The books in this section focus on the films and television shows that contributed to making the Western an iconic genre of filmmaking.
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Peckinpah
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John Ford
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John Ford Made Westerns
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Women Filmmakers
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Omnimedia Marketing
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Paul Seydor. Peckinpah, the Western Films: A Reconsideration. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
From Amazon: The book that re-established Peckinpah's reputation—now thoroughly revised and updated! When critics hailed the 1995 re-release of Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece, The Wild Bunch, it was a recognition of Paul Seydor's earlier claim that this was a milestone in American film, perhaps the most important since Citizen Kane. Peckinpah: The Western Films first appeared in 1980, when the director's reputation was at low ebb. The book helped lead a generation of readers and filmgoers to a full and enduring appreciation of Peckinpah's landmark films, locating his work in the central tradition of American art that goes all the way back to Emerson, Hawthorne, and Melville. In addition to a new section on the personal significance of The Wild Bunch to Peckinpah, Seydor has added to this expanded, revised edition a complete account of the successful, but troubled, efforts to get a fully authorized director's cut released. He describes how an initial NC-17 rating of the film by the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board nearly aborted the entire project. He also adds a great wealth of newly discovered biographical detail that has surfaced since the director's death and includes a new chapter on Noon Wine, credited with bringing Peckinpah's television work to a fitting resolution and preparing his way for The Wild Bunch. This edition stands alone in offering full treatment of all versions of Peckinpah's Westerns. It also includes discussion of all fourteen episodes of Peckinpah's television series, The Westerner, and a full description of the versions of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid now (or formerly) in circulation, including an argument that the label "director's cut" on the version in release by Turner is misleading. Additionally, the book's final chapter has been substantially rewritten and now includes new information about Peckinpah's background and sources. More about Sam Peckinpah. |
Ronald L. Davis. John Ford: Hollywood's Old Master. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
From Amazon: John Ford remains the most honored director in Hollywood history, having won six Academy Awards and four New York Film Critics Awards. Drawing upon extensive written and oral history, Ronald L. David explores Ford’s career from his silent classic, The Iron Horse, through the transition to sound, and then into the pioneer years of location filming, the golden years of Hollywood, and the movement toward television. During his career, Ford made such classics as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, and The Searchers-136 pictures in all, 54 of them Westerns. The complexity of his personality comes alive here through the eyes of his colleagues, friends, relatives, film critics, and the actors he worked with, including John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O’Hara, and Katharine Hepburn. More about John Ford. |
Gaylyn Studlar and Matthew Bernstein, eds. John Ford Made Westerns: Filming the Legend in the Sound Era. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
From Amazon: Fresh perspectives on some of the most influential films of John Ford.The Western is arguably the most popular and enduring form in cinematic history, and the acknowledged master of that genre was John Ford. His Westerns, including The Searchers, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, have had an enormous influence on contemporary U.S. films, from Star Wars to Taxi Driver. In John Ford Made Westerns, nine major essays by prominent scholars of Hollywood film situate the sound-era Westerns of John Ford within contemporary critical contexts and regard them from fresh perspectives. These range from examining Ford’s relation to other art forms (most notably literature, painting, and music) to exploring the development of the director’s reputation as a director of Westerns. While giving attention to film style and structure, the volume also treats the ways in which these much-loved films engage with notions of masculinity and gender roles, capitalism and community, as well as racial, sexual, and national identity. Contributors include Charles Ramirez Berg, Matthew Bernstein, Edward Buscombe, Joan Dagle, Barry Keith Grant, Kathryn Kalinak, Peter Lehman, Charles J. Maland, Gaylyn Studlar, and Robin Wood. More about John Ford. |
Karen Ward Mahar. Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
From Amazon: Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood explores when, how, and why women were accepted as filmmakers in the 1910s and why, by the 1920s, those opportunities had disappeared. In looking at the early film industry as an industry―a place of work―Mahar not only unravels the mystery of the disappearing female filmmaker but untangles the complicated relationship among gender, work culture, and business within modern industrial organizations. In the early 1910s, the film industry followed a theatrical model, fostering an egalitarian work culture in which everyone―male and female―helped behind the scenes in a variety of jobs. In this culture women thrived in powerful, creative roles, especially as writers, directors, and producers. By the end of that decade, however, mushrooming star salaries and skyrocketing movie budgets prompted the creation of the studio system. As the movie industry remade itself in the image of a modern American business, the masculinization of filmmaking took root. Mahar's study integrates feminist methodologies of examining the gendering of work with thorough historical scholarship of American industry and business culture. Tracing the transformation of the film industry into a legitimate "big business" of the 1920s, and explaining the fate of the female filmmaker during the silent era, Mahar demonstrates how industrial growth and change can unexpectedly open―and close―opportunities for women. |
Chadwick Allen. "Omnimedia Marketing: The Case of The Lone Ranger." In Nicolas S. Witschi, ed. A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West, First Edition. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2011.
From Amazon: From Amazon: A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West presents a series of essays that explore the historic and contemporary cultural expressions rooted in America's western states. *Offers a comprehensive approach to the wide range of cultural expressions originating in the west *Focuses on the intersections, complexities, and challenges found within and between the different historical and cultural groups that define the west's various distinctive regions *Addresses traditionally familiar icons and ideas about the west (such as cowboys, wide-open spaces, and violence) and their intersections with urbanization and other regional complexities *Features essays written by many of the leading scholars in western American cultural studies More about The Lone Ranger. |
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Universal-International Westerns
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Critical Perspectives
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The Searchers
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100 Greatest Westerns
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Making of The Searchers
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Gene Blottner. Universal-International Westerns, 1947-1963: The Complete Filmography. Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2000.
From Amazon: From 1947 through 1963, the merged studios of Universal and International produced mostly highly entertaining westerns that ranged from classics like Winchester '73 to forgettable films better left unmade. Entries on the 114 Universal-International westerns of the period are collected here. While other films may have contained western elements, only films that truly fit the genre are included. Films are arranged alphabetically by title, and each entry includes release date, alternate title, cast, credits, songs, location of filming, source if the film was an adaptation, running time, plot synopsis, commentary from the author and from the actors and directors, and representative excerpts from contemporary reviews. Also included are tag lines used in the original advertising for each film. An introduction to the book provides details on the Universal-International merger and a history of the studios' productions. |
Lee Broughton, ed. Critical Perspectives on the Western: From A Fistful of Dollars to Django Unchained. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield, 2016.
From Google Books: For decades, the Western film has been considered a dying breed of cinema, yet filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to Ethan and Joel Coen find new ways to reinvigorate the genre. As Westerns continue to be produced for contemporary audiences, scholars have taken a renewed interest in the relevance of this enduring genre. In Critical Perspectives on the Western: From A Fistful of Dollars to Django Unchained, Lee Broughton has compiled a wide-ranging collection of essays that look at various forms of the genre, on both the large and small screen. Contributors to this volume consider themes and subgenres, celebrities and authors, recent idiosyncratic engagements with the genre, and the international Western. These essays also explore issues of race and gender in the various films discussed as well as within the film genre as a whole. Among the films and television programs discussed in this volume are The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Robert Ford; Django Kill; Justified; Meek’s Cutoff; Tears of the Black Tiger; Appaloosa; The Frozen Limits; and Red Harvest. Featuring a diverse selection of chapters that represent current thinking on the Western, Critical Perspectives on the Western will appeal to fans of the genre, film students, and scholars alike. |
Arthur M. Eckstein and Peter Lehman, eds. The Searchers: Essays and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004.
