Department of English, University of Louisville Phone: (502)852-6770 or (502)852-6801. Fax: (502)852-4182. I, for one, would not be inclined to suggest that STAGECOACH, THE SEARCHERS, and THE WILD BUNCH give much insight into the history--as opposed to the myth--of the west. But of course the myth IS a key element of our history, and one of the values of this film is in their embodiment (and variation) on the myth. The other value, for me, is that each of them says a great deal about the time in which it was PRODUCED. STAGECOACH is both a myth of the west and a perfect manifestation of 1930s populism--largely a movie about class. THE SEARCHERS is both a re-examination of the myth--with great ambivalence toward it--and a manifestation of fifties-era attempts to deal w/ race and w/ issues of community and non-conformity. I've never taught THE WILD BUNCH, so I don't have as clear a sense of it, but it has always seemed to me very much part of its era as well, partly, as I recall, in its celebration of the outsiders and critique of the establishment. I agree that it's hard to defend the western as a genre that mirrors the history of the American west. But it seems to me extremely important as a measure of our cultural life in other ways. bitnet tbbyer01@ulkyvm; internet [log in to unmask] Thomas B. Byers Department of English/University of Louisville Louisville KY 40292