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53-523: Western films derive from the Wild West shows that began in the 1870s. Originally referred to as "Wild West dramas", the shortened term "Western" came to describe the genre. Although other Western films were made earlier, The Great Train Robbery (1903) is often considered to mark the beginning of the genre. Westerns were a major genre during the silent era (1894–1929) and continued to grow in popularity during

106-664: A "Feejee Indian from Africa". The Esquivel Brothers from San Antonio. Wild West shows contained as many as 1,200 performers at one time (cowboys, scouts, Indians, military, Mexicans, and men from other heritages) and many animals, including buffalo and Texas Longhorns. Some of the recognizably famous men who took part in the show were Will Rogers , Tom Mix , Pawnee Bill , James Lawson, Bill Pickett , Jess Willard , Mexican Joe , Capt. Adam Bogardus , Buck Taylor, Harry Henry Brennan (father of modern bronc riding), Grover C. Brennan, Ralph and Nan Lohse, Antonio Esquibel, Capt. Waterman and his Trained Buffalo, and Johnny Baker. Johnny Baker

159-419: A boy who runs to alert the police. Two policemen arrive and climb the wall. After a struggle with one of the policemen, the burglar throws him off the roof. An ambulance arrives and takes away the injured policeman. Meanwhile, the burglar escapes and is chased by the other policeman across the countryside, but escapes on a train. The police wire ahead and catch him at the next station. This article about

212-533: A departure from the 1985 original (a sci-fi) and the 1989 sequel (an action adventure), Part III has been regarded by others as a fitting end to the series. At the turn of the 21st century, Westerns have once again seen an ongoing revival in popularity. Largely influenced by the recapturing of Americana mythology , appreciation for the vaquero folklore within Mexican culture and the US Southwest , interest in

265-472: A large part of Wild West shows and attracted many spectators. One such performer was Annie Oakley , who first gained recognition as a sharpshooter when she defeated Frank Butler , a pro marksman at age 15, in a shooting exhibition. She became an attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show for 16 years. Annie was billed in the show as "Miss Annie Oakley, the Peerless Lady Wing-Shot". Calamity Jane

318-594: A lot of action including wild animals, trick performances, and theatrical reenactments. All sorts of characters from the frontier were incorporated into the show's program. Shooting exhibitions were also in the lineup with extensive shooting displays and trick shots. Rodeo events, involving rough and dangerous activities performed by cowboys with different animals, also featured. It was the first and prototypical Wild West show, lasting until 1915, and featured theatrical reenactments of battle scenes, characteristic western scenes, and even hunts. In 1883, Buffalo Bill's Wild West

371-497: A means to settle disputes using "frontier justice". Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds. Film Westerns derive from the Wild West shows that began in the 1870s. These shows, which included stage plays and outdoor exhibitions, culminated in Buffalo Bill's Wild West , a touring performance that ran from 1883 to 1913. Wild West shows, which were intended for urban audiences, established many of

424-759: A mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West, embodied most memorably in Monument Valley, with its buttes and mesas that tower above the men on horseback, whether they be settlers, soldiers, or Native Americans". Wild West shows Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of cowboys , Plains Indians , army scouts, outlaws, and wild animals that existed in

477-861: A narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th-century popular Western fiction , and were firmly in place before film became a popular art form. Film critic Philip French has said that the Western is "a commercial formula with rules as fixed and immutable as the Kabuki Theater." Western films commonly feature protagonists such as sheriffs, cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as seminomadic wanderers who wear Stetson hats, bandannas , spurs, and buckskins , use revolvers or rifles as everyday tools of survival and as

530-575: A parade on horseback. The parade was a major ordeal, an affair that involved huge public crowds and many performers, including the Congress of Rough Riders. Events included acts known as Bison Hunt, Train Robbery, Indian War Battle Reenactment, and the usual grand finale of the show, Attack on the Burning Cabin, in which Indians attacked a settler's cabin and were repulsed by Buffalo Bill, cowboys, and Mexicans. Also included were semi-historical scenes such as