From Google Books: In many ways a traditional western, The Searchers (1956) is considered by critics as one of the greatest Hollywood films, made by the most influential of western directors. But John Ford’s classic work, in its complexity and ambiguity, was a product of post-World War II American culture and sparked the deconstruction of the western film myth by looking unblinkingly at white racism and violence and suggesting its social and psychological origins. The Searchers tells the story of the kidnapping of the niece of Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) by Comanche Indians, and his long search to find her—ultimately not to rescue her but to kill her, since he finds her racially and sexually violated.The Searchers: Essays and Reflections on John Ford’s Classic Western brings historians and film scholars together to cover the major critical issues of this film as seen through a contemporary prism. The book also contains the first published, sustained reaction to the film by Native Americans. The essays explore a wide range of topics: from John Wayne’s grim character of Ethan Edwards, to the actual history of Indian captivity on the southern Plains, as well as the role of the film’s music, setting, and mythic structure—all of which help the reader to understand what makes The Searchers such an enduring work. More about The Searchers. |
Editors of American Cowboy magazine. 100 Greatest Western Movies of All Time: Including Five You've Never Heard Of. Guilford, CT: Morris Book Publishing, LLC, 2011.
From Google Books: A fun, opinionated, illustrated look at Westerns—with great photographs from great moviesThis unique compendium of short essays about, and evocative photos from, the 100 greatest Western movies of all time is the authoritative new resource on the subject—and the ideal illustrated gift book for all cowboy enthusiasts and cinema fans. Beyond being eminently browseable and lavishly illustrated, the book—compiled by the editors of the popular Western magazine American Cowboy—is sure to generate hot debate over its “top 100” list, and it covers plenty of movies that appeal to a wide variety of ages and tastes—from The Ox-Bow Incident, High Noon, andShane to The Wild Bunch, High Plains Drifter, and Unforgiven. Each essay makes the case for why the selected movie belongs in the top 100—and included are five movies you've never heard of but should immediately put high on your list. The introduction sets forth the criteria for the selections while also presenting a short history of the genre. |
Glenn Frankel. The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2013.
From Amazon: In 1836 in East Texas, nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanches. She was raised by the tribe and eventually became the wife of a warrior. Twenty-four years after her capture, she was reclaimed by the U.S. cavalry and Texas Rangers and restored to her white family, to die in misery and obscurity. Cynthia Ann's story has been told and re-told over generations to become a foundational American tale. The myth gave rise to operas and one-act plays, and in the 1950s to a novel by Alan LeMay, which would be adapted into one of Hollywood's most legendary films, The Searchers, "The Biggest, Roughest, Toughest... and Most Beautiful Picture Ever Made!" directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. Glenn Frankel, beginning in Hollywood and then returning to the origins of the story, creates a rich and nuanced anatomy of a timeless film and a quintessentially American myth. The dominant story that has emerged departs dramatically from documented history: it is of the inevitable triumph of white civilization, underpinned by anxiety about the sullying of white women by "savages." What makes John Ford's film so powerful, and so important, Frankel argues, is that it both upholds that myth and undermines it, baring the ambiguities surrounding race, sexuality, and violence in the settling of the West and the making of America. More about The Searchers. |
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High Noon
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Four Tombstones
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Not with a Bang
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Unforgiven
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Postmodern Western
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Glenn Frankel. High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2017.
From Google Books: It's one of the most revered movies of Hollywood's golden era. Starring screen legend Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in her first significant film role, High Noon was shot on a lean budget over just thirty-two days but achieved instant box-office and critical success. It won four Academy Awards in 1953, including a best actor win for Cooper. And it became a cultural touchstone, often cited by politicians as a favorite film, celebrating moral fortitude. Yet what has been often overlooked is that High Noon was made during the height of the Hollywood blacklist, a time of political inquisition and personal betrayal. In the middle of the film shoot, screenwriter Carl Foreman was forced to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his former membership in the Communist Party. Refusing to name names, he was eventually blacklisted and fled the United States. (His co-authored screenplay for another classic, The Bridge on the River Kwai, went uncredited in 1957.) Examined in light of Foreman's testimony, High Noon's emphasis on courage and loyalty takes on deeper meaning and importance. In this book, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Frankel tells the story of the making of a great American Western, exploring how Carl Foreman's concept of High Noon evolved from idea to first draft to final script, taking on allegorical weight. Both the classic film and its turbulent political times emerge newly illuminated. More about High Noon. |
Edward Gallafent. "Four Tombstones 1946-1994." In Ian Cameron and Douglas Pye, eds. The Book of Westerns. New York: Continuum, 1996.
