In 2005 my father, a pilot in the Air Force was stationed in Ramstein Germany, and my family and I moved overseas with him. Living in a foreign nation, western films reminded me of home. Their stories are centered on romantic idealization of the American West. Full of hope and adventure, there is an outlaw around every turn, and adventure just beyond the horizon. Many of the people who lived in Germany and had never been to America thought that movies like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or True Grit” were accurate depictions of modern America. Western films were what made Hollywood successful in its early years and have become known the world over as the definitively American Genre of Film. Without westerns the film industry may not have been as popular and America would be missing a part of its cultural identity. It’s not hard to imagine cowboys and Indians or outlaws and sheriffs running around in the Wild West. The genre has developed several conventions that make the genre so easily recognizable. In “True Grit” the story line starts in the Great Plains but the characters travel all the way to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Another thing I grew to love about westerns is their distinctive sound. The genre was most popular in the 50’s and 60’s so the music in the movies comes from the era as well. DJANGO Unchained is a great example of this. DJANGO was produced in 2012 but the soundtrack sounds like it could have been written in the middle of the 20th Century. Finally the plots revolve around the triumph of good versus evil. In the end we almost always will see a final shootout, or a fight in which the noble cowboy comes out on top.
The Opening scene, and closing scenes to westerns are as iconic as the Statue of Liberty. Almost all Westerns start of with scenic views that capitalize on the grand scenery of the West. They usually do this with a wide-angle shot, a shot that encompasses a wide-open landscape giving a feeling of the freedom of the West. Open ranges, wide-open town streets, or sloping canyons are classic scenes to open a Western. Typically at the end of most westerns the cowboy or hero exits the picture with their back facing the camera as the sun is going down in the background. This is known as riding off into the sunset, but can be done on train, by horse, by wagon, or by simply walking away. In some cases such as Bush Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the protagonists don’t get a chance to ride off but instead are gunned down and then the screen changes color to reflect a sunset over a freeze frame of the two outlaws being impaled by rifle fire. Sometimes there is no reason for the main character to ride off. In fact it doesn’t even make sense to ride off into the sunset. By the end of a Western all of the conflicts have been resolved so it would be easier and more comfortable to sleep in a hotel instead of riding for an hour and then having to make camp on the outskirts of town. Western Films do this for two reasons: one its iconic, and two it wouldn’t feel like a western if it ended any other way. As my film studies instructor explained it to me in high school “at the end of the movie the sun is going to go down and the main character is going to get off stage.”
Usually westerns are set in dark and gritty lighting. This is down by underexposing the film lighting to create darker shadows in the foreground as well as the background. Most producers choose to do this to Give a sense of how uncivilized the west was. Villains usually look like they have not bathed in their lives and live in the shadows. The dust from settlements and in towns is usually on display instead of cleaned up. It is supposed to be very obvious that every thing on the frontier has just recently been built, and extra attention is paid so that it is not overlooked how hard life is on the frontier.
The Western Genre uses the subgenre of country music known as western to fit into its films. Many of the sounds such as the whistle from the good the bad and the ugly are widely known to the general public even though most people would not recognize what movie it came from. The steel guitar, strong whistle sub vocals to imitate cowboys yelling or range hands, and the harmonica are almost always used in the soundtracks of western films. The twang and wine heard in many country songs is even heavier and often oversaturated in western film scores. More modern films such as DJANGO have introduced modern genres of music such as rap and rock to westerns, but still keep the distinctive instrumentation and twang that western country is known for.
Obviously living out on the frontier in a different era the characters in westerns dress differently than we do today. Characters in films are clothed as cowboys, miners, or as townsfolk. In “True Grit” the Texas Ranger, La Boeuf is wearing full chaps and a cowboy hat to over exemplify his Texan heritage.
One of the most famous conventions of the western genre is the good guy wearing a white cowboy hat riding his white horse going up against a black-hatted villain on his black horse. Originally this was done to make obvious to viewers who was good and who was bad when film was shown in black and white. In the age of color TV the tradition has kept, while not every horse is white and hats pristine, the protagonist tends to have a lighter colored horse and hat while the protagonists are much darker. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” has a very interesting look at this convention. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are outlaws running from the law, but they wear the lighter colored hats. Since they are the protagonists in the film however, the producer chose to give them the light hats to inform the viewer that from our perspective we will consider them the good guys and root for them instead of the law.
By virtue of their genre, westerns are generally set west of the Mississippi, can go as far south as Mexico, but do not typically venture north of the Mason Dixon line. There are a variety of settings that they can take place in, frontier towns to scenic and expansive ranges to rugged stretches of the badlands. Film directors can create a lot of meaning in their films by choosing their setting. The western genre has long used frontier towns as places where the bad guys meet the good guys. It’s not hard to imagine a scene where a few deputies run into a notorious villain in a saloon or a card player is shot down for cheating.
Usually the plot of a western revolves around maintaining order out on the frontier. The original “True Grit” is a perfect example. In a frontier town a man is shot down by one of his employed range hands. To avenge his death John Wayne playing Rooster Cogburn accompanied by a Texas ranger La Boeuf and the dead man’s daughter Eula, track the murderer into the frontier passing through various terrains and meeting many different types of people including Indians. The entire plot revolves around restoring justice to the frontier. The movie DJANGO provides another and interesting plot line. While through out the whole movie DJANGO is trying to rescue his wife from her slave owners we see that his character does some very evil things to get her back. Normally in most westerns the protagonist upholds high morals whether they are a part of the law or are an outlaw.
In my childhood Western Films were a way for me to feel attached to American culture while living in Germany. Their stories of the Wild West and perseverance of the American spirit are iconic in American pop culture. As a child 3000 miles from home, they made me feel like I was still in the states.
Help Received:
In class workshop
True Grit. Dir. Henry Hathaway Perf. John Wayne. Kim Darby. Glen Campbell. Paramount Pictures. 1969. Film.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Dir. George Roy Hill. Perf. Paul Newman. Robert Redford. 20th Century Fox. 1969. Film.
DJANGO Unchained. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Perf. Jamie Foxx. Christoph Waltz. Leonardo Dicaprio. Weinstein Company. 2012. Film.