 |
| Monica 4, Santa Monica, California |
The current list of available westerns is longer than we’ll have time to watch them. So I’m listing them here and asking for some help to pick the best combination of them.
The students are freshmen, 18-19 years old, who have mostly never seen westerns. The last big one, 3:10 to Yuma (2007), was already long enough ago that most of them won’t know it. (At that age, they really are born yesterday.)
From having taught the course before, I know that the genre is a big surprise to them. The biggest surprise is that they actually like westerns, even the “old” ones. They discover that westerns deal with ideas about heroism, relationships, codes of behavior, and ethical issues, and they offer different interpretations of those ideas.
Anyway, as I prepare for the course, I’ve got to make up my mind soon about what I’ll be asking them to see. Here is the list of 18 that are currently available. If you had to cut that list down to ten, what would you want absolutely to keep?
Fort Apache
The Searchers
3:10 to Yuma (original version)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Lonesome Dove (six hours long! counts as two)
Broken Arrow (James Stewart)
Hombre (Paul Newman)
Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood)
The True Story of Jesse James (Robert Wagner)
Yellow Sky (Gregory Peck)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Jason Robards)
The Scalphunters (Burt Lancaster)
Tribute to a Bad Man (James Cagney)
The Return of Frank James (Henry Fonda)
Wyatt Earp (Kevin Costner)
River of No Return (Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe)
The Last Sunset (Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas)
Four Faces West (Joel McCrae)
Feel free to ask all your friends to help!
Picture credit: wikimedia.org
Coming up:
I haven't seen enough of these to make a legit comment. But I will point out that River of No Return was shot in my backyard (Jasper/Banff) and therefore your students simply must see it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great course. I would add a Randolph Scott film from the late 50's. Also THE WILD BUNCH, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY and SHANE. Extra reading would be Brian Garfield's WESTERN FILMS, the best reference on the A-western. I would pick the following:
ReplyDeleteLONESOME DOVE
FORT APACHE
3;10 TO YUMA
HOMBRE
YELLOW SKY
FOUR FACES WEST
JOE KIDD
BUTCH CASSIDY AND SUNDANCE KID
How about a sample B-western or serial?
----Walker Martin
hum, I'll have to give it some thought. HOmbre and Joe Kidd come to mind, and Fort Apache.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great list of westerns!!
ReplyDeleteThe Searchers
Broken Arrow
Joe Kidd
The Return of Frank James
River of No Return
The Last Sunset
Four Faces West
Fort Apache
Lonesome Dove
Fort Apache
ReplyDeleteThe Searchers
3:10 to Yuma (original version)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Lonesome Dove
Broken Arrow (James Stewart)
Hombre (Paul Newman)
Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood)
Yellow Sky (Gregory Peck)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Jason Robards)
Actually, I might put in the two James Boys movies in place of Lonesome Dove, just for fun.
I agree with Bill Crider and throw in an old one as a substitute, say Destry Rides Again with James Stewart.
ReplyDeleteBill, we can't toss out LONESOME DOVE! Robert Duvall recently was asked what was his favorite role and he said LONESOME DOVE because the series gave him 6 hours to develop the character instead of the usual hour and a half. The two James movies just cannot compare with LONESOME DOVE, the mini series. Also the novel is in the running for best western novel ever.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everybody, for your help on this one - and glad to see you are all in "agreement" - ha.
ReplyDeleteThe most votes went to FORT APACHE and JOE KIDD, so they look like easy favorites. No one voted for WYATT EARP, TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN, and SCALPHUNTERS. So they're probably no-gos.
Leah, RIVER OF NO RETURN was shot in CinemaScope and last I looked, it was available in full letterbox at netflix. Pretty breathtaking.
Walker, thanks for the tips. There is a big supply of B-westerns at netflix - I also have some on DVDs. We'll at least look at a couple clips in class. Good point about LONESOME DOVE.
Charles, that's three...
Dawn, thanks!
Bill, pairing up the James films occurred to me, too.
Oscar, Stewart's westerns are great.
Walker, I realize the greatness of Lonesome Dove, but there's something about those James boys movies that appeals to me. Probably the fact that I saw them both when I was a kid and loved that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteThere are many of these that I don't know, but you have to do Butch Cassidy
ReplyDeleteI'd go Fort Apache, The Searchers, 3:10 To Yuma, Lonesome Dove, Hombre, Joe Kidd, The Scalphunters, Wyatt Earp,and Four Faces of the West. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteKevin
Great choices, and let us know how your students respond to them. I am very curious about that, because these films have values and ideals that are mostly alien to the students. I've often wondered how young people would respond to Stagecoach, one of my favorites, but one that rises from a different world.
ReplyDelete