Revision as of 19:43, 27 August 2013

The Revisionist Western, Modern Western or Anti-Western traces to the mid 1960s and early 1970s as a sub-genre of the Western movie. This term was used by the politicans of the time, which represented the white male dominated culture of the time. When film makers began to make movies that questioned the reality or facts presented in the popular Western genre of the day; by actually using screenplays that used history or historians that studied that time period. Of course, this did not sit well with the current power structure (white, male, wealthy) of the time, as they were reeling from the Civil Rights movement, so taking another hit against one of the most treasured tributes to the supremacy of the white man in America, had to be stopped. Though it didn't work out in the end, the strategies of McCarthyism, were used in this politically named "Revisonist History" concept. These political strategiests, not historians, coined this term to discourage movie-goers from paying to see these movies as these movies distorted the culture, society, and values of the American way of life. These movies, based on historical research, were revisionist, that is they challenged the myth. The following movies were labeled with this very political term include Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962) and The Wild Bunch (1969), Elliot Silverstein's Cat Ballou (1965), Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970) and Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller. The current movie, Django, was tagged with this label, with the current day (2013) far-right conservative political thinkers labeling it with this politically motivated designed term.

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Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page). "Beginnings of Cold War", Upper division seminar history class for major/History 1979. Discussion of term,origin and application,who and why it was being used.

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+The '''Revisionist Western''', '''Modern Western''' or '''Anti-Western''' traces to the mid [[1960s in film|1960s]] and early [[1970s in film|1970s]] as a sub-[[genre]] of the [[Western (genre)|Western]] movie. This term was used by the politicans of the time, which represented the white male dominated culture of the time. When film makers began to make movies that questioned the reality or facts presented in the popular Western genre of the day; by actually using screenplays that used history or historians that studied that time period. Of course, this did not sit well with the current power structure (white, male, wealthy) of the time, as they were reeling from the Civil Rights movement, so taking another hit against one of the most treasured tributes to the supremacy of the white man in America, had to be stopped. Though it didn't work out in the end, the strategies of McCarthyism, were used in this politically named "Revisonist History" concept. These political strategiests, not historians, coined this term to discourage movie-goers from paying to see these movies as these movies distorted the culture, society, and values of the American way of life. These movies, based on historical research, were revisionist, that is they challenged the myth. The following movies were labeled with this very political term include [[Sam Peckinpah|Sam Peckinpah's]] ''[[Ride the High Country]]'' ([[1962 in film|1962]]) and ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' ([[1969 in film|1969]]), [[Elliot Silverstein]]'s ''[[Cat Ballou]]'' (1965), [[Arthur Penn]]'s ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' ([[1970 in film|1970]]) and [[Robert Altman]]'s ''[[McCabe and Mrs. Miller]]''. The current movie, Django, was tagged with this label, with the current day (2013) far-right conservative political thinkers labeling it with this politically motivated designed term.
-The '''Revisionist Western''', '''Modern Western''' or '''Anti-Western''' traces to the mid [[1960s in film|1960s]] and early [[1970s in film|1970s]] as a sub-[[genre]] of the [[Western (genre)|Western]] movie.
-Some post-[[World War II|WWII]] 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 [[woman|women]] and more-sympathetic portrayal of [[Portrayal of Native Americans in film|Native Americans]] and [[Mexican people|Mexicans]]. Regarding power and authority, these depictions favor critical views of [[big business]], the [[American government]], masculine figures (including the [[military]] and their policies), and a turn to greater historical authenticity.
-==Hollywood revisionist Westerns==
-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 [[Culture of the United States|American society and values]] into a new genre.  The 1952 [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] holding in ''[[Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson]]'', and later, the end of the [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]] in 1968 broadened what Westerns could portray and made the revisionist Western a more viable genre. Films in this category include [[Sam Peckinpah|Sam Peckinpah's]] ''[[Ride the High Country]]'' ([[1962 in film|1962]]) and ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' ([[1969 in film|1969]]), [[Elliot Silverstein]]'s ''[[Cat Ballou]]'' (1965), [[Arthur Penn]]'s ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' ([[1970 in film|1970]]) and [[Robert Altman]]'s ''[[McCabe and Mrs. Miller]]'' ([[1971 in film|1971]]).
