Western Genres Of Western Analysis

The Western genre is defined by group of collective similiarities that are found in many westerns as we will see when we look at the Film Once Upon A Time in the West by Sergio Leone. It itself is a subgenre of the Western Genre called Spaghetti Westerns that was made by Italian cinema which while similar in many ways to traditional Westerns differed in a few significant ways. While Lambasted by critics in its day for daring to move outside its genre Once upon A Time in the West today is considered one of the greatest movies of all time. At the time it was made Westerns were beginning to go stale(1) and this movie revitalised the whole Western Genre

Once Upon A Time in The West undeniable at first glance will be considered a Western as it

The main difference between this film and more traditional westerns is that this one is much more dark and violent then most westerns. A few things that were different were for one was that, The cowboy was the most prominent figure but after that came the Indian1pg35 But few Indians were seen in the movie apart from an Indian woman seen briefly at the start. Secondly was “little cruelty in Western movies and little sentimentality;our eyes are not focussed on the sufferings of the defeated but on the deportment of the hero”3pg130. Whereas in Once Upon A Time in The West cruelty is seen many times for example when the Frank the villain shoots a boy for hearing his name or when he forces Harmonica the hero’s brother to hold up his on his shoulders as he hangs by the neck from a bell. Not only this but Leone’s films lack the black and white moral lessons of other westerns and most of the hero’s are anti heroes and although critics admit that with Western heroe’s “violence is a statement of his being, and he waits for quintessential moment in which to express this (Warshow) pg3764” Violence apparently according to critics was ok if done for the right reason. They hated the violence in OUATITW becausw in this film there was apparently “very little clear-sightedaffection for human beings and practically

The main complaint being the deviation or distortion of the Western in general. “Behind the outrage at what was considered gratuitous violence and sexual sado-masochism can be sensed an unease about the production of a more rampant, less romanticised expression of masculine identitypg376pg5 Criticss were deeply resitant to the change they even saw it as a existential threat to the western genre5pg1. Critics were not blind to the fact that westerns were fundamentally a violent drama but somehow when the violence was more cynical in essence more realistic they were outraged. The fact that a film that is so critically regarded now was panned so bad when it was released is an interesting insight into the power of genre. It shows that for a change from the rules of genre can be jarring to critics. That for any films to try and be different need time for people to adapt. A perhaps example of how critics vast knowledge of genre in fact works against them as it may blind them to great art because it does not fit into this mold they made up that is in essence imaginary. As Andre Tudor puts it genre is what we collectively believe it to be. The critics fail to give adequate praise to Leone who actually saved a dying genre. Pg1of5 Christopher Frayling says few