Being asked to contribute an article to this most magnificent of websites threw up quite the quandary. Unlike these amazing young pups, I find myself a more seasoned performer at the ripe old age of 34 and so the word "geek" had me uncomfortable for a second. It's a very modern phrase and I wasn't always sure if the term can cause offence to some. This coming from someone who has endured San Diego Comic Con in the name of journalism.
My passion is and always has been cinema. I'll watch anything, but like most, favour more genres than others when in the mood. Thanks to my Dad, the western has always been a favourite.
He grew up in the mid-afternoon matinee era, transfixed to likes of John Wayne and Gary Cooper as they swayed from town to town taking out the trash, all the while romancing the pants off some brazen beauty. Perhaps, with the arrival of home video during the 1980's, he felt the need to pass on some of that love on as we'd often sit in front of the television, particularly Sunday afternoons, and watch a classic featuring the aforementioned duo or even Audie Murphy, Burt Lancaster or Glen Ford.
I must stress that it wasn't always a western. I distinctly remember my love of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, Friedkin's The French Connection and Carpenter's Assault Of Precinct 13 that stemmed from this period. However, "cowboys and indians" always seemed to dominate.
The product of the advancement in visual effects thanks to the Star Wars sequels and Young Sherlock Holmes playing their part in upsetting the apple cart during those early years... (Oh yeah, and what the hell was Sasperella... and why couldn't I have some?). Still, there was something glaringly thrilling about all of these types that made them so memorable. But... something was also gnawing away...
Even I knew at that age The Duke had been dead years, while Kirk Douglas never seemed to age, yet, they would always pop up on screen as fresh as a daisy. Even Eastwood's Man With No Name I grew too familiar with. "Can we watch a new one?" I began asking Pops. The question must have resinated because he'd often stick on something like Silverado or Young Guns as opposed to Gunfight at the O.K. Corral or Last Train From Gun Hill (my own personal favourite from that bygone era).
As the time passed into the 1990s, it was becoming clear too few significant titles were filtering through into the mainstream. Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood seemingly single-handedly keeping the genre alive with the likes of Wyatt Earp and Unforgiven. While critical hits and Oscar-winning they might have been, they barely made a dent into the box-office. Epic Wyatt Earp especially (despite my love) found itself losing out at the box-office to the inferior but still enjoyable Tombstone in the same year. Yep, two in a year! We really were being spoiled in 1994!
It's almost as if these film-makers predicted the end of the cowboy trail themselves and attempted to ready us for the transfer to modern times. However, as I matured into a young man, I missed the stunning landscapes of Utah, the Rockies, not forgetting the dusty trails and tiny towns of Texas where a tense gunfight (or ten) were played out. Of course, thanks to the advancements in home entertainment, I could revisit them anytime on video, Laserdisc (remember them kids?), DVD and now Blu-ray. Sadly there was and still is rarely anything new.
Thank the lord for the small screen this past decade. Especially writer David Milch. For three majestic years, the western was reborn and transported to the harsh Black Hills of South Dakota. HBO's Emmy-winning Deadwood was gritty, groundbreaking television with a cast, that in my mind, has never been bettered as an ensemble. Who'd have thought TV's charming Lovejoy himself, Ian McShane, could rattle off the most extreme of curse words and make it sound like (sadistic) poetry. Hell, no one can wear a stetson and aim a gun as cool as Timothy Olyphant. The latter of who continues to do so in the contemporary western series Justified. Although his character Raylen Givens will hang up his hat up at the end of next year's sixth season.
Sadly, too few people watched Deadwood. For all it's plaudits the show wasn't a "grower" as Breaking Bad or Dexter seemed to grab fans late into the game. As a series it remains very much unfinished and sits on a kind of cliffhanger in some respects and I often think where the characters would be now. Milch's dream, along with that of his cast, was to attempt to wrap things up with three feature-length specials. HBO weren't in agreement. Cancelled after three seasons, exactly 36 episodes. Each of them incredible, compelling pieces television. More proof that the western's time had come.
Last year, Disney's The Lone Ranger may well have put the final nail in the coffin in terms of the genre finding a mainstream appeal with a new generation of film fans but there is little doubt it was a blast for those of us who paid to see it. The same can't be said for Seth MacFarlane's more recent A Million ways To Die In The West, which, too, flopped at it attempted a Blazing Saddles. A failure more deserved. As good as it was, this year the only effort of note was Tommy Lee Jones' unconventional effort with The Homesman.
The light is now a little dimmer. Things don't appear to be getting any better in 2015. Gavin O'Connor's plagued Jane Got A Gun and the Mads Mikkesen-led The Salvation our only hope. The western needs resuscitation. Defibrillator and oxygen at the ready... or shall we just quit. Like a wounded animal, should a quick death be the easiest end?
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Craig is the Editor of ScreenRelish!
Read more of his work here.