Any story set in
the American West during the frontier era — generally from about 1848 to 1890, the year the US Census Bureau declared the frontier closed; most often between the end of the
American Civil War and 1890.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Western genre is
Older than They Think; in fact, it
predates the classic Western era. It has its roots in the early 19th century novels of James Fenimore Cooper (set in the then-frontier, which was well east of the Mississippi at the time) and his imitators, as well as 19th century "dime novels"—meaning that, like the gangster films of
The Thirties, the genre was originally pretty much contemporary with its source material. In fact no less a figure than
Wild Bill Hickok was already a star in dozens of embellished stories by the time he died in 1876. By the turn of the century a lot of the stock Western tropes had already been established in popular imagination: see
Western Characters.
Westerns made a very early leap to film with
The Great Train Robbery in 1903, and remained popular throughout the next few decades, though their golden age truly arrived in the 1930s.
Enormously popular on TV and in the
movies in the 1950s and 1960s:
Gunsmoke,
Bonanza,
Wagon Train,
Rawhide,
Branded,
The Wild Wild West,
Have Gun Will Travel,
The Rifleman,
The Big Valley...
Some of the more recent successful TV examples were
Grizzly Adams and
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Common plotlines include a
Cattle Drive, a
Train Job, and a
Bank Robbery.
There's a
Wanted Poster on every wall and it's
more savage the further south you go.
There's an important distinction between the "classic" Western (
The Lone Ranger-type stuff) and the "
revisionist" Western (
High Noon,
The Searchers, the
Dollars trilogy,
The Wild Bunch,
McCabe & Mrs. Miller,
Unforgiven). The former is shiny and heroic. The latter is
Darker and Edgier, and often embodies a paradox: "Civilization can only be defended from barbarians by men with guns, but once you pick up a gun, you are a barbarian." In the 21st century, the distinction seems fuzzy, as most of the "best" (or at least, most fondly-remembered) Westerns are the revisionist ones — and therefore they are now seen as the core of the genre.
In recent decades the genre was only seen on TV in the form of its hybrid child the
Space Western, but it is now enjoying something of a revival with the success of
Deadwood in 2004. Two networks, according to the British
Radio Times, have new series in development.
The Western is usually set on the American frontier, but sometimes go farther afield to places like Alaska (
North to Alaska,
The Far Country), Mexico (
The Wild Bunch,
Vera Cruz,
The Professionals), and Australia (
The Proposition,
Quigley Down Under).
In terms of time, the genre's heyday (as stated above) is
a 25-year span in the 19th century, but there are examples set earlier (
Drums Along the Mohawk takes place at a time when upstate New York was frontier country) and later (
The Ballad of Cable Hogue ends with the title character
getting hit by a car). For series that use Western tropes but are set in the modern day, see
New Old West.
A subtrope of
Period Piece. See also
Western Characters and
Spaghetti Western. Also a reason why
most people believe All Deserts Have Cacti - the majority of Westerns were filmed at
Kirk's Rock.
Western subgenres
Examples
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Comics
- The longest running and currently best selling Italian comic book, Tex Willer, is a Western. Published since 1948, and thus actually predating the Spaghetti Western movies, it preceded them in using some of their famous tropes, such as a good attitude towards (some) Indians: the titular character is a Texas Ranger and "the White chief of the Navajos", had a Navajo wife, and walks the Earth righting wrongs with his trusty Indian friend Tiger Jack, his son and Kit Carson.
- Next Town Over, a steampunk western published on the web and in print.
- Lucky Luke, an Affectionate Parody of the western genre from the francophone part of Europe.
- Jonah Hex
- Blueberry
Film
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, perhaps the best and best-known of the Spaghetti Westerns. Also the originator of "The Ecstasy of Gold", which Metallica use to open up their concerts. Sergio Leone's other Spaghetti Westerns being:
- The film adaptation of Shane.
- Sartana
- John Ford is perhaps the most important director in the genre, responsible for must-watch films like:
- Howard Hawks also did a number of classic westerns, mostly starring John Wayne:
- High Noon
- The Magnificent Seven
- The Proposition, a western set in Australia
- Quigley Down Under, another western set in Australia.
- Back to the Future Part III, sort of.
