Western Film - Kadri Nikopensius 2010

Generally

Between 1910 and 1960 the Western was the major genre of the world’s dominant national cinema. Its popularity was a vital factor in establishing Hollywood’s control of the global film market. But the development of western as a distinctive formula within popular culture pre-dates the invention of the cinema by a quarter of a century. Cowboys and Indian remained as central figures of the genre, but additionally a motley crew of outlaws, mountain men, soldiers and lawmen were also pressed into service as Western heroes by the rapidly developing entertainment industries. [1; p. 286]

1920s

By 1920 there were in fact two distinct kinds of Western films in Hollywood. On the one hand were the scores of cheap films, with formulaic plots, often using the same sets and locations, even recycling production from previous productions. They were made my specialist units within the major studios, such as Universal, Fox and Paramount, or by smaller independent companies. The films were usually made in series, the star being contracted for six or eight films at a time. Even within this type of film there were wide variations in budgets and quality. Among the elite stars of Western series in the 1920s were Hoot Gibson, Buck Jones, Fred Thomson and Tim McCoy. But there were dozens of lesser lights, including such now-forgotten figures as Bob Custer, Buddy Roosevelt and Jack Perrin, whose pictures were made with a bare minimum of resources necessary to sustain audience belief. [1; p. 289]

Typically, these films found their chief market in rural areas, especially in the south and west, and among younger audiences. On the other hand, there were films convinced not in series but individually, which cast not specialist Western actors but mainstream stars from the major studios, and which were most often referred to in the trade press not as ‘Westerns’ at all but as melodramas or romances.

1930s

The 1930s saw the series Western flourish once it had adjusted to the introduction of sound, which initially presented problems for location shooting. Around the middle of the decade film exhibitors, attempting to reverse the decline of audiences caused by the Depression, initiated the double bill, which offered two feature films per programme. A ready supply of cheap B feature films needed to fill the bill, and ‘poverty row’ studios such as Monogram rushed to provide them. More prestigious productions were few and far between until the end of the decade, which saw a modest revival.

1940s

In the 1940s the studios saw that the Western could be a vehicle for the exploration of moral issues. However, the 1950s was the Western’s greatest decade. Film makers found a new confidence in using the Western to explore social and moral conflicts. [1; p. 291]

1950s

The 1950s were marked not only by an increased seriousness in the thematic content of Westerns. It was also a decade in which aesthetic possibilities were realized with greater verve and flair than ever before. In 1950 Hollywood had produced 130 Western features. By 1960 this had sunk to a mere 28. By the end of the decade, 300 Italian Westerns had been produced. Though only a small per cent was ever distributed internationally. [1; p. 292] The director Sergio Leone’s film “The good, the Bad and the Ugly”, which was released in 1966, had considerable influence on the future American Western, most noticeably in the general increase in the level of violence and the obsessive detail with which it was filmed. [1; p. 293]

“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)

The film itself tried to represent the characteristics of the good-hearted, the evil minded and the vengeful. At the beginning it was quite clear who played which part. The audience was convinced to see the characters in strict black and white, wrong and right. We understood that using depraved thugs for making money is actually acceptable. We disliked the person who took revenge on those actions by torturing a man in the desert for days. The bad man, one of the protagonists, had his particular interests towards the money and agreed to sacrifice his every companion for it. He did not care what the means were.

During the film, the noble and the ugly had to work together in order to survive. They were most dependent on each other. However, each of the characters had their changes – a chance to leave their obsessions and troubles behind their backs. There were situations, where the audience was set to doubt the characters’ personalities. The ugly and the vengeful could not be actually guilty of what they had become. When the thug visited the monastery with his ‘trusty’ companion Blondie, he met his brother. There were moments when the thug regretted what he had done or what had been done to him in the past. Blondie had also his interests in the main issue – finding the money. Was it because he just wanted to tease the thug-companion he hanged out with or was it because he felt he had control over others around him?

The film itself had interesting point of views. In addition to the humorous moments and Blondie’s clever actions, there were moral, sociological and psychological aspects in it.

Decline and Revival

Many theories have been advanced as to why the Western went into decline. Audiences were growing up, an increasingly urban society could not relate to an agrarian genre, or maybe it was just fashion. But structural changes in box office demographics probably had their effect. A younger audience was drawn to genres like horror and science fiction which offered more sensational thrills. By contrast, youth of the Western seemed perpetually condemned to be taught a lesson by its elders and betters.

The 1980s was the Western’s worst ever decade and production fell away to a trickle. Between 1980 and 1992 even the last great hope, Clint Eastwood, got back in the saddle only once, for “Pale Rider” (1985).

Yet, the Western refused to die. In the early 1990s a modest revival set in. There was a successful attempt to remodel the genre for a teenage audience. Two particular films in 1992 provided, in different ways, that the genre had not after all exhausted itself. [1; p. 293]

Used Reference

1. The Oxford History of World Cinema (ed. by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith)
2. Watched film “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (Leone, 1966)