From Amazon: The Book of Westerns concentrates on the period between 1939 and the present day, looking at the Western from a wide variety of perspectives and providing in-depth critical analysis of many notable movies up to Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994). The coverage includes such celebrated works as George Stevens's Shane with Alan Ladd as the archetypal solitary Western hero, Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar where the combatants in the final gunfight are Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, and King Vidor's Duel in the Sun with its orgasmic climax when Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones shoot each other down and then claw their way toward a dying embrace. The text, mainly written by film critics and academics associated with Movie magazine, is aimed at the informed filmgoer as well as the film student and is illustrated throughout with stills that capture the flavor of the Western. |
Edward Gallafent. "Not with a Bang: The End of the West in Lonely Are the Brave, The Misfits, and Hud." In Ian Cameron and Douglas Pye, eds. The Book of Westerns. New York: Continuum, 1996.
From Amazon: The Book of Westerns concentrates on the period between 1939 and the present day, looking at the Western from a wide variety of perspectives and providing in-depth critical analysis of many notable movies up to Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994). The coverage includes such celebrated works as George Stevens's Shane with Alan Ladd as the archetypal solitary Western hero, Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar where the combatants in the final gunfight are Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, and King Vidor's Duel in the Sun with its orgasmic climax when Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones shoot each other down and then claw their way toward a dying embrace. The text, mainly written by film critics and academics associated with Movie magazine, is aimed at the informed filmgoer as well as the film student and is illustrated throughout with stills that capture the flavor of the Western. More about Lonely Are the Brave. More about The Misfits. More about Hud. |
Leighton Grist. "Unforgiven." In Ian Cameron and Douglas Pye, eds. The Book of Westerns. New York: Continuum, 1996.
From Amazon: The Book of Westerns concentrates on the period between 1939 and the present day, looking at the Western from a wide variety of perspectives and providing in-depth critical analysis of many notable movies up to Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994). The coverage includes such celebrated works as George Stevens's Shane with Alan Ladd as the archetypal solitary Western hero, Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar where the combatants in the final gunfight are Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, and King Vidor's Duel in the Sun with its orgasmic climax when Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones shoot each other down and then claw their way toward a dying embrace. The text, mainly written by film critics and academics associated with Movie magazine, is aimed at the informed filmgoer as well as the film student and is illustrated throughout with stills that capture the flavor of the Western. More about Unforgiven. |
Jim Kitses. "An Exemplary Postmodern Western: The Ballad of Little Jo." In Jim Kitses and Gregg Rickman, eds. The Western Reader. New York: Limelight Editions, 1998.
From Amazon: This lavishly-illustrated collection of writings on western movies covers close to a century of American cinematic achievement and includes almost a half-century of essays, commentary, and interviews. The history, mythology, and landscape of the western are skillfully explored. More about The Ballad of Little Jo. |
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Good Guys, Bad Guys
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Reading Deadwood
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Western and Frontier
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Television Westerns
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The Hollywood Trail
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Gary Koca. Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Sidekicks in Western Movies: From the 1930s Through the 1960s. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.
