I don’t live in US, and I always think old west is a boring era until I play the game red dead redemption 2. I was immersed in the old west world created in game. The clothing they wear, the weapons they use, those typical western architecture, little towns, atmosphere, the spectacular nature etc. make me so nostalgic even I am not a American.

Because of the game, I even try to watch western movie like Hateful Eight and Django unchained. What are some suggestions that if I want to explore this era a bit more? movies? books? music?

30 comments

  1. Lol those are horrible depictions of that time. One name and one name only. John Wayne.

  2. You should see “once upon a time in the west” and “the good, the bad, and the ugly”.

  5. Yes, the independent cowboy spirit still resonates with many and lives on to this day.

    As someone from socal many of our historical attractions, museums, and even theme parks have so much references to frontier life.

  6. Good, Bad, and the Ugly pretty much wrote the book on how to make a wild west movie, an absolute classic and must-watch.

  7. Louis L’Amour wrote a ton of novels set in the old west era, if you’re interested.

    The more recent version of True Grit is one I’d recommend, along with the television show Hell on Wheels. You may also like Dances with Wolves. Let’s also not forget Tombstone.

  8. Turner Classic Movies shows films from the Golden Age of Hollywood (pre-1970 American cinema) which were far more plot/dialog/storyline oriented than the washed up, commercialized, plot-less, crummy action movies Hollywood has been shitting out for the past couple decades at least.

    Specifically, you’re going to want the genre we refer to as “Westerns.” Be prepared for some casual racism. But if you can deal with that, man — those films made Hollywood a household name all over the earth. Even Osama bin Laden reportedly grew up watching them and was enamored with the Wild West as a child because of the quality and craftsmanship of those Old Western films Hollywood put out during its Golden Age.

  9. Red Dead Redemption 2 won Game of the Year in 2020 for a reason. Cowboys will never go out of style 🤠

  10. Yeah those are shit and shouldn’t even be considered westerns. There are some great ones like Tombstone Young Guns, The Quick and the Dead etc. If you’re looking for good ones anything north of the 90s is questionable. Honestly I would start with the really old stuff. Shows like Lone Ranger, The Big Valley, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, The Rifleman, Have Gun Will Travel. For movies look for the actors. John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, William Boyd, Gabby Hayes are a good start.

  11. Here in the southwestern states we do. Try researching some of the outlaws to get a better feel for it. Billy the Kid, Jesse James, etc.

  13. Cowboy culture is still a huge thing in the southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. There are tons of bars where you can dance to country music and wear cowboy clothes without getting laughed at. You find a serious boot and gun culture all throughout Texas. It’s not at all a stretch to own a horse or at least learn how to ride. You’ll even find more modernized versions of the culture in bands like Orville Peck, Old 97’s, and Drive By Truckers that go beyond the traditional country sound, and even new genres like “hick hop” and “corridos tumbados” that are targeted to more urban audiences.

  14. My dad sleeps to the Gunsmoke radio show every single night. When we shared a hotel room on vacation, i kept waking up to gunshots

  15. Yeah, it’s still a big part of our national identity and cultural heritage, especially in the Great Plains regions. The cowboy culture itself is still very much alive and a way of life in parts of the US that have cattle ranches. (Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, inland California…). If you ever come here as a tourist, you can actually book a [cattle ranch experience](https://www.tripsavvy.com/best-cattle-drive-vacations-to-take-4169478). There are [Preserved Old West towns](https://www.daytrippen.com/old-tombstone-western-town-arizona/) with historical reenactments that are a common family vacation activity here.

    In most of the West/Southwest US, you can find shops that make cowboy hats and cowboy boots. Even in cities, it’s still trendy for girls in the US South to have a pair of cute cowgirl boots to wear to outdoor events and country music festivals. (I have a pair from college). We still have rodeos and a lot of US state fairs have annual rodeo events.

    I don’t watch a lot of films, but the 2000s TV series Firefly was popular in the US for being a Space Western, if you want a different twist on it. It takes place in the future, but they wear Old West clothes and use Old West weapons. It’s hard to explain.

    For music, American composer Aaron Copland is famous for writing Old West-style orchestral suites. If you like the atmosphere of Western movies, you might like pieces by him like t[his one.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuR0S3M9r3Y&ab_channel=solutioncow)

    For more modern-style Western music, American Country Music is the music legacy of the Old West. For classic outlaw country, [God’s Gonna Cut You Down](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQTCS6aWRSc&ab_channel=gemmaknmi) by Johnny Cash evokes the feeling, I think. [Barton Hollow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFlRxMJPM_0&ab_channel=CYANiDESURPRiZE) by the Civil Wars is folk rock and does too.

    Contemporary songs will sometimes directly incorporate the Old West imagery and [aesthetic.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJEz_z7cE_0&ab_channel=mirandalambertVEVO) It’s an acquired taste, but it’s a popular genre in the US overall. Taylor Swift initially became famous as a country pop music artist. Based on the kind of media you say you like, you’d probably prefer something that goes harder, like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcCSmefG8Os&ab_channel=CountryParadise). (“God’s country” is an American expression for a vast rural landscape).

    Even other modern genres have Old West nostalgia. Like, Lana Del Rey’s music video for [Ride](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py_-3di1yx0&ab_channel=LanaDelReyVEVO) has strong modern Western outlaw themes. Her speech at the end of the song especially references it. Or who can forget [Old Town Road](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7qovpFAGrQ&ab_channel=LilNasXVEVO) lol.

  16. You can’t go wrong with the old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns. The Good the Bad and the Ugly, The outlaw Josey Wales, Two mules for Sister Sara, A fist full of dollars, For a few dollars more, Hang em high, Joe the kid, the pale rider, unforgiven, ect… Open range with Robert Duvall. Dances with Wolves.

  17. I would recommend reading Lonesome Dove. It’s an epic novel about 2 Texas Rangers driving several thousand stolen cattle from the Texas/Mexico border to establish the first cattle ranch in Montana. They also made a television mini series by the same name that is good, but the book is great.

  18. One movie I haven’t seen listed yet is, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” Long name, long movie, but a well done western.

  20. “The Searchers” is one of the best westerns ever made IMO but is very underrated.

  23. You can probably find old copies of the Time Life book series “The Old West.”

    Each one dives pretty deep into a particular aspect of the old West, but written in a smooth accessible style (moreso than most history books anyway). And they include a lot of great period photographs.

    I recommend the film *McCabe & Mrs. Miller* also. It’s a movie set in the old West that is deliberately defiant of the western film genre stereotypes and tropes. It’s kinda depressing but that’s the whole point – life was hard and brutal on the frontier, the movie version is way over-glamorized. And the shit wasn’t all deserts! We wouldn’t have gone to all the bother of colonizing a region that was just a bigass desert! The reason Westerns mostly depict dusty desert towns is that’s what’s right outside Los Angeles where the film industry is based. Why go out to the forests of Oregon when you can just commute out to the Spahn Ranch and be back home for dinner?

  25. Yeah, my in-laws are ranchers from Texas so I understand. I used to watch a lot of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood as a kid. My Asian dad was all into machismo shit.

    Taylor Sheridan has found a great niche creating shows and movies in the western genre. He’s a great storyteller who knows what he’s writing or directing about. So keep an eye out for his work. Hell or High water, and wind river are great films. Reality show: the last cowboy. I’m picky about my tv shows and I’ve loved Yellowstone and 1883 from him. He is starting 1932 as well (these shows are spin-offs from Yellowstone and are about a generational family). As far as music, check out the soundtrack music featured in the episodes of Yellowstone. I’m also fond of the bluegrass genre.

    Longmire is a good modern show.

    Some great western movies in the past few decades: True Grit, Legend of the Falls, dances with wolves, the magnificent 7 (I prefer the original but love some of the cast).

    Lee Byung Hun, who was in the remake of the magnificent 7, did an awesome Korean movie called the good, the bad, and the weird. A definite fun must watch!

    Books- try the Lonesome Dove series (or anything else from Larry McMurty).

  26. RDR def brough more people into it, but i have family members that are into old west stuff like otaku are into anime stuff. Houses decorated with it, the whole thing.

  29. Yeah, I think Wild West stuff is much more generational. Westerns died out in the 80s, so anyone growing up in the 90s and 00s weren’t exposed as much to that culture and couldn’t care less about it except for the handful of Western themed media that is made like Red Dead Redemption.

    That being said, the nostalgia factor means there’s on occasion a new western movie or show (with adult content).

  30. Oh yea! The West is a collective fascination of ours.

    We used to make lots of movies on the subject. Heck, at one point I think Westerns were the biggest, or at least one of the biggest genres Hollywood churned out. Google the term “Spaghetti Western” if you get the chance. All three Red Dead games are inspired by that style of western.

    Some classic Westerns include:

    The *Dollars* Trilogy (*A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More* and *The Good, the Bad and the Ugly*)

    *Once Upon a Time in the West*

    *Rio Bravo*

    *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid*

    *The Magnificent Seven*

    *The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance*

    *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford*

    There are so many more, but these are a good selection and may give you a nice little weekend movie session.

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