583-620: A pow-wow on Memorial Day to commemorate the Carlisle Indian School, the students and their stories. Bibliography A Daring Daylight Burglary A Daring Daylight Burglary (also known as A Daring Daylight Robbery ) is a 1903 British short silent film directed by Frank Mottershaw . The film was produced by the Sheffield Photo Company, and features members from the Sheffield Fire Brigade as part of

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636-481: A race between Lady Riders. Over time, various Wild West shows were developed. They included Bee Ho Gray's Wild West , Texas Jack's Wild West , Pawnee Bill's Wild West , Jones Bros.' Buffalo Ranch Wild West , Cummin's Indian Congress and Wild West Show and "Buckskin Joe" Hoyt. The 101 Ranch Wild West Show featuring African Americans such as Bill Pickett , the famous bulldogger and his brother Voter Hall who billed as

689-590: A settler perspective of the Battle of the Little Bighorn or the charge on San Juan Hill. The reenactment of the Battle of Little Bighorn also known as "Custer's Last Stand" featured Buck Taylor starring as General George Armstrong Custer . In this battle, Custer and all men under his direct command were killed. After Custer is dead, Buffalo Bill rides in, the hero, but he is too late. He avenges Custer by killing and scalping Yellow Hair (also called Yellowhand) which he called

742-680: A three-year training period at Cody's base in North Platte, Nebraska . During this time, he honed his skills in steer roping, lariat tricks, and the art of maintaining a firm grip on "anything that had four legs." His debut in the spotlight occurred at the age of thirteen, portraying a Pony Express rider. Merely a year later, the Show set off on a tour across Europe. Over the span of several years, Red Eagle became an integral member of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, captivating audiences throughout his journey. Other familiar Native Americans names who performed in

795-883: A tour in 1904, performing in nearly every city large enough to support it. The 1905 tour began in April with a two-month run in Paris, after which the show traveled around France, performing mostly one-night stands, concluding in December. The final tour, in 1906, began in France on March 4 and quickly moved to Italy for two months. The show then traveled east, performing in Austria, the Balkans, Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine, before returning west to tour in Poland, Bohemia (later Czech Republic), Germany, and Belgium. By 1894

848-407: Is often considered one of the genre's greatest filmmakers. With the proliferation of television in the 1960s, television Westerns began to supersede film Westerns in popularity. By the end of the decade, studios had mostly ceased to make Westerns. Despite their dwindling popularity during this decade, the 1960s gave rise to the revisionist Western , several examples of which became vital entries in

901-643: Is the British short Kidnapping by Indians , made by Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn , England, in 1899. The Great Train Robbery (1903, based on the earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary ), Edwin S. Porter 's film starring Broncho Billy Anderson , is often erroneously cited as the first Western, though George N. Fenin and William K. Everson point out that the "Edison company had played with Western material for several years prior to The Great Train Robbery ". Nonetheless, they concur that Porter's film "set

954-680: The American West and frontier life were becoming common. In 1869, author Ned Buntline wrote a novel about the buffalo hunter, U.S. Army scout, and guide William F. Buffalo Bill Cody called Buffalo Bill, the King of Border Men after the two met on a train from California to Nebraska. In December 1872, Buntline's novel turned into a theatrical production when The Scouts of the Prairie debuted in Chicago. The show featured Buntline, Cody, Texas Jack Omohundro , and

1007-580: The American West . While some of the storylines and characters were based on historical events, others were fictional or sensationalized. American Indians in particular were portrayed in a sensationalistic and exploitative manner. The shows introduced many western performers and personalities, and romanticized the American frontier , to a wide audience. In the 19th century, following the American Civil War , stories and inexpensive dime novels depicting

1060-521: The Grand Canyon , Yosemite , and the giant redwoods , due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the Great Depression . After the renewed commercial successes of the Western in the late 1930s, their popularity continued to rise until the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined. The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called