- An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
- Young Guns and sequels
- Silverado
- The Quick and the Dead
- The Wild Bunch
- White Sun of the Desert — the most famous Soviet Ostern
- True Grit
- Anthony Mann directed a series of excellent '50s films, starring Jimmy Stewart, that employed elements of Film Noir in an Old West setting.
- Winchester '73
- Bend in the River
- The Naked Spur
- The Far Country
- The Man from Laramie
- Deconstructions such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Dead Man, and parodies like Blazing Saddles and Support Your Local Sheriff.
- Tombstone
- Known for epitomizing the hero of the modern Western, Clint Eastwood directed quite a few of them as well:
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Unfortunately, most modern audiences only know it for the line "We don't need no stinking badges!" as relayed through Blazing Saddles.
- West German movies based upon the work of author Karl May, like Der Schatz Im Silbersee and the Winnetou movies.
- Undead or Alive
- Crush Proof is a dark western set in 1980s Ireland.
- The Burrowers
- The Warriors Way
- Maverick, a rare example of a western comedy.
- 3:10 to Yuma was a 1957 western film which was remade in 2007.
- Rango is an animated film by ILM that is an Affectionate Parody of western films in general.
- Once Upon A Texas Train
- Posse, a 1993 western directed by Mario Van Peebles.
- Django
Literature
- The Virginian, the father of 20th-century Western literature.
- Almost every novel written by Louis L'Amour.
- Lonesome Dove.
- Blood Meridian.
- The Dark Tower novels by Stephen King, most notably The Gunslinger, Wolves of the Calla and Roland's backstory in Wizards and Glass, borrow extensively from this genre. The latter story even lampshades this when the other members of his ka-tet ask if the tale he's going to tell is a Western. A puzzled Roland replies that it does, indeed, take place in the Western Byronies...
- Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser
- Zane Grey novels.
- The novels of German author Karl May.
- Many of Bret Harte's Gold Rush stories qualify, and are one of the earlier examples, since he wrote in the mid-to-late 1800s. Harte pretty much invented several Western character types including the Forty Niner (naturally), Chinese Laborer and Chinese Launderer, the Schoolmarm, and the Professional Gambler. Harte's stories prefigure the kind of Western like Maverick or Support Your Local Gunfighter, which have a somewhat humorous tone but are set in a Wretched Hive.
- Stephen Crane's story The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky is a humorous western, telling of a seedy town's marshal returning with a Mail Order Bride, who while neither young nor that pretty is seen by him as cultured and sophisticated. He habitually has conflicts with a drunken Retired Outlaw, and the latter's plans to duel him to the death in the street falls apart because he's so discomfited learning that his rival has gotten married.
- Johnston McCully's Zorro stories probably qualify, although they're set back when California still belonged to Spain.
- The Lone Ranger stories by Fran Stryker.
- The Western Mysteries
- The novels of J.T. Edson.
- The novels of Jack Schaefer, most notably Shane, the source material for the famous film.
- The Ben Snow mysteries by Edward D. Hoch.
Live Action TV
- Bonanza
- Deadwood
- Firefly - a twist on the genre, as this is basically a western In Space !, played as straight as possible.
- Gunsmoke
- Little House on the Prairie, a classic Western Family Drama
- The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. : The Western meets zany comedy and some snazzy Steam Punk...
- The Dakotas
- The Wild Wild West: The western meets James Bond.
- Branded : The Western meets The Fugitive.
- The Lone Ranger : The TV show is the Ranger's best-known incarnation, but he had previously appeared in novels and on radio, and has since appeared in comics, film, and animation.
- Have Gun Will Travel
- Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, another rare example of a Western Family Drama slash Nineties Adventure Show
- Lonesome Dove, an adaptation of the book.
- Hell On Wheels: Gritty drama following the expansion of the Railroad.
Tabletop RPG
Video Games
Western Animation
- In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, they follow the adventures of Bloaty the Tick and Squirmy the Ringworm (two parasites living on Spunky) as they go off to the "new frontier" (all the extra weight Spunky has gained). The (mis)adventure follows the setup of a Western; the new setting is a Wild West setting, and Bloaty and Squirmy become sheriffs who have to get rid of a gang of outlaw mosquitoes that have been terrorizing the town.
- ''Quick-DrawMcGraw'
