Why did Westerns become so unpopular?

Wales' story arc was a born out of a thirst for revenge against Terrill and his Redlegs for the murder of his family. When he killed Terrill, it essentially took the fight out of him.

 

There's a joke there,I'm sure,but it went over my head. That Oct.,Butch Cassidy earned over $100 million on a $6 million investment(largely because 20th Century Fox didn't back it properly and if it wasn't for Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My head, Fox would have been right. It was #1 for the year with just three months release,not like these days when 3 days is the norm for shelf life. Some roadshow films were around for a year. Woodstock,the film,came out in 1970 but second run palaces were still playing it into 1971.

 

If you want to see how Westerns died,via TV,just turn on the broadcast subchannels that clog up weekday mornings and entire weekends with so much of it. Go through the 800,000 episodes of Gunsmoke and tell me when you have had enough.It is believed that there were more killings on TV Westerns than all the War shows. Add to that,the B Westerns that show up in crummy PD prints that clogged up many a cable channel trying to make through the night in the early days till exercise machine ads and Jesus paid the overnight bills.

 

Finally got round to watching Appaloosa last night.

Have to say not impressed. Felt like I had seen it all before, especially the kind of love triangle bit. Plus was annoyed the female lead was just there as a lazy pressure/plot point.

I guess it was based on a western novel so that gives it a small excuse. Overall a waste of talent that one.

Oh yeah also got to watch Silverado again at the weekend. Not really paid close attention last time I watched it. This time however I got the impression this was meant to be at least 30 minutes longer. The editing is a bit odd/disjointed in places. Characters ride off to do something important and then appear in the next scene in a totally different location and unrelated situation. I did read that most of Rosanna Arquette's bits were cut. Still fun to watch though.

 

I just picked that up at Barnes and Noble for $4.99.... Haven't watched it as of yet though...

 

Appaloosa's long been a favorite of mine! Saw a behind the scenes segment and the producers paid special attention to authenticity and it comes across on the screen. A labor of love by all the principals, in front and behind the camera, who worked for scale or less.

 

When did Unforgiven come out?

 

1992

 

1992.

 

Shame they didn't put as much effort into the script. Western by numbers.

 

Bone Tomahawk was a stomach churner - and so dark. I wanted to enjoy it but blech, I can only take so much. I'm the kind of guy who fast forwards through the rape scenes in the original Death Wish, or Straw Dogs.

The True Grit remake, on the other hand, was just fantastic - surprised I liked it even more than the original.

I think there is at least a niche market for good westerns, Deadwood comes to mind since it had a rabid fan base. The steely-eyed good guy facing down the bad guys is classic tale, no matter what the setting.

 

A great movie, i'll have to watch it again.

 

I'd say Little Big Man and Pat Garret and Billy the Kid are probably my two favorites unless we count Jeremiah Johnson as a western.

 

And we should!

 

It's one of the top 10 films I've watched the most. Jeremiah, the Marx Bros. and Apocalypse Now.

 

Think a follow up ie; Centennial II covering the 20th Century would be pretty interesting.

 

I thought it was a perfect answer, and it makes a lot of sense!

 

video games...media.

 

When I was a kid I would watch re-runs of "Bonanza", "Gunsmoke" and "The Big Valley" every day. After a while I realized that every plot was just a modern storyline that had been adapted to fit the late 1800s. These shows weren't really "westerns". They were just regular shows with period costumes. You could take the exact plot and set it in Victorian England or the 1920s or modern times without having to change the script.

 

This is new on netflix, 4 interesting short stories
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - Wikipedia

 

Treat it like leone when you have to be patient for the story to be told. Its not leone, but just saying.

 

Chris pratt. He could do his parks & rec character.

 

Broken trail robert duvall

 

Yes, I saw it a couple months ago. No other director could have pulled that off, nor O Brother, True Grit and No Country.

 

You haven’t seen “Hostiles” yet, I take it.