>Is the Western simply any story whose setting is the American frontier >between the Mississippi and the coast of California? Or is it any story >whose setting is a "frontier", i.e. any geographically remote and >climatically harsh environment (not necessarily American), and whose plot >concerns the efforts to "civilize" that environment? I understand that the scene sequence in Taxi Driver, where Travis is getting all gunned up, is a direct reference to the more traditional Western. A modern outsider in an uncivilised environment? Plenty of irony... EJ ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu