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TheWestern is a genreset in theAmerican frontier and commonly associated withfolk tales of theWestern United States, particularly theSouthwestern United States, as well asNorthern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West" and depicted in Western media as a hostile, sparsely populatedfrontier in a state of near-total lawlessness patrolled byoutlaws, sheriffs, and numerous otherstockgunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes ofjustice,freedom, ruggedindividualism,manifest destiny, and the national history and identity of the United States.
Within the larger scope of the Western genre, there are several recognized subgenres. Some subgenres, such as spaghetti Westerns, maintain standard Western settings and plots, while others take the Western theme and archetypes into different supergenres, such as neo-Westerns or space Westerns.
For a time, Westerns made in countries other than the United States were often labeled by foods associated with the culture, such as spaghetti Westerns (Italy), meat pie Westerns (Australia), ramen Westerns (Asia), and masala Westerns (India).[1]
Film criticJonathan Rosenbaum refers to a makeshift 1960s and 1970s genre called theacid Western,[2] associated withDennis Hopper,Jim McBride, andRudy Wurlitzer, as well as films such asMonte Hellman'sThe Shooting (1966),Alejandro Jodorowsky's bizarre experimental filmEl Topo(The Mole) (1970),[2] andRobert Downey Sr.'sGreaser's Palace (1972).[2] The 1970 filmEl Topo is anallegoricalcult Western andunderground film about the eponymous character, a violent black-clad gunfighter, and his quest for enlightenment. The film is filled with bizarre characters and occurrences, use of maimed anddwarf performers, and heavy doses ofChristian symbolism andEastern philosophy. Some spaghetti Westerns also crossed over into the acid Western genre, such asEnzo G. Castellari's mysticalKeoma (1976), a Western reworking ofIngmar Bergman'sThe Seventh Seal (1957).
More recent acid Westerns includeAlex Cox'sWalker (1987) andJim Jarmusch'sDead Man (1995). Rosenbaum describes the acid Western as "formulating a chilling, savage frontier poetry to justify its hallucinated agenda"; ultimately, he says, the acid Western expresses a counterculture sensibility to critique and replace capitalism with alternative forms of exchange.[3]
The Australian Western genre or meat pie Western is set in Australia, especially theAustralian Outback or theAustralian Bush.[4] The genre borrows from US traditions.
The Tracker is an archetype in this form of Australian Western, with signature scenes of harsh desert environments, and exploration of the themes of rough justice, exploitation of the Aboriginals, and the thirst for justice at all costs. Others in this category includeRangle River (1936),Kangaroo,The Kangaroo Kid (1950),The Sundowners (1960),Quigley Down Under (1990),Ned Kelly (1970),The Man from Snowy River (1982),The Proposition,Lucky Country, andSweet Country.[5]
Mystery Road is an example of a modern Australian Western, andMad Max has inspired many futurist dystopian examples of the Australian Western such asThe Rover.
Manyblaxploitation films, particularly ones involvingFred Williamson, have incorporated a Western setting within them. They are often characterized by excessive violence, stilted dialog, and macho heroes. Examples includeSoul Soldier (1970),Buck and the Preacher (1972),The Legend of Nigger Charley (1972),The Soul of Nigger Charley (1973),Thomasine & Bushrod (1974),Boss Nigger (1975),Adiós Amigo (1975), andPosse (1993).[6][7]
Charro Westerns, often featuring musical stars, as well as action, have been a standard feature ofMexican cinema since the 1930s. In the 1930s and 1940s, these were typically films about horsemen in rural Mexican society, displaying a set of cultural concerns very different from the Hollywood metanarrative, but the overlap between "charro" movies and Westerns became more apparent in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Some examples areIsmael Rodríguez'sLos Hermanos del Hierro (1961),Jorge Fons'sCinco Mil Dólares de Recompensa, andArturo Ripstein'sTiempo de morir. The most important isAlberto Mariscal, great author ofEl tunco Maclovio,Todo por nada,Los marcados,El juez de la soga, andLa chamuscada.[8][9]
The Western is a popular genre in the Asian film industry.[10]: 1 Examples of the Chinese Western genre includeMillionaires Express (1986),Let the Bullets Fly (2010) andOnce Upon a Time in China and America (1997).
This subgenre is imitative in style to mock, comment on, or trivialize the Western genre's established traits, subjects, auteurs' styles, or some other target by means of humorous, satiric, or ironic imitation or parody. A prime example of comedy Western includesThe Paleface (1948), which makes a satirical effort to "send up Owen Wister's novelThe Virginian and all the cliches of the Western from the fearless hero to the final shootout on Main Street".The Paleface "features a cowardly hero known as "Painless" Peter Potter (Bob Hope), an inept dentist, who often entertains the notion that he is a crack sharpshooter and accomplished Indian fighter".[11]
Other examples include:
Contemporary Western (or neo-Westerns or urban Westerns) have contemporary settings and use Old West themes, archetypes, and motifs, such as a rebellious antihero, open plains and desert landscapes, or gunfights. This also includes the post-Western, with modern settings and "the cowboy cult" that involve the audience's feelings and understanding of Western movies.[13] This subgenre often features Old West-type characters struggling with displacement in a "civilized" world that rejects their outdated brand of justice. Some contemporary Westerns take place in theAmerican West and reveal the progression of the Old West mentality into the late 20th and early 21st centuries; but the genre is not limited to the traditional American West setting.Coogan's Bluff andMidnight Cowboy are examples of urban Westerns set in New York City.[13]: 148–149
Typical themes of the neo-Western are the lack of rules, with morals guided by the character's or audience's instincts of right and wrong rather than by governance, characters searching for justice, and characters feeling remorse, connecting the neo-Western to the broaderWestern genre.[14] Other conventions of the genre include displays of competence, which in turn is measured in acts of violence.[15]
Beginning in the postwar era, radio dramas such asTales of the Texas Rangers (1950–1952), withJoel McCrea, a contemporary detective drama set in Texas, featured many of the characteristics of traditional Westerns.[16] In this period, post-Western precursors to the modern neo-Western films began to appear, such asNicholas Ray'sThe Lusty Men (1952) andJohn Sturges'sBad Day at Black Rock (1955).[17]: 56 Examples of the modern "first phase" of neo-Westerns include films such asLonely Are the Brave (1962) andHud (1963).[17]: 324 The popularity of the subgenre has been resurgent since the release ofJoel and Ethan Coen'sNo Country for Old Men (2007).[14]
The neo-Western subgenre can also be seen in modern American television shows such asBreaking Bad,[18]Justified,[19] andYellowstone.[20]
TheBollywood filmSholay (1975) was often referred to as a "curry Western".[21] A more accurate genre label for the film is the "dacoit Western", as it combines the conventions of Indiandacoit films such asMother India (1957) andGunga Jumna (1961) with those of spaghetti Westerns.Sholay spawned its own genre of "dacoit Western" films in Bollywood during the 1970s.[22]
The first Western films made in India –Kalam Vellum (1970, Tamil),Mosagallaku Mosagadu (1971, Telugu),Ganga (1972, Tamil), andJakkamma (1972, Tamil) – were based on classic Westerns.Thazhvaram (1990), the Malayalam film directed byBharathan and written by noted writerM. T. Vasudevan Nair, perhaps most resembles the spaghetti Westerns in terms of production and cinematic techniques. Earlier spaghetti Westerns laid the groundwork for such films asAdima Changala (1971) starringPrem Nazir, a hugely popular zapata spaghetti Western film in Malayalam, andSholay (1975)Khote Sikkay (1973) andThai Meethu Sathiyam (1978) are notable curry Westerns.Kodama Simham (1990), a Telugu action film, starringChiranjeevi andMohan Babu, was one more addition to the Indo Western genre that fared well at the box office. It was also the first South Indian movie to be dubbed in English asHunters of the Indian Treasure.[23]
Takkari Donga (2002), starring Telugu actorMahesh Babu, was applauded by critics, but was average at box office.Quick Gun Murugun (2009), an Indian comedy film that spoofs Indian Western movies, is based on a character created for television promotions at the time of the launch of the music network Channel [V] in 1994, which had cult following.[24]Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam (2010), a Western adventure comedy film, based on cowboy movies and paying homages to the John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, andJaishankar, was made in Tamil.Laal Kaptaan(2019) is an IndoWestern starringSaif Ali Khan, which is set during the rise of theBritish Empire in India.
The documentary Western is a subgenre of Westerns that explore the nonfiction elements of the historical and contemporaryAmerican West. Between 1894 and 1899, Edison's early use of film included several examples of documentaries that introduced Western characters and settings. Among them wereParade of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. His work showcased Native American ceremonial dance films such asEagle Dance andIndian Day School, working cowboys inBranding Cattle, and scenic attractions such asRoyal Gorge andCoaches Going to Cinnabar from Yellowstone Park.[25]
Ken Burns'sThe West is an example of a series based upon a historical storyline, whereas films such asCowboys: A Documentary Portrait provide a nonfiction portrayal of modern working cowboys in the contemporary West.
The 1971 filmZachariah starringJohn Rubinstein,Don Johnson, andPat Quinn, was billed as the "first electric Western".[26] The film featured multiple performing rock bands in an otherwiseAmerican West setting.[26]
Zachariah featured appearances and music supplied by rock groups from the 1970s, including theJames Gang[26] andCountry Joe and the Fish as "The Cracker Band".[26] FiddlerDoug Kershaw had a musical cameo[26] as doesElvin Jones as a gunslinging drummer named Job Cain.[26]
Theindependent filmHate Horses starringDominique Swain,Ron Thompson, andPaul Dooley billed itself as the "second electric Western".[27]
TheepicWestern is a subgenre of the Western that emphasizes the story of the American Old West on a grand scale.[28]: 124 Many epic Westerns are set during a turbulent time, especially a war, as in Sergio Leone'sThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), set during the American Civil War,[29]: 193 or Sam Peckinpah'sThe Wild Bunch (1969), set during the Mexican Revolution.[30] One of the grandest films in this genre is Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968), which shows many operatic conflicts centered on control of a town while using wide-scale shots ofMonument Valley locations against a broad running-time.[31][29]: 195
In the silent film era,The Covered Wagon (1923) withJ. Warren Kerrigan, was the first epic Western filmed entirely on location.[29]: 76 Another silent epic wasThe Iron Horse (1924) withGeorge O'Brien.[28]: 136
Other notable examples includeDuel in the Sun (1946)[28]: 127 withJoseph Cotten andGregory Peck,The Searchers (1956) withJohn Wayne,Giant (1956) withElizabeth Taylor andJames Dean,The Big Country (1958) with Gregory Peck andCharlton Heston,Cimarron (1960) withGlenn Ford,How the West Was Won (1962) withJames Stewart andHenry Fonda (amongmany others),Custer of the West (1967) withRobert Shaw,Duck, You Sucker! (1971) withRod Steiger andJames Coburn,Heaven's Gate (1980) withIsabelle Huppert,Thazhvaram (1990) withMohanlal,Dances with Wolves (1990) withKevin Costner,The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) withBrad Pitt,Django Unchained (2012) withJamie Foxx,The Revenant (2015) withLeonardo DiCaprio, andHorizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024).
Euro-Westerns are Western-genre films made in Western Europe. The term can sometimes include the spaghetti Western subgenre. One example of a Euro-Western is the Anglo-Spanish filmThe Savage Guns (1961). Several Euro-Western films, nicknamed sauerkraut Westerns[32] because they were made in Germany and shot inYugoslavia, were derived from stories by novelistKarl May, and werefilm adaptations of May's work. One of the most popular German Western franchises was theWinnetou series, which featured a Native AmericanApache hero in the lead role. Also inFinland, only a few Western films have been made, the most notable of which could be the 1971 low-budget comedyThe Unhanged, directed by, written by, and starringSpede Pasanen.
Some new Euro-Westerns emerged in the 2010s, includingKristian Levring'sThe Salvation,Martin Koolhoven'sBrimstone, andAndreas Prochaska'sThe Dark Valley.
Exploitation Western is a subgenre of theExploitation film, a genre characterized by "exploiting" lurid and graphic content throughout 1960s and 1970s up to the early 1980s. Examples of exploitation Western films includeSoldier Blue (1970),Cain's Cutthroats (1971),Cut-Throats Nine (1972) andKid Vengeance (1977).
Fantasy Westerns mixed infantasy settings and themes, and may include fantasy mythology as background. Some famous examples areStephen King'sThe Stand andThe Dark Tower series of novels, theVertigo comics seriesPreacher, andKeiichi Sigsawa's light novel series,Kino's Journey, illustrated byKouhaku Kuroboshi.
Florida Westerns, also known as cracker Westerns, are set in Florida during theSecond Seminole War. An example isDistant Drums (1951) starringGary Cooper.
Gaucho Westerns are films set in the 18th century in South America'spampas following stories ofgauchos, cowhands and swashbucklers getting into adventures akin to the cowboys portrayed in American movies of the era. Notable examples of gaucho Westerns includeNobleza gaucha (1915),The Gaucho (1927),The Gaucho War (1942),Way of a Gaucho (1952),Savage Pampas (1966),Don Segundo Sombra (1969),The Ardor (2014) andThe Settlers (2023). An example of a gaucho neo-Western would beThe Ones From Below (2023).[33]
According to the naming conventions after spaghetti Western, in Greece they are also referred to as "fasolada Westerns" (Greek: φασολάδα = bean soup, i.e. one of the national dishes of Greece). Notable examples areBlood on the Land (1966), which was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,[34] andBullets don't come back (1967).[35][36]
The horror Western subgenre has roots in films such asCurse of the Undead (1959),Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1965), andBilly the Kid vs. Dracula (1966), which depicts the legendary outlawBilly the Kid fighting against the notorious vampire. Another example isThe Ghoul Goes West, an unproducedEd Wood film to starBela Lugosi asDracula in the Old West.[37] Newer examples include the filmsNear Dark (1987) directed byKathryn Bigelow, which tells the story about a human falling in love with avampire,From Dusk till Dawn (1996) byRobert Rodriguez deals with outlaws battling vampires across the border,Vampires (1998) byJohn Carpenter, which tells about a group of vampires and vampire hunters looking for an ancient relic in the west,Ravenous (1999), which deals with cannibalism at a remote US army outpost;The Burrowers (2008), about a band of trackers who are stalked by the titular creatures; andAbraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012).Undead Nightmare (2010), an expansion toRed Dead Redemption (2010) is an example of a video game in this genre, telling the tale of azombie outbreak in theOld West.Bone Tomahawk (2015) received wide critical acclaim for its chilling tale of cannibalism, but like many other movies in the genre, it was not a commercial success.Jordan Peele's filmNope (2022) combines horror and science fiction with a neo-Western lens. It depicts two rancher siblings attempting to capture evidence of a UFO terrorizing their remote desert ranch.
A generic term for a Western which is combined with another genre such ashorror,film noir ormartial arts.[38]Dynamite Warrior is a martial arts fantasy Western set in Thailand.
While many of these mash-ups (e.g.,Billy Jack (1971) and its sequelThe Trial of Billy Jack (1974)) are cheap exploitation films, others are more serious dramas such as theKung Fu TV series, which ran from 1972 to 1975. Comedy examples include theJackie Chan andOwen Wilson collaborationShanghai Noon (2000). Further subdivisions of this subgenre include Westerns based onninjas andsamurais (incorporatingsamurai cinema themes), such asRed Sun (1971) withCharles Bronson,Alain Delon, andToshiro Mifune.
There have been manymusical films with a Western setting and many musicians have appeared in Western films, sometimes in non-musical roles. SingersDoris Day andHoward Keel worked together inCalamity Jane, a huge success on release which remains one of the most popular Western musicals. On the other hand, croonerDean Martin and pop singerRicky Nelson played the parts of gunfighters inRio Bravo, which is not a musical, although they did combine to sing a couple of songs in the middle of the film while they were guarding the jailhouse.[39]
A subgenre that highlights Mexicannarcoculture and portrays drug trafficking andtraffickers (real or imagined).[40] Narco Westerns are typically set inNorthern Mexico, the Southwest United States, oron the border between the two.[41] A relatively new genre, Hilario Peña states the narco Western is the Western for the "modern age," and that "instead of a horse, the character drives a truck, and instead of fightingApaches, the character must defeat criminals and thefederal police in the state ofSinaloa."[42][43] Examples of narco Westerns include the American television showsBreaking Bad andBetter Call Saul, as well as the filmsMiss Bala,El Infierno andHeli.[44][41] They may also come in the form of literature ortelenovelas. Narco Westerns often feature narratives ofpersonal identity, usually the struggles of a cowboy-likeanti-hero, while focusing on themes of life and death, love and loss, greed and desire, and hope and pain. Dry ordark humor is sometimes used. Most notably, Narco Westerns frequently showcase graphic portrayals of addiction, violence, andnarcoterrorism.[45][41]
The Northern genre is a subgenre of Westerns taking place inAlaska or Western Canada. Examples include several versions of theRex Beach novel,The Spoilers (including 1930'sThe Spoilers, with Gary Cooper, and 1942'sThe Spoilers, with Marlene Dietrich,Randolph Scott, and Wayne);The Far Country (1954) with James Stewart;North to Alaska (1960) with Wayne;Death Hunt (1981) withCharles Bronson; andThe Grey Fox (1983) withRichard Farnsworth.
Ostern or Eastern[46] films were Western-style films produced in theSoviet Union and Socialist Eastern Europe. They were popular in Communist Eastern European countries and were a particular favorite ofJoseph Stalin. Osterns are typically divided between "Easterns", which sought to portray an Eastern European analogue to the Wild West set in frontier regions across Eurasia, and "Red Westerns", which were set in the American West but sought to subvert the ideas ofmanifest destiny and other narratives typical of Hollywood Westerns in favor ofMarxist ideals ofproletarian internationalism andclass consciousness.
Red Western films usually portrayed theAmerican Indians sympathetically, as oppressed people fighting for their rights, in contrast to American Westerns of the time, which frequently portrayed them as villains. Osterns frequently featuredGypsy orTurkic people in the role of the Indians, due to the shortage of authentic Native Americans in Eastern Europe.
In "DEFA-Indianerfilme" series of films, produced in theGDR,Gojko Mitic portrayed righteous, kind-hearted, and charming Indianchiefs (e.g., inDie Söhne der großen Bärin (1966), directed byJosef Mach).[47] He became honorary chief of theSioux tribe when he visited the United States, in the 1990s, and the television crew accompanying him showed the tribe of one of his films. American actor and singerDean Reed, an expatriate who lived inEast Germany, also starred in several Ostern films.
"Eastern" films typically replaced theWild West setting with by anEastern setting in thesteppes of theCaucasus. Western stock characters, such as "cowboys andIndians", were also replaced byCaucasian stock characters, such asbandits andharems. A famous example of the genre wasWhite Sun of the Desert, which waspopular in the Soviet Union.[48]
Pornographic Westerns use the Old West as a background for stories primarily focused on erotica. The three major examples of the porn Western film areRuss Meyer'snudie-cutieWild Gals of the Naked West (1962), and the hardcoreA Dirty Western (1975) andSweet Savage (1979).Sweet Savage starredAldo Ray, a veteran actor who had appeared in traditional Westerns, in a non-sex role. Among videogames,Custer's Revenge (1982) is an infamous example, considered to be one of theworst video games of all time.
Film criticPhilip French includes a subgenre of "pre-Western" to describe films that include themes and characters reminiscent of cowboy pictures but are not strictly regarded as Westerns. This includes films with an early nineteenth century frontier setting with characters likeJames Fenimore Cooper'sNatty Bumppo. It includes examples likeThe Alamo (1960) andDrums Along the Mohawk (1939).[49]
First used in the publicity of the filmTampopo, the term "ramen Western" also is a play on words using a national dish. The term is used to describe Western style media set in Asia. Examples includeThe Drifting Avenger,Break the Chain,Millionaires Express,East Meets West,Tears of the Black Tiger andDynamite Warrior,Let the Bullets Fly,Unforgiven,Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts,Buffalo Boys,The Good, the Bad and the Weird,Golden Kamuy andSukiyaki Western Django.[50]
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Western was reinvented with the revisionist Western.[51] After the early 1960s, many American filmmakers began to question and change many traditional elements of Westerns, and to make revisionist Westerns that encouraged audiences to question the simple hero-versus-villain dualism and the morality of using violence to test one's character or to prove oneself right. This is shown in Sam Peckinpah'sThe Wild Bunch (1969). One major revision was the increasingly positive representation of Native Americans, who had been treated as "savages" in earlier films. Examples of such revisionist Westerns includeRide the High Country (1962),Richard Harris'A Man Called Horse (1970),Little Big Man (1970),Soldier Blue (1970),Man in the Wilderness (1971),The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976),Dances with Wolves (1990),Unforgiven (1992),The Quick and the Dead (1995), andDead Man (1995). A television miniseries,Godless (2016), also fits into this category. A few earlier revisionist Westerns gave women more powerful roles, such asWestward the Women (1951) starringRobert Taylor. Another earlier work encompassed all these features,The Last Wagon (1956). In it,Richard Widmark played a white man raised byComanches and persecuted byWhites, withFelicia Farr andSusan Kohner playing young women forced into leadership roles.
The science fiction Western places science fiction elements within a traditional Western setting.[52] Early examples areserial films suchThe Phantom Empire (1935) andGhost Patrol (1936) which incorporated supernatural figures ofscience fiction fantasy into aWestern setting.[52] An example of cross-over genre, the fantasy science fiction WesternThe Valley of Gwangi (1969) displayed cowboys fighting dinosaurs, a trend that took hold during the 1960s.John Jakes'sSix Gun Planet takes place on a future planet colonized by people consciously seeking to recreate the Old West (with cowboys riding robot horses...). The movieWestworld (1973) and its sequelFutureworld (1976),Back to the Future Part III (1990),Wild Wild West (1999), andCowboys & Aliens (2011), and the television seriesWestworld (2016, based on the movie).
This subgenre also encompasses thepost-apocalyptic Western, an offshoot of the Western genre with themes of lawlessness and survival, and often include an alienated lone hero trying to make sense out of the chaos.[53]: 2 Examples includeThe Postman, theMad Max series, andThe Rover.[54][55][56] Science fiction Westerns may also incorporatesteampunk elements, giving rise to thesteampunk Western.[57]
A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypalcowboy hero of early Western films.[58][59] It references real-worldcampfire sideballads in theAmerican frontier, the original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, hardships, and dangers encountered while pushing cattle for miles up the trails and across the prairies.[60]
The space Western is a subgenre of science fiction which uses the themes andtropes of Westerns within science-fiction stories.[52] Subtle influences may include exploration of lawless frontiers indeep space, while more overt influences may feature literal cowboys in outer space who useray guns and ride robotic horses. Examples include the American cartoon seriesBraveStarr (which aired original episodes from September 1987 to February 1988), the Japanesemanga seriesTrigun (debuted in 1995), the Japaneseanime seriesCowboy Bebop (debuted in 1997), the American television seriesFirefly (created byJoss Whedon in 2002), and the filmsBattle Beyond the Stars (1980), which is a remake ofThe Magnificent Seven;Outland (1981), which is a remake ofHigh Noon; andSerenity (2005, based on theFirefly TV series). The classic Western genre has also been a major influence on science-fiction films such as the originalStar Wars movie of 1977, with 2018'sSolo: A Star Wars Story and 2019'sThe Mandalorian more directly featuring Western tropes.Gene Roddenberry's concept of the TV showStar Trek was a "Wagon Train to the stars".[61]
During the 1960s and 1970s, a revival of the Western emerged in Italy with the "spaghetti Westerns", also known as "Italo-Westerns". The most famous of them isThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the third film of theDollars Trilogy. Many of these films are low-budget affairs, shot in locations (for example, the Spanish desertregion of Almería) chosen for their inexpensive crew and production costs, as well as their similarity to landscapes of the Southwestern United States. Spaghetti Westerns were characterized by the presence of more action and violence than the Hollywood Westerns. Also, the protagonists usually acted out of more selfish motives (money or revenge being the most common) than in the classical Westerns.[62] Some spaghetti Westerns demythologized the American Western tradition, and some films from the genre are considered revisionist Westerns. For example, the Dollars Trilogy itself has much different tropes compared to standard Westerns, demythologizing the Sheriff figure (inA Fistful of Dollars andFor a Few Dollars More), putting both theUnion and theConfederacy in ambiguously moral positions (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), and not featuring Native Americans (except for a brief mention inA Fistful of Dollars).
The Western films directed by Sergio Leone were felt by some to have a different tone from the Hollywood Westerns.[63] Veteran American actors Charles Bronson, Lee Van Cleef, and Clint Eastwood[63] became famous by starring in spaghetti Westerns, although the films also provided a showcase for other noted actors such asJames Coburn,Henry Fonda,Rod Steiger,Klaus Kinski,Jason Robards,Gian Maria Volonte andEli Wallach. Eastwood, previously the lead in the television seriesRawhide, unexpectedly found himself catapulted into the forefront of the film industry by Leone'sA Fistful of Dollars (the first in the Dollars Trilogy).[63]
The weird Western combines elements of the classic Western with those of other genres, particularly fantasy, horror and science fiction.[64] This subgenre includes the steampunk Western subvariant, which incorporates theretrofuturistic elements ofsteampunk.[65]The Wild Wild West television series, television movies, and 1999 film adaptation blend the Western withsteampunk.[66] TheJonah Hex franchise also blends the Western with superhero elements. The filmWestern Religion (2015), by writer and directorJames O'Brien, introduces the devil into a traditional Wild West setting. TheOld Man Logan (2008–2009) graphic novel combines the elements of superhero and post apocalyptic fiction with Westerns.
another gun-happy neo-western, 'Justified' has been true to its Elmore Leonard roots
While Hollywood created a sanitized version of the singing cowboy, in fact, cowboy songs and verse recitation were genuinely a part of cowboy life. In his introduction to the Library's Cowboy Poetry Day, Hal Cannon traced cowboy poetry back to the 1860s and 1870s, the early days of the trail drive, when cowboys entertained themselves by reciting verse around the campfire and the chuck-wagon... [Howard] Thorp described the themes of cowboy songs as "things cowboys liked, things they hated, incidents of the here and reflections on the hereafter."