Reason why there aren't as many westerns today anymore. Maybe?

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Hope this link works here, a very interesting survey done among todays young folks. Some were really surprising answers.

Martin Grams_ The Results Are In_ Nostalgia is not Mainstream (1).html

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

14 minutes ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Hope this link works here, a very interesting survey done among todays young folks. Some were really surprising answers.

 

[Badlands Bob #61228]

Something is broken.  I can't get it to open.

[Rye Miles #13621]

It opened for me just fine. Pretty interesting..............

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

28 minutes ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

 

Check it again. It shows a tab outside to click 

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

26 minutes ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

Something is broken.  I can't get it to open.

Try again Bob. Because there are so many pages to this guys posts, I had to go outside his window. When I click, it shows another window option upper right hand corner on me to click and takes you to page

[bgavin]

I read through it... and not at all surprised.
These are the answers I expected from Phonies.

I did chuckle about Bettie Paige.
She was hot in the year of my birth.

[Rye Miles #13621]

All I had to do was download it.

 

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

Just too many gaps in the pool of common knowledge.  When I was a high school kid in the '60s, I watched movies from the 40s and 50s - Westerns, detective dramas, monster movies.  They contained cultural references that were recent enough that I could follow the storyline.  When someone picked up a two-piece candlestick style phone, I knew what it was and how it worked.  Show one to a kid today, and they would have no idea.  If you don't recognize such things in a movie, you have trouble following the storyline, and you lose interest.  Add to that the overall loss of historical knowledge and curiosity, and many of the younger folks could care less.   My son is a history buff; I don't worry about him maintaining a connection to the past; but my jaw drops when a neighborhood kid says something like "What's an Oldsmobile?" or "Who is John Glenn?"

 

LL

[Badlands Bob #61228]

6 hours ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Try again Bob. Because there are so many pages to this guys posts, I had to go outside his window. When I click, it shows another window option upper right hand corner on me to click and takes you to page

Ok, I got it to open.  Must be my antique computer or the single strand internet wire.  

 

I'm not surprised at the lack of knowledge about older movies of youngsters.  It goes the other way too.  i was watching "Entertainment Tonight" the other night and they spend 30 minutes talking about current news of celebrities that I had never heard of.   I guess we all have our time in the spotlight and eventually we all fade away into obscurity.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

I don't think there's anything surprising there. It's the passage of time; popular culture doesn't last forever.

 

As to the question posed in the title to the thread: Westerns began to wane at the box office and on TV in the late 1960s, a process that continued apace through the '70s and beyond. Cop shows and movies began to displace Westerns, and eventually did so pretty completely.

 

Elmore Leonard, who in my opinion was the greatest of the writers of Westerns, talked about this long ago. He said that as the '60s advanced, the market for Western fiction just dried up completely. The Western mags disappeared, and the mainstream mags stopped buying any Western stories. Book publishers no longer wanted Western books.

 

Clearly there were exceptions; Louis L'Amour being the obvious one. But the niche became smaller.

 

So Leonard switched to crime fiction in the mid-late '60s and became more famous than he had been as  a Western writer. The movie market for Westerns followed the print market as the years went by.

 

So the trend started a long time ago. To me, the encouraging thing is that quite a few new Westerns have come out in the last few years; interest seems to be reviving.

[Singin' Sue 71615]

Just last weekend....with hubby's family...

His cousin was speaking if how they had just been to the drive-in near the KOA where we were staying, to see Top Gun.

I told them I had never seen the original. They were shocked.

After speaking of various movies seen and not seen, it was soon apparent of our different backgrounds.

Example: I mentioned how I planned to watch The Inspector General with Danny Kay when we got back to the trailer.

"Who? What movie?"

One cousin just a year or two older said she remembered her mother talking about Danny Kay...but had never seen him in anything. (I am sure she had, just did not know him)

Also how the older cousins hated being forced to watch Lawrence Welk with parents.

Sad...as I loved those times, and would love to be able to sit at the feet of my parents and watch again!

Sigh.

There were 12 of us between 28 and 61.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I didn’t see the first Top Gun either, I’m just not a fan of Tom Cruise and I have no interest in seeing either one!!

Those musicians on Lawrence Welk were excellent players! I loved watching that show with my parents and sister. It was actually one of the reasons I went into music for a career,

[Subdeacon Joe]

Musical variety shows.

Sitcoms.

Talk shows that weren't just political bashing.

 

Ya know, "The Music Man" number, "You Got Trouble" sort of addresses the issue.

