The Western genre is supremely adaptable – in the hands of such great directors as Ford, Hawks, Peckinpah and Leone, it has transcended simple stories of gunslingers, homesteaders and bandits, holding a mirror up to the present. Finding plenty of shades of grey between stalwart heroes and scheming villains, Westerns can be both epic and intimate, filled with memorable characters.
If you ve always wanted to dive in, but just weren t sure where to start, allow us to offer some prime choices from among the six-shooters, ten-gallon hats, 12 gauges and five-card tricks. And to make it clear, these are our essential picks to get you fully briefed on what the Western genre (one of the oldest and most prevalent of Hollywood narratives) is all about. Let this serve as guide and inspiration for your own expansive journey into the Old West. Horse operas await!
The Sting (1973).
Photo by FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives/Hulton Archives via Getty Images
As Khan Noonien Singh once said, “revenge is a dish best served cold,” and cinema is filled with stories where vengeance and retribution get served with chilling brutality and precision. There is a natural impulse to see one’s enemies, or even just the people who wronged us, punished for their misdeeds, or have karma visited upon them. Movies give us the unique opportunity to live and experience that satisfaction acted out without having to get off our couches, much less face the repercussions of getting someone back for being hurtful, hateful, or destructive.
Ennio Morricone’s Elegiac and Powerful Soundtracks of 1968
Mark Lager
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December 2020
Ennio Morricone is one of the most influential and renowned film composers. There is an alchemy, a magic, inside Ennio Morricone’s best compositions. It is a blurring of the boundaries and definitions existing between genres. His film scores do not abide by conventions and break the rules. The metamorphoses and transformations are what make Morricone’s soundtracks so special. He followed his father Mario’s guidance in learning how to play the trumpet. His early employment during the 1950s was in a jazz band. Yet he also had knowledge of classical music from his years of studies at the prestigious Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the tutelage of Goffredo Petrassi. He combined in his own compositions the attention to details from his conservatory education with the improvisation and risk taking of his jazz playing. This led him to become a studio arranger at RCA Victor an