The western genre is most definitely a fixture in regard to film history, and its fans are nothing if not devoted to everything from classic to spaghetti to contemporary cowboy tales. Over the years, western films have diminished in popularity, but they're not yet extinct despite the remake of Wild, Wild West.

The overriding grumble — the good, the bad, and the ugly, as it were — from those who aren't hardcore western fans is that many films seem to have the same plot: lone cowboy has gun, horse, conflict, shootout, and on occasion grabs the girl before riding off into the sunset. What most folks tend to forget is that westerns are built on history and legend, and the captivating tales woven throughout western films remain timeless to this day. Several western legends have been portrayed on film throughout the genre's history. Buffalo Bill, Billy the Kid, George Armstrong Custer, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickock, and Jesse James have shot their way through dozens of films.

Man and His Horse

Director John Ford and his favorite actor, John Wayne, will forever be associated with the American western. Although he's considered to be one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema, Ford's westerns were seldom viewed as serious filmmaking by the Hollywood elite. Still, Ford's portrayals of the moral virtue of western communities and families, and the ethical standards of his leading characters, would shape America's view of western history for decades.

Italian director and producer Sergio Leone revised the traditional good guy/bad guy formula of early cowboy films with spaghetti westerns that launched Clint Eastwood into stardom. The hero of A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and the huge hit The Good, the Bad and the Ugly would no longer be ethically faultless, and shooting first became a commonsense approach to Wild West survival.

Worldwide Appeal

Many major film stars, and actors who would become major stars, are part of western cinematic history. John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Mel Gibson all played leading roles in successful westerns. Some argue that Heaven's Gate pushed the western into its grave, but in 1992 the western roared back to life briefly in a single film, Clint Eastwood's starkly brilliant Unforgiven. The genre has remained popular in DVD rentals and on cable television's Western Channel, but it's unlikely that the western will ever resurface with the same widespread acceptance that it enjoyed in the twentieth century.