Western Genre Essay

1. It used to be the case that westerns were the most common genre in Hollywood. Between
the 1930’s and mid 1960’s, the western was the dominant Hollywood film. Today, this is no
longer the case, the western genre is slowing fading away, which is not to say that the
influence, themes and myths central to the classic Hollywood western have disappeared,
just the movies have. Western themes and myths are very much still alive, but have moved
into other genres such as science fiction and action films.
The first western was one of the greatest films from early cinema, Edwin S Porter’s ‘The
Great Train Robbery’ (1903). It was famous for its sustained narrative, chase scenes, crime
and retribution for wrongdoing. These elements were a starting point of many westerns to
follow.
Throughout the 1910’s and 1920’s as cinema itself was developing, westerns started to
become more apparent. Actor G.M.Anderson, who appeared in ‘The Great Train Robbery’,
became one of the first Hollywood stars to establish a central heroic figure as an anchor for
western films. Throughout the 1920’s stars like Tim Mix, Hoot Gibson, and Buck Jones would
all help Hollywood through the success of films about cowboys and Indians.
Carl Laemmle , on the studio side would be the most significant studio figure responsible for
the development of the western. Beginning in the 1910s and continuing on through the
1930s, Laemmle's Universal Films became the home of western, and helped to develop
some of the genres most important talent, including John Ford, director of The Searchers.
Ford gave up as a director of universal silent westerns before becoming one of the masters
of the genre throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
The use of sound in the westerns came in the late 1920’s. This is where films such as Victor
Fleming’s ‘The Virginian’ (1929) and John Ford’s ‘Stage Coach’ (1939) showed the typical
heroic figures and tales that dominated the genre until the 1950’s. These films were a lot
about gunmen forced to protect a community on the outskirts of the American Frontier.
Native Americans were the enemy who were often portrayed as violent gangs of white men.
In the 1950’s a number of westerns pushed the boundaries of the genre of simple stories on
quick shooting heroes, instead more psychological studies of individuals, families and
communities were brought in.
In the 1960’s the genre shifted again. It opened itself up to more complex characters who
tended to be extremely more violent and anti-heroic compared to the ones earlier on.

2. Sergio Leone and other lesser directors produced the very successful "spaghetti westerns"
such as , ‘A Fistful of Dollar’(1964)], ‘For a Few Dollars More ‘(1965), and ‘The Good, the Bad,
and the Ugly’ (1966) which were called such because the best were made by an Italian and
shot in Italy (or Spain).
Today, if the western has disappeared from our movie screens, it is, in part, the result of
transformations in the genre itself and that the themes of the western genre have moved in
to other genres, we just may not realise it.