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| {{redirect|Westerns|other uses|Western (disambiguation)}}
| | <span style="font-size:xx-large; font-weight:600">Western (Genre) <Span Style="font-style: italic; color: MidnightBlue">on Wikipedia</span></span> |
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| [[File:great train robbery still.jpg|right|thumb|240px|[[Justus D. Barnes]] in Western apparel, as "Bronco Billy Anderson", from the [[silent film]], ''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' (1903), the first ever, "Western", film.]]
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| The '''Western''' is a [[genre]] of various arts which tell stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in the [[American frontier|American Old West]], often centering on the life of a nomadic [[cowboy]] or [[gunfighter]]<ref name="kimnewman"/> armed with a [[revolver]] and a [[rifle]] who rides a horse. Cowboys and gunslingers typically wear [[Stetson]] hats, [[Kerchief|bandanna]]s, spurs, [[cowboy boot]]s and [[buckskins]]. Other characters include [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], bandits, lawmen, [[bounty hunter]]s, outlaws, mounted cavalry, settlers and townsfolk.
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| 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 a "...mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West".<ref name="Cowie 2004">{{cite book|last=Cowie | first=Peter | title= John Ford and the American West | publisher=Harry Abrams Inc. | location= New York | year=2004 | isbn= 0-8109-4976-8}}</ref> Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways and isolated military forts of the [[Wild West]]. Common plots include the construction of a railroad or a telegraph line on the wild frontier; ranchers protecting their family ranch from rustlers or large landowners or who build a ranch empire; revenge stories, which hinge on the chase and pursuit by a wronged individual; stories about cavalry fighting Indians; outlaw gang plots; and stories about a lawman or bounty hunter tracking down his quarry. 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 [[Fast draw|quick draw]] duel.<ref name="Agnew">Agnew, Jeremy. December 2, 2014. ''The Creation of the Cowboy Hero: Fiction, Film and Fact'', p. 88, McFarland. ISBN 978-0786478392</ref><ref name="Dope">{{cite web |url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2514/did-western-gunfighters-really-face-off-one-on-one|title=Did Western gunfighters really face off one-on-one? |last=Adams |first=Cecil |publisher=''Straight Dope'' |date= |accessdate=October 4, 2014 }} June 25, 2004</ref><ref name="Willy">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wild-bill-hickok-fights-first-western-showdown|title=Wild Bill Hickok fights first western showdown |last= |first= |publisher=''History.com'' |date= July 21, 2014 |accessdate=October 4, 2014 }}</ref>
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| The Western was the most popular [[Hollywood]] genre, from the early 20th century to the 1960s.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ylSQBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA2&dq=western+most+popular+film+genre+more+combined&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7cFaVZa4J6zisAT43IDoAg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=western%20most%20popular%20film%20genre%20more%20combined&f=false Indick, William. The Psychology of the Western. Pg. 2. McFarland, Aug 27, 2008]</ref>
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| Western films first became well-attended in the 1930s. [[John Ford]]'s landmark Western adventure ''[[Stagecoach (1939 film)|Stagecoach]]'' became one of the biggest hits in 1939 and it made [[John Wayne]] a mainstream screen star. Westerns were very popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the most acclaimed Westerns were released during this time – including ''[[High Noon]]'' (1952), ''[[Shane (film)|Shane]]'' (1953), ''[[The Searchers (film)|The Searchers]]'' (1956), and ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969). Classic Westerns such as these have been the inspiration for various films about Western-type characters in contemporary settings, such as ''[[Junior Bonner]]'' (1972), set in the 1970s and ''[[The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada]]'' (2005), which is set in the 21st century.
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| [[File:The Great Train Robbery (1903) - yt.webm|alt=|thumb|right|250px|''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' (1903)]]
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| ==Themes==
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| [[File:Lone ranger silver 1965.JPG|thumb|right|200px|The [[Lone Ranger]]; a famous heroic [[wikt:lawman|lawman]] who was with a cavalry of six Texas Rangers, until they were all killed but him. He preferred to remain anonymous, so he resigned and built a sixth grave that supposedly held his body. He fights on as a lawman, wearing a mask, for, "Outlaws live in a world of fear. Fear of the mysterious."]]
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| The Western genre sometimes portrays 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.<ref name="kimnewman">{{cite book| last=Newman | first=Kim | title=Wild West Movies | publisher=Bloomsbury | year=1990}}</ref> 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 [[wikt:retribution|retribution]] against someone who has wronged them (e.g., ''[[True Grit (1969 film)|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]] is maintained predominately through relatively impersonal institutions such as [[courtroom]]s. The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, usually a [[cowboy]] or a [[gunfighter]].<ref name="kimnewman"/> A showdown or [[Duel#Colonial North America and United States|duel]] at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns.
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| In some ways, such protagonists may be considered the literary descendants of the [[knight errant]] which stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the [[King Arthur|Arthurian Romances]].<ref name="kimnewman"/> 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. And like knights errant, the heroes of Westerns frequently rescue [[damsel in distress|damsels in distress]]. Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many of the characteristics equated with the image of the [[ronin]] in modern Japanese culture.
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| 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 hired killer) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress the harshness and isolation of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Specific settings include isolated forts, ranches and homesteads; the Native American village; or the small frontier town with its saloon, general store, livery stable and jailhouse and the open desert, where there are no structures and only windswept sand dunes. Apart from the wilderness, it is usually the saloon that emphasizes that this is the [[Wild West]]: it is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often [[prostitute]]s), gambling (draw poker or five card stud), drinking (beer or whiskey), 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".
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| ==Film==
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| ===Characteristics===
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| [[File:Gary Cooper 2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gary Cooper]] in ''[[Vera Cruz (film)|Vera Cruz]]'']]
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| The [[American Film Institute]] defines western films as those "set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the [[Frontier Thesis|new frontier]]."<ref>{{cite web| title=America's 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres| url= http://www.afi.com/10top10/ | publisher=[[American Film Institute]] | accessdate=2010-06-06}}</ref> The term ''Western'', used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in ''Motion Picture World'' Magazine.<ref>McMahan, Alison; ''Alice Guy Blache: Lost Visionary of the Cinema''; New York: Continuum, 2002; 133</ref> 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.<ref>Henry Nash Smith, ''Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth'', Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1950.</ref> Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as semi-nomadic wanderers who wear [[Stetson]] hats, [[Kerchief|bandanna]]s, 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.
