Westerns

Renia Singleton

December 3, 2012

COMM 3002

Westerns

Before watching the films “The Searchers” and “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” I can honestly say that I've never watched a western movie. I always had these stereotypes about western movies. I thought that they were the just pointless films that were in black and white, and cowboys who shoot guns. After watching these films my mind was changed. I actually enjoyed both of these films and can say that I would watch another western film.

George Roy Hill directed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969. Paul Newman played Butch Cassidy, who is the leader of the hole in the wall gang. The gang went all over town robbing different business. The first robbery went well, the second robbery attempt didn't run to smooth. Butch and Sundance were on the run from the law. But I don’t want give away the rest of the movie, to find out what happens next you have to watch the rest of the movie.

The Searchers was directed by John Ford in 1956.  The Searcher was an excellent film. It won a National Film Registry in 1989 (IMDB,2012). The plot of the story is a civil war veteran who spends several years look for his abducted niece who was captured by Indians. The Searchers was the movie that showed me that not all western films are about shooting guns, but this film actually had a story line that was interesting a kept my attention enough though that was the first western film I've seen. “John Ford's classic 1956 western film The Searchers, starring John Wayne, drew inspiration from the 19th-century kidnappings of Cynthia Ann Parker:, first as a child by Comanche warriors, and over two decades later--as a wife and mother--by misguided whites seeking to rescue her from her captors and adoptive family.” (Publishers Weekly, 2012).      

Both “The Searchers” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” fit into the western film theory. Both films take place in the late 1900’s, and are in black in white. The films portray the hardships.  The settings were both in the wilderness. “The wilderness can take the form of antagonistic forces in direct conflict with civilizing settlers, such as the Apache Indians in John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) and Stagecoach (1939), or the free-range cattleman of George Stevens’s Shane (1948)" (Barsam 96).  The films both betrayed some act of violence whether the characters were protecting or causing the violence. Laws were broken in both films. These are obvious reasons why western genre fits both of these films.

It is safe to say that John Ford brought a new light to western films. “He did not invent the genre, of course, and hardly restricted himself to it in the course of a career that began in the silent era and lasted more than 50 years” (Scott, 2006). It’s surprising that this film didn't win many films.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid also interest me. I was surprised to find out that it was about the lives of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, and partner Harry Longabaugh. “This is one film that lived up to its box office - it was the highest-grossing film of 1969 and one of the most entertaining films of its era” (Hartlaub, 2009).

I am new to western films but I would definitely recommend these films to anyone. Both films opened my eyes that I need to step outside my comfort zone when it comes to films. I usually watch urban films because I feel that I can relate to those films, but I will now start to give of genres a chance. Western films aren’t just about cowboys and shooting each other but there are plot behind these great films.

Citations

"The Searchers: The Making Of An American Legend." Publishers Weekly 259.46 (2012): 50. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

Peter, Hartlaub. "San Francisco International Film Festival / Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." San Francisco Chronicle (10/1/2007 to present) 19 Apr. 2009: R19. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

IMDb, . N.p.. Web. 4 Dec 2012.

Scott, A.O. "New York Times Movies." New York Times Movies. (2006): n. page. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .

Barsam, Richard. Looking At Movies. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 96. Print.

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Renia Singleton 12/4/12