David Milch said that most of what we remember as the stories feeding the Western were re-enactments of the war. You had cattle drivers, mostly Confederate veterans, coming up from the South to places like Dodge City, butting up against marshals who were mostly Union veterans. You also have the explosion of guns, especially revolvers and repeating rifles, plus men who know how to use them.

Imagine, for a moment, black slaves driving cattle in Texas, or mining for silver in Arizona. I mean, you had something awfully close to slavery with Asian and European workers anyways. But imagine how different the Western would be.

The war plays an overt part in a handful of Westerns, like The Searchers The Outlaw Josey Wales, Dances With Wolves, or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But it’s always there.

Also, along with what Tim said, Westerns in book form rival the movies. In terms of fiction, the Oxbow Incident jumps to my mind first. In non-fiction, Cadillac Desert is one of the best, but you’ve probably read that already.

“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” — interesting look at Jesse James, but most notable for Casey Affleck.

My all time favorite movie: “The Searchers”. So much to be said, but this movie really was the culmination of the John Wayne character, played throughout his career: tough guy, singular mission, overcoming great odds, with a slight twist that shows heart and compassion. Many subtexts as well (family, tolerance vs. intolerance, etc.). I just wish I could have seen it in Cinemascope…

My son has Red Dead Redemption. I watched him play it; at a certain juncture in the game, he ended up in a lengthy wagon race. Later, he got walloped in a horseshoe duel—at which point I started cracking jokes like, “pardner, Im’a callin’ you out. Shuffleboard at high noon!” Too bad all the lawn games in Rio Bravo ended up on the cutting room floor.

I’m joking—but I also wonder what the insertion of such seemingly incidental material into the midst of genre conventions has to tell us about gaming & story & genre.

Obviously all the Leone films. “Good/Bad/Ugly” gets the most critical love, but the first two are just so fun and uncomplicated and fresh that I think I like them better. If you want more Clint Eastwood, watch “High Plains Drifter,” and be prepared to be slightly shocked and moderately confused. Talk about painting the town red…

“Dead Man” is an awesome Jarmusch/Depp/Neil Young collabo.

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance” takes the Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne archetypes and throws them together. “The Searchers” is another good John Wayne standard.

The new “3:10 to Yuma” was actually pretty decent.

And obviously “Blazin’ Saddles” to see a movie taking the piss from all these classics.

Start there, and have fun! And definitely play Red Dead too; it’s great.

W