Stagecoach to Tombstone: the film goers companion to the great westerns
Howard Hughes
I.B.Tauris books
£12.99
I was so impressed with the same author's Once Upon a Time in the Italian West that as soon as I saw this book in my local Borders I had to have it. It takes the same format as Once Upon a Time and is very much a companion piece but this time with the emphasis on the American westerns, though European films are also included.
There's a lengthy introduction that covers the silent westerns and takes us upto John Ford's Stagecoach - but the book treats Stagecoach in 1939 as year zero for the modern western. And there is an in depth analysis of 27 westerns of which the author considers the best of the entire genre. And it's a contentious list with several films being conspicuous by their absence - no True Grit, no The Shootist and no Long Riders. Sons of Katie Elder is included which, to my mind, is a lesser western than both True Grit and The Shootist.
Still the author knows his stuff and he gives a detailed analysis of each film covered, including trivia and original box office business. It's a great book which no western movie buff will want to be without but I would most certainly argue for the inclusion of The Shootist
4 comments:
This sounds like a good one that I will have to get.
And the other volume - once upon a time in the italian west is just as good.
Sounds interesting, both of them, though I have to agree about the absence of those three films. I rank both Wayne films among his top five and I love The long Riders as well.
What I need right now is a good reference on clothing in the old west.
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