Department of Film and Television Studies
Third Year Option Module : Spring Term, 2014 : Hollywood Westerns
Module Outline
Module leader : Ed Gallafent
This module is an introduction to one of the richest and most famous of Hollywood genres, the
western. Once described by André Bazin as 'the American film par excellence', the western is at
the centre of our understanding of Hollywood and the American cultural myths it interrogates
and promotes. The aim is to build on students' existing experience of Hollywood film, and to
explore the range of achievement within the genre over a period extending from the 'A'
western in 1939 to contemporary, and contemporary set, westerns. The module will familiarise
students with the elements that constitute the genre, and address the topic of generic
hybridity. We will study the contributions of some of the major actors and directors who have
worked in westerns. Among the issues discussed will be representation, gender, landscape and
violence, all central to the genre. Their various inflections will be explored through the films
screened.
Syllabus and Reading :
Week ONE : The American film par excellence:
Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
Stagecoach Edward Buscombe BFI Film Classics
John Ford’s Stagecoach Ed. Barry Keith Grant (Cambridge Film Handbooks)
Week TWO : The Noir Western :
Pursued (Raoul Walsh 1947)
‘Notes on Pursued’ by Andrew Britton. In The movie Book of the Western ed Ian Cameron or
Britton on Film ed Barry Keith Grant .
Week THREE: Femininity:
Westward the Women (William Wellman, 1951)
‘Westward the Women: Feminising the Wilderness’ by Peter William Evans in The Movie Book
of the Western Ed. Ian Cameron
Week FOUR : Violence :
The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
‘Politics and Self-Knowledge in The Searchers’ by Robert Pippin, in his Hollywood Westerns and
American Myth
Week FIVE : Defending America: Part One :
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
Section on Rio Bravo in Howard Hawks by Robin Wood
Week SEVEN : Defending America : Part Two:
Bad Day at Black Rock (John Sturges , 1955)
Millard Kaufman: ‘A Vehicle for Tracy: The Road to Black Rock’ in The Hopkins Review Vol 1 No 1
(Winter 2008) . Accessible from Project Muse through the Library website.
Week EIGHT: Nostalgia?:
The Misfits (John Huston, 1961)
‘Not with a Bang: the End of the West in Lonely are the Brave, The Misfits, and Hud’ , By EG in
The Movie book of the Western
Week NINE : Legends:
Lone Star (John Sayles, 1996)
Section on Lone Star in Mark Bould , The Cinema of John Sayles (Wallflower, 2009)
Week TEN : Modern times and Loss :
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones, 2005)
Douglas Pye ‘At the Border: The Limits of Knowledge in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
and No Country for Old Men ‘ In Issue 1 of Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism . This online
journal is hosted by Warwick and can be accessed through the department’s website.
This is a 15 CATS, one term, module.
Assessment:
EITHER one 5,000 word essay on a topic agreed with the module leader, OR a two hour exam
paper, in which you will be required to choose ONE question to answer. The exam paper will be
a seen exam, that is one emailed to you about 3 weeks before it is sat under usual exam
conditions. The essay deadline is the first day of the Summer Term, Wednesday 23 rd April 2014
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this module you should be :
Familiar with a range of Hollywood sound Westerns
Familiar with the preoccupations and themes common in the genre
Aware of issues of generic hybridity and how they appear in the genre
Aware of the different ways in which the genre uses history
Able to discuss the differences between Westerns set in the 19 th and in the 20th century West
Able to discuss the importance to the Western of specific stars and directors