89-398: The Gunfighter is a 1950 American Western film directed by Henry King and starring Gregory Peck , Helen Westcott , Millard Mitchell and Karl Malden . It was written by screenwriters William Bowers and William Sellers, with an uncredited rewrite by writer and producer Nunnally Johnson , from a story by Bowers, Roger Corman, and screenwriter and director Andre de Toth . The film
178-712: A BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Actress (Lauren Bacall), and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Ron Howard), as well as the National Board of Review Award as one of the Top Ten Films of 1976 . The film received widespread critical acclaim, garnering an 81% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes . Throughout his life, sheriff -turned- gunfighter John Bernard "J.B." Books has committed thirty-plus killings. Now an older man, Books arrives in Carson City , Nevada , in late January 1901. He gets into
267-429: A "biography" of Books filled with exaggerated stories of his gunfights. Books orders a headstone, but rejects the undertaker's offer of a free funeral, suspecting he would charge admission to view his remains. Two criminals seeking notoriety try to ambush Books as he sleeps, but he kills them. Gillom is impressed, but his mother is both angry at and frightened for Books, though she will not admit it. She grows concerned that
356-549: A "mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways, wilderness, and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a shootout or quick draw duel. The Western genre sometimes portrays
445-549: A Gun", with Richard Conte in the role of Jimmy Ringo. Bob Dylan referenced scenes from The Gunfighter in his song " Brownsville Girl ", co-written by playwright Sam Shepard . It appears on Dylan's 1986 release Knocked Out Loaded . Peck paid tribute to Dylan's words when Dylan received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997. Elmore Leonard features two characters in conversation about The Gunfighter in his novel, City Primeval . Western (genre) The Western
534-447: A confrontation with dairyman Jay Cobb, but Cobb's assistant, Gillom Rogers, defuses the situation. Books visits Dr. E.W. "Doc" Hostetler, a country physician who treated Books' gunshot wounds fifteen years before. Hostetler confirms that Books has terminal cancer and has only weeks to live. Hostetler prescribes laudanum for the pain but advises that his condition will eventually become unbearable, remarking that if he had Books's courage,
623-510: A gunshot wound, probably self-inflicted. Many of the circumstances and legends surrounding Johnny Ringo's life and adventures have been challenged in recent years. The film was directed by Henry King , the second of his six collaborations with Peck. Others included the World War II film Twelve O'Clock High (1949), David and Bathsheba (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Bravados (1958) and Beloved Infidel (1959). In
712-447: A horse and is armed with a revolver or rifle . The male characters typically wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas , vests , and cowboy boots with spurs . While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include buckskins and dusters . Women are generally cast in secondary roles as love interests for the male lead; or in supporting roles as saloon girls, prostitutes or as
801-760: A nearby stable and resume their pursuit. As Ringo rides to the town of Cayenne and settles into a corner of the local saloon, the barkeeper alerts the local marshal, Mark Strett. Strett is a reformed gunslinger and old friend of Ringo's; he urges his friend to leave, since his presence will surely cause undue trouble. Ringo agrees to go as soon as he sees his wife, Peggy, whom he has not seen in eight years, and his son, who doesn't even know he exists. Strett tells him Peggy has changed her surname to conceal their relationship and doesn't wish to see him. Two locals - merchant Jerry Marlowe and local thug Hunt Bromley - both decide to kill Ringo; Marlowe blames him for his son's murder and Bromley wants to be famous. Ringo spots Marlowe aiming
890-503: A number of major and minor changes, including moving the location from El Paso to Carson City and the ending. In the book and original screenplay, Books kills his last opponent by shooting him in the back, is fatally wounded by a bartender with a shotgun, and is finally put out of his misery by Gillom. Wayne maintained that, over his entire film career, he had never shot an adversary in the back and would not do so now. He also objected to his character being killed by Gillom and suggested that
979-476: A number of occasions, famous examples being Support Your Local Sheriff! , Cat Ballou , Mel Brooks 's Blazing Saddles , and Rustler's Rhapsody . George Lucas 's Star Wars films use many elements of a Western, and Lucas has said he intended for Star Wars to revitalize cinematic mythology, a part the Western once held. The Jedi , who take their name from Jidaigeki , are modeled after samurai, showing
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#17328484781611068-452: A popular art form. Western films commonly feature protagonists such as 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 a means to settle disputes using frontier justice. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds. The first films that belong to
1157-478: A rifle at him and disarms the man before locking him up, though he swears he didn't kill his son. Molly — another old friend — eventually persuades Peggy to talk to Ringo. Ringo tells her that he is weary of life as a gunfighter and, having seen how Strett turned his life around, wants to settle down. He intends to head west to California , or down to South America , where people do not know him, and invites Peggy to come with him. She refuses but agrees to reconsider in
