In the cinema, the West is a mythical place, where heroes, anti-heroes, villains, and a range of stock characters play out the never-ending conflict between good and evil.
Written by one of the nation’s leading experts on the subject, this is a one-of-a-kind book on the history of the Western movie, from The Great Train Robbery in 1902 to the most recent Hollywood hits. The Encyclopedia of
Westerns is a fascinating A-to-Z look at the thousands of Westerns that have packed
movie houses and captivated audiences for the past century.
Each of the more than 3,500 entries includes the film’s vital
statistics—title, year released, director, writers and screenwriters, cast, and running time—along with a summary of the film and a critical analysis of the more
significant films. This one-stop reference book also includes information on
popular western serials and film series.
Additional features include:
- Information on the genre that made Clint Eastwood an international star: spaghetti
westerns, so-called because most of these films were produced in Europe and financed by
Italian companies
- More than 100 black-and-white photographs that capture the most exciting
moments in western film history
- A historical overview of western movies at the Oscars®—the winners, the losers, and
the overlooked
- An appendix citing literary sources for western films.