Westerns & the Old West

Happy 69th Birthday to William Fichtner

Mad (in its early comic book form) compares Western movies to the actual Old West in "Cowboy!" from issue #20, Feb. 1955. Written by Harvey Kurtzman, artwork by Jack Davis (1/2)

"Hah! Noon!" (from Mad the Comic Book #9) written by Harvey Kurtzman with art by Jack Davis (1954)

Part 1 of 2

Happy Birthday to Bat Masterson, born Bartholemew William Barclay Masterson 172 years ago today

Another (Bounty) killer thread of exegesis on the celluloid West.

I forgot to mention that the original title of For a Few Dollars More was The Bounty Killer:

Wellman & Trotti added a scene from The Ox-Bow Incident (almost verbatim) to Yellow Sky*

*link to the other place because of Bluesky's video restrictions

x.com/DavidLambert...

Based on W.R. Burnett's Stretch Dawson (which was still unpublished by the time Yellow Sky was made)

Happy Birthday to the late Jeffrey Hunter, born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr. 99 years ago today

Happy Birthday to the late, great W.R. Burnett, born William Riley Burnett 126 years ago today

I’m joined by film professor and critic @jimtudor.bsky.social to discuss Anthony Mann’s classic Western, Winchester ’73.

Also sharing this fantastic poster from artist/Western historian @davidlambertart.bsky.social.

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

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Another great thread.

My second favorite line at the end of a movie:

"Wyatt Earp died in 1929. Among the pallbearers at his funeral were early Western stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix.

Tom Mix wept."

Well worth reading to the end of a thread combining the mythology of the Old West with the "real" fiction of the new movies.

I love this wild story & now I want to see a movie about a washed up Wyatt Earp pitching a career rehabbing biopic in Old Hollywood

Wyatt Earp

Bert Lindley as Wyatt Earp

The article infuriated Earp & he pressed Hart to make his biopic & restore his reputation. Hart met him halfway & added Earp as a small character (played by Bert Lindley) in 1923's Wild Bill Hickok. Though barely featured, the ad copy hyped Earp as one of the three best gunmen of all time...

William S. Hart

Bat Masterson was good friends with the Earps, especially Wyatt. Frank Stilwell was part of the Clanton/Cow-boy gang of rustlers in Tombstone & an enemy of the Earps. There are more errors, but you get the idea

Lots of errors here, but no, Ike Clanton was not killed at the OK Corral. Stilwell was not in league with the Earps. Morgan was shot in the back playing billiards, he was not killed in a duel, etc...

I think you can tell what's wrong here

While in Hollywood, Earp befriended William S. Hart, who prided himself on the authenticity of his Westerns. In March 1922, Hart alerted Earp to an LA Times article slandering the Earps as murderous bandits & claiming that Wyatt was killed. Attached is the article. Almost every detail wrong & insane

In reality, Bat Masterson was good friends with the Earps. I'll post the rest of the article down in the thread. It's nuts

Boxing fans were livid. Only Earp seemed to have seen this punch to the groin & Fitzsimmons sued to contest his decision. The trial was national news. Papers outright stated that Earp fixed the fight & began publishing outlandish tales about his past. One painted the Earps as murderous stagerobbers

Sharkey on the left, Fitzsimmons on the right

The OK Corral did not make Wyatt Earp famous throughout the United States, only parts of Arizona & California. Earp's introduction to the rest of the nation wouldn't be as a lawman at all, but rather as the corrupt boxing referee who threw the fight for Heavyweight Champion of the World....

Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp as himself

My Darling Clementine is the best Wyatt Earp film & among the least accurate, despite John Ford knowing Wyatt Earp personally. Contrary to Ford's claims, his film wasn't based on Earp's own account of his time in Tombstone, but rather an earlier film whose director also knew the lawman. A 🧵

A must-follow account for anybody who is interested in the history of the American West and/or film and books about it

This later inspires Ivan's final showdown with the police after he'd turned to a life of crime:

R.I.P. Jimmy Cliff

In The Harder They Come, Cliff's character Ivan sees Sergio Corbucci's Django in a crowded Kingston theater...

Amazingly it just keeps escalating.

This is the damnedest story I've read in ages. Wild West? No shit...

Helluva thread. Good grief.

Wherever you think this story is going to go, you're incorrect.

You might enjoy some of my other historical threads.

Cheers! 🤠🍻🤠 & God bless 🙏

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Thanks for the kind words 🙏

You might like some of my other historical threads too

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🙏