William Wellman’s Westward the Women

This post is part of The William Wellman Blogathon, hosted by Liz at Now Voyaging. Find the rest of the posts for this event HERE! Since I was a little girl, I have loved Westerns. But even back then, I couldn't help noticing one thing: The general lack of women in most Western movies. Sure, …

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The Furies: The Anti-Damsel with a Daddy Fixation

This post is part of the Anti-Damsel Blogathon, hosted by Fritzi at Movies, Silently and Jo at The Last Drive In. Read the rest of the posts HERE! When I was in college, I had a wonderful professor named Dr. Taylor. He taught several film classes, mostly about film noir. He was adept at pointing …

Miriam Hopkins as the Anti-Scarlett: Virginia City (1940)

This post is part of the Miriam Hopkins Blogathon, hosted by Silver Screenings and A Small Press Life/Font & Fock. Click HERE for a list of all participants. SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR VIRGINIA CITY. When this blogathon was announced, people jumped in right away and grabbed up Miriam Hopkins' best-known films. Even though the rules of …

O Canada Blogathon: The Grey Fox (1982)

This post is part of the O Canada Blogathon hosted by Ruth of Silver Screenings and Kristina of Speakeasy. When Kristina and Ruth first announced a blogathon devoted to Canadian film, my initial thought was "The Grey Fox." This revisionist Western, starring Richard Farnsworth and based on the real-life outlaw Bill Miner, is one of …

8 Reasons Why Hollywood Should Have Shelved The Lone Ranger Movie

(SIDENOTE: This week is my one-year Blogversary! WordPress informed me on July 1 that I have had this blog for one year, but that was the day I signed up for a blog. My first blog post appeared on July 8, 2012. Thanks to all who have stopped by over the past year!) What does …

The Western Is Not Dead–It’s Just Asleep

Over on one of my favorite web sites, io9, there was a recent article by Charlie Jane Anders about the failure of many sci-fi-fantasy/Western genre mash-ups to gain large audiences. She argued that the reason is the Western is a “moribund” genre—i.e., basically dead. Well, them’s fightin’ words where I come from, pardner—er, I mean, …

5 Ways Writing Fan-Fiction Made Me A Better Writer

Come on, admit it, writers--at one time or another, you've written some fan-fiction. O.K., maybe you haven't, but I bet you at least thought about it at one time or another It's something that's difficult to confess to. I was actually a bit hesitant about writing this post, until I saw an article by Peter …