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| Western films were enormously popular in the [[silent film]] era (1894-1927). With the advent of sound in 1927-28, the major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns,{{citation needed|date=June 2010}} leaving 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 (film)|Dodge City]]'' starring [[Errol Flynn]], ''[[Jesse James (1939 film)|Jesse James]]'' with [[Tyrone Power]], ''[[Union Pacific (film)|Union Pacific]]'' with [[Joel McCrea]], ''[[Destry Rides Again]]'' featuring [[James Stewart]] and [[Marlene Dietrich]], and the release of John Ford's landmark Western adventure ''[[Stagecoach (1939 film)|Stagecoach]]'', which became one of 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 ten years earlier as the [[leading man]] in director [[Raoul Walsh]]'s [[widescreen]] ''[[The Big Trail]]'', which failed at the box office, due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the [[Great Depression|Depression]]. After the Western's renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of the Western continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ylSQBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA2&dq=western+most+popular+film+genre+more+combined&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7cFaVZa4J6zisAT43IDoAg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=western%20most%20popular%20film%20genre%20more%20combined&f=false Indick, William. The Psychology of the Western. Pg. 2 McFarland, Aug 27, 2008. ]</ref>
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| Western films often depict conflicts with [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. While early Eurocentric Westerns frequently portray the "Injuns" as dishonorable villains, the later and more culturally neutral Westerns gave Native Americans a more sympathetic treatment. Other recurring themes of Westerns include Western treks (e.g. ''The Big Trail'') or perilous journeys (e.g. ''Stagecoach'') or groups of bandits terrorising small towns such as in ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]''. Or revisionist westerns like ''I Walk the Line'' (1970) depict sheriffs dueling.
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| [[File:Western Set Universal Studio.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Western set at [[Universal Studios]] in [[Hollywood]]]]
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| Early Westerns were mostly filmed in the studio, just like 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]].
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| Often, the vast landscape becomes more than a vivid backdrop; it becomes a character in the film. After the early 1950s, various wide screen 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 (1939 film)|Stagecoach]]'' (1939) to ''[[Cheyenne Autumn]]'' (1965) "present us with 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".<ref name="Cowie 2004"/>
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| ===Subgenres===
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| [[File:Dan Duryea in Along Came Jones trailer.jpg|right|thumb|[[Dan Duryea]] in ''[[Along Came Jones (film)|Along Came Jones]]'' (1945)]]
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| Author and screenwriter [[Frank Gruber]] described seven plots for Westerns:<ref>Gruber, Frank ''The Pulp Jungle'' Sherbourne Press, 1967</ref><ref name="cgw199010">{{cite news | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1990&pub=2&id=75 | title=No Soft Soap About New And Improved Computer Games | work=Computer Gaming World | date=October 1990 | accessdate=16 November 2013 | page=80 | type=editorial}}</ref>
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| # ''Union Pacific story''. The plot concerns construction of a railroad, a telegraph line, or some other type of modern technology or transportation. Wagon train stories fall into this category.
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| # ''Ranch story''. The plot concerns threats to the ranch from rustlers or large landowners attempting to force out the proper owners.
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| # ''Empire story''. The plot involves building a ranch empire or an oil empire from scratch, a classic rags-to-riches plot.
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| # ''Revenge story''. The plot often involves an elaborate chase and pursuit by a wronged individual, but it may also include elements of the classic mystery story.
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| # ''Cavalry and Indian story''. The plot revolves around "taming" the wilderness for white settlers.
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| # ''Outlaw story''. The outlaw gangs dominate the action.
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| # ''Marshal story''. The lawman and his challenges drive the plot.
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| Gruber said that good writers used dialogue and plot development to develop these basic plots into believable stories.{{r|cgw199010}} Other subgenres include the [[Spaghetti Western]], the [[epic (genre)|epic]] western, [[singing cowboy]] westerns, and a few [[:Category:Western (genre) comedy films|comedy westerns]]; such as: ''[[Along Came Jones (film)|Along Came Jones]]'' (1945), in which [[Gary Cooper]] spoofed his western persona; ''[[The Sheepman]]'' (1958), with [[Glenn Ford]] poking fun at himself; and ''[[Cat Ballou]]'' (1965), with a drunk [[Lee Marvin]] atop a drunk horse. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Western was re-invented with the [[revisionist Western]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bandy|first=Mary Lea|title=Ride, Boldly Ride: The Evolution of the American Western|year=2012|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley/Los Angeles/London|isbn=978-0-520-25866-2|page=234|author2=Kevin Stoehr }}</ref>
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| ====Classical Western====
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| [[File:John Wayne - 1961.JPG|right|thumb|[[John Wayne]] in ''[[The Comancheros (film)|The Comancheros]]'' (1961)]]
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| ''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' (1903), [[Edwin S. Porter]]'s film starring [[Broncho Billy Anderson]], is often 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 the pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fenin|first=George N.|title=The Western: From Silents to Cinerama|year=1962|publisher=Bonanza Books|location=New York|page=47|author2=William K. Everson }}</ref> The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first cowboy 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]].
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| The Golden Age of the Western is epitomized by the work of several directors, most prominent among them, [[John Ford]] (''[[My Darling Clementine]]'', ''[[The Horse Soldiers]]'', [[The Searchers (film)|''The Searchers'']]). Others include: [[Howard Hawks]] ([[Red River (1948 film)|''Red River'']], [[Rio Bravo (film)|''Rio Bravo'']]), [[Anthony Mann]] (''[[Man of the West]]'', ''[[The Man from Laramie]]''), [[Budd Boetticher]] (''[[Seven Men from Now]]''), [[Delmer Daves]] (''[[The Hanging Tree]]'', [[3:10 to Yuma (1957 film)|''3:10 to Yuma'']]), [[John Sturges]] (''[[The Magnificent Seven]]'', ''[[Last Train from Gun Hill]]''), and [[Robert Aldrich]] ([[Vera Cruz (film)|''Vera Cruz'']], ''[[Ulzana's Raid]]'').{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}
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| ====Acid Western====
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| Film critic [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] refers{{specify|date=February 2011}} to a makeshift 1960s and 1970s genre called the [[Acid Western]], associated with [[Dennis Hopper]], [[Jim McBride]], and [[Rudy Wurlitzer]], as well as films like [[Monte Hellman]]'s ''[[The Shooting]]'' (1966), [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]]'s bizarre experimental film ''[[El Topo (1970 film)|El Topo (The Mole)]]'' (1970), and [[Robert Downey Sr.]]'s ''[[Greaser's Palace]]'' (1972). The 1970 film ''El Topo'' is an [[allegory|allegorical]] [[cult movie|cult]] Western and [[underground film]] about the eponymous character, a violent black-clad [[gunfighter]], and his quest for [[Enlightenment (spiritual)|enlightenment]]. The film is filled with bizarre characters and occurrences, use of maimed and [[dwarfism|dwarf]] performers, and heavy doses of [[Christian symbolism]] and [[Eastern philosophy]]. Some Spaghetti Westerns also crossed over into the Acid Western genre, such as [[Enzo G. Castellari]]'s mystical ''Keoma'' (1976), a Western reworking of [[Ingmar Bergman]]'s metaphysical ''[[The Seventh Seal]]'' (1957).
