English
Hollywood has on countless occasions brought back to life the system of existence and the social way of life of the old west. Hollywood goes out of its way to provide the most vivid description available of how life really was and how dangerous and adventurous the old west really was. More often than not however Hollywood pays little or absolutely no attention at all to being politically correct on the system of life of the old west. Portrayals of Hollywood in regard to the old west normally portray lawmakers on a cosmic collision course with a contingent of outlaws and he result is heart throbbing excitement that keeps the audience undoubtedly on the edge of their seat but the question yet remains as to the levels of accuracy and political correctness to which Hollywood tells the story of the old west.
The need to entertain the audience and keep them ever waiting for more is perhaps the biggest inspiration behind the detour that Hollywood normally takes when it comes to historical portrayals and especially portrayals of the old west. The old west even came to be dabbed the wild world west in an aim to allude to the ever lurking danger and threats to social conformity that were ever at work in the old west. Hollywood more often than not reduces the old west to a lawless historical period when social deviance and criminal activities were the order of the day. In most portrayals the towns people live in a state of constant fear and extremely high and sometimes unrealistic levels of alertness all in anticipation of the ever impending attack by lawless outlaws who live by their own moral code and carry out their activities at their own convenience and more often than not at the expense of the general greater society.
Perhaps one of the most realistic portrayals of the old west and narration of events that actually happened in the old west with minimal fictional additions and exaggerations is the film true gift. The film narrates the story of an extremely tough, perhaps too tough, young girl who sets out on a do or die quest to seek her father’s murderers and bring them to a well-deserved justice (True gift, 2010). This film just so happens to be the remake of the 1969 version of true gift which portrays the all famous cowboy john Wayne playing the role of a us marshal with high affinity towards the consumption of all things highly alcoholic. In the 1969 movie john Wayne uses the line “fill your hand you son of a bitch!” (True gift, 1969) and in the 2010 remake the young girl known as Mattie rose finds the men responsible for the untimely murder of her father and finally satisfies her thirst for retribution by gunning down the man she deemed responsible known only as tom Chaney.
Despite the obvious exaggerations and the change of characters here and there in terms of their names and even gender the films bear great resemblance to the historical and true life story of Frank Eaton. In a memoir based primarily on the life of frank Eaton known as the old west lawman’s forgotten memoir details the life of frank Eaton as one of the forefront lawmen of his generation and his lifelong pursuit of the men responsible for the inhumane and untimely murder of his father. The memoir talks of frank Eaton’s father being slain in front of frank Eaton who was but a child at the time. Bearing great similarity to the young heroine in the film true gift, frank Eaton, in comparison to most of his age mates, was an extremely tough young man with but a few if any ever matching up to his level of toughness. He also dedicated his entire life to the relentless pursuit of the men most responsible for the murder of his father and needless to say their being brought to book was indeed his key motivator. At the tender age of only fifteen, Frank Eaton embarked on extensive training and soon developed exquisite shooting skills even earning g the nickname pistol Pete from his peers who were ever in awe regarding his uncompromisable shooting skills. At the age of twenty one frank Eaton managed to track down the very last of his father’s murderers, having of course dealt with other responsible parties. Eaton tracked down a man known only as Champsey to a bar where he worked as a bartender and brought the last of his father’s murderers to book in a shootout. The old west lawman’s forgotten memoir explicitly states that Eaton used the very words “find your hand you son of a bitch!” (True gift, 1969) and it is highly likely that the usage of the line in the film was in a way paying tribute to Eaton.
It is the general opinion of indeed a great number of film enthusiasts that high noon remains to date clearly among the list of the greatest western movies ever produced and to some extent it lays at the top of that illustrious list. The film portrays Gary Cooper as the sole town marshal standing firm for justice and holding his ground in preparation for and against the imminent return of the extremely notorious miller gang (High noon, 2003). The members of the miller gang are mean, lean and ever growing brave by each day. Gary cooper is however meaner, leaner and ever more courageous. The illusion of the film unfolding in real time is created as the clock is seen to always be ticking when Tex Ritter yells high noon the film reaches obscene levels of excitement and certainly no film ever gets better than that.
The film however displays a large number of flaws as far as accurate portrayal of an actual time in human history is concerned. The film has also been at the receiving end of a great amount of criticism in regard to its leftist elements as far as the old west is concerned (High noon, 2003). The film has even been described as a metaphor for Hollywood blacklisting by hardliners who some might think of as extremists. Perhaps the most surrealistic and historically inaccurate aspect of the film was its portrayal of the towns’ people. The towns’ people are brought out as perhaps the highest order of cowards with sheep like fetishes and craven and are more than ready to toss Kane out in the cold to awaiting wolves all in an attempt at seeking salvation for themselves (High noon, 2003). This portrayal of the local towns’ people as the yellowest of cowards who are apparently immobilized by a rampant wave of fear. This is very unrealistic with regard to the actual situation in historical records. The population of America mostly residing in the frontier was primarily very strong, with a very high spirit of adventure and by all means very enterprising (Wild West, 2006). Those with an evident deficiency of such traits did not dare tread anywhere near the frontier. Historical records depict frontier dwellers as being tough as nails and more often than not armed to the tooth as most of them had started using firearms at a very tender age and it was also extensively used as a means of putting food on a daily basis on the table and to keep hostile Indians far from their settlements and at bay. Additionally the old west consisted of war veterans who had been in the forefront of the Mexican war or the civil war with some even having partaken in both (Wild West, 2010). Clearly these were people not to be fooled with under any circumstances and were by all means not in the slightest of ways cowardly and by all means prone to any forms of intimidation whatsoever.
Hollywood has indeed done a great deal in regard to familiarizing the current generation with the society and form of life of the old west. Hollywood however is more inclined to providing the best entertainment available to its fans than it is with giving accurate historical portrayals of events and being absolutely politically correct while at it. It is perhaps the need to create entertainment and in the process make extremely large profits that has made Hollywood take the detour from actual historical events and actual pieces of societal life to the fictional and highly uninformative portrayals of the old west that run rampant in its films. Even though some Hollywood renditions of mainstream life in the old west bear great resemblance to actual historical events the greater majority of Hollywood renditions of the old west are nothing more than fictional imaginative work with absolutely no historical backing.
Works Cited
Gorsline, Marie, and Douglas W. Gorsline.Cowboys. New York: Random House, 1978. Print.
High noon.Dir. Stanley Kramer.Perf.barry. Artisan Home Entertainment, 2003.Film.
John Wayne. Dir. John Wayne.Perf.wayne. Platinum Disc Corp., 2004. VHS.
Outlaws.Dir. Michael Husain.Perf.benson. A & E Home Video :, 1997. Film.
The West.Dir. Ken Burns.Perf.alexander. PBS Home Video ;, 2004. VHS.
The claim.Dir. Andrew Eaton.Perf.frank. Distributed by MGM Home Entertainment, 20012000. Laser Disc.
The cowboys.Dir. John Wayne.Perf.wayne. Warner Home Video, 1998. Laser Disc.
The cowboys.Dir. Alice Low.Perf.craig. CLEARVUE & SVE, 2005.VHS.
Wild west. Dir. Dawn French.Perf.french. BBC Worldwide, 2006.Film.
Wild west. Dir. Rob Rapley.Perf.rob. WGBH Educational Foundation;, 2010. Blu-Ray.
