Since the days of classic John Wayne movies likeStagecoachandThe Searchers, Hollywood has built up itsWesternclassics as some of the most entertaining in cinema. With the rise of belovedWestern stars like Kevin Costnerand Clint Eastwood, audiences have a lot to thank the genre for. When it comes to the staples of Western cinema, some stories are indelibly carved into the foundations of modern fiction, with their formulas, messages, and archetypes in constant use.
At its height, the Western genre combined action and adventure to great effect, serving as one of the biggest box office draws of the first half of the twentieth century. Thanks to the talent it attracted, some of the most influential stories in the history of film trace their origins to thetropes and themes mastered in the Wild West. From treasured superhero hits to beloved animated films,Hollywood keeps finding new ways to bring the best Western stories into modern cinema.
Like many Westerns,Three Godfathersstarted as a novel, penned by Peter B. Kyne. Taking its cues directly from the Biblical narrative of the Three Wise Men and the Nativity, it tells the story of a trio of outlaws who, after riding out into the desert, discover a newborn infant. This served as the basis for one of Hollywood’s earliest Westerns in the 1913 filmThe Sheriff’s Baby. By 1950, the story had been adapted in some form several times, sometimes namedHell’s Heroes.
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The Western genre can sometimes be daunting for audiences to get into, but some films make for a brilliant entry point to understand its appeal.
In 2002,Fox immortalizedThree GodfathersinIce Age,which traded outlaws for prehistoric animals to tell the same tale. It’s hard to avoid movies that borrow the premise of Kyne’s story in one way or another, from action flicks to neo-Westerns likeLogan, all centered around flawed heroes often sacrificing themselves for a child. Even in shows likeThe Last of UsandThe Mandalorian, the basic premise of redemption through the salvation of a child is ever-present, showing how parenthood makes a person better.
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In the 1960s, Hollywood started borrowing and, in some cases, stealing the stories of popular Japanese movies, noting the similarities between the Samurai and the legend of Western gunfighters. One of the earliest examples of this wasThe Magnificent Seven, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), which assembled some of the most bankable stars of its era, from Steve McQueen to Charles Bronson. Its success spawned several sequels, turning it into one of the few franchises in the genre.
If the slew of direct sequels to the 1960 movie weren’t enough,virtually every ensemble Western since has borrowed from the John Sturges epic.Whether it’sSilverado,The Wild Bunch,orThe Ridiculous Six, the film’s influence is impossible to remove from team-up adventures. In 2016, the movie was given a direct remake, this time casting stars like Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt in leading roles. For audiences who want aMagnificent Seven-like Western, there’s a wealth of choices.
Revenge has been a timeless staple of the Western genre since the earliest days of Hollywood, but no story mastered it quite like the adaptation of Charles Portis' novelTrue Grit. Centered around the vendetta of a young girl against the man who killed her father, the story is a genre deconstruction, character study, and adventure all in one. Naturally, the task fell toWestern movie legend John Wayneto play its trigger-happy hero, Rooster Cogburn. Ever since, Hollywood has been trying to match the film’s best elements, from the aged hero proving he’s still got it to the iconic valley charge.
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As the film that won Wayne his only Oscar,True Gritquickly became synonymous with the Western revenge subgenre, and countless movies have paid homage to it. In fact, DC Studios' upcomingSupergirl: Woman of Tomorrowis based on a comic that can best be described as a cosmic take on Portis' novel. With vengeance having become an integral part of the Old West, it’s hard to find a revenge team-up movie, Western or not, that isn’t a subtle copy of this classic.
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The Western genre has also been used for social commentary since the earliest revisionist pieces, a movement that 1952’sHigh Noonhelped bring into the mainstream. These were among the first stories that started to challenge the black-and-white morality of classic Westerns, instead giving the audience more flawed and nuanced characters. The film focuses on an outgoing lawman who is compelled by duty to stand against a newly-released outlaw.
This John Ford Movie Starring John Wayne Is One Of The Greatest Westerns Ever But Didn’t Receive A Single Oscar Nomination
One 1956 classic didn’t get nominated in any category at the Academy Awards, going down as one of the greatest anomalies in Oscars history.
High Noonwas such a good story that, despite protests against its message, John Wayne set out to remake it within only a few years in Howard Hawks’Rio Bravo. Ever since, the trope of a defiant lawman awaiting the arrival of bad guys has inspiredfilms likeHigh Plains Drifter,The Last Stand,andOutland, not to mention several remakes and sequels.Even Clint Eastwood’sDirty Harryuses parallel themesof the heroic but frustrated cop standing up to bad guys simply because no one else would — throwing away his badge just like Will Kane.
For modern audiences,the cliché of the retired gunfighter coming back for one last ride is as Western as cowboy hats and revolvers.Before 1953’sShane, however, that wasn’t the case, and the genre would instead focus on heroic lawmen, war veterans, and ranchers. That all changed with Alan Ladd’s performance as a retired gunfighter who is forced out of retirement to protect a family of homesteaders.
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WithoutShane, it’s almost impossible to envision films likePale Rider,Logan,andUnforgiven. Despite theWesterngenre losing box office dominance, the archetype created by the ‘53 hit can be found across the spectrum. One could easily argue that the mere trope of the mysterious drifter with a dangerous past paved the way for other films, likeA Fistful of Dollars, laying the foundation for the Spaghetti Western.