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| More recent Acid Westerns include [[Alex Cox]]'s film ''[[Walker (film)|Walker]]'' (1987) and [[Jim Jarmusch]]'s film ''[[Dead Man]]'' (1995). Rosenbaum describes the Acid Western as "formulating a chilling, savage frontier poetry to justify its hallucinated agenda"; ultimately, he says, the Acid Western expresses a counterculture sensibility to critique and replace capitalism with alternative forms of exchange.<ref name="Chicago Reader">{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0696/06286.html|title=''Acid Western: Dead Man''|publisher="Chicago Reader"|date=June 26, 1996|first=Jonathan|last=Rosenbaum}}</ref>
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| <!---We need a section here on Westerns in the 80s, 90s and 2000s--->
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| ====Charro, Cabrito or Chili Westerns====
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| [[Charro#In cinema|Charro Westerns]] have been a standard of [[Cinema of Mexico|Mexican cinema]] often featuring musical stars as well as action had been a feature of the Mexican cinema since the 1930s. In the 1930s and 1940s, these were typically films about horsemen in rural Mexican society, displaying a set of cultural concerns very different from the Hollywood meta-narrative, but the overlap between 'charro' movies and westerns became more apparent in the 1950s and 1960s.<ref>Rashotte, Ryan ''Narco Cinema: Sex, Drugs, and Banda Music in Mexico's B-Filmography'' Palgrave Macmillan, 23 April 2015</ref><ref>p. 6 Figueredo, Danilo H. ''Revolvers and Pistolas, Vaqueros and Caballeros: Debunking the Old West'' ABC-CLIO, 9 Dec 2014</ref>
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| ====Contemporary Western====
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| Also known as Neo-Westerns, these films have contemporary American settings, and they utilize Old West themes and motifs (a rebellious anti-hero, open plains and desert landscapes, and gunfights). For the most part, they still take place in the [[Western United States|American West]] and reveal the progression of the [[Old West]] mentality into the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This subgenre often features Old West-type characters struggling with displacement in a "civilized" world that rejects their outdated brand of justice.
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| Examples include ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]'', starring [[Paul Newman]] (1963); ''[[The Getaway (1972 film)|The Getaway]]'' (1972); ''[[Junior Bonner]]'' (1972); ''[[Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia]]'' (1974); [[Robert Altman]]'s ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]'' (1971); ''[[J. W. Coop]]'', directed/co-written by and starring [[Cliff Robertson]]; Simon Wincer's ''[[Quigley Down Under]]''; [[Robert Rodríguez]]'s ''[[El Mariachi]]'' (1992) and ''[[Once Upon a Time in Mexico]]'' (2003); [[John Sayles]]'s ''[[Lone Star (1996 film)|Lone Star]]'' (1996); [[Tommy Lee Jones]]'s ''[[The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada]]'' (2005); [[Ang Lee]]'s ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' (2005); [[Wim Wenders]]'s ''[[Don't Come Knocking]]'' (2005); ''[[Hearts of the West (1975 film)|Hearts of the West]]'' starring [[Jeff Bridges]] (1975); [[Alan J. Pakula]]'s ''[[Comes a Horseman]]'' (1978); [[John Sturges]]'s ''[[Bad Day at Black Rock]]'' (1955); [[Coen brothers|the Coen brothers]] [[Academy Award]]-winning ''[[No Country For Old Men (film)|No Country For Old Men]]'' (2007); ''[[Justified (TV series)|Justified]]'' (2010-2015); the critically acclaimed ''[[Hell or High Water (film)|Hell or High Water]]'' (2016); and the superhero film ''[[Logan (film)|Logan]]'' (2017). ''[[Call of Juarez: The Cartel]]'' is an example of a Neo-Western video game. Likewise, the television series ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', which takes place in modern times, features many examples of Western archetypes. According to creator [[Vince Gilligan]], "After the first ''Breaking Bad'' episode, it started to dawn on me that we could be making a contemporary western. So you see scenes that are like gunfighters squaring off, like [[Clint Eastwood]] and [[Lee Van Cleef]] — we have [[Walter White (Breaking Bad)|Walt]] and others like that."<ref>{{Cite news | url = http://www.local-iq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3019&Itemid=56| title = Contemporary Western: An interview with Vince Gilligan | date = 27 March 2013| publisher = [[Local iQ]] | work = News|accessdate=31 May 2013|place=United States}}</ref>
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| The precursor to these{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} was the radio series ''[[Tales of the Texas Rangers]]'' (1950–1952), with [[Joel McCrea]], a contemporary detective drama set in Texas, featuring many of the characteristics of traditional Westerns.
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| ====Electric Western====
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| [[File:Zachariah.jpg|right|thumbnail|''[[Zachariah (film)|Zachariah]]'' (1971)]]
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| The 1971 film ''[[Zachariah (film)|Zachariah]]'' starring [[John Rubinstein]], [[Don Johnson]] and [[Pat Quinn (actress)|Pat Quinn]] was billed as, "The first electric Western."<ref name=NYT/> The film featured multiple performing [[musical ensemble|rock bands]] in an otherwise [[American frontier|American West]] setting.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D05E3DE163BE53BBC4D51DFB766838A669EDE|title=Zachariah (1970) Screen: 'Zachariah,' an Odd Western|authorlink=Roger Greenspun|author=Greenspun, Roger|date=January 25, 1971}}</ref>
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| ''Zachariah'' featured appearances and music supplied by rock groups from the 1970s, including the [[James Gang]]<ref name=NYT/> and [[Country Joe and the Fish]] as "The Cracker Band."<ref name=NYT/> Fiddler [[Doug Kershaw]] had a musical cameo<ref name=NYT/> as does [[Elvin Jones]] as a gunslinging drummer named Job Cain.<ref name=NYT/>
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| The [[independent film]] ''Hate Horses'' starring [[Dominique Swain]], [[Ron Thompson (actor)|Ron Thompson]] and [[Paul Dooley]] billed itself as, "The second electric Western."<ref>{{cite video|work=[[YouTube]]|date=2015|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgTXHXiP7lk|title=Hate Horses - Official Trailer}}</ref>
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| ====Epic Western====
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| The epic western is a subgenre of the western that emphasizes the story of the American Old West on a grand scale. Many epic westerns are commonly set during a turbulent time, especially a war, as in Sergio Leone's ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' (1966), set during the American Civil War, or Sam Peckinpah's ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969), set during the Mexican Revolution. One of the grandest films in this genre is Leone's ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'' (1968), which shows many operatic conflicts centered on control of a town while utilizing wide scale shots on Monument Valley locations against a broad running time. Other notable examples include ''[[The Iron Horse (film)|The Iron Horse]]'' (1924), ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' (1946), ''[[The Searchers (film)|The Searchers]]'' (1956), ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' (1956), ''[[The Big Country]]'' (1958), ''[[Cimarron (1960 film)|Cimarron]]'' (1960), [[How the West Was Won (film)|''How the West Was Won'']] (1962), ''[[Duck, You Sucker!]]'' (1971), ''[[Heaven's Gate (film)|Heaven's Gate]]'' (1980), ''[[Dances with Wolves]]'' (1990), ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford]]'' (2007), ''[[Django Unchained]]'' (2012), and ''[[The Revenant (2015 film)|The Revenant]]'' (2015).
