Do young people enjoy westerns?

Cowboys and Aliens?

 

I really enjoyed Unforgiven when it came out.

 

I usually hanker for a western in the summer. My recent choice was The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Great replay value for me. Next up will be Open Range, methinks.

 

Open Range is a great flick. But Duvall's greatest western will always be Lonesome Dove.

 

I'm glad a few are still made though.

 

Now that's a classic.

 

Much preferred this to Django.

 

I liked the Westen part in John Carter.

 

A year or so ago a 70mm print of The Wild Bunch was touring the U.S., and I went to the showing in NYC. There were many more people in their 20s in the audience than there were old fans like me. At the end of the movie, the audience broke into a standing ovation.

Of course, that might be the greatest Western of all time, but still I think given the right movie shown properly in a theater, yes, young people do enjoy Westerns.

 

I ended up watching part of it last night, after my post.

 

The few westerns that are being made shows they don't since movies and tv shows are generally aimed at the young.

 

That was absurd; for those who didn't see it, the reviewer was complaining that there were few women and no actors "of color" in lead roles in Dunkirk.

 

Truthfully, I started that film at least half a dozen times, but always fell asleep.

It wasn't until I finally watched Fistfull of Dollars and A Few Dollars More, that I finally got through GBU.

My favorite was A Few Dollars More.

 

My Name is Pecos?

 

There have been several great Westerns and Western hybrids made over the last 30 -40 years (though can't think of much outstanding on television except for Westworld, Lonesome Dove, Deadwood and Brett Maverick), but they're clearly not the ready earners they were in the 5os and 60s. That position seems to have been taken up by cheap horror films of the "A group of young people go camping in the woods/stay in an abandoned house/get lost on a road journey" type. I watched 3:10 to Yuma, and while I enjoyed it, the action seemed to ramped up for a generation of viewers who expect that sort of thing - unlike, say, Appaloosa or Seraphim Falls. Looking back at old TV Westerns, I enjoyed them as a kid, but they look real hokey no (except for Maverick, of course...). As for the genre itself, many of my top 100 movies would be Westerns - My Darling Clementine, The Searchers, Shane, The Naked Spur, The Ox-Bow Incident, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, the Bad, The Ugly, The Wild Bunch, Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Gunfighter, High Noon, Red River, Rio Bravo, Fort Apache, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Hombre, Hud, Tell Them Willie Boy is Here, One Eyed Jacks, 3:10 to Yuma (the original); She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Unforgiven, Wyatt Earp, Ride the High Country, The Man from Laramie, Pursued, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Assassination of Jesse James, Little Big Man etc etc. Having said that, I have to admit that I find it a lot easier to watch a low grade noir/crime film than a low grade Western - you know, the Audie Murphy/George Montgomery type - I'm not even going to get involved in the Gene Autry-type stuff.

 

Toy Story has a cowboy in it Woody/Tom Hanks, that about as good as you'll get with "Cowboy "appeal with younger set.

 

I kinda thought Nick Cave's 'Proposition' might bring in younger viewers because his name was attached to it. But it died, like so many other good non action movies every year.

 

John Hurt really shines in this.

 

What's wrong with full robot frontal nudity?

 

I really do not like them. I am 40. I didn't like them when I was a kid and I don't like them now. I have no problem if they have a western theme such as Django Unchained and so on but out and out old fashioned westerns are a no go for me!!

 

I know this thread is about young folks, but I'm 52, and "Bonanza" was still a top show when I was a very young kid. I couldn't stand westerns then, and I still can't! Most of my friends liked "The Rifleman" reruns, but I didn't understand that kind of "dad-worship" either.

I do think westerns were a generational thing, but not for me! I remember seeing "The Shootist" at the drive-in as a 12 year old (because my parents wanted to see the last John Wayne movie) and I was so bored I read the Beatles book I brought along with a flashlight in the back seat! That kind of macho statement and barroom fighting never appealed to me. I still roll my eyes up when there's nothing but westerns on the digital retro tv channels....

 

I didn't like westerns as a kid but have become more of a fan as I've gotten older. It started about 10 years ago when my stepson gave me a boxed set of three John Wayne movies. After watching The Searchers I realized there was a whole world of cinema that I hadn't really explored, one that could sometimes be more complex and ambiguous than I ever would have thought. I won't say I've been devouring westerns but I've added them to my mix and I think my world is a bit better for it.

 

They'd have to know about them before they could care about them.

 

The Long Riders was the last Western to stick in my mind. Maybe a bit gimmicky with the actor brothers, but the feeling with the great Ry Cooder sound track, that I still play today. Walter Hill got this one right.

 

Still a potential for new ones. Old ones pre 1980 Westerns the pc factor /violence could offend a younger audience. I wonder if they investigated Shane after the clip in Logan?