Westerns

Quote: zippyboy

What about Cowboys and Aliens?

I had Cowboys & Aliens on my original list under failures. I personally found the movie to be mostly stupid. It had a production budget of $163 million, but grossed $100 million domestically and $75 million from foreign markets. It also earned a 44% on rotten tomatoes. So by most measures that is a failure. Not on the scale of the Lone Ranger film, but still pretty bad.

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I was only talking about the world when Westerns were a revival phenomena. All the movies on my list are dated 1985 or later.

Up until 1975 Gunsmoke was still on TV. I am not talking about The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), The Searchers (1956), Rio Bravo (1959),Stagecoach (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), Cat Ballou (1965), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), The Wild Bunch (1969), Giant (1956), Major Dundee (1974), Shane (1953) when Westerns were a staple of entertainment.

All the Clint Eastwood movies that lasted over a decade.
6/30/76 The Outlaw Josey Wales
8/22/73 High Plains Drifter
7/14/72 Joe Kidd
6/16/70 Two Mules for Sister Sara
10/15/69 Paint Your Wagon
8/3/68 Hang 'em High
12/29/67 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
5/10/67 For a Few Dollars More
1/18/67 A Fistful of Dollars

I think you have "Tombstone" on the incorrect list, It was a great movie.

Generally speaking, westerns went out on TV and movies about the mid-1970s. It seems as if the Baby Boomers were the last generation that loved them but got tired of them around then. Which brings us to "The Lone Ranger."

I have to say the only TV Episodes of "The Lone Ranger" I ever saw were when my mother kind of forced me to watch. The target demo for movies was now born after 1985 and probably has barely heard of "The Lone Ranger" and wonders why they call Tonto an Indian.

Just the latest attempt to suck money from an old franchise with minimal effort instead of trying to build a new franchise for the times. Hollywood is run by idiots.

Quote: AZDuffman

I think you have "Tombstone" on the incorrect list, It was a great movie.

You are correct. I confused it with another movie. Tombstone was a critical and financial success.

New Mexico and Arizona became states in January and February of 1912. So by the mid 1970's there were still people alive who remembered when part of CONUS was still territories. At least they remembered the concept of The West as a symbol of destiny.

Quote: Pacomartin

You are correct. I confused it with another movie. Tombstone was a critical and financial success.

New Mexico and Arizona became states in January and February of 1912. So by the mid 1970's there were still people alive who remembered when part of CONUS was still territories. At least they remembered the concept of The West as a symbol of destiny.

Confused with "Wyatt Earp?"

I think westerns were popular then for he other reason you mentioned. Relatively cheap to produce. Like wrestling in the 1980s, build a simple plot and use cheap distribution. Before house had A/C people would watch a test pattern at the movies if it were hot out. And as someone who chose to drive vs fly cross country I can say the scenery is the best in the west.

In the 50's and 60's, my 95 year old great grandfather
and grandfather read nothing but pulp western paperbacks.
Sitting is their rockers by the bay windows, with a huge
magnifying glass, they read for hours a day and watched
Wagon Train and Gunsmoke and all the rest on TV at night.

They remembered the days when the wild west was the
rage, in the late 1800's. When there were Indians and bandits
and it was very real. When those old guys died out, so did
the interest in TV westerns and westerns in general.

I also thought Tombstone was a good picture. Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell were both very good. Shane was a great picture. And what a cast. Brandon De Wilde went on to a great performance in Hud. Shane was remade as Pale Rider, for those who didn't know.

Shane: I've heard about you, Wilson.
Wilson: What have you heard, Shane?
Shane: I've heard you're a low-down Yankee liar.
Wilson: Prove it.

Shane was Jean Arthur's last film. I think she's very attractive. Combination of looks and intelligence.

Nancy Kulp was in Shane.

Then there's also, Gunfight At The O.K. Corral with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Haven't seen that movie in a while but it has a great cast.

I think the 50s and the 40s (in that order) were the best decades of filmmaking.