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| ====Euro-Western====
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| Euro Westerns are Western genre films made in [[Western Europe]]. The term can sometimes, but not necessarily, include the [[Spaghetti Western]] subgenre (see below). One example of a Euro Western is the Anglo-Spanish film ''[[Savage Guns (1961 film)|The Savage Guns]]'' ([[1961 in film|1961]]). Several Euro-Western films, nicknamed Sauerkraut Westerns<ref>{{cite book|page= 118 |authors=Brookeman, Christopher & British Film Institute |title=The BFI Companion to the Western|publisher= A. Deutsch|date= 1993}}</ref> because they were made in [[Germany]] and shot in Yugoslavia, were derived from stories by novelist [[Karl May]] and were [[Karl May film adaptations|film adaptations of May's work]].
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| ====Fantasy Western====
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| Fantasy Westerns mixed in [[fantasy]] settings and themes, and may include Fantasy mythology as background. Some famous examples are [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Stand]]'' and ''[[The Dark Tower series]]'' of novels, the [[Vertigo (DC Comics)|Vertigo]] comics series ''[[Preacher (comics)|Preacher]]'', and [[Keiichi Sigsawa]]'s light novel series, ''[[Kino's Journey]]'', illustrated by [[Kouhaku Kuroboshi]].
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| ====Florida Western====
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| [[Florida Western]]s, also known as Cracker Westerns, are set in [[Florida]] during the [[Second Seminole War]]. An example would be ''[[Distant Drums]]'' (1951) starring [[Gary Cooper]].
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| ====Horror Western====
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| A developing subgenre,{{citation needed|date=June 2010}} with roots in films such as ''[[Curse of the Undead]]'' (1959) and ''[[Billy the Kid vs. Dracula]]'' (1966), which depicts the legendary outlaw [[Billy the Kid]] fighting against the notorious vampire. Another example is ''The Ghoul Goes West'', an unproduced [[Ed Wood]] film to star [[Bela Lugosi]] as [[Dracula]] in the Old West.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} Recent examples include the films ''[[Near Dark]]'' (1987) directed by [[Kathryn Bigelow]] which tells the story about a human falling in love with a [[vampire]], ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]]'' (1996) by [[Robert Rodriguez]] deals with outlaws battling vampires across the border, ''[[Vampires]]'' (1998) by [[John Carpenter]] tells about a group of vampires and vampire hunters looking for an ancient relic in the west, ''[[Ravenous]]'' (1999), which deals with cannibalism at a remote US army outpost; ''[[The Burrowers]]'' (2008), about a band of trackers who are stalked by the titular creatures; and ''[[Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter]]'' (2012). ''[[Undead Nightmare]]'' (2010), an expansion to ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' (2010) is an example of a video game in this genre, telling the tale of a [[zombie]] outbreak in the [[Old West]]. ''[[Bone Tomahawk]]'' (2016) one of the most recent entries in the genre received wide critical acclaim but, like many other movies in the genre, it wasn't a commercial success.
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| ====Curry Westerns and Indo Westerns====
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| {{unreferenced section|date=April 2015}}
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| The first Western films made in India - ''Mosagaalaku Mosagaadu'' (1970), made in Telugu, ''Mappusakshi'' (Malayalam),{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} ''[[Ganga (1972 film)|Ganga]]'' (1972), and ''Jakkamma'' (Tamil){{citation needed|date=April 2015}} - were based on Classic Westerns. ''[[Thazhvaram]]'' (1990), the Malayalam film directed by [[Bharathan]] and written by noted writer [[M. T. Vasudevan Nair]], is perhaps the most resemblant of the Spaghetti Westerns in terms of production and cinematic techniques. Earlier Spaghetti Westerns laid the groundwork for such films as ''[[Adima Changala]]'' (1971) starring [[Prem Nazir]], a hugely popular "zapata Spaghetti Western film in Malayalam, and ''[[Sholay]]'' (1975) ''[[Khote Sikkay]]'' (1973) and ''[[Thai Meethu Sathiyam]]'' (1978) are notable Curry Westerns. ''[[Kodama Simham]]'' (1990), a Telugu action film starring [[Chiranjeevi]] and [[Mohan Babu]] was one more addition to the Indo Western genre and fared well at the box office. It was also the first South Indian movie to be dubbed in English as ''Hunters of the Indian Treasure''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://socialfeed.info/kodama-simham-english-version-poster-4447156|title=Hunters of the Indian Treasure}}</ref>
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| ''[[Takkari Donga]]'' (2002), starring Telugu Maheshbabu, was applauded by critics but an average runner at box office. ''[[Quick Gun Murugun]]'' (2009), an Indian comedy film which spoofs Indian Western movies, is based on a character created for television promos at the time of the launch of the music network Channel [V] in 1994, which had cult following.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} ''[[Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam]]'' (2010), a Western adventure comedy film, based on cowboy movies and paying homages to the [[John Wayne]], [[Clint Eastwood]], and [[Jaishankar]], was made in Tamil.
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| ====Martial arts Western (Wuxia Western)====
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| While many of these mash-ups (e.g., ''[[Billy Jack]]'' (1971) and its sequel ''[[The Trial of Billy Jack]]'' (1974)) are cheap exploitation films, others are more serious dramas such as the ''[[Kung Fu (TV series)|Kung Fu]]'' TV series, which ran from 1972-1975. Comedy examples include the [[Jackie Chan]] and [[Owen Wilson]] collaborations ''[[Shanghai Noon]]'' (2000) and its sequel ''[[Shanghai Knights]]'' (2003). Further sub-divisions of this subgenre include ''[[Ninja]] Westerns'' (such as [[Chuck Norris]]' contemporary action film ''[[The Octagon (film)|The Octagon]]'' (1980) and ''[[Samurai]] Westerns'' (incorporating [[samurai cinema]] themes), such as ''[[Red Sun]]'' (1971) with [[Charles Bronson]] and [[Toshiro Mifune]].
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| ====Meat pie Western====
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| The [[Meat pie Western]] (a slang term which plays on the Italo-western moniker "[[Spaghetti Western]]") is an American Western-style movie or TV series set in Australia, especially the [[Australian Outback]].<ref name=AusF>{{cite book|last=Ross Cooper|first=Andrew Pike|title=Australian Film 1900-1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Melbourne|isbn=0195507843|page=310}}</ref> Shows such as ''[[Rangle River]]'' (1936), ''[[Kangaroo (1952 film)|Kangaroo]]'' (1952), ''[[Mad Dog Morgan]]'' (1976), ''[[The Man from Snowy River (1982 film)|The Man from Snowy River]]'' (1982), and ''[[Five Mile Creek]]'' (1983–85), and the theatrical film ''[[Quigley Down Under]]'' (1991) are all representative of the genre. The term is used to differentiate more Americanized Australian films from those with a more historical basis, such as those about [[bushrangers]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51588737 |title=HOLLYWOOD|work=The Australian Women's Weekly|date= November 4, 1981|page= 157|accessdate= December 28, 2011}}</ref>
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| ====Northwestern====
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| The [[Northern (genre)|Northern genre]] is a subgenre of Westerns taking place in [[Alaska]] or [[Western Canada]]. Examples include several versions of the [[Rex Beach]] novel, ''[[The Spoilers (Beach novel)|The Spoilers]]'' (including 1930's ''[[The Spoilers (1930 film)|The Spoilers]]'', with Gary Cooper, and 1942's ''[[The Spoilers (1942 film)|The Spoilers]]'', with Marlene Dietrich, [[Randolph Scott]] and Wayne); ''[[The Far Country]]'' (1954) with James Stewart; ''[[North to Alaska]]'' (1960) with Wayne; and ''[[Death Hunt]]'' (1981) with [[Charles Bronson]].
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| ====Ostern====
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| {{main|Ostern}}
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| [[Ostern]]s, also known as "Red Western"s, are produced in [[Eastern Europe]]. They were popular in Communist Eastern European countries and were a particular favorite of [[Joseph Stalin]],{{citation needed|date=June 2010}} and usually portrayed the [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]] sympathetically, as oppressed people fighting for their rights, in contrast to American Westerns of the time, which frequently portrayed the Indians as villains. Osterns frequently featured [[Romani people|Gypsies]] or [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] people in the role of the Indians,{{citation needed|date=June 2010}} due to the shortage of authentic Indians in Eastern Europe.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}
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| [[Gojko Mitić]] portrayed righteous, kind-hearted, and charming Indian [[Tribal chief|chiefs]] (e.g., in ''[[The Sons of the Great Mother Bear|Die Söhne der großen Bärin]]'' (1966) directed by [[Josef Mach]]). He became honorary chief of the [[Sioux]] tribe, when he visited the United States in the 1990s and the television crew accompanying him showed the tribe one of his films. American actor and singer [[Dean Reed]], an expatriate who lived in [[East Germany]], also starred in several Ostern films.
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| ====Pornographic Western====
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| The most rare of the Western subgenres, pornographic Westerns use the Old West as a background for stories primarily focused on erotica. The three major examples of the porn Western film are [[Russ Meyer]]'s [[nudie-cutie]] ''[[Wild Gals of the Naked West]]'' (1962), and the hardcore ''[[A Dirty Western]]'' (1975) and ''[[Sweet Savage (1979 film)|Sweet Savage]]'' (1979). ''Sweet Savage'' starred [[Aldo Ray]], a veteran actor who had appeared in traditional Westerns, in a non-sex role. Among videogames, [[Atari 2600]]'s ''[[Custer's Revenge]]'' (1982) is an infamous example, considered to be one of the [[List of video games notable for negative reception|worst video games of all time]].
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| ====Revisionist Western====
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| After the early 1960s, many American filmmakers began to question and change many traditional elements of Westerns, and to make [[Revisionist Western]]s that encouraged audiences to question the simple hero-versus-villain dualism and the morality of using violence to test one's character or to prove oneself right. This is shown in Sam Peckinpah's ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969). One major revision was the increasingly positive representation of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], who had been treated as "savages" in earlier films. Examples of such revisionist Westerns include [[Richard Harris]]' ''[[A Man Called Horse (film)|A Man Called Horse]]'' (1970), ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' (1970), ''[[Man in the Wilderness]]'' (1971), ''[[The Outlaw Josey Wales]]'' (1976), ''[[Dances with Wolves]]'' (1990) and ''[[Dead Man]]'' (1995). A few earlier Revisionist Westerns gave women more powerful roles, such as ''[[Westward the Women]]'' (1951) starring [[Robert Taylor (actor)|Robert Taylor]]. Another earlier work encompassed all these features, ''[[The Last Wagon (1956 film)|The Last Wagon]]'' (1956). In it, [[Richard Widmark]] played a white man raised by [[Comanche]]s and persecuted by [[white people|whites]], with [[Felicia Farr]] and [[Susan Kohner]] playing young women forced into leadership roles.
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| ====Science fiction Western====
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| The [[science fiction Western]] places [[science fiction]] elements within a traditional Western setting. Examples include ''[[Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter]]'' (1965),''[[The Valley of Gwangi]]'' (1969) featuring cowboys and dinosaurs. [[John Jakes]]'s "Six Gun Planet" takes place on a future planet colonized by people consciously seeking to recrete the Old West (with cowboys riding robot horses...) [https://books.google.co.il/books/about/On_Wheels_Six_Gun_Planet.html?id=Q6OGZprSGtcC&redir_esc=y]. The movie ''[[Westworld (film)|Westworld]]'' (1973) and its sequel ''[[Futureworld]]'' (1976), ''[[Back to the Future Part III]]'' (1990), ''[[Wild Wild West]]'' (1999), ''[[Cowboys & Aliens]]'' (2011), and the TV series [[Westworld (TV series)|''Westworld'']] (2016, based on the movie). ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' (2010) is an example of a video game that follows this format, with futuristic technology and genetic mutations placed among the western themes and desert sprawl of the [[Mojave Desert|Mojave Wasteland]].
