Editing Western (genre) (section)

===Film===
{{Main|Western film}}
[[File:Great train robbery still.jpg|right|thumb|240px|[[Justus D. Barnes]] in Western apparel, as "Bronco Billy Anderson", from the [[silent film]] ''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' (1903), the second Western film and the first one shot in the United States]]
[[File:The Great Train Robbery (1903) - yt.webm|alt=|thumb|right|250px|''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' full film (1903); runtime 00:11:51.]]
The [[American Film Institute]] defines Western films as those "set in the American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the [[Frontier thesis|new frontier]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=America's 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres |url=http://www.afi.com/10top10/ |access-date=2010-06-06 |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |archive-date=September 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930120028/http://www.afi.com/10top10/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  Originally, these films were called "Wild West dramas", a reference to [[Wild West shows]] like [[Buffalo Bill|Buffalo Bill Cody's]].<ref name=":0" /> The term "Western", used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in ''Motion Picture World'' magazine.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=McMahan |first=Alison |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oA47uwEACAAJ |title=Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-1-5013-4023-9 |pages=122 |language=en}}</ref>

Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th-century popular [[Western fiction]], and were firmly in place before film became a popular art form.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Henry Nash |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utTWAAAAMAAJ |title=Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth |date=1970 |publisher=Harvard University Press |language=en}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2023}}  Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as seminomadic wanderers who wear [[Stetson]] hats, [[Kerchief|bandanna]]s, spurs, and [[buckskins]], use revolvers or rifles as everyday tools of survival and as a means to settle disputes using frontier justice. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Indick |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NE0-EAAAQBAJ |title=The Psychology of the Western: How the American Psyche Plays Out on Screen |date=2014-11-21 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-9211-4 |pages=8, 12 |language=en |quote=[T]he principal archetype of the genre, the Western hero, is analyzed within the context of his various personas: the chivalrous cowboy, the honorable marshal, the lone crusader, and the rebel outlaw... He is more comfortable living in the open frontier than in the cities, and most importantly, he does not conform to the laws and customs of civilized society. He answers only to his own code of honor and enforces his own personal brand of justice... [W]riters established the cowboy hero as the legendary icon of the West. They dressed him in chaps and a ten-gallon hat, straddled him atop a horse, armed him with a revolver, and set him loose on the Western plains.}}</ref>[[File:Gary Cooper 2.jpg|thumb|right|{{center|[[Gary Cooper]] in ''[[Vera Cruz (film)|Vera Cruz]]''}}]]
The first films that belong to the Western genre are a series of short single reel silents made in 1894 by [[Edison Studios]] at their [[Edison's Black Maria|Black Maria]] studio in [[West Orange, New Jersey]]. These featured veterans of [[Buffalo Bill|''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' show]] exhibiting skills acquired by living in the Old West – they included [[Annie Oakley]] (shooting) and members of the [[Sioux]] (dancing).<ref>{{cite web |year=1894 |title=Sioux ghost dance |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/00694139/ |access-date=9 September 2021 |publisher=Library of Congress |archive-date=January 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122211341/https://www.loc.gov/item/00694139/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The earliest known Western narrative film is the British short ''[[Kidnapping by Indians]]'', made by [[Mitchell and Kenyon]] in [[Blackburn]], England, in 1899.<ref>{{cite news |date=2019-10-31 |title=World's first Western movie 'filmed in Blackburn' |newspaper=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-50211023 |access-date=1 November 2019 |archive-date=January 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122035528/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-50211023 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kidnapping by Indians |url=https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-kidnapping-by-indians-1899-1899-online |access-date=1 November 2019 |work=BFI |archive-date=January 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122035537/https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-kidnapping-by-indians-1899-1899-online |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' (1903, based on the earlier British film ''[[A Daring Daylight Burglary]]''), [[Edwin S. Porter]]'s film starring [[Broncho Billy Anderson]], is often erroneously cited as the first Western, though George N. Fenin and [[William K. Everson]] point out (as mentioned above) that the "Edison company had played with Western material for several years prior to ''The Great Train Robbery''". Nonetheless, they concur that Porter's film "set the pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fenin |first1=George N. |title=The Western: From Silents to Cinerama |last2=Everson |first2=William K. |publisher=Bonanza Books |year=1962 |isbn=978-1-163-70021-1 |location=New York City |page=47}}</ref> The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first Western star; he made several hundred Western film shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon faced competition from [[Tom Mix]] and [[William S. Hart]].<ref>{{cite news |date=21 January 1971 |title=Bronco Billy Anderson Is Dead at 88 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/21/archives/bronco-billy-anderson-is-dead-at-88j.html |access-date=15 October 2019 |archive-date=October 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015012015/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/21/archives/bronco-billy-anderson-is-dead-at-88j.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Western films were enormously popular in the [[silent film]] era (1894–1927). With the advent of sound in 1927–1928, the major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11schatz.html, ''New York Times Magazine''] (November 10, 2007).</ref> leaving the genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. An exception was The Big Trail, a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. The epic film noted for its authenticity was a financial failure due to Depression era theatres not willing to invest in widescreen technology. By the late 1930s, the Western film was widely regarded as a pulp genre in Hollywood, but its popularity was dramatically revived in 1939 by major studio productions such as ''[[Dodge City (film)|Dodge City]]'' starring [[Errol Flynn]], ''[[Jesse James (1939 film)|Jesse James]]'' with [[Tyrone Power]], ''[[Union Pacific (film)|Union Pacific]]'' with [[Joel McCrea]], ''[[Destry Rides Again]]'' featuring [[James Stewart]] and [[Marlene Dietrich]], and especially [[John Ford|John Ford's]] landmark Western adventure ''[[Stagecoach (1939 film)|Stagecoach]] '' starring [[John Wayne]], which became one of the biggest hits of the year. Released through United Artists, ''Stagecoach'' made John Wayne a mainstream screen star in the wake of a decade of headlining B Westerns. Wayne had been introduced to the screen 10 years earlier as the [[Leading actor|leading man]] in director [[Raoul Walsh]]'s spectacular [[widescreen]] ''[[The Big Trail]]'', which failed at the box office in spite of being shot on location across the American West, including the [[Grand Canyon]], [[Yosemite]], and the giant [[Sequoioideae|redwoods]], due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the [[Great Depression]]. After renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of Westerns continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ylSQBQAAQBAJ&dq=western+most+popular+film+genre+more+combined&pg=PA2 |title=Indick, William. The Psychology of the Western. Pg. 2 McFarland, Aug 27, 2008. |isbn=9780786434602 |access-date=March 16, 2023 |archive-date=April 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405115818/https://books.google.com/books?id=ylSQBQAAQBAJ&dq=western+most+popular+film+genre+more+combined&pg=PA2 |url-status=live |last1=Indick |first1=William |date=September 10, 2008 |publisher=McFarland }}</ref>

