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All in Western Marathon
My train to the Old West has returned to its station and therefore it is time to consider all the films screened in Gibelwho Production’s Western Marathon, including High Noon, The Searchers, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, Rio Bravo, A Fistful of Dollars, Winchester ‘73, and The Wild Bunch. Awards are given out for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting, Best Screenplay, Best Song/Score, Best Direction, and Best Picture.
In The Wild Bunch (1969), director Sam Peckinpah he experimented with filmmaking techniques to heighten and glorify violence as the Old West began transitioning into the modern timeframe. Our final stop on the Western Marathon takes us to the close of the traditional studio system and toward the post-classical era that transformed the genre and gave rise to new rules out West.
Westerns during the Hollywood studio system usually adhere closely to all the conventions of the genre, and Winchester ‘73 (1950) mostly falls in line, with the exception of the non-traditional narrative construction and a few flashes of brilliant camera composition. Directed by Anthony Mann and (mostly) starring Jimmy Stewart, the film’s story focuses on a gun that changes hands throughout the plot, enabling the filmmakers to showcase the different archetypes and locations around the West. This is the penultimate movie in the Western Marathon, so let’s follow along on the journey of the most famed gun in the West, Winchester ‘73.
Inevitably, there comes a time when tradition is subverted and a fresh voice throws convention out the window. For the Western genre, this came in the form of Spaghetti Westerns - Italian filmmakers who adopted the Western genre tropes in their own upstart style. A Fistful of Dollars (1964), directed by Sergio Leone and introducing Clint Eastwood in his first starring film role, was the first commercially successful Spaghetti Western and thrust Eastwood into star status.
The Western genre oftens focuses its lense on the sheriff of a town, glorifying their struggle to keep order amongst the forces of nature and evildoers. Rio Bravo (1959) is no exception to this trope, following the sheriff in the town of Rio Bravo, Texas, as he and his team face off against a local rancher’s gang.
Westerns are structurally built on concepts in a state of duality - hero/villain, nature/civilization, cowboy/Indian - and the classic western My Darling Clementine (1946) is an embodiment of the genre’s focus on the pairings of diametrically opposed forces.
Stagecoach (1939) is the story of a group of travelers that book passage on a stagecoach despite the looming threat of ravaging Apache Indians along their route.
The Searchers (1956) is the story of a Civil War veteran who returns to his family’s homestead, but is unable to prevent his niece from being captured by a tribe of vicious Indians.
High Noon (1952) tells the tale of a retiring marshall about to leave with his new bride to live the simple life, when a man he put away years ago returns to exact vengeance.
The Western is a genre with stories set in the American Old West, featuring cowboys, Indians, outlaws, parlor women, frontier folks and their trusty steads.