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| ====Space Western====
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| The [[Space Western|Space Western or Space Frontier]] is a subgenre of [[science fiction]] which uses the themes and [[trope (literature)|trope]]s of Westerns within science fiction stories. Subtle influences may include exploration of new, lawless frontiers, while more overt influences may feature literal cowboys in outer space who use [[ray gun]]s and ride robotic horses. Examples include the American television series ''[[Brave Starr]]'' (which aired original episodes from September 1987 to February 1988) and ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' (created by [[Joss Whedon]] in 2002), and the films ''[[Battle Beyond the Stars]]'' (1980), which is a remake of ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]''; ''[[Outland (film)|Outland]]'' (1981), which is a remake of ''[[High Noon]]''; and ''[[Serenity (film)|Serenity]]'' (2005, based on the ''[[Firefly (television show)|Firefly]]'' TV series). The classic western genre has also been a major influence on science fiction films such as the original ''[[Star Wars: A New Hope|Star Wars]]'' movie of 1977. Famously [[Gene Roddenberry]] pitched the concept of the TV show [[Star Trek]] as a ''Wagon Train to the stars.''
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| ====Spaghetti Western====
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| {{main|Spaghetti Western|Zapata Western}}
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| During the 1960s and 1970s, a revival of the Western emerged in [[Italy]] with the "[[Spaghetti Westerns]]" also known as "Italo-Westerns". The most famous of them is ''[[The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly]]'' (1966). Many of these films are low-budget affairs, shot in locations (for example, the Spanish desert [[Province of Almería|region of Almería]]) chosen for their inexpensive crew and production costs as well as their similarity to landscapes of the [[Southwestern United States]]. Spaghetti Westerns were characterized by the presence of more action and violence than the Hollywood Westerns. Also, the protagonists usually acted out of more selfish motives (money or revenge being the most common) than in the classical westerns.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frayling, Christopher |title=Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone|publisher=IB Tauris|date= 1998}}</ref> Some Spaghetti Westerns demythologized the American Western tradition, and some films from the genre are considered [[revisionist Western]]s.
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| The Western films directed by [[Sergio Leone]] were felt by some to have a different tone than the Hollywood Westerns.<ref name=TG/> Veteran American actors [[Charles Bronson]], [[Lee Van Cleef]] and [[Clint Eastwood]]<ref name=TG/> became famous by starring in Spaghetti Westerns, although the films also provided a showcase for other noted actors such as [[James Coburn]], [[Henry Fonda]], [[Klaus Kinski]], and [[Jason Robards]]. Eastwood, previously the lead in the television series ''[[Rawhide (TV series)|Rawhide]]'', unexpectedly found himself catapulted into the forefront of the film industry by Leone's ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]''.<ref name=TG>{{cite web|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|title=Forget the Spaghetti Western – try a Curry Western or a Sauerkraut one|author=Billson, Anne|date=September 15, 2014|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11096814/Forget-the-Spaghetti-Western-try-a-Curry-Western-or-a-Sauerkraut-one.html}}</ref>
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| ====Weird Western====
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| The [[Weird Western]] subgenre blends elements of a classic Western with other elements. ''[[The Wild Wild West]]'' television series, television movies, and 1999 film adaptation blend the Western with [[steampunk]]. The ''[[Jonah Hex]]'' franchise also blends the Western with superhero elements. The film ''[[Western Religion (film)|Western Religion]]'' (2015), by writer and director [[James O'Brien (filmmaker)|James O'Brien]], introduces the devil into a traditional wild west setting. ''[[Old Man Logan]]'' (2008-2009) graphic novel combines the elements of superhero and post-apocalyptic fiction with western.
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| ====Western satire====
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| This subgenre is imitative in style in order to mock, comment on, or trivialize the Western genre's established traits, subjects, auteurs' styles, or some other target by means of humorous, satiric, or ironic imitation. Examples include ''[[Carry On Cowboy]]'' (1965), ''[[The Hallelujah Trail]]'' (1965), ''[[The Scalphunters]]'' (1968), ''[[Support Your Local Sheriff!]]'' (1969), ''[[Support Your Local Gunfighter]]'' (1971), ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' (1974), ''[[Rustlers' Rhapsody]]'' (1985), ''[[Three Amigos]]'' (1986), ''[[Maverick (film)|Maverick]]'' (1994), ''[[Quick Draw (TV series)|Quick Draw]]'' (2013) and ''[[A Million Ways to Die in the West]]'' (2014).
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| ===Genre studies===
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| [[File:Tommixgunslinger.jpg|[[Tom Mix]] in ''Mr. Logan, U.S.A.'', c. 1919|thumb]]
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| In the 1960s academic and critical attention to cinema as a legitimate art form emerged. American Westerns of the mid 20th Century romanticize the ideas of loyalty and virtue.{{citation needed|date=June 2010}} Westerns of the late 20th Century possess a more negative view of the early American frontier. With the increased attention, [[film theory]] was developed to attempt to understand the significance of film. From this environment emerged (in conjunction with the literary movement) an enclave of critical studies called [[genre studies]]. This was primarily a semantic and structuralist approach to understanding how similar films convey meaning.
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| One of the results of genre studies is that some{{who|date=April 2013}} have argued that "Westerns" need not take place in the American West or even in the 19th century, as the codes can be found in other types of films. For example, a very typical Western plot is that an eastern lawman heads west, where he matches wits and trades bullets with a gang of outlaws and thugs, and is aided by a local lawman who is well-meaning but largely ineffective until a critical moment when he redeems himself by saving the hero's life. This description can be used to describe any number of Westerns, but also other films such as ''[[Die Hard]]'' (itself a loose reworking of High Noon), ''[[Top Gun]]'', and [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' which are frequently cited examples of films that do not take place in the American West but have many themes and characteristics common to Westerns. Likewise, films set in the [[American Old West]] may not necessarily be considered "Westerns."
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| ===Influences===
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| Being period drama pieces, both the Western and [[Samurai cinema|samurai genre]] influenced each other in style and themes throughout the years.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cowboys and Shoguns: The American Western, Japanese Jidaigeki, and Cross-Cultural Exchange|url=http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1109&context=srhonorsprog|website=Digitalcommons.uri.edu}}</ref> ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]'' was a remake of [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s film ''[[The Seven Samurai]]'', and ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'' was a remake of Kurosawa's ''[[Yojimbo (movie)|Yojimbo]]'', which itself was inspired by ''[[Red Harvest]]'', an American detective novel by [[Dashiell Hammett]].<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=New DVDs: ‘Films of Kenneth Anger’ and ‘Samurai Classics’|first=Dave|last=Kehr|date=January 23, 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/movies/homevideo/23dvd.html?_r=0}}</ref> Kurosawa was influenced by American Westerns and was a fan of the genre, most especially [[John Ford]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Patrick|last=Crogan|url=http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/00/9/kurosawa.html|title=Translating Kurosawa|work=Senses of Cinema}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moongadget.com/origins/kurosawa.html|title=Star Wars Origins|publisher=''Far Cry from the Original Site''|first=Justine|last=Shaw|accessdate=December 20, 2015}} December 14, 2015</ref>
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| 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 the Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]] and [[Russian civil war|civil war]] and the [[Basmachi]] rebellion.
