Revisionist Western

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The Revisionist Western, Modern Western or Anti Western traces to the late 1960s and early 1970s as a sub-genre of the Western movie.

Some post WW II Western films began to question the ideals and style of the "traditional" Western. Elements include a darker, more cynical tone, with focus on the lawlessness of the time period, favoring "realism" over "romanticism". Anti-heroes are common, as are stronger roles for women and more sympathetic portrayal of American Indians and Mexicans, and critical views of big business, the American government, and masculine figures (including the military, and their policies). Modern Westerns also often feature increased use of violence, nontraditional sexuality and black humor.

1 Beginnings
2 Hollywood Revisionist Westerns
3 Spaghetti Westerns
4 Red Western
5 List of Revisionist Western films and games
- 5.1 Films
- 5.2 Games
6 References

[edit] Beginnings

As is the case with film noir, many filmmakers responsible for early Revisionist Western were unaware they were part of a larger trend in filmmaking and, as such, did not necessarily consider their films "revisionist".

1953's Shane is such a film, with its handsome filmmaking and conservative values, but its ambiguous ending questions the viability of the traditional western hero. 1956's The Searchers starred John Wayne, the typical Western movie hero in what would appear on the surface to be a standard "Cowboys and Indians" conflict. Some critics and audiences, however, found the film subtly critical of the standard Wayne archetype. Martin Scorsese, for instance, cites The Searchers as an influence on his Taxi Driver (1976). Fred Zinnemann's movie High Noon (1952) is widely considered the first revisionist western.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Hollywood Revisionist Westerns

Main article: Acid Western

Most Westerns from the 1960s to the present have revisionist themes. Many were made by emerging major filmmakers who saw the Western as an opportunity to expand their criticism of American society and values into a new genre. Films in this category include Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962) and The Wild Bunch (1969), Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970) and Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971).

Since the late 1960s, independent filmmakers have produced revisionist and hallucinogenic films, later identified as acid westerns, that radically turn the usual trappings of the western genre inside out to critique capitalism and the counterculture. Monte Hellman's The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind (1966), Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo (1970), Robert Downey Sr.'s Greaser's Palace (1972), Alex Cox's Walker (1987), and Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man (1995) fall under this category.^[1]

Other films, such as those directed by Clint Eastwood were made by professionals familiar with the Western as a criticism and expansion against and beyond the genre. Eastwood's film The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) made use of strong supporting roles for women and Native Americans. Unforgiven (1992), which Eastwood directed from an original screenplay by David Webb Peoples, dramatically criticized the typical Western use of violence to promote false ideals of manhood and to subjugate women and minorities.

[edit] Spaghetti Westerns

Main article: Spaghetti Western

Foreign markets, which had imported the Western since their silent film inception, began creating their own Westerns early on. However, a unique brand of western emerged in Europe in the 1960s as an off-shoot of the Revisionist Western.

The Spaghetti Western became the nickname, originally disparagingly, for this broad sub-genre, so named because of their Italian background and financing. Originally they had in common the Italian language, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid, violent, minimalist cinematography that helped eschew (some said "demythologize") many of the conventions of earlier Westerns. They were often made in Spain, especially Andalucia, whose dry ruggedness resembled the American south west.

[edit] Red Western

Gojko Mitić as chief Tokei-itho in The Sons of the Great Mother Bear

Main article: Ostern

The Ostern or Red Western, was the Soviet Bloc's reply to the Western, and arose in around the same period as the Revisionist Western. While many Red Westerns concentrated on aspects of Soviet/East European history, some others like the Czech Lemonade Joe (1964) and the East German The Sons of the Great Mother Bear (1966) tried to demythologise the Western myth in different ways: Lemonade Joe by sending up the more ridiculous aspects of marketing, and The Sons of the Great Mother Bear by showing how American natives were exploited repeatedly, and is taken from the native, rather than white settler viewpoint.

A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines (1987) was a reflexive satire on the Western film itself. It was also highly unusual in being one of the few examples in Soviet film of a) post-modernism, and b) a major film directed by a woman.