From Amazon: Westerns were a huge part of movies during the silent movie era and even more so beginning in the late 1930s through the 1960s. Westerns developed such great stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Randolph Scott, and were instrumental in the careers of movie luminaries like James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Alan Ladd, Glenn Ford, and Clint Eastwood. Stars not normally associated with westerns - like Burt Lancaster, Gregory Peck, Robert Taylor, and Joel McCrea -also made a number of quality westerns. However, after the 1960s, westerns dropped out of sight for several decades as movie westerns fell out of favor with the baby boomers. After all, we had more relevant concerns than what took place in the American west after the Civil War – Vietnam, social unrest, civil rights, equality, and women’s rights were just some of those issues that movies seemed to focus on. Who needed westerns with good guys and bad guys clearly differentiated? But in recent years, westerns have made somewhat of a comeback. Films like Unforgiven (Oscar winner for Best Picture), Tombstone, Dances with Wolves (another Best Picture Oscar winner), Open Range, and Silverado have brought a renaissance to the western, truly the most American form of films. Even an old west comedy like Blazing Saddles has helped bring the western film back into the limelight. Therefore, this book will concentrate on my personal favorites in three categories of westerns : 1. Good Guys (and one gal) 2. Bad Guys and Sidekicks 3. My all-time favorite western films – again, my own personal favorites. This book is dedicated to all fans of classic western movies from the 1930s to the 1960s. Not the serials, not the “B” westerns with stars like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy’s William Boyd, and Buck Jones, just to name a few; and not the great television shows like The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, or others. As good as those shows were, this book has a specific movie, not television, focus. |
David Lavery, ed. Reading Deadwood: A Western to Swear By. New York, London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2006.
From Amazon: With the debut of Deadwood on HBO, a vision of the "Old West" emerged that was unlike anything done before on TV. David Milch, also the creator of NYPD Blue, imbued the series with his signature use of harsh language, complex storylines, and shocking acts of violence. The characters he created redefined the hackneyed stereotypes of the Western genre, from the harassed but defiant "Chinaman," Mr. Wu, to the murderous, ferociously funny Al Swearengen, to the whiskey-drinking Calamity Jane who's only too happy to help her friend run the new brothel in town. Reading Deadwood offers an entertaining and eye-opening look into everything from the use of profanity, the characters, and the way the show bends the genre, to subjects like prostitution, race, and the making of American civil society. Complete with episode and character guides, no fan of Deadwood--and no one interested in Westerns--should be without this book. More about Deadwood. |
Harry M. Lentz, III. Western and Frontier Film and Television Credits 1903-1995. Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Two Volumes, 1996.
From Amazon: This exhaustive reference provides a comprehensive accounting, covering more than nine decades, of Western and frontier movies and television shows, and the creative talents who brought them to life. Part I is a full listing of Western and frontier credits for actors and actresses, with year of production and role played, and a listing of television credits in the genre, giving the series title, episode title, original air date, and role played. Birth dates (and death dates when appropriate) are given for each performer. Part II gives directors, producers, screenwriters, and original authors, along with the Western films they were involved in. Part III is an alphabetical listing of films, including silents, serials, and made-for-television features, with date and country of release, alternate titles, and the cast and production credits. The final section is a television listing, providing series title, original air date and cast and credits. |
Harris M. Lentz, III. Television Westerns Episode Guide: All United States Series, 1949-1996. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012.
From Amazon: Since Hopalong Cassidy and the Lone Ranger blazed their first trails on television in 1949, Westerns have been the genre of choice for 180 series through 1996. Some (Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Maverick, for example) were classics; others, such as 26 Men and Shotgun Slade, were quickly forgotten. From Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr., through Zorro and Son, this comprehensive reference work covers all 180 Western series. Each entry opens with a listing of the broadcast history of the series, including original network, day and time. This is followed by a listing of the regular cast members and a brief premise of the series. The individual episodes are then covered, with the title, original air date, leading guest stars and a brief synopsis given. An exhaustive index completes the work. |
Charlie LeSueur. Riding the Hollywood Trail: Tales of the Silver Screen Cowboys. Lazy Susan Productions, 2016.