1246-565: A setting, where it tasked players to lead a party of settlers moving westward in a covered wagon from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. The game only grew popular in the 1980s and 1990s as an educational game. The first video game Westerns to engage the mass public arrived in arcade games focused on the gunfighter in Westerns based on depictions in television shows, films and Electro-mechanical games such as Dale Six Shooter (1950), and Sega 's Gun Fight (1970). The first of these games
1335-678: A sheriff in fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming . Originally aired on the A&;E network from 2012 to 2014, it was picked up by Netflix in 2015 until the show's conclusion in 2017. AMC and Vince Gilligan's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad is a much more modern take on the Western genre. Set in New Mexico from 2008 through 2013, it follows Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ), a chemistry teacher diagnosed with Stage III Lung Cancer who cooks and sells crystal meth to provide money for his family after he dies, while slowly growing further and further into
1424-553: A televised public service announcement for the American Cancer Society that began with the scene in which his character is informed of his cancer. Wayne then added that he had enacted the same scene in real life 12 years earlier. The film's outdoor scenes were filmed on location in Carson City. Bond Rogers' boarding house is the 1914 Krebs-Peterson House, located in Carson City's historic residential district. The buggy ride
1513-503: A year's time if he stays out of trouble until then. Ringo meets his son at last, but honors Peggy's wish not to tell the boy that he is his father. Ringo's business in Cayenne is finished, but he has lingered too long. The three vengeful brothers try to ambush him outside of the saloon before Strett and his deputies intercept and apprehend them. Ringo saddles his horse and bids farewell to Peggy and his son, but Bromley then fatally shoots him in
1602-645: Is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States , particularly the Southwestern United States , as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada . The frontier
1691-574: Is a 1976 American Western film directed by Don Siegel and based on Glendon Swarthout 's 1975 novel of the same name, and written by Miles Hood Swarthout (the son of the author) and Scott Hale. The film stars John Wayne in his last film appearance before his death in 1979, Lauren Bacall , Ron Howard , James Stewart , Richard Boone , John Carradine , Scatman Crothers , Richard Lenz , Harry Morgan , Sheree North and Hugh O'Brian . In 1977, The Shootist received an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction (Robert F. Boyle, Arthur Jeph Parker),
1780-581: Is a genre of literature set in the American Old West, most commonly between 1860 and 1900. The first critically recognized Western was The Virginian (1902) by Owen Wister . Other well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey , from the early 1900s, Ernest Haycox , Luke Short , and Louis L'Amour , from the mid 20th century. Many writers better known in other genres, such as Leigh Brackett , Elmore Leonard , and Larry McMurtry , have also written Western novels. The genre's popularity peaked in
1869-509: Is a series of seven books that meshes themes of Westerns, high fantasy , science fiction, and horror. The protagonist Roland Deschain is a gunslinger whose image and personality are largely inspired by the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone's films. 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. The Western genre has been parodied on
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#17328484781611958-443: Is a war film, but its action and characters are Western-like. The character played by Humphrey Bogart in noir films such as Casablanca and To Have and Have Not —an individual bound only by his own private code of honor—has a lot in common with the classic Western hero. In turn, the Western has also explored noir elements, as with films such as Colorado Territory and Pursued . In many of Robert A. Heinlein 's books,
2047-599: Is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys , outlaws , sheriffs , and numerous other stock gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice , freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny , and the national history and identity of the United States . Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or savages . Originating in vaquero heritage and Western fiction ,
2136-413: Is maintained predominantly through relatively impersonal institutions such as courtrooms . The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a seminomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered
2225-753: Is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often prostitutes ), gambling (draw poker or five-card stud), drinking ( beer , whiskey , or tequila if set in Mexico), brawling, and shooting. In some Westerns, where civilization has arrived, the town has a church, a general store, a bank, and a school; in others, where frontier rules still hold sway, it is, as Sergio Leone said, "where life has no value". Author and screenwriter Frank Gruber identified seven basic plots for Westerns: Gruber said that good writers used dialogue and plot development to develop these basic plots into believable stories. The American Film Institute defines Western films as those "set in