1113-653: The Western lifestyle 's music and clothing , along with popular videos games series such as Red Dead . Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies Western films as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters' taxonomy , claiming that all feature length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action , crime , fantasy , horror , romance , science fiction , slice of life , sports , thriller , and war . Western films often depict conflicts with Native Americans . While early Eurocentric Westerns frequently portray

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1166-526: The sound era (post–1929). The genre reached its pinnacle between 1945 and 1965 when it comprised roughly a quarter of studio output. The advent of color and widescreen during this era opened up new possibilities for directors to portray the vastness of the American landscape. This era also produced the genre's most iconic figures, including John Wayne and Randolph Scott , who developed personae that they maintained across most of their films. Director John Ford

1219-400: The "Golden Age of the Western". It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including: There have been several instances of resurgence for the Western genre. According to Netflix , the popularity of the genre is due to its malleability: "As America has evolved, so too have Westerns." During the 1960s and 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns from Italy became popular worldwide; this

1272-680: The "first scalp for Custer". Shooting competitions and displays of marksmanship were commonly a part of the program. Great feats of skill were shown off using rifles, shotguns, and revolvers. Most people in the show were good marksmen but many were experts. Animals also did their share in the show through rodeo entertainment. In rodeo events, cowboys like Lee Martin would try to rope and ride broncos. Broncos are unbroken horses that tend to throw or buck their riders. Other wild animals they would attempt to ride or deal with were mules, buffalo, Texas steers, elk, deer, bears, and moose. The show also demonstrated hunts which were staged as they would have been on

1325-675: The 1960s Spaghetti Westerns , a genre of movies about the American Old West made in Europe, were common. Contemporary rodeos continue to be held, employing the same events and skills as cowboys did in Wild West shows. Wild Westers still perform in movies, pow-wows , pageants and rodeos. There remains an interest in Native peoples through much of the United States and Europe, including an interest in

1378-515: The Fair, Frederick Turner , a young Wisconsin scholar, gave a speech that pronounced the first stage of American history over. "The frontier has gone", he declared. Buffalo Bill's Wild West returned to Europe in December 1902 with a fourteen-week run in London, capped by a visit from King Edward VII and the future King George V. The Wild West traveled throughout Great Britain in a tour in 1902 and 1903 and

1431-579: The Italian-born ballerina Giuseppina Morlacchi and toured the American theater circuit for two years. Buntline left the show and in 1874 Cody founded the Buffalo Bill Combination , in which he performed for part of the year while scouting on the prairies the rest of the year. Wild Bill Hickok joined the group to headline in a new play called Scouts of the Plains . Hickok did not enjoy acting and

1484-918: The Kemp Sisters, and Texas Rose as an announcer. " Show Indians " - actors largely from the Plains Nations , such as the Lakota people - were also a part of Wild West shows. They were hired to participate in staged "Indian Races" and what were alleged to be historic battles, and often appeared in attack scenes attacking whites in which they were encouraged to portray "savagery and wildness". The shows "generally presented Native people as exotic savages, prone to bizarre rites and cruel violence." The Native women were dressed in "exploitative", non-traditional clothing such as men's headdresses and breastplates, combined with immodest attire like leather shorts, none of which would have ever been worn in reality. They also performed what

1537-545: The Native Americans as dishonorable villains, the later and more culturally neutral Westerns gave Native Americans a more sympathetic treatment. Other recurring themes of Westerns include treks (e.g. The Big Trail ) or perilous journeys (e.g. Stagecoach ) or groups of bandits terrorizing small towns such as in The Magnificent Seven . The Western goes beyond simply a cinematic genre, and extends into defining

1590-779: The Smithsonian Institution preserves and displays Gertrude Käsebier 's photographs, as well as many others by photographers who captured the displays of Wild Westing. The Carlisle Indian School Resource Center of the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, houses an extensive collection of archival materials and photographs from the Carlisle Indian School. In 2000, the Cumberland County 250th Anniversary Committee worked with Native Americans from numerous tribes and non-natives to organize

