Renegade Westerns: Movies That Shot Down Frontier Myths
Don your reading glasses, buckaroos,
Here’s more recommended reading from the Bottom Bookshelf:
Renegade Westerns: Movies That Shot Down Frontier Myths
by Kevin Grant & Clark Hodgkiss
©2018 FAB Press Ltd
375 pages
Back in 2011, British publisher FAB Press released Any Gun Can Play: The Essential Guide to Euro-Westerns by Kevin Grant. That beautiful, glossy, profusely illustrated 480-page book was (and is) the definitive history of the European take on the Western genre, including, but not restricted to, the incredibly popular Italian “Spaghetti Western” films of the late Sixties and Seventies. Not only was that tome meticulously researched (including numerous footnotes); it was also an extremely entertaining read.
Happily, Any Gun Can Play was not Kevin Grant’s last word on the Western film genre. He’s back with a new book, co-written this time with Clark Hodgkiss, the founder of the Euro-Western fanzine Blood, Money, and Vengeance. The focus of the new book, Renegade Westerns: Movies That Shot Down Frontier Myths, is on the American Western; but being that the genre is over 100 years-old, comprising thousands of motion pictures, Grant and Hodgkiss have wisely narrowed their scope to a particular subset of Western films. Specifically, this reference work is dedicated to movies within the genre that run counter to the iconic archetypes and accepted myths of the strong, moral, Caucasion “good guy,” the depiction of Native Americans as savages, the relegation of women and people of color to the background, the absolute “manifest destiny” of frontier expansion, and other accepted Western norms. It short, the book covers what most would refer to as “revisionist Westerns,” including classics such as The Wild Bunch (1969), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and Unforgiven (1992), as well as dozens of lesser-known films that will be new to most readers.
Fans of Any Gun Can Play are sure to enjoy Renegade Westerns, but it should be noted that the approach to the subject matter is quite different between the two titles. Whereas the first book was a near-comprehensive history of its topic, focusing as much on the industry as on the films themselves, Renegade Westerns is much more of a film-by-film movie guide. The bulk of the book is made up of 99 essays, each on an individual revisionist Western, beginning with The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) and running chronologically through Hostiles (2017). Along the way, there is coverage of multiple films from directors well associated with the genre, such as John Ford, Anthony Mann, Sam Peckinpah, Clint Eastwood, and Walter Hill, but there are also plenty of left turns to more idiocencratic autuers, such as Monte Hellman, Dennis Hopper, Robert Downey Sr., Jim Jarmusch, Kelly Reichardt, and Quentin Tarantino.
Personally, I prefer the “movie guide” format, as it encourages the fun of dipping in and out of the book to discover new films or to look up specific essays after viewing a movie for the first time. Of course, no movie guide is comprehensive, and Western fanatics are sure to miss a favorite title here or there that they feel should have been covered (for me, I was surprised not to see Budd Boetticher’s uncharacteristically dark Decision at Sundown), but lists are meant to spur debate, and fans will be hard pressed to quibble with the breadth of titles discussed here.
In addition to the 99 main essays, the book also includes two appendixes, with shorter essays covering 17 Noir Westerns and 15 “Female-Fronted” oaters. As the icing on the proverbial cake, the book also contains multi-page interviews with character actors L.Q. Jones and Bo Hopkins, discussing their experiences filming Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch and other Western pictures.
Just like the prior, Any Gun Can Play, Renegade Westerns is obviously a labor of love for both the authors and the publisher. FAB Press has assembled another gorgeous volume, printed on heavy, glossy paper stock, with colorful photos and illustrations throughout.
An exclusive hardcover, author-autographed, limited edition is available to order direct from FAB Press, and the standard, paperback edition can be purchased from booksellers everywhere, including through the link below. Either version will be a welcome addition to any movie lover’s bookshelf.