2314-412: Is usually punctuated with a Western music score , including American folk music and Spanish / Mexican folk music such as country , Native American music , New Mexico music , and rancheras . Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid , desolate landscape of deserts and mountains . Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting
2403-1331: The Atari 2600 and Gun Fight (1978) for the Bally Astrocade were derivative of Midway's Gun Fight . These early video games featured limited graphical capabilities , which had developers create Westerns to the most easily recognizable and popular tropes of the gunfighter shootouts. Western radio dramas were very popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. There were five types of Western radio dramas during this period: anthology programs, such as Empire Builders and Frontier Fighters ; juvenile adventure programs such as Red Ryder and Hopalong Cassidy ; legend and lore like Red Goose Indian Tales and Cowboy Tom's Round-Up ; adult Westerns like Fort Laramie and Frontier Gentleman ; and soap operas such as Cactus Kate . Some popular shows include The Lone Ranger (first broadcast in 1933), The Cisco Kid (first broadcast in 1942), Dr. Sixgun (first broadcast in 1954), Have Gun–Will Travel (first broadcast in 1958), and Gunsmoke (first broadcast in 1952). Many shows were done live, while others were transcribed. Westerns have been showcased in short-episodic web series. Examples include League of STEAM , Red Bird , and Arkansas Traveler . Within
2492-523: The Grand Canyon , Yosemite , and the giant redwoods , due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the Great Depression . After renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of Westerns continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined. The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called
2581-457: The space opera series Firefly used an explicitly Western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. Anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop , Trigun and Outlaw Star have been similar mixes of science-fiction and Western elements. The science fiction Western can be seen as a subgenre of either Westerns or science fiction. Elements of Western films can be found also in some films belonging essentially to other genres. For example, Kelly's Heroes
2670-419: The "Golden Age of the Western". It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including Robert Aldrich , Budd Boetticher , Delmer Daves , John Ford , and others. Some of the popular films during this era include Apache (1954), Broken Arrow (1950), and My Darling Clementine (1946). The changing popularity of the Western genre has influenced worldwide pop culture over time. During
2759-432: The 1960s and 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns from Italy became popular worldwide; this was due to the success of Sergio Leone 's storytelling method. After having been previously pronounced dead, a resurgence of Westerns occurred during the 1990s with films such as Dances with Wolves (1990), Unforgiven (1992), and Geronimo (1993), as Westerns once again increased in popularity. When television became popular in
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2848-416: The 1960s, due in part to the shuttering of many pulp magazines, the popularity of televised Westerns , and the rise of the spy novel. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few Western states, now only carry a small number of Western novels and short-story collections. Literary forms that share similar themes include stories of
2937-454: The 1970s. These games and drew on the imagery of a mythic West portrayed in stories, films, television shows, and other assorted Western-themed toys. When game developers went to the imaginary West to create new experiences, they often drew consciously or unconsciously from Western stories and films. The 1971 text-based, Mainframe computer game The Oregon Trail was first game to use the West as
3026-573: The American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier ". Originally, these films were called "Wild West dramas", a reference to Wild West shows like Buffalo Bill Cody's . The term "Western", used to describe 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
3115-557: The American frontier, the gaucho literature of Argentina , and tales of the settlement of the Australian Outback. A number of visual artists focused their work on representations of the American Old West. American West-oriented art is sometimes referred to as "Western Art" by Americans. This relatively new category of art includes paintings, sculptures, and sometimes Native American crafts. Initially, subjects included exploration of
3204-645: The Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the Russian Revolution , the Russian Civil War , and the Basmachi rebellion. Many elements of space-travel series and films borrow extensively from the conventions of the Western genre. This is particularly the case in the space Western subgenre of science fiction. Peter Hyams 's Outland transferred the plot of High Noon to Io, moon of Jupiter. More recently,
3293-533: The Metropole at 11:00 am on January 29, his birthday. On the morning of January 29, the headstone arrives, which includes Books' death year as 1901, but with no day. Books gives Gillom his beloved horse, bids farewell to Bond, and then boards a trolley for the saloon. Books enters the saloon to find the three men at different tables. Books orders a drink, toasting his birthday and his three guests. Cobb, Sweeney, and Pulford each try to kill Books, but despite being shot in
