The American West on Film
By: Johnny D. Boggs
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Hollywood History
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Published: 2023
Place of publication: Santa Barbara
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9798400612459
Subjects: History of the Americas
Description: More than a history of Western movies, The American West on Film intertwines film history, the history of the American West, and American social history into one unique volume.  The American West on Film chronicles 12 Hollywood motion pictures that are set in the post-Civil War American West, including The Ox-Bow Incident, Red River, High Noon, The Searchers, The Magnificent Seven, Little Big Man, and Tombstone. Each film overview summarizes the movie's plot, details how the film came to be made, the critical and box-office reactions upon its release, and the history of the time period or actual event. This is followed by a comparison and contrast of the filmmakers' version of history with the facts, as well as an analysis of the film's significance, then and now.  Relying on contemporary accounts and historical analysis as well as perspectives from filmmakers, historians, and critics, the author describes what it took to get each movie made and how close to the historical truth the movie actually got. Readers will come away with a better understanding of how movies often reflect the time in which they were made, and how Westerns can offer provocative social commentary hidden beneath old-fashioned "shoot-em-ups."
Table of contents: title: Series Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Chronology 1. Union Pacific (1939) 2. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) 3. Red River (1948) 4. High Noon (1952) 5. The Searchers (1956) 6. The Magnificent Seven (1960) 7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 8. Little Big Man (1970) 9. Young Guns (1988) 10. Tombstone (1993) 11. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Bibliography Index