The Hispanic Roots of the Hollywood Western

Hispanic Roots of the Hollywood Western explores how the Spanish history of the American Southwest influenced a movie genre that became a worldwide phenomenon: the Western. Numerous aspects of the Hispanic heritage of the Old West appear in Westerns, including Spanish-language place names, Spanish architecture, and Hispanic characters. This book explores these elements through the lens of two archetypal Western protagonists: the Cisco Kid and Zorro. These two characters starred in books, radio shows, and movies throughout the twentieth century, eventually becoming a natural part of American popular culture. They sometimes acted as heroes, sometimes as antiheroes, but in both cases, they helped to create a joyful and positive image in the American collective unconscious of what it meant to be Hispanic in the Wild West. These representations are part of the American cinematographic legacy; to forget them would be to lose a part of our collective identity.

Exploring the Hispanic origins of early Westerns is also key to understanding Westerns that came later, such as Sergio Leone’s films and Clint Eastwood in his poncho. The role played by Spain itself continued to be significant, as multiple locations (including Madrid, Barcelona, and Almería) were converted into shooting locations for Westerns throughout the 1950s–1970s. Some of these films were internationally recognized as universal masterpieces of cinematography, like the Dollars Trilogy. 

This book is essential not only for anyone interested in the origins and development of Westerns but also for those who are interested in what meant to be Hispanic in the western United States in past centuries and what it means to be American today.

Mimi Reisel Gladstein is a professor of English and theatre arts at the University of Texas at El Paso. She is the author of five books and co-editor of two. The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes: Selected Works of José Antonio Burciaga  won an American Book Award, a Southwest Book Award, and a Latino Book Award. Gladstein’s scholarly articles cover subjects as diverse as feminism in the Harry Potter series and bilingual wordplay in Hemingway and Steinbeck. Her articles have been translated and published in both Mexico and Japan. International recognition includes the John J. and Angeline Pruis Award for teaching Steinbeck and the Burkhardt Award for Steinbeck scholarship.