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Unit 4 (10/21 – 11/4): Hollywood’s West

In this unit we’ll explore Western films from the silent era to the mid-1960s. What makes a movie a Western? What are the important or iconic elements? We will also listen in to popular radio Westerns from radio’s golden age (the 1930s and 1940s) – how does the fictional portrayal of the West change when the landscape is unseen? Our main text in this unit is Jane Tompkins, West of Everything (WOE), and you should bring it to class on the days we have readings from it.

20. Wed 10/21 You Know You’re in a Western When…
Reading: WOE, Intro and Lee Clark Mitchell, “A Man Being Beaten” in Western: Making the Man in Fiction and Film [pdf]

21. Fri 10/23 Early and Silent Westerns
Reading: WOE, CH 1-6 “Elements of the Western”

22. Mon 10/26 In-class screening of Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
Reading: same as #21, plus handout about this film

23. Wed 10/28 Imagining the West on Radio
Reading (Actually, Listening): listen to 3 Western radio program episodes of your choice. They can be from any series. Find them free online at:
RadioLovers.Com
OldTimeRadio.net (browse titles, the Westerns are obvious)

24. Fri 10/30 From Shane (George Stevens, 1953) to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
Reading: Patrick McGee, “Why Shane Never Comes Back,” in From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western [pdf]

25. Mon 11/2 In-class screening of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
Reading: McGee, “Death’s Landscape,” in From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western [pdf]

26. Wed 11/4 Unit 4 Test

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