 

 

 

[Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663]

I doubt I'd do very well on a modern pop culture quiz.   Probably because I've never had children.  Therefore, no grandchildren to educate me!

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

The answers to me were predictable, it would like asking anyone younger than my parents if they knew who Rudolf Valentino or Theda Bara were.

[Snakebite]

52 minutes ago, Singin' Sue 71615 said:

Just last weekend....with hubby's family...

His cousin was speaking if how they had just been to the drive-in near the KOA where we were staying, to see Top Gun.

I told them I had never seen the original. They were shocked.

After speaking of various movies seen and not seen, it was soon apparent of our different backgrounds.

Example: I mentioned how I planned to watch The Inspector General with Danny Kay when we got back to the trailer.

"Who? What movie?"

One cousin just a year or two older said she remembered her mother talking about Danny Kay...but had never seen him in anything. (I am sure she had, just did not know him)

Also how the older cousins hated being forced to watch Lawrence Welk with parents.

Sad...as I loved those times, and would love to be able to sit at the feet of my parents and watch again!

Sigh.

There were 12 of us between 28 and 61.

The Vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.

[Cholla]

This may be an old survey. There are nine Star Wars movies, not six.

[Alpo]

Of course it's an old survey. He mentions the question about the Lone Ranger was asked before the new movie came out, and after it came out some of the answers included Johnny Depp.

 

So I went sliding up to the top of the page and looked, and it says 2015.

[Utah Bob #35998]

Time marches on.

[Rip Snorter]

One fundamental issue, on some level every good western is a morality play, and there ain't much morality around anymore.  

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

3 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

One fundamental issue, on some level every good western is a morality play, and there ain't much morality around anymore.  

 

Same with cop shows. And genre fiction as a whole: the good guys eventually prevail, or mostly prevail. Unlike in the real world.

[Buckshot Bear]

My Mum used to play Burl Ives records all the time...........I don't think there'd be many people my age (59) who would know who he was. 

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

 

 

5 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:

My Mum used to play Burl Ives records all the time...........I don't think there'd be many people my age (59) who would know who he was. 

 

I'm not your age, (I'm 65), but I know who sings about "Pearly Shells" .......   

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Westerns aren't completely dead and some have appeared mostly on TV with good ratings, Hell on Wheels, Deadwood, 1883, and contemporary westerns as Yellowstone. Some independent film makers have shot and put them directly to DVDs rather then theatre release, (one reason is you need almost a dozen backers nowadays, as one can see in the credits, to make a movie for theatres), so budgets are very limited and many shot on videotape rather then film.  Kevin Costner believes westerns aren't dead yet and as Steven Spielberg said, he would like to make a western.

But I also see in my 20 years in CAS/SASS that many newcomers enjoy the shooting and are very good and coming up faster then I could ever achieve. But I see less, especially at monthlies, in way of dressing up or costuming. I see less during the summer months and clubs saying its okay for short sleeves and short pants, but I see many old timers still dressing to the hilt as cowboys. 

What I also see is many newcomers not even joining SASS, or old timers not renewing their badges, yet wearing them. I always believe the motto, "if you ride for the brand, you back the brand". 

Westerns, be it movies, TVs, or just those interested in History or participating in events that bring back for a short time those thrilling days of yesterday, the West, the heroes of yesterday, and Cowboys will survive. We, CAS, and those that still ranch and round-up their cattle, hit the Rodeo circuits,  maybe the last of the breed.

[Rye Miles #13621]

1 hour ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Westerns aren't completely dead and some have appeared mostly on TV with good ratings, Hell on Wheels, Deadwood, 1883, and contemporary westerns as Yellowstone. Some independent film makers have shot and put them directly to DVDs rather then theatre release, (one reason is you need almost a dozen backers nowadays, as one can see in the credits, to make a movie for theatres), so budgets are very limited and many shot on videotape rather then film.  Kevin Costner believes westerns aren't dead yet and as Steven Spielberg said, he would like to make a western.

But I also see in my 20 years in CAS/SASS that many newcomers enjoy the shooting and are very good and coming up faster then I could ever achieve. But I see less, especially at monthlies, in way of dressing up or costuming. I see less during the summer months and clubs saying its okay for short sleeves and short pants, but I see many old timers still dressing to the hilt as cowboys. 

What I also see is many newcomers not even joining SASS, or old timers not renewing their badges, yet wearing them. I always believe the motto, "if you ride for the brand, you back the brand". 

