I have always loved cowboy movies. I loved them as a kid. I love them as an adult. Many of the classic cowboy movies were made during a different time and mindset of the country. There are ideals and idealism’s that may not agree with my modern sensibilities. I can compartmentalize these problems as a representation of times past in the same way I can accept things taught from a history book. I do not compare the history of ancient Greece against what is currently done in modern times. I put cowboy movies in the same context.

What do I like about cowboy movies? At their essence, what speaks to me is the mythical legend of the cowboy persona. What the essence of the cowboy stood for. Basic cowboy movies had the good guy versus the bad guy. The White hat against the black hat. Some movies had the none traditional hero. An unwilling hero. Someone that was afraid, but when confronted with a situation faced it. Courage in the face of danger. Righter of wrongs. Protector of women and children. A person that would stand up against a wrong no matter what the odds. Feel good heroism.

Some of my favorite cowboy movies had heroes that were sort of bad. Guys that put on the persona of a bad guy, but their actions wreaked of goodness. The Clint Eastwood ‘Man with no name’ series of spaghetti westerns. Characters that stood tall onscreen and took on legendary statuses that belied whatever you heard or saw of their real-life images.

Red River. Shane. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Angel and the Badman. Silverado. The Tin Star. The Fastest Gun Alive. Tall in the Saddle. These are a few of my favorites.

For the most part, these movies represent how I wished things were in real life. How you wished people behaved (the good). Someone not afraid to stand up and eradicate what is wrong (the bad).