One of the most popular movie genres in our country from the era of 60-70 years was western. The boys raved about Chris from The Magnificent Seven, which was soon replaced by characters created by the acting talents of Goiko Mitic and Dean Reed. Almost any movie about Indians and cowboys was doomed to box office success, the exotic of the Wild West excited the imagination of Soviet schoolchildren with its dissimilarity to the modest working days of their parents. There were few American westerns, but those that were nevertheless approved by the relevant party and art institutions were really good.
Manifestation of the genre
Already at the end of the XIX century in Hollywood - a suburb of Los Angeles, began to make films about cowboys. The historical aspects of the writers and directors were of little concern, the theme itself was predictably commercially successful. The background is wildlife, prairies and canyons, it is easy to reproduce it in the pavilion, not to mention full-scale shooting. The good guys are the pioneers of the West, leading caravans of carts with immigrants in search of a better life. They are opposed by wild Indians, who looked colorful and picturesque even on black and white film thanks to feathers that made up the martial decoration of Sioux, Iroquois and representatives of other warlike tribes. The movie about cowboys somehow immediately stood out in a separate genre, forming its main features and the recognizable group image of the “heroes of the prairies” wearing Stetson hats, coarse pants, leather vests, boots with spurs and a colt on each side of the belt. As a rule, they spoke little, shot quickly, accurately and without warning, without taking out cigars from their mouth, masterfully owned a lasso and a whip. In the early American Westerns, Indians were usually negative characters.
Who are cowboys?
And in America, the homeland of Westerns, and in us, and in other countries, the morphology of this word was somehow forgotten. However, it is simple. “Cow” is the most common cow, and “boy” is a boy or boy. Collectively: a cowboy is a shepherd. But unusual. Features of the American history of the development of vast expanses dictated special requirements for the people of this profession. America’s herders had many enemies. First of all, those same endless prairies along which fat herds could scatter so that they could not be gathered again. Secondly, the Indians already mentioned, who considered the aliens to be enemies, and the livestock taken from them - a well-deserved trophy to be eaten. Thirdly, not all people who came to the New World were distinguished by exemplary law obedience, and some of them were not at all willing to profit from someone else's good. There were other factors hindering safe housekeeping, wild animals, for example. In the movie about cowboys, this side of the life of the settlers received little attention, the hard work on the screen is not as interesting as the shot from revolvers. Another interesting detail is that the real shepherds of the Wild West were often black, while in the cinema, almost all of them are white.
Classic storyline
This style of cinema experienced its heyday in the sixties. Almost all westerns about cowboys basically contain the history of the struggle for a certain treasure. This is a significant part of the success of this genre. In the psychology of the mass audience, dreaming of a huge jackpot, allowing its owner to spend the rest of his life in luxury and pleasures, the dream of a miracle was firmly entrenched. So, there are innumerable wealth, the secret of which is not known to everyone. Companions are usually required to get them, otherwise the owner of the secret would never share. This is followed by many adventures and dangers awaiting seekers at every turn. Here are possible options that distinguish ordinary typical crafts from true masterpieces of the genre. Sometimes, the main thing is not money, but justice (“Once in the Wild West” - 1969, “The Magnificent Seven” - 1960). Sometimes the frames are accompanied by beautiful music (for example, in the film “Good, Bad, Evil”, shot in 1967, the catchy eponymous composition by Ennio Morricone sounds). In any case, the struggle for values boils on the screen, and it is waged by force.
Western paces the planet
A genre that was born in the United States and was originally based on the literary works of Fenimore Cooper and other writers who described their modernity, over time found expression in many national branches of the art of cinema. The American cowboy spoke German, Italian, Russian, and many other languages. The Czechoslovak film "Lemonade Joe", which is a parody and shown in Soviet cinemas, was sometimes mistaken by a viewer unfamiliar with the subject for a very real western, albeit a funny one. The main European producer of films about cowboys on horseback and with songs has become the East German studio Defa. Goyko Mitich from Yugoslavia became the "Honored Indian" of the USSR and the entire socialist bloc, and his pale-faced friend was played by American Dean Reed, a talented actor who chose freedom in a communist way.
The difference of "our" western
At the forefront of the principles of art in the USSR and other countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was ideology. Money-grubbing could not lead the actions of goodies. Of course, socialist cinema about Indians and cowboys was different from the West, while maintaining its form in the form of the main features of the genre. The screen was attended by horses, hats, bright feathers, tomahawks, arrows and bows, hard drives and colts. Very good country-western songs and ballads performed by Dean Reed sounded, Mitich showed impressive musculature, and the action itself was mainly of a national liberation character. The best films are Chingachgook Big Snake, Brothers in Blood, Apaches.
Characters
Each genre is characterized by a certain set of stamps that the viewer does not perceive as platitudes, but as essential attributes. Cinema about cowboys is no exception. Not a single western can do without a sheriff, whose hallmark is a large star on his chest, equanimity, and even some phlegm. Usually there are two main Indians: the first supports the good in everything, the other, having adopted the worst from the pale-faced, became a bloodthirsty beast. The female roles are classically represented by the fatal brunette, the intriguer (who at the end of the picture often repents of her unworthy behavior) and the cutest blonde, personifying the angelic beginning and loving the hero at first sight. There are still poker players, bandits and adventurers of all stripes, ladies of facilitated behavior, and, of course, the main cowboy.
Soviet Westerns
In the Soviet Union, not as often as in the GDR, but they also shot movies about cowboys. Some works of domestic directors have become creative successes. In the film “Business People” (based on the stories of O. Henry, 1962), a wonderful short story about a killer who became rich thanks to the principle “Bolivar can’t take two” is filmed, and the story about the grief-abductors of the boy (the leader of the redskins) completely fits into the genre western framework. Also to this style can be attributed the films “The Headless Horseman”, “Armed and Very Dangerous”, “St. John's Wort”, several film adaptations of the works of Mark Twain, Jack London and the musical “The Man from the Capuchin Boulevard”.
Eastern
Subject to genre laws, Soviet directors were able to create their own analogue of Westerns. In films such as The White Sun of the Desert, The Elusive Avengers, or Own Among Strangers, Alien Amongst Own, characters are much more likely to shoot than they say, and the death toll corresponds to a moderate-intensity military battle. Basmachi in "The Sun ..." are not inferior in picturesqueness to North American Indians, their leader Abdullah is not without negative charm, and Sukhov, a Red Army soldier, possesses all cowboy merits, including accuracy and courage. There is also a Winneth - Said. And if there are no cowboys in the films, but everything else happens in the same way, then the genre of the film can be called “hysterical” (Eng. “East” - East, and it is “a delicate matter”).
Space cowboys
In one of Kurt Vonnegut ’s novels, there is an idea that science fiction writers write about the inhabitants of the universe, but they still get the Americans. A similar situation is observed in the movies. Cowboys versus aliens fight in Star Wars Lucas, Star Trek Roddenberry and many other interstellar epics in which directors transfer the earthly principles of conflict resolution. The heroes of these cosmic westerns are devoid of external signs of “cow boys”, and their opponents do not have feather headdresses, but relations between protagonists and antagonists are developing according to the same familiar scenario. What to do, no matter where fantasy is brought, and we are all from the same planet.