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| An offshoot of the Western genre is the "post-apocalyptic" Western, in which a future society, struggling to rebuild after a major catastrophe, is portrayed in a manner very similar to the 19th century frontier. Examples include ''[[The Postman (film)|The Postman]]'' and the ''[[Mad Max]]'' [[Mad Max (franchise)|series]], and the computer game series ''[[Fallout (series)|Fallout]]''. 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' ''[[Outland (film)|Outland]]'' transferred the plot of ''[[High Noon]]'' to Io, moon of Jupiter. [[Gene Roddenberry]], the creator of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' series, pitched his show as "''Wagon Train'' to the stars" early on, but admitted later that this was more about getting it produced in a time that loved Western-themed TV series than about its actual content.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} ''[[The Book of Eli]]'' depicts the post apocalypse as a Western with large knives.
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| More recently, the [[space opera]] series ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' used an explicitly Western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. [[Anime]] shows like ''[[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]]'' is a war film, but action and characters are Western-like. The British film ''[[Zulu (1964 film)|Zulu]]'' set during the [[Anglo-Zulu War]] has sometimes been compared to a Western, even though it is set in [[South Africa]].
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| [[File:John Wayne in Wake of the Red Witch trailer.jpg|left|thumb|<center>[[John Wayne]] (1948)<center>]]
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| The character played by [[Humphrey Bogart]] in [[film noir]] films such as ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' and ''[[To Have and Have Not (film)|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 the films ''[[Pursued]]'' and ''[[Sugar Creek (film)|Sugar Creek]]''.
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| In many of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s books, 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 wagon]]s, 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.
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| [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Tower (series)|The Dark Tower]]'' is a series of seven books that meshes themes of Westerns, [[high fantasy]], [[science fiction]] and [[Horror fiction|horror]]. The protagonist [[Roland of Gilead|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 a number of occasions, famous examples being ''[[Support Your Local Sheriff!]]'', ''[[Cat Ballou]]'', [[Mel Brooks]]'s ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', and ''[[Rustler's Rhapsody]]''.
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| [[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 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.
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| 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 doesn't measure up to Gary Cooper), transplanted Western themes into modern settings for both purposes of parody and homage.<ref>{{cite web|first=Robert |last=Silva |url=http://blogs.amctv.com/future-of-classic/2009/05/cowboys-in-non-westerns.php |publisher=Not From 'Round Here... Cowboys Who Pop Up Outside the Old West |title=Future of the Classic |date=2009 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213203944/http://blogs.amctv.com/future-of-classic/2009/05/cowboys-in-non-westerns.php |archivedate=2009-12-13 |df= }}</ref>
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| ==Literature==
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| {{Main|Western fiction}}
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| [[Western fiction]] is a genre of literature set in the [[American Old West]], most commonly between the years of 1860 and 1900. The first critically recognized Western was ''[[The Virginian (novel)|The Virginian]]'' (1902) by [[Owen Wister]].{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} 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 the 1960s, due in part to the shuttering of many pulp magazines, the popularity of [[Television Westerns|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.<ref>{{cite book|author=McVeigh, Stephen |title=The American Western|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|date= 2007}}</ref>
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| Literary forms that share similar themes include stories of the [[American frontier]], the [[gaucho literature]] of [[Argentina]], and tales of the settlement of the [[Australian Outback]].
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| ==Television==
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| {{Main|Television Westerns|List of TV Westerns}}
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| [[File:James Garner Jack Kelly Maverick 1959.JPG|right|thumb|[[James Garner]] and [[Jack Kelly (actor)|Jack Kelly]] in ''[[Maverick (TV series)|Maverick]]'' (1957)]]
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| [[File:Hell-On-Wheels-350x192.jpg|left|thumb|[[Anson Mount]] in ''[[Hell on Wheels (TV series)|Hell on Wheels]]'' (2011)]]
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| [[Television Westerns]] are a subgenre of the Western. When television became popular in the late 1940s and 1950s, TV Westerns quickly became an audience favorite.<ref>Gary A. Yoggy, ''Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television'' (McFarland & Company, 1995)</ref> Beginning with re-broadcasts 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 Western]]s became classics in their own right, such as: ''[[Bonanza]]'' (1959-1973), ''[[Gunsmoke]]'' (1955-1975), ''[[Have Gun – Will Travel]]'' (1957-1963), ''[[Maverick (TV series)|Maverick]]'' (1957-1962), ''[[Rawhide (TV series)|Rawhide]]'' (1959-1966), ''[[Sugarfoot]]'' (1957-1961), ''[[The Rifleman]]'' (1958-1963), ''[[The Big Valley]]'' (1965-1969), ''[[The Virginian (TV series)|The Virginian]]'' (1962-1971), and ''[[Wagon Train]]'' (1957-1965).
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| The peak year for television Westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during primetime. Increasing costs of [[American television]] production weeded out most action half hour series in the early 1960s, and their replacement by hour-long television shows, increasingly in color.<ref>Kisseloff, J. (editor) ''The Box: An Oral History of Television''</ref> 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 (TV series)|Kung Fu]]'', ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]'', and ''[[McCloud (TV series)|McCloud]]''. In the 1990s and 2000s, hour-long Westerns and slickly packaged made-for-TV movie Westerns were introduced, such as: ''[[Lonesome Dove (film)|Lonesome Dove]]'' (1989) and ''[[Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman]]''. As well, new elements were once again added to the Western formula, such as the Western-[[science fiction]] show ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', created by [[Joss Whedon]] in 2002. ''[[Deadwood (TV series)|Deadwood]]'' was a critically acclaimed Western series which aired on [[HBO]] from 2004 through 2006.
