I have always liked westerns. The reason lies in the fact that westerns have horses and guys who ride them, plus panoramic vistas of mountains, trees, skies and deserts. They have handsome good guys and smarmy bad guys.
To me, Westerns always land right-side-up. By that I mean that there is a clear line separating good and evil. That line is easily recognized. It never moves or gets re-defined. In the old days, the line was visible: the good guys wore white hats and, after going through a struggle, won in the end.
Westerns are morality tales. They’re explorations of human nature showing its true colors under extreme pressure. They’re simply complex. We know what to expect of a western: something bad is going to happen to good people; there is a power struggle between the big land baron or the railroad and the little guy. The little guy never sports a victim-mentality for long, but gets fed up with the way things are and sets about to make things right. The struggle ensues and bit-by-bit, through perseverance he weakens the big guy and eventually takes him out.
My favorite Western has always been Silverado. The good guys won in the end by picking off the bad guys one by one through a coordinated effort. My second is Pale Rider, about a lone savior who protected settlers and won in the end through smarts and stealth. Third is The Cowboys, a classic John Wayne epic with horses, cattle, boys, bad guys and Vivaldi’s Concerto for Guitar in D Major. John Wayne died, but the boys won in the end.
Yesterday my Top Three was upset rather violently when my friend took me to see 3:10 to Yuma. Almost bloody enough to be a Mel Gibson film, this flick pitted the good against the bad, then the good with the bad. The good guy got killed but the bad guy got on the train to Yuma nonetheless. The horse won in the end, I think.
A good story line, complex characters and some humor thrown in made the spattered blood sequences meaningful. Basically, I came away with two truths that are conveyed throughout the story:
First, that some things are worth fighting for – even giving up your life for. Some things need to be fought for. Taking a stand might be painful and even lethal. Once you put your foot down, someone else will come along who wants to stomp on your toes, remove your shoe and cut off your leg. Count on it; then rise to the occasion.
Second, that the line between good and evil can get really obscure. It is tempting to take the easy way out, but the easy way is likely not the right way.
In 3:10 to Yuma, the villain, Ben, was an intelligent, likeable nasty guy who quoted scripture and lived by clearly-defined values but was way south of being right. He tempted the good guy, Dan, made him all sorts of offers in exchange for freedom and kept him entertained with conversation and genuine charm. He preserved Dan’s life. He got on the train of his own volition. His horse even liked him; we know this because it went scampering off into the sunset after him.
Dan was initially weak and cowardly – not all that likeable. Even his family was unsure of him. He found his courage in holding fast to the good. He was tempted to turn (and you could tell he wanted to take the easy way out) but stuck to his guns. His struggles were visibly internal. I could tell he was weighing the what-ifs.
I found myself cheering for both Ben and Dan at the same time. I didn’t care who won. This is the first Western I recall in which I found both the protagonist and the antagonist at once likable and despicable. They both had merit. They were both flawed. They were both good-looking.
Who do I choose? If I cheer for both, I am just like each of them, full of goodness and smarminess at the same time. It’s the human dilemma!
We each live a morality tale. No matter how good we can be, we are at the same time bad. We find ourselves doing things we don’t want to do, and not doing things we want to do. We argue with ourselves. We have internal and external struggles. We feel guilt when we mess up and avoid discomfort as much as possible. We rejoice when we do someone good. We all hope to be the good guy and win in the end.
I have always liked Westerns. They remind me of me, but with horses.
©2007 Alvalyn Lundgren. All Rights Reserved.
