The release of Kevin
Costner’s generally impressive new picture, Open
Range, ironically emphasizes the delicate condition of that once robust
genre, the Western. Innumerable students of the form at every level of learning
offer a wide variety of reasons for its virtual disappearance over the last
three decades — the war in Vietnam, a new understanding of the history of
conquest and colonialism, increased sensitivity to the racism in the treatment
of Native Americans, and of course, the imperial presidency of Ronald Reagan,
which placed a cowboy in the White House, a sort of Western that played in
theaters near all of us.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Whatever its occasionally troubling
subjects and themes, however, it remains a vital and significant expression of
certain truths and values and serves some important and wholly relevant
functions for cinema, society, and the culture in general.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย In a time of heightened awareness of
the environment, with a federal administration dedicated to the devastation of
our green space and ancient trees, as well as the pollution of pure waters and
clean air, the Western should remind us of a mostly vanished past, the natural
beauty of a challenging, unspoiled landscape — the rolling prairies, the
harsh deserts, the high plains, the majestic mountains of that vast region west
of the Mississippi.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย One of
its obligatory scenes suggests the place of humans in that particular nature, a
long shot of a lone rider traversing an expanse of land, which contrasts that
puny, isolated figure with a savage and magnificent immensity. The familiar
Western town, often a scattering of flimsy structures on a dusty street perched
precariously on the edge of a vast wilderness, similarly demonstrates a timid
and tentative gesture at civilization against the overwhelming presence of
nature.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Like the flag, the genre has been
appropriated by those who misinterpret its actions and meanings for their own
ends. Ronald Reagan’s senile posture of independence and toughness — while
his wife’s astrologer made major policy decisions — derived in part from his
own acting experience in a number of Westerns.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย At present, George W. Bush, scion of
generations of WASP aristocracy, former cheerleader at Phillips Andover,
graduate of Yale and Harvard, wears cowboy boots to enhance his diminutive
stature and pretends to do chores on his ranch in Cow Flop, Texas, to entertain
a fawning press corps.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Although the Western allegedly (and
superficially) appeals to the politically conservative, in fact its values may
inspire the liberal. Its frequent themes of class warfare — the homesteader
versus the cattle baron, most obviously, in films as different as Shane and Heaven’s Gate — generally conclude with victory for the
progressive rather than the retrogressive. The small farmer ultimately defeats
the great landowner, that recalcitrant representative of the past.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Even the marshal, who tames the
dangerous town and defeats the outlaws, a killer himself, defends the
law-abiding citizens. Although he is himself a man of action, he guarantees the
newcomers a peaceful setting in which to build their church and school, those
settled symbols of the tentative and ambiguous civilization in that wild place.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The cowboy himself, that most
American of heroes, suggests political possibilities beyond his ostensible
embodiment of our loudly proclaimed ideals of freedom and independence.
Descending from actual frontiersmen like Daniel Boone and Natty Bumppo, his fictional
counterpart in James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking
Tales, he owes a great deal to the gloss of mythology, but also represents
a considerable departure from certain traditions of an ancient past.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย In Europe, a man on a horse was
necessarily a knight or an aristocrat. (Sports like fox hunting, show jumping,
and polo demonstrate the social power of the horse, and chivalry and cavalry
are after all the same word.) The American horseman, however, is a working man
who rides his horse to make his living, violating centuries of hoary tradition.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The presence of women in those
little dusty towns also hints at the paradoxically progressive nature of the
form. Although the saloon and the brothel figure prominently, in accordance
with historical fact, the “good” women provide the value structure that
triumphs over lawlessness and anarchy, the reason for that church and school
the villagers constantly discuss. Despite its attention to masculinity, then,
in its antique way, the Western probably offers a more balanced sexual equality
than scores of other sorts of action films and thus attains a certain moral
relevance that the average blockbuster entirely ignores.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Aside from its rich possibilities
for contemporary culture, the Western historically fulfills some special
cinematic needs, supplying a necessary vehicle for actors that Hollywood, to
its peril, now neglects. For several generations of cinema, virtually every
major male actor appeared in Westerns. Some, like John Wayne and Randolph
Scott, became almost entirely identified with the genre. Almost all the others
— Erroll Flynn, William Holden, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck,
Charlton Heston, Rock Hudson, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, James
Caan, and almost anybody else you can think of — appeared in significant
numbers of Westerns.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Even actors ordinarily associated
with urban settings and genres have strapped on six-guns and saddled up —
Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Cagney in The
Oklahoma Kid, for example, or Marlon Brando in One-Eyed Jacks and The
Missouri Breaks, or even Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย One of the most important reasons
for an actor to appear in a Western involves the manhood ritual that the form
usually presents, by which a character attains maturity and power, sadly,
through killing. That manhood ritual also involves the actor himself. By
impersonating a character in the Wild West, he proves his own masculinity to a
public that demands virility above all else in its leading men.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย After achieving critical acclaim on
Broadway, the brooding, sensitive Montgomery Clift made his screen debut in Red River, one of the great trail drive
Westerns, opposite the Duke himself. When Jimmy Stewart believed he needed to
acquire a “harder” image, he played a dark and ambiguous hero, decidedly not
the boy next door, in four fine Anthony Mann Westerns.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The form also provides a kind of
assimilation for many American ethnics: Jews like Hoffman, Jeff Chandler, Tony
Curtis, Gene Wilder; Italians like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin; African
Americans like Woody Strode and Mario Van Peebles; even Brits like Richard
Harris and Sean Connery.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย With a fake cowboy in the White
House, a cynical and illegitimate administration creating a constant state of
war to maintain power over a sheep-like populace (and we know the cattleman’s
antagonism for the sheepherder), and a generation of youths who probably barely
know the form, the nation may need real Westerns (and real cowboys) more than
ever.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The celebration of nature, the
regard for the land itself, the populist values, the virtues of action,
comradeship, and decency, even the ambivalent attitude toward progress, in the
form of domesticity, civilization, and machinery, all seem useful for
contemplation in our time. None of the popular genres express so much of
America so pertinently and so entertainingly. We can only hope that Open Range hints at a revival of the
greatest American genre.
You can hear George and his movie reviews on WXXI-FM 91.5
Fridays at 7:20 a.m., rerun on Saturdays at 8:50 a.m.
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2003.