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| [[File:Wild West 1908.jpg|thumb|300px|"As Wild felled one of the redskins by a blow from the butt of his revolver, and sprang for the one with the tomahawk, the chief's daughter suddenly appeared. Raising her hands, she exclaimed, 'Go back, Young Wild West. I will save her!'" (1908)]]
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| ==Visual art==
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| {{Main|Artists of the American West}}
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| 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 the Western states and cowboy themes. [[Frederic Remington]] and [[Charles M. Russell]] are two artists who captured the "Wild West" on canvas.<ref>{{cite news|author=Buscombe, Edward |title=Painting the Legend: Frederic Remington and the Western|work=Cinema Journal|date=1984|pages= 12–27}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Goetzmann, William H. |title=The West of the Imagination|location=New York|publisher= Norton|date= 1986}}</ref>
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| ==Other media==
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| The popularity of Westerns extends beyond films, literature, television, and visual art to include numerous other media forms.
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| ===Anime and manga===
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| With [[anime]] and [[manga]], the genre tends towards the [[Science fiction Western]] [e.g., ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' (1998 anime), ''[[Trigun]]'' (manga serialized in 1996), and ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' (manga)], although contemporary Westerns also appear (e.g., ''[[El Cazador de la Bruja]]'', a 2007 anime television series set in modern-day Mexico).
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| ===Comics===
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| [[Western comics]] have included serious entries (such as the classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s{{specify|date=April 2015}}), cartoons, and parodies (such as ''[[Cocco Bill]]'' and ''[[Lucky Luke]]''). In the 1990s and 2000s, Western comics leaned toward the [[Weird West]] subgenre, usually involving supernatural monsters, or Christian iconography as in ''[[Preacher (comics)|Preacher]]''. However, more traditional Western comics are found throughout this period (e.g., ''[[Jonah Hex]]'' and ''[[Loveless (comics)|Loveless]]'').
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| ===Games===
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| Western [[arcade game]]s, [[computer game]]s, [[role-playing game]]s, and [[video games]] are often either straightforward Westerns or Western Horror hybrids. Some Western themed-computer games include the ''[[The Oregon Trail (computer game)|The Oregon Trail]]'' (1971), ''[[Mad Dog McCree]]'' (1990), ''[[Sunset Riders]]'' (1991), ''[[Outlaws (1997 video game)|Outlaws]]'' (1997), ''[[Red Dead Revolver]]'' (2004), ''[[Gun (video game)|Gun]]'' (2005), ''[[Call of Juarez]]'' (2007), ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' (2010), and ''[[Red Dead Redemption 2]]'' (2017). Other video games adapt the [[Science fiction Western]] or [[Weird West]] subgenres such as ''[[Fallout (video game)|Fallout]]'' (1997), ''[[Gunman Chronicles]]'' (2000), ''[[Darkwatch]]'' (2005), the [[Borderlands (series)|''Borderlands'' series]] (first released in 2009)'', [[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' (2010), and ''[[Hard West]]'' (2015).
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| ===Radio dramas===
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| Western [[radio drama]]s were very popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. Some popular shows include ''[[Lone Ranger#Original radio series|The Lone Ranger]]'' (first broadcast in 1933), ''[[The Cisco Kid#Radio|The Cisco Kid]]'' (first broadcast in 1942), ''[[Dr. Sixgun]]'' (first broadcast in 1954), ''[[Have Gun – Will Travel#Radio show|Have Gun–Will Travel]]'' (first broadcast in 1958), and ''[[Gunsmoke#Radio series|Gunsmoke]]'' (first broadcast in 1952).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.otrwesterns.com |website=otrwesterns.com|title=Old Time Radio Westerns}}</ref>
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| ===Web series===
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| Westerns have been showcased in short episodic web series. Examples include ''[[League of STEAM]]'' and ''[[Red Bird (web series)|Red Bird]]''.
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| ==See also==
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| {{col-begin}}
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| {{col-break}}
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| *[[5-in-1 blank cartridge|5-in-1 Blank Cartridges]]
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| *[[AFI's 10 Top 10#Western|AFI'S 10 Top 10]]
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| *[[American Old West]]
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| *[[American West]]
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| *[[Boss of the plains]]
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| *[[Cowboy]]
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| *[[Dime Western]]
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| *[[Golden Boot Awards]]
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| *[[Gunfighter]]
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| *[[Movie ranches|History of Movie Ranches]]
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| *[[History of United States continental expansion]]
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| *[[:Category:Native American history|Native American History]]
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| *[[:Category:Native American history of California|Native American history of California]]
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| {{col-break}}
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| {{Spoken Wikipedia|Western(genre)-060526.ogg|2006-05-22}}
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| *[[Sombrero]]
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| *[[TV Western]]
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| *[[Film genre|List of film genres]]
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| *[[List of genres]]
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| *[[List of Western computer and video games]]
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| *[[List of Western fiction authors]]
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| *[[Lists of Western films]]
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| *[[Western Writers of America]]
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| *[[Earl W. Bascom]]
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| *[[Frederic Remington]]
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| *[[Charles Marion Russell|Charles Russell]]
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| {{col-end}}
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| ==References==
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| {{Reflist|30em}}
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| ==Further reading==
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| * Buscombe, Edward, and Christopher Brookeman. ''The BFI Companion to the Western'' (A. Deutsch, 1988); BFI = [[British Film Institute]]
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| * Everson, William K. ''A pictorial history of the western film'' (New York: Citadel Press, 1969)
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| * Kitses, Jim. ''Horizons West: The Western from John Ford to Clint Eastwood'' (British Film Institute, 2007).
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| * Lenihan, John H. ''Showdown: Confronting Modern America in the Western Film'' (University of Illinois Press, 1980)
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| * Nachbar, John G. ''Focus on the Western'' (Prentice Hall, 1974)
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| * Simmon, Scott. ''The Invention of the Western Film: A Cultural History of the Genre's First Half Century'' (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
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| ==External links==
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| {{Commonscat-multi|Westerns|Wild West in art|Native Americans in art}}
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| * [http://www.imdb.com/genre/western Most Popular Westerns] at [[Internet Movie Database]]
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| * [http://www.westernwriters.org/ Western Writers of America website]
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| * [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419101308/print The Western],{{dead link|date=January 2016}} ''St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture'', 2002
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| * [https://mises.org/daily/4930/I-Watch-Westerns I Watch Westerns], ''[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]''
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| * [http://www.thewildbunchfilmfestival.com/ Film Festival for the Western Genre website]
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| {{Authority control}}
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| {{Wild West}}
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| {{American tall tales}}
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| {{Animation industry in the United States}}
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| [[Category:Western (genre)| ]]
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| [[Category:American Old West|*]]
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| [[Category:Culture of the Western United States|*]]
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| [[Category:Film genres]]
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| [[Category:Fiction by genre]]
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| [[Category:Genres]]
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| [[Category:Western United States in fiction|*]]
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| [[Category:Works set in the 19th century]]
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