MY 50 FAVORITE WESTERNS 1939-1999
Americans love cowboy movies. They are the mirrors Americans have used to measure their self-worth--their "true grit." High brows may have scoffed at westerns as "B"-movie horse operas but nonetheless were enthralled by these "guilty pleasures." The virtues of the western hero--physical and moral courage, grace under pressure, honesty, self-reliance are the virtues most fathers aspire for their sons. Westerns dominated both the big and small screens of the 1950s. They may have been pushed out of our theaters, but westerns remain an important part of the American psyche.
The classic western is set in the wide-open spaces of the American west. The action takes place between 1861 and 1917--between the outbreak of the American Civil War and America's entry into World War I. Listed in order of my preference, the following are my 50 favorite westerns.
[This list does not contain comedy westerns such as BLAZING SADDLES or SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF. It does not contain "spaghetti westerns" even though the second greatest western hero icon, Clint Eastwood, earned his bones on the plains in Spain rather than those of Texas. And no cotton candy flicks that soothed depression-era audiences; or Roy Roger's "happy trails" movies of the 40s and 50s.]
The classic western is set in the wide-open spaces of the American west. The action takes place between 1861 and 1917--between the outbreak of the American Civil War and America's entry into World War I. Listed in order of my preference, the following are my 50 favorite westerns.
[This list does not contain comedy westerns such as BLAZING SADDLES or SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF. It does not contain "spaghetti westerns" even though the second greatest western hero icon, Clint Eastwood, earned his bones on the plains in Spain rather than those of Texas. And no cotton candy flicks that soothed depression-era audiences; or Roy Roger's "happy trails" movies of the 40s and 50s.]
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