If the Western is the vehicle with which contemporary filmmakers investigate the past to understand the present, then Liberty Valance illuminates how unrest in the 20th century reached back to the 19th century to uncover the lies America has been telling itself ever since. Continue reading THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
Butch Cassidy. The Sundance Kid. The names are legendary—synonymous with the Wild West, outlaws and bandits, banks and train robberies. Cassidy was the thinker. The Kid was the fighter. Together, they robbed and rode along the Outlaw Trail and called Hole-in-the-Wall their own. Continue reading BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
The father has two sons and one of them is rotten. The only problem is the father sees more of himself in the rotten one than the other. This here is the West, and 20 years ago, it took men … Continue reading GUNMAN’S WALK
When it comes to westerns, 1950 was a banner year. More than 125 features were released that year—a high-water mark the genre would never again see—and many would become emblematic of the genre: John Ford’s Wagon Master, Henry King’s The … Continue reading WINCHESTER ’73
It’s often been joked that if the title wasn’t already taken, most of Robert Mitchum’s movies could’ve been titled Out of the Past. That 1947 drama has become emblematic of the noir cycle popular in the 1940s and early-50s thanks … Continue reading PURSUED
The young girl has a vision. A knight in shining armor riding a horse in a forest approaches. But the vision ends there. “I never wanted to be rescued,” the woman says much later in life. She is Vivienne Le … Continue reading THE DEAD DON’T HURT
The magnificent stranger rides in from nowhere and with no destination. He sports brown boots, shrunk-to-fit dark jeans, and a forest green serape with a white pattern. He’ll give the name “Joe” when asked, but names don’t really mean much … Continue reading A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS
The best Italian westerns revolve around revenge. And, as the old Confucian saying goes, “He who seeks revenge digs two graves.” Robert Hossein’s Cemetery Without Crosses (Une corde, un colt) is a revenge tale so sparse the characters needn’t speak … Continue reading CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES (UNE CORDE, UN COLT)
An old-timer wanders into the saloon and starts asking for a drink. The patrons turn him down. He’s been here before, and they’re tired of his fumbling, bumbling presence. The young gunslinger at the bar orders a drink. “You already … Continue reading THE GUN HAWK
Michael J. Cinema 
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