Opinion: Rebirth Of The Western

When you hear the word western, what is it you think of? Horses, revolvers, bandits and gunslingers. Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Lee Van Cleef. Ennio Morricone music, long shots, squinting and shootouts. They've been genre staples for over a century.

114 years ago The Great Train Robbery appeared on screen. Not only did it pioneer many modern film making techniques but it was the first western ever seen, and it has many of the tropes we've come to expect today. Shootouts, horse chases, even a scene where a man is forced to "dance" while guns are fired at his feet. It all ends as the thieves are cut down in a blaze of glory, or perhaps that was the beginning.

Ever since that fateful day audiences have been party to hundreds, if not thousands of westerns, touching on almost every other genre, from romance to sci-fi, and creating some of the best films ever. The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, High Noon, The Searchers. Of course any list of westerns would be incomplete without mention of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. But the truth is for every excellent film, there's at least a dozen awful ones.

Inevitably the western's time came to an end. In 1993 Unforgiven was released. As Clint Eastwood's final western, it was certainly a way to end a career. With 4 Academy Awards, including best picture and director, it not only brought a close to the Eastwood western, but, for the most part, the genre itself.

From then until 2012, the western continued, hidden away from the world, soaking in mediocrity and general terribleness. For all intents and purpose the genre was dead. occasionally a film would rise to the surface, a shining light in the writhing morass of awful. Films such as 3:10 To Yuma and The Proposition.

The Proposition

3:10 To Yuma

It was in 2012 that things began to change. Quentin Tarantino, mastermind behind Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, released Django Unchained, a film soaked within all the western tropes, so much so that it felt refreshing. In the years following we got Tarantino's next western, The Hateful 8, The Homesman, The Salvation, Bone Tomahawk, Forsaken, The Magnificent 7 and The Revenant as well as a number of others.

Django Unchained

The Hateful 8

Forsaken

The Magnificent 7

It makes sense that the genre is now making a resurgence. In a world now dominated by sequels and franchises, why not turn to what started it all. Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy and The Magnificent 7 had 3 sequels and a TV show. Kevin Costner is planning a trilogy of his own, Tarantino may be making a third and 2016's iteration of The Magnificent 7 may be getting a sequel.

So, is the slow but steady return of the western a good thing? On one hand, yes. It's a genre that I very much enjoy and I see no problem with continuing to get solid films. On the other hand, I dread to think what will happen if they becomes as popular as they once were. A half dozen excellent films, each with a different spin, each year, nothing wrong with that. But if they start making money I wouldn't be surprised if the western cinematic universe becomes a thing, stagnation and repetitiveness will set in and the genre will once again die.

Perhaps it's an endless cycle of quality into quantity. Or maybe we've just been really lucky these past few years. Either way I intend to enjoy it as long as it lasts.