3382-513: The Prairie , McCloud , The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams , and the short-lived but highly acclaimed How the West Was Won that originated from a miniseries with the same name. In the 1990s and 2000s, hour-long Westerns and slickly packaged made-for-TV movie Westerns were introduced, such as Lonesome Dove (1989) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . Also, new elements were once again added to
3471-483: The West Was Won , both released in 1962. While filming the sequence in the doctor's office, both Stewart and Wayne repeatedly muffed their lines over a long series of takes, until director Don Siegel finally pleaded with them to try harder. "If you want the scene done better," joked Wayne, "you'd better get yourself a couple of better actors." Later, Wayne commented in private that Stewart knew his lines, but apparently could not hear his cues. Another casting stipulation
3560-419: The Western formula, such as the space Western , Firefly , created by Joss Whedon in 2002. Deadwood was a critically acclaimed Western series that aired on HBO from 2004 through 2006. Hell on Wheels , a fictionalized story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad , aired on AMC for five seasons between 2011 and 2016. Longmire is a Western series that centered on Walt Longmire ,
3649-851: 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). The earliest known Western narrative film is the British short Kidnapping by Indians , made by Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn , England, in 1899. The Great Train Robbery (1903, based on
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3738-676: The Western states and cowboy themes. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are two artists who captured the "Wild West" in paintings and sculpture. After the death of Remington Richard Lorenz became the preeminent artist painting in the Western genre. Some art museums, such as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming and the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, feature American Western Art. With anime and manga ,
3827-472: The Wild West and modern technology like cars and cellphones, while also focusing primarily on being a Crime drama makes the show a unique spin on both genres. Walter's reliance on the desert environment makes the Western-feel a pivotal role in the show, and would continue to be used in the spinoff series Better Call Saul . The neo-Western drama Yellowstone was streamed from 2018-2024. Western fiction
3916-548: The arm, he kills them. A crowd gathers in the street having heard the gunshots. Gillom eventually enters the bar. His shouted warning is too late as the Metropole's bartender shoots Books in the back, mortally wounding him. Gillom takes up Books' gun and kills the bartender. Realizing what he has done, Gillom throws the gun away. Books smiles before dying. Gillom covers the body with his coat and walks outside to his waiting mother. He walks past her, and she turns and follows him. Producer Mike Frankovich announced that he had purchased
4005-628: The back. As Ringo lies dying, he claims to have shot first, and asks Strett not to arrest his killer nor hang him. Bromley, he says, will soon learn as Ringo did that notoriety as a gunfighter is a curse that will follow him wherever he goes, making him an outcast for the rest of his life. Strett gives Bromley a severe beating and banishes him from Cayenne, musing that it probably won't be long before "the man who shot Ringo" meets his own grisly fate. In death, Ringo has finally found what he sought for so long: his wife's forgiveness and reconciliation. At his well-attended public funeral, Peggy proudly reveals to
4094-512: The bartender do it, because "no one could ever take John Wayne in a fair fight". Wayne was also responsible for many casting decisions. Several friends and past co-stars were cast at his request, including Bacall, Stewart, Boone, and Carradine. James Stewart had not worked in films for a number of years, due in part to a severe hearing impairment, but he accepted the role as a favor to Wayne. Stewart and Wayne had worked together in two previous Westerns: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and How
4183-418: 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
4272-613: The classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s (namely Kid Colt, Outlaw , Rawhide Kid , and Red Ryder ) or more modern ones as Blueberry ), cartoons, and parodies (such as Cocco Bill and Lucky Luke ). In the 1990s and 2000s, Western comics leaned towards the fantasy , horror and science fiction genres, usually involving supernatural monsters, or Christian iconography as in Preacher . More traditional Western comics are found throughout this period, though (e.g., Jonah Hex and Loveless ). Video game Westerns emerged in
4361-752: The conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American, inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them (e.g., True Grit has revenge and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which social order
4450-428: The culture, such as spaghetti Westerns (Italy), meat pie Westerns (Australia), ramen Westerns (Asia), and masala Westerns (India). Being period drama pieces, both the Western and samurai genre influenced each other in style and themes throughout the years. The Magnificent Seven was a remake of Akira Kurosawa 's film Seven Samurai , and A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo , which itself
4539-443: The death he has just described is not one he would choose. Books lodges at a quiet boarding house owned by Gillom's widowed mother Bond. Wanting to be left alone, he gives her a fake name. Finding Books' initials on his horse's saddle, Gillom deduces his true identity and tells his mother that Books is actually a famous gunfighter. Upset that Books has lied to her, Bond summons Marshal Walter Thibido; Books explains his circumstances to
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#17328484781614628-407: 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 (as mentioned above) 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
4717-463: The early 1960s, and their replacement by hour-long television shows, increasingly in color. Traditional Westerns died out in the late 1960s as a result of network changes in demographic targeting along with pressure from parental television groups. Future entries in the genre would incorporate elements from other genera, such as crime drama and mystery whodunit elements. Western shows from the 1970s included Hec Ramsey , Kung Fu , Little House on
4806-507: The fatherless Gillom will try to follow in his footsteps as the two grow closer, with Books teaching Gillom how to shoot. Books asks Gillom to visit three men with violent reputations: Mike Sweeney, the aging outlaw brother of a man Books killed in self-defense; Jack Pulford, the Faro dealer at the Metropole saloon, a deadly crack shot; and Cobb, Gillom's boss. He is to tell each that Books will be at
4895-459: The film holds a score of 100% from 16 reviews. The film was nominated for Best Motion Picture Story for writers William Bowers and André de Toth during the 23rd Academy Awards . The award went to the husband and wife team of Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt for Panic in the Streets . Another version of the story appeared in 1957 in the series The 20th Century Fox Hour entitled "The End of
4984-571: The film was also nominated for a WGA Award for Best Written American Western. Writing for The New York Times , Bosley Crowther noted in his June 24, 1950, review: "The addicts of Western fiction may find themselves rubbing their eyes and sitting up fast to take notice before five minutes have gone by in Twentieth Century Fox's The Gunfighter, which came to the Roxy yesterday. For suddenly they will discover that they are not keeping company with
5073-470: The genre popularized the Western lifestyle , country - Western music , and Western wear globally. Throughout the history of the genre, it has seen popular revivals and been incorporated into various subgenres. The classic Western is a morality drama , presenting the conflict between wilderness and civilization . Stories commonly center on the life of a male drifter , cowboy , or gunslinger who rides
5162-426: The genre tends towards the science-fiction Western – e.g., Cowboy Bebop (1998 anime), Trigun (1995–2007 manga), and Outlaw Star (1996–1999 manga). Although contemporary Westerns also appear, such as Koya no Shonen Isamu , a 1971 shonen manga about a boy with a Japanese father and a Native American mother, or El Cazador de la Bruja , a 2007 anime television series set in modern-day Mexico. Part 7 of
5251-459: The harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages, or small frontier towns with a saloon. Oftentimes, these settings appear deserted and without much structure. Apart from the wilderness, the saloon usually emphasizes that this is the Wild West ; it
5340-466: The heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress . Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, although some notable examples (e.g. the later Westerns of John Ford or Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven , about an old contract killer ) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress
5429-401: The illicit drug market, eventually turning into a ruthless drug dealer and killer. While the show has scenes in a populated suburban neighborhood and nearby Albuquerque , much of the show takes place in the desert, where Walter often takes his RV car out into the open desert to cook his meth, and most action sequences occur in the desert, similar to old-fashioned Western movies. The clash between
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#17328484781615518-669: The influence of Kurosawa. The character Han Solo dressed like an archetypal gunslinger, and the Mos Eisley cantina is much like an Old West saloon. Meanwhile, films such as The Big Lebowski , which plucked actor Sam Elliott out of the Old West and into a Los Angeles bowling alley, and Midnight Cowboy , about a Southern-boy-turned-gigolo in New York (who disappoints a client when he does not measure up to Gary Cooper), transplanted Western themes into modern settings for both purposes of parody and homage. The Shootist The Shootist
5607-462: The larger scope of the Western genre, there are several recognized subgenres. Some subgenres, such as spaghetti Westerns , maintain standard Western settings and plots, while others take the Western theme and archetypes into different supergenres, such as neo-Westerns or space Westerns . For a time, Westerns made in countries other than the United States were often labeled by foods associated with
5696-788: The late 1940s and 1950s, Television Westerns quickly became an audience favorite. Beginning with rebroadcasts of existing films, a number of movie cowboys had their own TV shows. As demand for the Western increased, new stories and stars were introduced. A number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right, such as: The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Death Valley Days (1952–1970), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), Cheyenne (1955–1962), Gunsmoke (1955–1975), Maverick (1957–1962), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963), Wagon Train (1957–1965), The Rifleman (1958–1963), Rawhide (1959–1966), Bonanza (1959–1973), The Virginian (1962–1971), and The Big Valley (1965–1969). The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
