Westerns today

I don't know if it will qualify as a "Western" but I'm really looking forward to AMC's "Hell on Wheels" about the building of the TransContinental railroad and the towns that sprung up along the way to "entertain" the workers.

 

Not to sound like a broken record but the Coen brothers didn't do a remake of the Wayne movie. They went back to the original source material and did a re-interpretation.

 

For Christ's sakes, it was a book made into a movie, then made into another movie. Hence, remade.

 

Westerns won't see the same level of success they had in past decades, ie. schlock genre movies that make money regardless of quality.
That role is currently filled by comic book movies, sci-fi movies and some others.
However, 'Unforgiven' and 'True Grit' have shown that there is a place for a Western if it's a good movie.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Tombstone.

 

I think one of the reasons you see fewer Westerns these days is that there are fewer people in the industry that grew up with them. Figure most of the biz types in Hollywood are 50 at the oldest.
You will still see them made here and there, but only when an A-lister says he wants to do one.

 

The original Lonesome Dove miniseries was tremendous.

 

JR, I would add "The Mossouri Breaks" to your list of Westerns that changed the genre.

Good, anti-glamour western.

I will take Sergio Leone over Ford for my viewing pleasure.

 

I'll never forget the first time I saw The Magnificent Seven. The scene with Yul and McQueen taking the coffin to Boot Hill. The Seven relating how "great" their lives are to the young kid. It really struck me.

 

Good grab. And second you on Leone.