From Amazon: The official beginning of "B" westerns began at the turn of 20th century in Paterson, New Jersey, gradually moving to the west coast over the next 10 years to avoid Thomas Edison's stronghold on the east coast film industry. Over the next 40 years, "B" westerns, "shoot 'em ups," or "oaters," prospered more than any other programmer causing the large, small and transient studios to hire anyone they thought might become popular with theater goers; as a result literally dozens of "B" cowboy heroes quickly appeared on the Hollywood Trail and just as quickly disappeared. For every Tom Mix, Ken Maynard, Gene Autry, William Boyd, Roy Rogers or Allan 'Rocky' Lane there was a Monte Rawlins, Ted Wells, John Preston, or Eddy Dew. Some like Wally Wales, Lane Chandler, or Kermit Maynard went on to become character actors prolonging their careers for decades to come. Even the sidekicks had their share of political maneuvering for the top spot position, in some cases more so than the heroes they were in support of. Riding the Hollywood Trail: Tales of the Silver Screen Cowboys tells the real stories of the cowboys without whitewashing the facts. From their studio battles to their personal demons, it's all here. Charlie LeSueur strips away the myths and legends to reveal what it was really like to be one of the silver screen cowboys from Columbia, Universal, RKO, Monogram, PRC and, of course, the daddy of them all, Republic Pictures.If you want to learn the truth while treating the Silver Screen Cowboys with the respect they deserve, its all right here. |
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Riding the Hollywood Trail
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Red River
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The Last Western
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The Lone Ranger on Film
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The Public is Never Wrong
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Charlie LeSueur. Riding the Hollywood Trail II: Blazing the Early Television Trail. Gainesville, TX: Timber Creek Press, 2015.
From Amazon: The man who brought you Riding the Hollywood Trail: Tales of the Silver Screen Cowboys, Charlie LeSueur, now brings the long awaited sequel...Riding the Hollywood Trail II: Blazing the Early Television Trail. Charlie continues the story as a select few cowpokes successfully made the switch to early television while others had a tough go of it. Here are the true stories of the ups and downs of heroes like Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Gabby Hayes, Colonel Tim McCoy, Russell Hayden, Lash LaRue, William Elliott and Allan "Rocky" Lane in their attempts to make the leap to TV, with plenty of behind the scenes intrigue...Enjoy the Trail! |
Robert Sklar. "Empire to the West: Red River (1948)." In John E. O'Connor and Martin A. Jackson, eds. American History/American Film: Interpreting the Hollywood Image. New York: The Ungar Publishing Company, 1988.
More about Red River. |
Paul Stasi and Jennifer Greiman, eds. The Last Western: Deadwood and the End of American Empire. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
From Amazon: Perhaps the most sophisticated and complex of shows in HBO's recent history, Deadwood has surprisingly little coverage in our current scholarship. Grounding contemporary anxieties about race and class, domesticity and American exceptionalism in its nineteenth-century setting, Deadwood revises our understanding of a formative period for the American nation through a re-examination of one of the main genres through which this national story has been transmitted: the Western. With contributions from scholars in American studies, literature, and film and television studies, The Last Western situates Deadwood in the context of both its nineteenth-century setting and its twenty-first-century audience. Together, these essays argue for the series as a provocative meditation on both the state and historical formation of U.S. empire, examining its treatment of sovereign power and political legitimacy, capital accumulation and dispossession, racial and gender identities, and social and family structures, while attending to the series' peculiar and evocative aesthetic forms. What emerges from this collection is the impressive range of Deadwood's often contradictory engagement with both nineteenth and twenty-first century America. More about Deadwood. |
Ed Andreychuk. The Lone Ranger on Radio, Film, and Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing, 2017.
From Target: The Lone Ranger has endured as an iconic figure in American popular culture, from his 1933 premier as a radio serial hero through a highly-rated television series (1949–1957) to a 2013 feature film. Created by script writer Fran Striker and radio station owner George W. Trendle, the character was meant to embody courage, fair play and honesty, and writers had to adhere to specific guidelines: “he never smokes ... he uses precise speech ... he never shoots to kill.” The popularity of the Ranger and his companion Tonto inspired later crime fighting duos like Batman and Robin, and The Green Hornet and Kato. This book examines the franchise in detail, with summaries and production details of the original radio episodes. |
"Hopalong Cassidy." In Adoph Zukor with Dale Kramer. The Public is Never Wrong. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1953, p. 280-284.
More about Hopalong Cassidy. |