Opinion

'Big Country' western

Friday, February 21, 2014

Late Saturday morning while channel surfing, I tuned my television to watch a wonderful movie, "The Big Country." Like its title, this movie was big, in all its varied aspects. It was a shining example of what we have come to know as the old fashioned American standard -- a "Western!"

This movie was released in 1958, near the end of the era of western moviemaking. In those days, this genre dominated the silver screen, and for a few years into the early '60s, our television schedules.

"The Big Country" was directed by legendary Hollywood filmmaker, William Wyler. Wyler is credited with winning three Oscars during his long career. His movie list is much too long for this article, but his biggest hits included: "Funny Girl," "Ben-Hur," "Roman Holiday," "The Best years of our Lives," "Wuthering Heights," and "Jezebel."

He also directed two other famous westerns, "The Westerner," and "The Cowboy and the Lady." (According to the IMDb movie database.) He co-produced "The Big Country" with the leading man in the movie, Gregory Peck.

The rest of the cast was a who's-who of American film stars of that Hollywood time -- Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, and Chuck Connors.

Shot at a variety of locations in the western United States, Wyler capably captured the vastness of the American West. When they made westerns in those days, you felt like you were a cowboy yourself.

I would recommend this movie to all my fellow boomers, who loved and enjoyed those westerns of our youth, but I would also encourage the younger generations to check out this production and many other western movies from the last century. If you want to know and understand the way our generation thinks, you have to understand the impact westerns had upon our souls.

To comprehend Americans and how their views were shaped by the times and geography of our country, you must also study our culture, from an earlier period in our history. Long before there was the creation of the American cowboy and westerns, our literature was filled with stories, set in what was then known as the "frontier."

The most famous author to write about this time was James Fennimore Cooper. Cooper's stories were mostly about the North American frontier that existed in the late 1700s, before we actually became the United States.

Early settlers in North America lived mostly along the coastal areas. They had subdued the Indian populations there. Poorer people began to head into the interior portions of the country from the coast, all the way eventually to the Mississippi River.

The Indians that lived in these interior areas consisted of much larger and well-organized tribes. There was a continuous struggle between these Indians and the settlers for many decades. These settlers, Indians, and the frontier, were the basis for the books of authors like Cooper.

His novel, "The Last of the Mohicans," was the most famous of his works. It has been made into several movies. In the late 1950s, there was also a television series titled, "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans."

Hawkeye, the lead character in Cooper's stories, is accompanied in this television series by his faithful Indian companion, Chingachgook (portrayed by the famous film star, Lon Chaney Jr.

My generation was taught as much about who we were as Americans, from these frontier and cowboy stories, as we ever were instructed through school. Forget that in many cases the historical accuracy of these tales was questionable. The outlook of the American frontiersman, or cowboy, was rarely questioned by kids in my time.

Most boys my age possessed the gear of a cowboy. You could not find many young boys in America back then, who did not own a "cap gun." I can still remember loading those red rolls of caps, so my toy pistol would bang away as I fanned the hammer, just like my western heroes did on television. Boys my age commonly played what we referred to as "cowboys and Indians," and gunfights and pitched battles were staged by us often.

Westerns gave us more than just entertainment. They greatly impacted the way we viewed life. There was what was known as the "code of the west." This included many social norms that became almost laws of behavior.

It was wrong for a cowboy to shoot anyone in the back, or to shoot an unarmed man. At the same time, it was considered normal for horse thieves to be hanged on the spot when caught. Oh, lest I forget, one more important rule, the cowboy always got the girl at the end of the movie.

The most famous cowboy of all times was John Wayne. His movies can still be seen regularly in television reruns. To most people my age, and for many around the world, Wayne represented what we thought of ourselves as Americans.

Wayne was only seen in movies. Another cowboy star moved from movies to television, and his popularity was at least the equal of Wayne in my youth. Roy Rogers was even given the title, "The King of the Cowboys!"

Roy, his wife Dale Evans, and their sidekick, Pat Brady, could be seen every afternoon on "The Roy Rogers Show." Their transportation was famous to all of us. Trigger was Roy's beautiful Palomino horse. Dale's mare was called, Buttermilk. Pat Brady followed them everywhere in his totally unfaithful jeep, Nellybell. One last character was the family dog, Bullet.

American history has had many influences, but the west of the cowboy era, and the frontier of our ancestors, is as much a part of who we are, and how we think, as any part of our past.

So put on your "white hat," cinch up your saddle, make sure your powder is dry, and watch a western this weekend. They never get old!