1643-629: The United States in May 1888 for a short summer tour. A return tour was made in 1891-92, including Cardiff , Wales and Glasgow , Scotland, in the itinerary. In 1893, Cody changed the title to Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World and the show performed at the Chicago World's Fair to a crowd of 18,000. This performance was a huge contributor to the show's popularity. The show never again did as well as it did that year. That same year at

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1696-617: The Western genre are a series of short single reel silents made in 1894 by Edison Studios at their Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey . These featured veterans of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show exhibiting skills acquired by living in the Old West – they included Annie Oakley (shooting) and members of the Sioux (dancing). Western films were enormously popular in the silent-film era (1894–1927). The earliest known Western narrative film

1749-418: The biggest hits of the year. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream screen star in the wake of a decade of headlining B Westerns. Wayne had been introduced to the screen 10 years earlier as the leading man in director Raoul Walsh 's spectacular widescreen The Big Trail , which failed at the box office in spite of being shot on location across the American West, including

1802-408: The canon. Since the 1960s, new Western films have only appeared sporadically. Despite their decreased prominence, Western films remain an integral part of American culture and national mythology . The American Film Institute defines Western films as those "set in the American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier ". The term "Western", used to describe

1855-512: The cast. Mottershaw also employed actors from local music halls and paid them ten shillings for a day's work. Techniques used in Edwin S. Porter 's The Great Train Robbery (considered to be the first American-made Western film ), released later the same year, were inspired by those used in Mottershaw's film. A burglar breaks into a country house after scaling the garden wall. He is spotted by

1908-399: The elements that came to define Western films, such as the blending of fact and fiction and the romanticization of the frontier. These early films were originally referred to as "Wild West dramas", the term "Western" came to describe the genre. The use of this shortened term appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World magazine. The first films that belong to

1961-528: The first four tours between 1887 and 1892, and the last four from 1902 to 1906. The first tour was in 1887 as part of the American Exhibition , which coincided with the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria . The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII , requested a private preview of the Wild West performance; he was impressed enough to arrange a command performance for Queen Victoria . The Queen enjoyed

2014-407: The frontier, and were accompanied by one of the few remaining buffalo herds in the world. Races were another form of entertainment employed in the Wild West show. Many different races were held, including those between cowboys, Mexicans, and Indians, a 100 yd foot race between Indian and Indian pony, a race between Sioux boys on bareback Indian ponies, races between Mexican thoroughbreds, and even

2067-669: The genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. By the late 1930s, the Western film was widely regarded as a "pulp" genre in Hollywood, but its popularity was dramatically revived in 1939 by major studio productions such as Dodge City starring Errol Flynn , Jesse James with Tyrone Power , Union Pacific with Joel McCrea , Destry Rides Again featuring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich , and especially John Ford's landmark Western adventure Stagecoach starring John Wayne , which became one of

2120-484: The harsh economy made it hard to afford tickets. It did not help that the show was routed to go through the South in a year when the cotton was flooded and there was a general depression in the area. Buffalo Bill lost a lot of money and was on the brink of a financial disaster. Soon after, and in an attempt of recovery of monetary balance, Buffalo Bill signed a contract in which he was tricked by Bonfil and Temmen into selling them

2173-581: The myth of the West in American culture. Early Westerns were mostly filmed in the studio, as in other early Hollywood films, but when location shooting became more common from the 1930s, producers of Westerns used desolate corners of Arizona , California , Colorado , Kansas , Montana , Nevada , New Mexico , Oklahoma , Texas , Utah , or Wyoming . These settings gave filmmakers the ability to depict vast plains, looming mountains, and epic canyons. Productions were also filmed on location at movie ranches . Often,

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2226-416: The pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre". The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first Western star; he made several hundred Western film shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon faced competition from Tom Mix and William S. Hart . With the advent of sound in 1927–28, the major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving

2279-455: The pow-wow culture of Native people. Some events are open to outside tourists who are able to observe traditional Native American skills: horse culture, ceremonial dancing, food, art, music and crafts, while other pow-wows are closed events for members of the Native community only. There are several ongoing national projects that celebrate Wild Westers and Wild Westing. The National Museum of American History 's Photographic History Collection at