-Since the late 1960s, independent filmmakers have produced revisionist and [[hallucinogen]]ic films, later retroactively identified as the separate but related subgenre of "[[Acid Western]]s", that radically turn the usual trappings of the Western genre inside out to critique both [[capitalism]] and the [[counterculture]]. [[Monte Hellman]]'s ''[[The Shooting]]'' and ''[[Ride in the Whirlwind]]'' ([[1966]]), [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]]'s ''[[El Topo (1970 film)|El Topo]]'' ([[1970 in film|1970]]), [[Robert Downey Sr.]]'s ''[[Greaser's Palace]]'' ([[1972 in film|1972]]), [[Alex Cox]]'s [[Walker (film)|''Walker'']] ([[1987 in film|1987]]), and [[Jim Jarmusch]]'s ''[[Dead Man]]'' ([[1995 in film|1995]]) fall into this category.<ref name="Cineaste">{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgoth.com/~kali/onsite10.html |title=''A gun up your ass: an interview with Jim Jarmusch''|publisher=''Cineaste'' vol. 22, no. 2|date=1996-06|first=Jonathan|last=Rosenbaum}}</ref> Films made during the early 1970's are particularly noted for their hyper-realistic photography and production design.<ref>Hyper Realism in Westerns : http://www.philipbrophy.com/projects/rstff/RewrittenWesterns_C.html</ref> Notable examples, using sepia tinting and muddy rustic settings are [[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]] (1970), [[McCabe and Mrs Miller]] (1971) and [[The Culpepper Cattle Co.]] (1972).
+====
-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. [[Clint Eastwood|Eastwood's]] film ''[[The Outlaw Josey Wales]]'' ([[1976 in film|1976]]) made use of strong supporting roles for women and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]]s. The films ''[[The Long Riders]]'' ([[1980 in film|1980]]) and ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford]]'' ([[2007 in film|2007]]) are revisionist films dealing with the [[Jesse James|James gang]]. Jeffrey Wright's portrayal of "Black Confederate" Daniel Holt riding with the Missouri Bushwhackers in ''[[Ride with the Devil (film)|Ride with the Devil]]'' rewrites the stories of the [[Missouri-Kansas Border War]] and [[Lawrence Massacre]]. ''[[Unforgiven]]'' ([[1992 in film|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 [[minority group|minorities]].
+<ref></ref>
+"Beginnings of Cold War", Upper division seminar history class for major/History 1979. Discussion of term,origin and application,who and why it was being used.
-==Spaghetti Westerns==
-<!--  Commented out: [[File:OUATITW-1.jpg|thumb|200px|right|''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'', in true [[Sergio Leone]] style, ends with an extended shootout scene between Harmonica ([[Charles Bronson]]) and Frank ([[Henry Fonda]]). The film is a critique of the [[American Dream]] and Western mythology]] -->
-{{Main|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 offshoot of the Revisionist Western.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
-The [[spaghetti Western]] became the nickname, originally disparagingly, for this broad sub-genre, so named because of their common [[Italy|Italian]] background, directing, producing and financing (with occasional [[Spain|Spanish]] involvement). Originally they had in common the [[Italian language]], low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid, violent, minimalist [[cinematography]] that helped eschew (some said "de-mythologize") many of the conventions of earlier Westerns. They were often made in [[Spain]], especially [[Andalusia]], the dry ruggedness of which resembled the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]]'s. Director [[Sergio Leone]] played a seminal role in this movement, striving for greater realism in both characters and costuming. A subtle theme of the conflict between Anglo and Hispanic cultures plays through all these movies. Leone conceived of the Old West as a dirty place filled with morally ambivalent figures, and this aspect of the spaghetti Western came to be one of its universal attributes (as seen in a wide variety of these films, beginning with one of the first popular spaghetti Westerns, ''[[Gunfight at Red Sands]]'' ([[1964 in film|1964]]), and visible elsewhere in those starring John Philip Law (''[[Death Rides a Horse]]'') or [[Franco Nero]], and in the ''[[They Call Me Trinity|Trinity]]'' series.
-==Red Western==
-{{Main|Ostern}}
-{{See also|Gibanica Western}}
-The [[Ostern]], or red Western, was the [[Soviet Bloc]]'s reply to the Western, and arose in the same period as the revisionist Western. While many red Westerns concentrated on aspects of Soviet/Eastern-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 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 from the native rather than white settler viewpoint.
-''[[A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines]]'' ([[1987 in film|1987]]) was a sensitive [[satire]] on the Western film itself. It was also highly unusual in being one of the few examples in Soviet film of [[post-modernism]], and of a major film directed by a woman.
