tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24904037.post4686995144557222167..comments2024-01-11T04:57:37.530-04:00Comments on The Furious D Show: Hollywood Babble On & On #849: Riding Back From The Sunset...Furious Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07934529688753875751noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24904037.post-69824201909537966932011-12-09T12:52:37.016-04:002011-12-09T12:52:37.016-04:00You guys are looney. You want more realistic econo...You guys are looney. You want more realistic economies in your Westerns? Westerns are literally packed with economic factors and have been since the start. Evil ranchers driving out dirt farmers. Evil railroads buying up land. Evil robbers attacking trains. Penniless people moving West to seek their fortune because of the bad conditions in the East. Desperate people hoping to find gold, or silver, or turning to crime. If ever there was a genre in need of "more economy" it's not the Western, which has been practically economy-driven in its plotlines forever. As for blacks - they appear in plenty of westerns, again since the 1920s. No one knows how many blacks served as cowboys but it's only latter day New Historians that think it was a third. We have plenty of group pictures of cowboys and ranch hands from the old west and it is nothing like 1/3. It probably differed from state to state as well - probably way more blacks in Texas than Montana, for instance. <br /><br />The Western is fine as it is and was. It is a genre which can be subverted and yet remain strong, as happened in Unforgiven and Destry Rides Again. It can have the exact same characters be good guys and bad guys (cf. Judge Roy Bean and The Westerner) and remain strong. <br /><br />It can support Marxist, conservative, liberal, and even fascist interpretations. What a genre! It can range from psychodrama (High Noon) to completely mindless (The Wild Bunch). <br /><br />I doubt it will ever make a giant comeback or rule the roost the way it did back in the 1950s-60s, anymore than cop movies will ever be as dominant as in the 70s, but I predict we will keep seeing occasional Westerns for the rest of our lives and those of our childrens.sandy petersenhttp://barkinglizards.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24904037.post-8013673149822263552011-12-09T01:08:06.713-04:002011-12-09T01:08:06.713-04:00You guys haven't heard of Quentin Tarantino...You guys haven't heard of Quentin Tarantino's <i>Django Unchained</i>?ILDCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24904037.post-9878488710825488902011-12-08T13:56:13.481-04:002011-12-08T13:56:13.481-04:00To add to the discussion, not only were 1/3 of the...To add to the discussion, not only were 1/3 of the cowboys black, but they also made up about 1/3 of Federal Marshals. If there's not a good story to come out of that, I'll eat my stetson.<br /><br />Another thing I don't really see acknowledged in many Westerns is that the USA was in the midst of an economic Depression as bad, if not worse, than the 1930s. That's why so many went west, because there was literally nothing back east for them.<br /><br />And yes Rainforest Giant, they were really young when they went West. Billy the Kid was dead by 22, and people considered old timers were in their 30s.<br /><br />Also Billy the Kid was from 5 Points in New York City, but he's never portrayed with a New York accent. Why is that? O_oFurious Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07934529688753875751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24904037.post-63707122008541655252011-12-08T11:36:31.590-04:002011-12-08T11:36:31.590-04:00Gary,
One thing we need to remember about the We...Gary, <br /><br />One thing we need to remember about the West is that the average age was very young. It was a young man's area and time.<br /><br />"Open Range" could have been cast in a retirement center.Rainforest Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05240761465708154282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24904037.post-165206156721348442011-12-08T11:32:17.422-04:002011-12-08T11:32:17.422-04:00I grew up on Westerns. One of the first movies my...I grew up on Westerns. One of the first movies my wife and I went to see was "The Road Warrior" (Post-Apocalypse Western)and "Outlands". We loved "Deadwood" and "Justified". We are taping "Hell on Wheels" and will watch that when we have finished this seasons, "Walking Dead".<br /><br />My daughter's favorite movie was and is "Eldorado" she's loved that movie since she was eight or nine. She used to watch that to go to sleep to every night.<br /><br />Tom Selleck made a great Western, "Quigley Down Under", which should have a second part. Maybe "Quigley Up North" with Selleck in Canada or Alaska.<br /><br />A "Kung Fu" style western could be made with a Samurai or Yamabushi from Japan maybe a "47 Ronins" type deal.<br /><br />"Family" stuff could be made with a "Little House on the Prairie" and "Bonanza" type of show.<br /><br />The problem with most Westerns is that Native Americans, Mexicans, and other minorities have to be upstanding, noble, and above reproach (at least on network TV). That means that they get no 'villain' parts, no deep story lines involving minorities, and a mostly white cast with only occasional token minority cast members. <br /><br />Another problem you'll never see as nuanced is the Civil War divide. Southerners will almost always be played as neo-Nazis, rednecks, racists, inbred hillbilly types, or worse repentant versions of the above or some combination of the above. No men from the South will be honest characters they will all be cardboard cutouts. <br /><br />There's room for lots of storytelling in the West. We just need to find good writers and good directors. Get Walter Hill a good editor and maybe he can produce something.Rainforest Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05240761465708154282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24904037.post-73493739261357687592011-12-07T19:24:36.672-04:002011-12-07T19:24:36.672-04:00With these new westerns, I would like to see a mor...With these new westerns, I would like to see a more accurate portrayal of the era. For one old time racism left out one fact of the old west. A good portion of Cowboys were black about 1/3. You have to remember the days of the old west happened after the civil war. We have newly freed slaves who had nothing to begin with and their former masters who lost everything going west to start anew.<br /><br />That alone would make a good concept for a western.<br /><br />Old West is basically our homegrown mythology that and comic books.Gary T. Burnaskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16498841646544658878noreply@blogger.com