2332-494: The show and demoting himself to a mere employee and attraction of the Sells-Floto Circus. From this point, the show began to destroy itself. Finally, in 1913 the show was declared bankrupt. The shows consisted of reenactments of history combined with displays of showmanship, sharpshooting, hunts, racing, or rodeo style events. Each show was 3–4 hours long and attracted crowds of thousands of people daily. The show began with

2385-565: The show and meeting the performers, setting the stage for another command performance on June 20, 1887, for her Jubilee guests. Royalty from all over Europe attended, including the future Kaiser Wilhelm II and the future King George V . Buffalo Bill's Wild West closed its successful London run in October 1887 after more than 300 performances, with more than 2.5 million tickets sold. The tour made stops in Birmingham and Manchester before returning to

2438-488: The show were Red Cloud , Chief Joseph , Geronimo , and the Modoc War scout Donald McKay . Western shows generated interest for Western entertainment. This is still evidenced in western films, modern rodeos, and circuses. Western films in the first half of the 20th century filled the gap left behind by Wild West shows. The first real western, The Great Train Robbery , was made in 1903, and thousands followed after. In

2491-411: The vast landscape becomes more than a vivid backdrop; it becomes a character in the film. After the early 1950s, various widescreen formats such as Cinemascope (1953) and VistaVision used the expanded width of the screen to display spectacular western landscapes. John Ford's use of Monument Valley as an expressive landscape in his films from Stagecoach to Cheyenne Autumn (1965), "present us with

2544-515: Was another distinguished woman performer. Calamity Jane was a notorious frontierswoman who was the subject of many wild stories—many of which she made up herself. She was a skilled horsewoman and expert rifle and revolver handler in the show. Calamity Jane appeared in Wild West shows until 1902 when she was reportedly fired for drinking and fighting. Other notable females in the business were Tillie Baldwin , May Lillie , Lucille Mulhall , Lillian Smith , Bessie and Della Ferrel, Luella-Forepaugh Fish,

2597-507: Was billed as "the Sioux Ghost Dance". Chief Sitting Bull joined Cody's Wild West show for a short time and was a star attraction alongside Annie Oakley. During his time at the show, Sitting Bull was introduced to President Grover Cleveland , which he thought proved his importance as chief. He was friends with Buffalo Bill and highly valued the horse that was given to him when he left the show. Red Eagle (1870–1949) immersed himself in

2650-471: Was due to the success of Sergio Leone 's storytelling method. Although experiencing waning popularity during the 1980s, the success of films such as Dances with Wolves (1990) and Unforgiven (1992) brought the genre back into the mainstream. Back to the Future Part III (1990) was "a full-blown Western" set in 1885; although the least commercially successful of the trilogy and according to some

2703-489: Was founded in Omaha , Nebraska when Buffalo Bill Cody turned his real life adventure into the first outdoor western show. The show's publicist Arizona John Burke employed innovative techniques at the time, such as celebrity endorsements, press kits, publicity stunts, op-ed articles, billboards and product licensing, that contributed to the success and popularity of the show. Buffalo Bill's Wild West toured Europe eight times,

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2756-404: Was nicknamed the "Cowboy Kid" and considered to be Annie Oakley's boy counterpart. Some notable cowboys who participated in the events were Buck Taylor (dubbed "The First Cowboy King"), Bronco Bill, James Lawson ("The Roper"), Bill Bullock, Tim Clayton, Coyote Bill, sharpshooter James Spleen (" Kit Carson Jr "), frontiersman John Baker Omohundro ("Texas Jack"), and Bridle Bill. Women were also

2809-658: Was released from the group after one show when he shot out a spotlight that focused on him. Texas Jack parted ways with Cody in 1877 and formed his own acting troupe in St. Louis, known as the 'Texas Jack Combination', and in May of that year he debuted Texas Jack in the Black Hills . Other plays the combination performed included The Trapper's Daughter and Life on the Border . In 1883, Cody founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West , an outdoor attraction that toured annually. The new show contained

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