-==List of Revisionist Western films==
-{{dynamic list}}
-===Films===
-====1940s====
-* ''[[I Shot Jesse James]]'' (1949)
-====1950s====
-* ''[[Broken Arrow (1950 film)|Broken Arrow]]'' (1950)
-* ''[[High Noon]]'' (1952)
-* ''[[The Naked Spur]]'' (1953)
-* ''[[Shane (film)|Shane]]'' (1953)
-* ''[[The Man From Laramie]]'' (1955)
-* ''[[3:10 to Yuma (1957 film)|3:10 to Yuma]]'' (1957)
-* ''[[Run of the Arrow]]'' (1957)
-* ''[[Forty Guns]]'' (1957)
-====1960s====
-* ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]'' (1960)
-* ''[[Sergeant Rutledge]]'' (1960)
-* ''[[One-Eyed Jacks]]'' (1961)
-* ''[[The Misfits (film)|The Misfits]]'' (1961)
-* ''[[The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance]]'' (1962)
-* ''[[Lonely Are the Brave]]'' (1962)
-* ''[[Ride the High Country]]'' (1962)
-* ''[[Hud (film)|Hud]]'' (1963)
-* ''[[Ride in the Whirlwind]]'' (1965)
-* ''[[The Professionals (1966 film)|The Professionals]]'' (1966)
-* ''[[Hombre (film)|Hombre]]'' (1967)
-* ''[[The Shooting]]'' (1967)
-* ''[[Hang 'Em High]]'' (1968)
-* ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969)
-* ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'' (1969)
-* ''[[Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here]]'' (1969)
-* ''[[True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit]]'' (1969)
-====1970s====
-* ''[[Soldier Blue]]'' (1970)
-* ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' (1970)
-* ''[[El Topo (1970 film)|El Topo (The Mole)]]'' (1970)
-* ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]'' (1971)
-* ''[[The Hired Hand]]'' (1971)
-* ''[[Bad Company (1972 film)|Bad Company]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[Ulzana's Raid]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[Chato's Land]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[Dirty Little Billy]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[The Culpepper Cattle Co.]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[Buck and the Preacher]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[Jeremiah Johnson (film)|Jeremiah Johnson]]'' (1972)
-* ''[[High Plains Drifter]]'' (1973)
-* ''[[Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid]]'' (1973)
-* ''[[The Master Gunfighter]]'' (1975)
-* ''[[The Shootist]]'' (1976)
-* ''[[The Missouri Breaks]]'' (1976)
-* ''[[Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson]]'' (1976)
-* ''[[The Outlaw Josey Wales]]'' (1976)
-====1980s====
-* ''[[Heaven's Gate (film)|Heaven's Gate]]'' (1980)
-* ''[[Pale Rider]]'' (1985)
-====1990s====
-* ''[[Dances with Wolves]]'' (1990)
-* ''[[Unforgiven]]'' (1992)
-* ''[[Posse (1993 film)|Posse]]'' (1993)
-* ''[[The Ballad of Little Jo]]'' (1993)
-* ''[[Geronimo: An American Legend]]'' (1993)
-* ''[[Tombstone (film)|Tombstone]]'' (1993)
-* ''[[Dead Man]]'' (1995)
-* ''[[Ravenous]]'' (1999)
-* ''[[Ride with the Devil (film)|Ride with the Devil]]'' (1999)
-====2000s====
-* ''[[Tears of the Black Tiger]]'' (2000)
-* ''[[The Missing]]'' (2003)
-* ''[[Open Range]]'' (2003)
-* ''[[Ned Kelly (2003 film)|Ned Kelly]]'' (2003)
-* ''[[Blueberry (film)|Blueberry]]'' (2004)
-* ''[[The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada]]'' (2005)
-* ''[[The Proposition]]'' (2005)
-* ''[[Down in the Valley (film)|Down in the Valley]]'' (2006)
-* ''[[Appaloosa (film)|Appaloosa]]'' (2005)
-* ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' (2005)
-* ''[[Broken Trail]]'' (2006)
-* ''[[Seraphim Falls]]'' (2007)
-* ''[[3:10 to Yuma (2007 film)|3:10 to Yuma]]'' (2007)
-* ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford]]'' (2007)
-* ''[[There Will Be Blood]]'' (2007)
-* ''[[Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)|Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee]]'' (2007)
-* ''[[September Dawn]]'' (2007)
-====2010s====
-* ''[[True Grit (2010 film)|True Grit]]'' (2010)
-* ''[[Meek's Cutoff]]'' (2010)
-* ''[[Blackthorn (film)|Blackthorn]]'' (2011)
-* ''[[Django Unchained]]'' (2012)
-==See also==
-* [[Portrayal of Native Americans in film]]
-* [[History of cinema]]
-*[[The West As America Art Exhibition]]
-==References==
-<references/>
-{{Film genres}}
-[[Category:Western (genre) films by genre]]