The Old West in Fact and Film

<p> For many years movie audiences have carried on a love affair with the American West believing Westerns are escapist entertainment of the best kind harkening back to the days of the frontier. This work compares the reality of the Old West to its portrayal in movies taking an historical approach to its consideration of the cowboys Indians gunmen lawmen and others who populated the Old West in real life and on the silver screen. Starting with the Westerns of the early 1900s it follows the evolution in look style and content as the films matured from short vignettes of good-versus-bad into modern plots.</p>