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February 1993

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Sender:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
From:
Notley M Maddox <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 17 Feb 1993 12:19:49 EST
In-Reply-To:
<[log in to unmask]>; from "Mark Bunster" at Feb 17, 93 11:34 am
Reply-To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
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>
> *
> *     O.K., I'll bite - how different are American and European
> *     Westerns and how does "theory" apply to Westerns??
> *     Gary Parsons
> *
>
> I saw something interesting on guns and how they figure into our society.
> They compared American westerns with Canadian Mounty movies. The heroes in
> westerns were the ones who killed the bad guys, but the heroes in the mounty
> movies were the men who brought peace through some diplomatic effort (as they
> don't carry guns.)
>
> Having never seen a European western, I don't know if they follow the
> Canadian perspective or not. I bet a lot these days just mimic the american
> ones for the purpose of making money (American culture sells, even if only so
> people can cluck at how morally bankrupt we are), but maybe older ones, and
> nonmainstream ones, have their own style.
>
> I would imagine "theory" in Westerns applies in a lot of cases to what I
> mentioned: the portrayal of good and evil, the nature of conflict, the nature
> of resolution, whether the sidekick could sing, if there was a loveable dog
> or chimp in the movie, whether there was a crusty old 49'er who was always
> getting drunk in the tavern, uh...guess I'm losing credibility about here.
>
> M o "I love Jimmy Stewart, but he sucked at westerns" R
> --
>
 ******
A couple European (Italian) westerns you might want to check out are "The Good,
the Bad, and the Ugly" and "A Fistful of Dollars", both of which really changed
the direction of the genre.

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