The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called the "Golden Age of the Western".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gittell |first=Noah |date=2014-06-17 |title=Superheroes Replaced Cowboys at the Movies. But It's Time to Go Back to Cowboys. |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/the-return-of-the-western/372871/ |access-date=2022-07-21 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |archive-date=July 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721110308/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/the-return-of-the-western/372871/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including [[Robert Aldrich]], [[Budd Boetticher]], [[Delmer Daves]], [[John Ford]], and others.  Some of the popular films during this era include ''[[Apache (film)|Apache]]'' (1954), ''[[Broken Arrow (1950 film)|Broken Arrow]]'' (1950), and ''[[My Darling Clementine]]'' (1946).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Grey |first1=Zane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2F0DEAAAQBAJ |title=Essential Western Novels - Volume 10 |last2=Brand |first2=Max |last3=Mulford |first3=Clarence E. |last4=Raine |first4=William MacLeod |last5=Bower |first5=B. M. |date=2020-09-28 |publisher=Tacet Books |isbn=978-3-96987-750-0 |language=en}}</ref>

The changing popularity of the Western genre has influenced worldwide pop culture over time.<ref name="Netflix Tudum 2021">{{cite web |date=December 27, 2021 |title=Why Are Westerns Still Popular? |url=https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/why-are-westerns-still-popular |access-date=March 15, 2023 |website=Netflix Tudum |archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315194519/https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/why-are-westerns-still-popular |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Mens Health 2022">{{cite web |date=December 15, 2022 |title=Why Everyone Suddenly Loves Westerns Again |url=https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a41830004/modern-westerns-masculinity-men-popularity/ |access-date=March 15, 2023 |website=Men's Health |author-last1=Calhoun|author-first1=Jordan|archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315200031/https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a41830004/modern-westerns-masculinity-men-popularity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 1960s and 1970s, [[Spaghetti Western]]s from [[Italy]] became popular worldwide; this was due to the success of [[Sergio Leone]]'s storytelling method.<ref name="Butler 2023">{{cite web |last=Butler |first=Nancy |date=January 27, 2023 |title=Inventing America: Spaghetti Westerns and Sergio Leone |url=https://italysegreta.com/spaghetti-westerns-and-sergio-leone/ |access-date=March 15, 2023 |website=Italy Segreta |archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315194521/https://italysegreta.com/spaghetti-westerns-and-sergio-leone/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gray Gray 2019">{{cite web |last=Gray |first=Tim |date=January 4, 2019 |title=Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns Made a Fistful of Dollars and Clint Eastwood a Star |url=https://variety.com/2019/vintage/features/sergio-leone-clint-eastwood-1203097936/ |access-date=March 15, 2023 |website=Variety |archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315194519/https://variety.com/2019/vintage/features/sergio-leone-clint-eastwood-1203097936/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  
After having been previously pronounced dead, a resurgence of Westerns occurred during the 1990s with films such as ''[[Dances with Wolves]]'' (1990), ''[[Unforgiven]]'' (1992), and ''Geronimo'' (1993), as Westerns once again increased in popularity.<ref name="Busby Buscombe Pearson 1999 p=520">{{cite journal |last1=Busby |first1=Mark |last2=Buscombe |first2=Edward |last3=Pearson |first3=Roberta E. |year=1999 |title=Back in the Saddle Again: New Essays on the Western |journal=The Western Historical Quarterly |publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) |volume=30 |issue=4 |page=520 |doi=10.2307/971437 |issn=0043-3810 |jstor=971437}}</ref><ref name="Kollin 1999 pp. 238–250">{{cite journal |last=Kollin |first=Susan |year=1999 |title=Theorizing the Western |journal=Western American Literature |publisher=Project Muse |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=238–250 |doi=10.1353/wal.1999.0081 |issn=1948-7142 |s2cid=166137254}}</ref>