wind, The Last Outlaw, The Jack Bull etc. A few new comedies like The Cisco Kid,, The Cherokee Kid, , and the gritty TV series Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years.

This century started off with Louis L'Amour’s Crossfire Trail, Monte Walsh, and Hillerman’s Coyote Waits, & A Thief of Time. DVDs offer a second life to TV series like Peacemakers, and HBO’s Deadwood. Deadwood is a weekly HBO television drama that premiered in March 2004. ...

It is pretty clear that Westerns are not dead, but have moved smoothly from the first color TV series The Cisco Kid, through the half hour, shoot-um-ups, "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp", Have Gun - Will Travel, " of the 1950’s. Later hour long adult westerns, to the slickly packaged made for TV westerns of today.

Quote

"As far as I'm concerned, Americans don't have any original art except Western movies and jazz."

— Clint Eastwood, classic actor in Westerns

Great Museums in the World (Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, MoMA, Picasso …) CGFA: A Virtual Art Museum Very large website with good reproduction quality scans of thousands of paintings Goetia Fine Art - Surrealism Art History With biographies and Works of the Surrealist Masters Art-Atlas. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood, Jr. ...

See also

• American Old West
• List of movie genres
• List of Western fiction authors
• List of Western movies
• Notable figures in Westerns
• TV Western
• Western fiction

Great Basin region, typical American West The Western United States has played a significant role in history and fiction. ... Flm genres must be distinguished from film styles, Film forms and Film formats, which are indexed below (working paper). ... This is a list of some notable authors in the western fiction genre. ... A Fistful of Dollars (Clint Eastwood spaghetti western) All the Pretty Horses, Matt Damon Annie Get Your Gun Bad Girls, Madeline Stowe Blazing Saddles, The most popular parody of westerns in film history Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, two outlaws on the run) The Crossfire Trail, Tom Selleck... Gilbert M. Broncho Billy Anderson, actor James Arness, actor Gene Autry, actor Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), actor James Coburn, actor Chuck Connors, actor Gary Cooper, actor Kevin Costner, actor and director Clint Eastwood, actor and director Dale Evans, actress, singer, songwriter Henry Fonda, actor John Ford, director of dramas of... A western television show is a cowboy story which takes place in the old west and involves cowboys, cattle ranchers, miners, farmers, Indians, guns and horses. ... Western fiction is a genre of literature that is typically set in any of the American states west of the Mississippi River and between the years of approximately 1860 and 1900. ...

External links

• Top Fifty Westerns (http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Genres/Western/average-vote/)
• Golden Boot Awards (http://www.mptvfund.org/events/gba.htm)
• Hall of Great Western Performers (http://www.cowboyhalloffame.org/i_perf.html) at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum