I just came back from the public library with a copy of McLintock in hand, which I will probably watch tonight, maybe tomorrow–but definitely before the close of the weekend. During the past several months, I have developed a great respect and admiration, dare I say almost an addiction to classic Westerns, which I thought would never happen.
Nearly every Saturday afternoon, my father would sit down in front of the TV, watching reruns of black and white Westerns that he had already seen a hundred times–everything from the ‘B’ movies of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry (he always like Gene better), to television series such as Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman and such, plus the array of classic Western movies brought to you in Kodachrome -esque Technicolor. Believe it or not, he wasn’t the world’s biggest John Wayne fan, but he’d still watch a Duke movie if it happened to be on. My mom had a crush on Clint Eastwood. Everyone in our family knew it. And I say this with an unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality, I can understand why.
As for me, the only Western I ever gravitated to was The Lone Ranger, mainly because the masked man on a fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty, ‘Hi Yo Silver!’ with his faithful Indian companion Tonto, were images that grabbed a young boy’s attention in the age of superheroes and sci-fi. I remember dad buying me a record of the old Lone Ranger radio dramas, which I took to school. My first grade teacher put the record on so the entire class could listen to it during quiet time. I still have the record to this day. When I visited my uncle (before we had a VCR of our own) I’d watch his taped-off-the-TV (how cool was that back in the day?) Legend of the Lone Ranger, which (in spite of what others may say) I still love and now own for myself (though the DVD version seems as if it was recorded straight from a VHS copy). And speaking of VHS copy, the only Western I had ever owned on that format (and still do, believe it or not) was Maverick when it was first released on home video in 1994.
Fast forward to the present day, my father passed away seven months ago, and I have been caretaker of the hollowed grounds of my childhood home since. After he had retired, Dad would spend many hours in his chair watching Westerns day and night almost exclusively (almost–he did switch the channel to Fox News now and then–especially for Bill O’Reilly). And so, it seemed a bit odd to be here without a Western on, and heck, there were a few that had been on my bucket list anyway, and so I thought, why not. But where to start? Well, my son, who had watched some Spaghetti Westerns in his Film Studies class, had gotten me some Clint Eastwood DVDs for Father’s Day one year, since they had been on said bucket list. So I began with watching those, and then I couldn’t help but want to compare the great Clint Eastwood with the legendary John Wayne. So I reserved some of the Duke’s DVDs from the local library, along with other non-Western movies (most of which I instantly regretted–Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies among them) that had been on my bucket list as well, and what I came to discover was what the previous generations had known all along–these movies are truly terrific, even brilliant.
Yes, to those of us born past the Baby Boom, whenever we’d come across a Western on TV, it just seemed so blah. We wouldn’t even give these old-time movies a chance. Not that we had a problem with old-time movies. I always loved the classic black-and-white era comedy teams and sticoms; later developing a love for dramas such as Citizen Kane, Universal Classic Monsters, Alfred Hitchcock and James Dean (though not a typical one-horse-town/gunslinger film, Giant is often considered a Western). But the average Western just seemed so slow-going, uninteresting and outdated, and hence why we just brushed them off as nostalgia for “old folks.”
But after giving them a serious try over the past six months, I can’t help but wonder why I hadn’t given them that serious try before. Afterall, they were made during a time when excellence was the driving force behind (most) movies (yes, profits were probably the main driving force, but Hollywood still presumably prouded itself in making fine quality products, which in turn drove profits). Now I understand why the Greatest and Silent generations were so enthralled. It was their “final frontier” akin to Star Trek. In fact, hadn’t Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to CBS as a “wagon train to the stars?” The possibilities of what could happen in the vast frontier of the Old West seemed endless. And who doesn’t love an old-fashioned heroic confrontation between good and evil? No wonder why so many Old West movies and TV episodes existed.
It’s hard to say much more, without delving into reviewing each film individually, but trust me when I say there’s a reason why True Grit, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance among others, have been so highly revered even to this day. Though surprisingly not as popular, I’d have to say The Cowboys is so-far my favorite classic Western, which also happened to be my mother’s favorite (and it didn’t even star Clint Eastwood!).
And speaking of “the cowboys,” it was just last night that I watched the 1993 film Tombstone–for the second time (the gang of bandits were called The Cowboys). The first time I watched it was sometime after it had been first released on VHS, and back then, it seemed to be a long story that went nowhere. However, I was an 18 year-old going on 19. But now, for a 49 year-old going on…you-know-what…it’s a perfect film–even if it and the 1957 Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas versions are not quite historically accurate. So yes, even modern classic Westerns have now been added to my movie bucket list. By the way, I had finished watching the 1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral earlier that same day.
So now I wish Dad was still here so that we’d have this to bond over. We already had classic cars, traditional pop/jazz music and the aforementioned other classic movies and TV shows–but here’s one more. And wouldn’t he have loved to have known (we found out just weeks after he died) that we’re related to the great Tex Ritter and the real-life Pa Ingalls (though both on my mother’s side).
As for my son, Caleb, let’s just say you’re a bigger fan of Sergio Leone’s filmmaking style than I am. But that doesn’t mean that other Clint Eastwood films are not still on the bucket list, as well as the plethora of other great Westerns yet to be discovered. In fact, I hope that this generation discovers these great films of ‘yesteryear’ as I did before they’re completely forgotten about.
Maybe after I watch McLintock, it might be worth dusting off that ol’ VHS copy of Maverick…if only I can find a working VCR.
Have you read my other posts regarding Hollywood? Here are a few below:
For more on Westerns, I recommend this article from The Hollywood Reporter: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/classic-westerns-movies-tv-history-1235354790/
A Closer Look 