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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Look for a better book,
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This review is from: The Cowboy's Trail Guide to Westerns (Paperback)
For some reason this book has famous actors recommending it, but there are better books on westerns. The descriptions are too short and they do not include directors. The author has a rating system, but it is subjective, of course. There are pictures, but their quality is not that good.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Film guide for western history buffs . . .,
By
This review is from: The Cowboy's Trail Guide to Westerns (Paperback)
Matuszak brings a historian's perspective to the Hollywood western, plus a background in ranching, gold mining, Old West firearms, and horses. Not just a western enthusiast, he also has academic degrees in the subject. The strength of this book is its attempt to rate hundreds of western films on the basis of their historical authenticity and how well they capture what he regards as the "spirit" of the West. (He acknowledges that a real film critic would rate them somewhat differently.)
The majority of films covered in the book date from 1950 to the early 1990s. There are a smattering of films from the 1940s and before. Each listing includes the cast and director, date of release, and studio or production company, plus a one-sentence plot description. A fair number, apparently unseen by the author, lack ratings. The opening sections of the book set up the author's particular point of view, offering a thumbnail history of western filmmaking, including silents, B-westerns, and spaghetti westerns. A longer section describes the myths associated with the Old West (cowboys, lawmen, outlaws, Native Americans). A briefer section is devoted to the subject of historical authenticity and how the western has been used by Hollywood writers and directors in more recent years to redress the inaccuracies resulting from the mythology. Matuszak takes an interest, for example, in how the mythology of the Alamo is embedded in the national character, while historical fact tells another (and no less compelling) story. He takes a similar interest in Hollywood's many retellings of the Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, and Jesse James stories. The book has numerous illustrations, from drawings by Russell and Remington, to photos of historical figures, to stills from films (although the latter suffer somewhat from poor resolution). For someone interested enough in western history to enjoy films that respect the accuracy of the Old West being portrayed, this book is a handy reference. Given the continued production of westerns for both movie houses and TV, the book is overdue for an update.
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