The Gunslingers of
’69: Western Movies’ Greatest Year
Author: Brian Hannan
Country: U.S.A.
Publisher: McFarland
Language: English
Pages: 250
ISBN-10: 1476679355
ISBN-13: 978-1476679358
Released: October 8, 2019
In 1969--the counter-cultural moment when Easy Rider
triggered a "youthquake" in audience interests--Westerns proved more
dominant than ever at the box office and at the Oscars.
It was a year of masterpieces -- The Wild Bunch, Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Once Upon a Time in the West and True Grit.
Robert Redford achieved star status. Old stagers like John Wayne, Gregory Peck
and Robert Mitchum appeared in two Westerns apiece. Raquel Welch took on the
mantle of Queen of the West. Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin tried their hand at
a musical (Paint Your Wagon). New directors like George Roy Hill reinvigorated
the genre while veteran Sam Peckinpah at last found popular approval. Themes
included women's rights, social anxieties about violence and changing attitudes
of and towards African-Americans and Native Americans.
All of the 40-plus Westerns released in the U.S. in 1969
are here covered in depth, offering a new perspective the genre.
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