Forget Eastwood and Wayne, This Is the Greatest Western of All Time

Ever since its first rise in popularity, the American Western genre has been dominated by action-adventure films that tend to feature dominant, hyper-masculine heroes who use a fair amount of gunplay to get the job done. Movie stars like Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, James Stewart, Gary Cooper, Yul Brynner, and Franco Nero forged their legacies by playing these triumphant outlaws, sheriffs, bounty hunters, and heroes. While there was definitely an evolution to their Westerns that resulted in more reflective films like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Unforgiven, even they retained elements of the same basic story structure. However, Robert Altman took a more grounded, unsentimental approach with his 1971 Western McCabe & Mrs. Miller. In an era when Hollywood was turning to younger directors to reinvent genres, Altman created what is arguably the greatest Western of all time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *