Classic Westerns

"Shoot 'em ups" is what my grandfather calls them. Western movies — cowboys and Indians, the wide-open spaces, where a man loved his HORSE! I wonder if kids today still play cowboys and Indians — maybe that is socially incorrect now — who knows?

Not many real "westerns" are made any more, but there was a time when a "western" was a sure box office hit. The cowboys that graced the silver screen were household words. There wasn't a person in America that didn't know who Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were. Everybody knew who Trigger and Champion were, too. (For the uninformed, Trigger and Champion were Roy's and Gene's horses, respectively.) The Lone Ranger and Tonto (Silver and Scout were their horses) entertained many movie goers during the 1930s, 1940s, and even the early 1950s.

The good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats, so it was easy to keep up with who was who in those old black-and-white movies. Everybody knew you could "cut 'em off at the pass" and that you could "catch 'em at a waterin' hole."

Yes indeed, America loved western movies and Hollywood made western movies — lots and lots of them. The western genre was so popular it was even incorporated into other genres. There were musical westerns ("Annie Get Your Gun") and even comedy westerns ("Buttons and Bows").

Through the 1940s and the 1950s, western movies put the emphasis on heroism and the value of honor and sacrifice (protect the women and children and willingly give your life for the greater good). Later, westerns took a more cynical view of the west by glorifying rebelliousness and emphasizing the brutality and the inequality of the early American west (get yours first and to heck with honor). The old movies are great!

For a complete list of classic western titles check out - The 100 Greatest Western Movies of All Time: Including Five You've Never Heard Of