Customer Reviews

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

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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