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What Is a Western? Film Series

The Autry National Center announces the creation of a new film series that explores how movies have both mirrored and influenced larger social and cultural issues in the American West. It will challenge popular notions of what a Western is by showcasing various genres that can arguably be considered Western. All films will be tied to the Autry’s collection and current exhibitions, providing the audience a unique perspective on the objects and artifacts as they are viewed through an interpretive cinematic lens. Jeffrey Richardson, the Autry's Associate Curator of Western History and Popular Culture, will offer key insights into each film before and after the screenings.

Other genres will include film noir, focusing on industrialization and urbanization in the mid-twentieth century; beach films from the 1950s and ‘60s, highlighting the youth revolution and social changes; urban police films from the 1970s and ‘80s, exploring the movement away from traditional Westerns in rural settings to urban locations; and space films, which incorporate the same conventions of traditional Westerns and launch them into outer space.

2012 Series

January 21, 2012 

The Professionals (1966)

Directed by Richard Brooks

Starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Woody Strode, Jack Palance, and Claudia Cardinale 

 

February 11, 2012 

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and Edmund O’Brien

 

April 14, 2012

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Directed by John Ford 

Starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, and Victor Mature 

 

June 9, 2012 

The Gunfighter (1950)

Directed by Henry King 

Starring Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, and Millard Mitchell

 

July 14, 2012

Cat Ballou (1965)

Directed by Elliot Silverstein

Starring Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, and Michael Callan

 

August 11, 2012 

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Directed by George Roy Hill

Starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Katharine Ross 

 

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