5785-480: The literary descendants of the knights-errant , who stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian romances . Like the cowboy or gunfighter of the Western, the knight-errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds, and bound to no fixed social structures, but only to his own innate code of honor. Like knights-errant,
5874-461: The major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. An exception was The Big Trail, a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. The epic film noted for its authenticity
5963-663: The manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is based in the American Western setting. The story follows racers in a transcontinental horse race, the "Steel Ball Run". Golden Kamuy (2014–2022) shifts its setting to the fallout of the Russo-Japanese War , specifically focusing on Hokkaido and Sakhalin , and featuring the Ainu people and other local tribes instead of Native Americans, as well other recognizable Western tropes. Western comics have included serious entries, (such as
6052-444: The marshal and assures him he'll be dead soon. Sympathetic to his plight, Bond asks Books to accompany her to church. Books claims he has no need of repentance, saying he never harmed anyone who did not deserve it. Word spreads that Books is in town. Local journalist Dan Dobkins is chased off when he asks Books for an interview. Books's old flame Serepta shows up; she eventually leaves after admitting that Dobkins approached her to write
6141-472: The movie rights to Glendon Swarthout's novel The Shootist , and Wayne expressed a strong desire to play the title role, reportedly because of similarities to the character Jimmy Ringo in The Gunfighter , a role that he had turned down 25 years earlier. He was not initially considered due to the health and stamina issues that he had experienced during filming of Rooster Cogburn . Paul Newman passed on
6230-509: The original ending, Hunt Bromley was arrested by the town marshal, but studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck was enraged at this resolution, so King and Johnson rewrote the final scene. The studio hated Peck's authentic period mustache. In fact, Zanuck had been out of the country when production began. When he returned and saw the mustache King and Peck had chosen for Peck's character, he reportedly said "I would give $ 25,000 of my own money to get that mustache off Peck." Aside from its Oscar nomination,
6319-489: The part, because of his longstanding hatred for Columbia's president, Harry Cohn . Bowers had written the role with Wayne in mind but rejected selling it to him because of wanting to sell it for more money, which attracted the long-lasting bitterness of Wayne. Columbia subsequently sold the rights to 20th Century Fox , where the role went to Peck. Wayne's final film, The Shootist (1976), is often compared to The Gunfighter and contains numerous plot similarities. The script
6408-432: 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 . Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era (1894–1927). With the advent of sound in 1927–1928,
6497-431: The role, as did George C. Scott , Charles Bronson , Gene Hackman , and Clint Eastwood , before it was finally offered to Wayne. His compromised lung capacity made breathing and mobility difficult at Carson City's 4,600 ft (1,400 m) altitude, and production had to be shut down for a week while he recovered from influenza, but Wayne completed the filming without further significant medical issues. The Shootist
6586-629: The settlement of other planets is depicted in ways explicitly modeled on American settlement of the West. For example, in his Tunnel in the Sky , settlers set out to the planet New Canaan, via an interstellar teleporter portal across the galaxy, in Conestoga wagons , their captain sporting mustaches and a little goatee and riding a Palomino horse—with Heinlein explaining that the colonists would need to survive on their own for some years, so horses are more practical than machines. Stephen King 's The Dark Tower
6675-417: The title role, a man doomed to live out his span killing to keep from being killed. He gives it great sympathy and a type of rugged individualism that makes it real." Ronald Bergen says it "has gained in critical appreciation over the years and is now considered one of the all-time great westerns" Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic described The Gunfighter as an 'excellent western'. On Rotten Tomatoes ,
6764-472: The townspeople for the first time that she is Mrs. Jimmy Ringo and sits next to Strett as her husband is buried. The film ends with a shot of a silhouetted, unrecognizable cowboy riding off into the sunset. The film rights to The Gunfighter were originally purchased by Columbia Pictures , which offered the Jimmy Ringo role to John Wayne . Wayne turned it down, despite having expressed a strong desire to play
6853-435: The usual sort of hero of the commonplace Western at all. Suddenly, indeed, they will discover that they are in the exciting presence of one of the most fascinating Western heroes as ever looked down a six-shooter's barrel." Variety's website review says "There's never a sag or off moment in the footage ...despite all the tight melodrama, the picture finds time for some leavening laughter. Gregory Peck perfectly portrays
