September 20, 2019:

My latest article, “How Walter Hill’s ‘The Long Riders’ Saved the American Western,” is now live at VHSRevival.

By the mid-1970s, with the exception of Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales, the American western was all but dead. Directors were interested in telling moody contemporary stories with morally ambiguous characters. In a post-Vietnam, post-Watergate America, westerns were seen as jingoistic and racist. Young audiences found the genre played out and offensive to Native Americans and other minorities. They felt no social or historical connection to westerns.

Then along came young visionary director Walter Hill, four sets of real-life acting brothers, and a script that was a decade in the making. The rest is history.

Check out VHSRevival.com for more great film analysis by writers who love movies.