Westerns, be it movies, TVs, or just those interested in History or participating in events that bring back for a short time those thrilling days of yesterday, the West, the heroes of yesterday, and Cowboys will survive. We, CAS, and those that still ranch and round-up their cattle, hit the Rodeo circuits,  maybe the last of the breed.

The newer westerns while not as many as there once was at least are not using 92's!!  They seem to have their guns right!

[Cholla]

2 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

The newer westerns while not as many as there once was at least are not using 92's!!  They seem to have their guns right!

I can't remember what I was watching. It was a recent show. The story was set in the "Old West" but the good guy was shooting a Henry Big Boy. It was quite obvious. It was an eye-rolling moment for me!

[Alpo]

Old Henry.

 

He has a Winchester 94 angle-eject with a crossbolt safety and an Uncle Mike's sling swivel base on the mag tube.

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

17 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Old Henry.

 

He has a Winchester 94 angle-eject with a crossbolt safety and an Uncle Mike's sling swivel base on the mag tube.

 

I haven't seen that movie yet. Probably won't because of the premise of the story that Old Henry is Billy the Kid! Hogwash!

[Dusty Devil Dale]

I thought the westerns were disappearing because the producers and actors are gun-ignorant and  shot each other or their camera crew on the set while filming.  

[Sawhorse Kid]

On 7/26/2022 at 6:14 AM, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I haven't seen that movie yet. Probably won't because of the premise of the story that Old Henry is Billy the Kid! Hogwash!

 

The movie itself is still worth a look.

Factual and technical errors are nothing new to Hollywood.

[Rye Miles #13621]

7 hours ago, Sawhorse Kid said:

 

The movie itself is still worth a look.

Factual and technical errors are nothing new to Hollywood.

Yea but this is pure BS, no thanks!

[St. Louis Suomi SASS #31905]

Try music - do you remember--

Guy Lombardo

Sammy Kay

Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey

Benny Goodman

Satchmo

 

I am not particularly a music type of person, but I remember these folks and I liked them.  Guy Lombardo singing on New Years eve from the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.  Big band music you could actually hum the song after hearing the music. 

My hearing has made me a rock - can't hear but one note - But when I could I found the Bohemian Rhapsody - Cacophonous.

And Benjamin Britain always sounded like someone dropped the silverware tray.  I always preferred ther RIng Cycle of Wagner and my first record was the Peer Gynt   - In the Hall of the Mountain King.  Off Dah! AHHAHAH

 

STL Suomi

 

99% of the kids today would not what I am talking about - The like to hear the sounds of a clam burping.  UGH

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

26 minutes ago, St. Louis Suomi SASS #31905 said:

Try music - do you remember--

Guy Lombardo

Sammy Kay

Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey

Benny Goodman

Satchmo

 

I am not particularly a music type of person, but I remember these folks and I liked them.  Guy Lombardo singing on New Years eve from the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.  Big band music you could actually hum the song after hearing the music. 

My hearing has made me a rock - can't hear but one note - But when I could I found the Bohemian Rhapsody - Cacophonous.

And Benjamin Britain always sounded like someone dropped the silverware tray.  I always preferred ther RIng Cycle of Wagner and my first record was the Peer Gynt   - In the Hall of the Mountain King.  Off Dah! AHHAHAH

 

STL Suomi

 

99% of the kids today would not what I am talking about - The like to hear the sounds of a clam burping.  UGH

 

A couple were popular when I was a kid but yes I remember them and their music lives on!

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, St. Louis Suomi SASS #31905 said:

Try music - do you remember--

Guy Lombardo

Sammy Kay

Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey

Benny Goodman

Satchmo

In 1941 they made a movie called BALL OF FIRE. These eight professors were writing an encyclopedia, and this girl took refuge with them, and the head professor, Gary Cooper, falls for the girl. Nice comedy.

 

In 1948 they remade it. A SONG IS BORN. This time the eight professors are writing a musical encyclopedia, and the girl takes refuge, and the head professor, Danny Kaye, falls for the girl.

 

One of the professors is played by Benny Goodman. He is totally L7. And they have a bunch of jazz musicians in the other room that Danny wants to show him a certain type of musical style. They say that they would be happy to, however their clarinet guy was not there that day. He says that professor so and so plays clarinet, and even though they figure he would be too square to do it, Danny goes to get him.

 

While the music is really good, the part that I liked is what he walks up and says they need to clarinet in the other room, and Benny hands Danny his clarinet. "No no professor, we need you with it."