Yes. And Gene Hackman killed them.
I used to love westerns, but it seems (to me) that real heroes like that became unpopular. I think maybe it had to do with the whole idea that America was not particularly good.
Lomesome Dove?
Outlaw Josey Wells?
The Unforgiven?
Open Range?
The remake of 3:10 to Yuma was extremely good. It was kinda violent ... but then, so was the old west. I don’t recall nudity in it — but, I’m very pro-naked, so I wouldn’t see that as much of a downside.
SnakeDoc
Perhaps the settings will change from one frontier, the old American West, to another, namely space settlements. The 1979 (?) film “Outland” was a fairly close homage to “High Noon.”
Writers spew out the mindless trash today becaue they have no background in honest to goodness writing. Nor do they have the historical (dumbed down school, history etc). What they do write reflects their own lifestyle, and that ain’t pretty.
The Left wasn't going to make any progress at all if society held to those values -- so they spent a few decades sweeping it all away.
And here we are.
The best Western I’ve seen lately is the remake of 3:10 to Yuma with Aussie Cowboy Russell Crowe.
Clint Eastwood...Unforgiven. Open Range. Lonesome Dove.
I think the decline of westerns is partially due to the rise of insidious political correctness. No longer is it OK to use words like “Indian”, “Injun”, “Chinamen”, etc and it’s certainly not PC to show women in being little more than servants or prostitutes (the occasional Annie Oakley aside). Hearing Wayne complain about ‘Native Americans who only want to peacefully co-exist’ just isn’t quite the same thing, ya know?
Plus, the whole thing about how politically-incorrect and damaging to little Tommy and Janey a good old-fashioned GUNFIGHT at high noon is. Oh no!! A gun!!
I cannot emphasize how much I hate “PC” and am just trying to help answer your question.
Maybe they should play Cowboys & Muslims?
The Western was killed by revisionist directors who wanted to make movies about how evil America was and is. It’s hard to watch that great American icon, the cowboy, turned into a venal, hate-filled monster.
I love the series Bonanza. In fact my wife and I went to the 50th anniversary convention at Lake Tahoe this past summer.
Never did like pretty boys like Montgomery Cliff. A face with character that doesn't have baby butt soft skin looks is a man. not a girly man..
Clint Eastwood..........spaghetti western king
I have often wondered why the western genre has dissappeared, and my opinion is the western is dead because today’s Hollywood leading men all look like boys not like men. I can easily believe a western storyline when watching John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Jack Pallance, Jimmy Stewart, Hank Fonda, et.al, but put a Johnny Depp, Leonardo DeCaprio, Mark Wahlberg or Brad Pitt in one and it would become a farce. My impression is the male leads of the 1940s through late 1960s looked like men and could believeably play “cowboys, cavalrymen, and bank robbers”. Today, with the exception of Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, most actors seem like pretty pussies.