6942-486: The wives of pioneers and settlers . The wife character often provides a measure of comic relief . Other recurring characters include Native Americans of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians, African Americans , Chinese Americans , Spaniards , Mexicans , law enforcement officers , bounty hunters , outlaws , bartenders , merchants , gamblers , soldiers (especially mounted cavalry ), and settlers ( farmers , ranchers , and townsfolk). The ambience
7031-439: Was Midway 's Gun Fight , an adaptation of Taito 's Western Gun (1975) which featured two players against each other in a duel set on a sparse desert landscape with a few cacti and a moving covered wagon to hide behind. Atari 's Outlaw (1976) followed which explicitly framed the shootouts between "good guys" and "outlaws" also borrowing from gunfighter themes and imagery. Early console games such as Outlaw (1978) for
7120-577: Was Wayne's final cinematic role, concluding a 50-year career that began during the silent film era in 1926. Wayne was not terminally ill when the film was made in 1976. He had been a heavy cigarette smoker for most of his life, and he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964. He underwent surgical removal of his left lung and several ribs. He remained clinically cancer-free until early 1979, when metastases were discovered in his stomach, intestines, and spine; he died in June of that year. Nonetheless, Wayne appeared in
7209-630: Was a financial failure due to Depression era theatres not willing to invest in widescreen technology. 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
7298-673: Was a modest success, grossing $ 13,406,138 domestically, About $ 6 million were earned in US theatrical rentals . It was named one of the Ten Best Films of 1976 by the National Board of Review, along with Rocky , All the President's Men , and Network . Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times ranked The Shootist number 10 on his list of the 10 best films of 1976. The film
7387-465: Was inspired by Red Harvest , an American detective novel by Dashiell Hammett . Kurosawa was influenced by American Westerns and was a fan of the genre, most especially John Ford . Despite the Cold War , the Western was 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
7476-511: Was loosely based on the purported exploits of an actual western gunfighter named Johnny Ringo , a distant cousin of the outlaw Younger family and enemy of Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers . As in the movie, Ringo sought a reconciliation with his estranged family, in California, in 1882; but unlike the film his conciliatory gestures were summarily rejected. After a ten-day alcoholic binge, he died of
7565-719: Was nominated for an Oscar (for Best Art Direction, today called Best Production Design), a Golden Globe , a BAFTA film award , and a Writers Guild of America award. The film has an 81% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 26 reviews. In 2008 the film was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of the best Western films. In 2020, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino wrote: There’s nothing in The Shootist you haven’t seen done many times before and done better … but what you haven’t seen before
7654-562: Was shot at Washoe Lake State Park , in the Washoe Valley between Reno and Carson City. It was a Paramount production, yet the street scenes and most interior shots were filmed at the Warner Bros. backlot and sound stages in Burbank, California . The horse-drawn trolley was once used as a shuttle between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico . Wayne's contract gave him script approval, and he made
7743-515: Was the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. The peak year for television Westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during primetime. At least six of them were connected in some extent to Wyatt Earp : The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp , Bat Masterson , Tombstone Territory , Broken Arrow , Johnny Ringo , and Gunsmoke . Increasing costs of American television production weeded out most action half-hour series in
7832-941: Was the horse owned and given away by Wayne's character, a favorite sorrel gelding named Dollor that Wayne had ridden in Big Jake , The Cowboys , True Grit , Rooster Cogburn , Chisum , and The Train Robbers . Wayne had negotiated exclusive movie rights to Dollor with the horse's owner Dick Webb Movie Productions, and he requested script changes enabling him to mention Dollor's name several times. By one account, Wayne's numerous directorial suggestions and script alterations caused considerable friction between director and star, but Siegel said that he and Wayne got along well. He had plenty of his own ideas ... some I liked, which gave me inspirations, and some I didn't like. But we didn't fight over any of it. We liked each other and respected each other. Upon its theatrical release, The Shootist
7921-733: Was the second of King's six collaborations with Peck. It was nominated for Best Motion Picture Story for William Bowers and Andre de Toth during the 23rd Academy Awards . A young, reckless cowboy named Eddie deliberately provokes an argument with notorious gunfighter Jimmy Ringo, who is widely known as the fastest draw in the West, making him the perpetual target of every young gunslinger eager to become famous as "the man who shot Ringo". When Eddie draws his pistol, Ringo has no choice but to kill him. Eddie's three brothers seek revenge and pursue Ringo as he leaves town. Ringo ambushes and disarms them, then drives off their horses. He tells them to walk back to town; instead, they obtain fresh horses from
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