Western Gunslingers in Fact and on Film

Western Gunslingers in Fact and on Film
Author: Buck Rainey
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-11-17
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476603286

Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, Belle Starr, Wyatt Earp, the Younger Gang, the Dalton-Doolin Gang and Bat Masterson--these real-life lawmen and lawbreakers have been the basis of so many Hollywood Westerns that it has become difficult to discover where the truth ends and the legend begins. All actually became larger-than-life characters during their lifetimes, as contemporary newspapers and books embellished their deeds for their own purposes. But it was in Hollywood that the line between reality and myth was completely blurred. Each chapter-length entry here first focuses on the known facts of the people's lives and how each became truly legendary during their lifetimes. The reality is then compared to how they have been portrayed in the movies.

Westerns in a Changing America, 1955-2000

Westerns in a Changing America, 1955-2000
Author: R. Philip Loy
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2014-07-15
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0786483016

For many, the Westerns of 1930 to 1955 were a defining part of American culture. Those Westerns were one of the vehicles by which viewers learned the values and norms of a wide range of social relationships and behavior. By 1955, however, Westerns began to include more controversial themes: cowardly citizens, emotionally deranged characters, graphic violence, marital infidelity, racial prejudice, and rape, among other issues. This work examines the manner in which Westerns reflected the substantial social, economic and political changes that shaped American culture in the latter half of the twentieth century. Part One of this work considers shifting themes as the genre reacted to changes unfolding in the broader social landscape of American culture. Part Two examines the manner in which images of cowboys, outlaws, lawmen, American Indians and women changed in Westerns as the viewers were offered new understanding of the frontier experience.

Riding the Video Range

Riding the Video Range
Author: Gary A. Yoggy
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 711
Release: 2024-10-16
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476622248

In June 1949, Hopalong Cassidy. Then Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger, Zorro, Davy Crockett, the Cisco Kid, Matt Dillon, Bat Masterson, the Cartwrights, Hec Ramsey, Paladin ("Have Gun Will Travel")--no television genre has generated as many enduring characters as the Western. Gunsmoke, Death Valley Days, Bonanza, Maverick, and Wagon Train are just a few of the small-screen oaters that became instant classics. Then shows such as Lonesome Dove and The Young Riders updated and redefined the genre. The shows tended to fall into categories, such as "juvenile" Westerns, marshals and sheriffs, wagon trains and cattle drives, ranchers, antiheroes (bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns), memorable pairs, Indians, single parent families (e.g., The Big Valley, The Rifleman and Bonanza), women, blacks, Asians and even spoofs. There are 85 television Westerns analyzed here--the characters, the stories and why the shows succeeded or failed. Many photographs, a bibliography and index complete the book.

Wild Bill Elliott

Wild Bill Elliott
Author: Gene Blottner
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2011-10-14
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 078646903X

Wild Bill Elliott was a major western star. His screen persona met evil head-on and emerged victorious, bringing cheers from Saturday audiences. This book covers Elliott's entire career. It begins with a biographical sketch and then discusses each of his 78 starring roles as well as his more than 130 supporting roles. The film entries include studio, release date, alternate titles, cast and credit listings, songs, location filming, color, running time, source, story synopsis, notes and commentary, quotations from published reviews and a critical summation of the film. Appendices include Elliott's short films, TV and radio appearances and comic books.

Corriganville: The Definitive True History of the Ray "Crash" Corrigan Movie Ranch

Corriganville: The Definitive True History of the Ray
Author: Jerry L Schneider
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 502
Release: 2014-05
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 0983197253

FOR THE FIRST TIME! A complete and true history of the Ray "Crash" Corrigan Movie Ranch, from its prehistory to its current status as a city park. Corrects all of the falsehoods and exaggerations concerning the ranch and its operation as both a movie location and as an amusement park. Includes many details of its day-to-day operation, especially the amusement park business (its highpoints and its shortcomings!). An extensive and expanded filmography of the movie ranch. Profusely illustrated with nearly a thousand illustrations, including almost 500 photographs from a 4,000 negative collection of Corriganville images, most of which have not been published before.

John Wayne's America

John Wayne's America
Author: Garry Wills
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2013-05-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1439129576

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg brings his eloquence, wit, and on-target perceptions of American life and politics to this fascinating, well-drawn protrait of a twentieth-century hero. In this work of great originality—the biography of an idea—Garry Wills shows how John Wayne came to embody Amercian values and influenced our cultoure to a degree unmatched by any other public figure of his time. In Wills's hands, Waynes story is tranformed into a compelling narrative about the intersection of popular entertainment and political realities in mid-twentieth-century America.

ROY, “ROCKY” & RED RYDER; “HOPPY,” DURANGO & MO[O]RE

ROY, “ROCKY” & RED RYDER; “HOPPY,” DURANGO & MO[O]RE
Author: Dr. Jim Vickrey, Ph.D., J.D.
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2019-11-11
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1480990337

ROY, “ROCKY” & RED RYDER; “HOPPY”, DURANGO & MO(O)RE By: Dr. Jim Vickrey, Ph.D., J.D. From Chapter One: The Wages of Cinema -- on Coming of Age on the B-Western Movie Range, to the Conclusion: Why You Can Yet Join Me in Riding the Range Again ..., author Dr. Jim Vickrey is "hopeful that the experiences I've had while researching and writing this movie-related memoir will engender within readers the same happy thoughts I had and have resulting from my first and every subsequent encounter thereafter with the world of Western, particularly B-Western, cinema”

Universal Sound Westerns, 1929-1946

Universal Sound Westerns, 1929-1946
Author: Gene Blottner
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2024-10-17
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476606781

After Fox released In Old Arizona, the first feature length western with sound, in 1929, Universal president Carl Laemmle decided that Universal's westerns should follow suit. Beginning that same year, with the release of The Wagon Master starring Ken Maynard, up until 1946, when the studio merged with International Pictures, Universal Pictures captivated audiences with its sound westerns. Individual entries for the approximately 180 feature films and serials released by Universal during that period are presented here. Each entry includes the film's title release date, alternate title, cast, credits, songs, location of filming, running time, source if the film was an adaptation, plot synopsis, commentary from the author and from the actors and directors, representative excerpts from reviews, and a tag line from the original advertising. Also provided is a chronological listing of Universal's short western films and a chronological listing of Universal's sound westerns.

The 1931-1940: American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States

The 1931-1940: American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States
Author: American Film Institute
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 1198
Release: 1993
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780520079083

"The entire field of film historians awaits the AFI volumes with eagerness."--Eileen Bowser, Museum of Modern Art Film Department Comments on previous volumes: "The source of last resort for finding socially valuable . . . films that received such scant attention that they seem 'lost' until discovered in the AFI Catalog."--Thomas Cripps "Endlessly absorbing as an excursion into cultural history and national memory."--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Wanted Dead Or Alive

Wanted Dead Or Alive
Author: Richard Aquila
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 1996
Genre: Popular culture
ISBN: 9780252065279

Following Richard Aquila's introduction, which examines the birth and growth of the pop culture West in the context of American history, noted expects explore developments in popular western fiction, major forms of live western entertainment, trends in western movies and television shows, images of the West in popular music, and visual images of the West in popular art and advertising.