Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Westerns - Softcover

Hughes, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845115716 ISBN 13: 9781845115715

Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 2008

Synopsis

This is the true story of the American West on film, through its shooting stars and the directors who shot them...Howard Hughes explores the Western, running from John Ford's "Stagecoach" to the revisionary "Tombstone". Writing with panache and fresh insight, he explores 27 key films, and draws on production notes, cast and crew biographies, and the films' box-office success, to reveal their place in western history. He shows how through reinvention and resurrection, this genre continually postpones the big adios and avoids ending up in Boot Hill...permanently. Major films covered include the best from genre giants John Ford, Howard Hawks and John Wayne, plus classics "High Noon", "Shane", "The Magnificent Seven" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". "Stagecoach to Tombstone" makes many more stops along the way, examining well-known blockbusters and lowly B-movie oaters alike. It examines comedy westerns, adventures 'south of the border', singing cowboys and the varied depiction of Native Americans on screen.
Hughes also engagingly charts the genre's timely renovation by Sam Peckinpah ("Ride the High Country" and "The Wild Bunch" ), Sergio Leone ("Once Upon a Time in the West") and Clint Eastwood ("The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Unforgiven"). Presented too are the best of western trivia, a filmography of essential films - and ten aficionados and critics, including Alex Cox, Christopher Frayling, Philip French and Ed Buscombe, give their verdict on the best in the west.

About this title

About the Author:

Howard Hughes is the author of Aim for the Heart: The Films of Clint Eatswood, Once Upon a Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns and Crime Wave: The Filmgoers Guide to the Great Crime Movies, all published by I.B.Tauris, as well as the Kamera Books guide to Spaghetti Westerns and the Pocket Essentials guide to The American Indian Wars.

Review:

"Hold your horses for next month's release of Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoer's Guide to Great Westerns, author Howard Hughes' detailed tome on 27 classic films." - Newsday.com

"Written with panache and fresh insight...buy it!" – Dave Worrall, Cinema Retro

"A deftly written collection of essays, full of fascinating insight, this will be a must for fellow travellers on the sagebrush trail." – Howard Maxford, Film Review

"Hughes is a fan and his enthusiasm, as well as his research, shines through."-- Keith Richmond, Tribune

About this edition

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1845115716
• ISBN 13: 9781845115715
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306