From Silent to Streaming is back with Season 4: THE WESTERN

Starting next week I'll be discussing the origins and impacts of Hollywood's oldest genre and naming the 5 best "Anti-Westerns" of all time.

July 12th. Episode 1 - "Most of what follows is true"

The Western film was born out of the legends of the American West and folk tales of Cowboys, Outlaws, Gunslingers, and Native Americans. Beginning with the first "Western Star," Buffalo Bill Cody to The Great Train Robbery to Stagecoach, I'll talk about how the Western became a Hollywood staple for more than 50 years.

July 19th Episode 2 - Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Quite possibly the most famous Western of all time, this film broke the mold of the genre by having one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Paul Newman, play a bumbling bank robber who gets killed in the end. The film also featured one of the first powerful roles for a woman in Westerns with Etta Place, portrayed by Katherine Ross.

July 26th Episode 3 - The Wild Bunch

Sam Peckinpah's classic, made the same year as Butch Cassidy proves to be much more violent and intense in its portrayal of the changing landscape of the Wild West.

August 2nd Episode 4 - McCabe and Mrs. Miller

Robert Altman's outstanding "North" Western is another product of the "Anti-Hero" as Warren Beatty plays a bumbling outlaw who is no match for the "Sears" company who is trying to take over his business or the cunning businesswoman, Mrs. Miller.

August 9th Episode 5 - True Grit

The Coen Brothers' 2010 remake is brilliantly shot and brilliantly told through the eyes of Mattie Ross, a young girl out to avenge the death of her father. It is proof that Westerns are still viable more than a century after their debut.

August 16th Episode 6 - Thelma and Louise

Although set in the 1990's with 2 female leads, Ridley Scott's tale of outlaws on the run has all of the makings of a classic Western.

THE FAREWELL

From Silent to StreamingBy Brendan LeeApr 22, 2021