Customer Reviews

The Crowded Prairie: American National Identity in the Hollywood Western (Cinema and Society)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author examines the Hollywood Western in its
heyday, from Stage Coach (1939) to The Outlaw Josey
Wales (1976), to view the genre in its social,
political, and cultural dimensions.

His approach is annoyingly Politically Correct (he
finds objectionable the depiction of the West as
having been conquered largely by white males,
which of course it was), and the intrusion of
conventional British class-consciousness may leave
some readers cold, but his connection ,for instance, of
Josey Wales to Vietnam is interesting, if unpersuasive.

The plots of the films are deftly summarized, but
the reader is encouraged to view the films
in conjuction with this text.

With filmography, bibliography, good index, and
some of the poorest photo-reproduction this
reviewer has seen.

(The numerical rating above is a default setting
within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not
employ numerical retings.)

The book was dedicated to John Wayne. Most historians dedicate their first book to their parents, but Michael Coyne takes another path.

Is this suggestive, (I think we should be told)

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