Westerns

Author Glenn Frankel says the 1952 film High Noon was inspired by the toxic political climate of the time. Originally broadcast Feb. 21, 2017.

Paul Greengrass' new film, a Western set five years after the end of the Civil War, stars Tom Hanks as a former Confederate captain who travels from town to town, reading aloud from newspapers.

The Coen brothers pay homage to old Westerns with their new film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. The movie is a collection of six stories that often subvert the expectations of the genre.

Scott Frank's Netflix series is full of western cliches but with a twist. The town in his series Godless is run by women because the men died in a mining disaster. And there's a lesbian couple and an interracial romance.

Critic David Edelstein says that despite its irresistible plot, Antoine Fuqua's remake of the 1960 classic Western is ultimately "just another formula revenge picture."

Enter Me

Author Petrine Day Mitchum tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies that show business horses have been known to develop an actor's affection for the camera, often coming to life when the director says "action."

Hollywood stuntman Hal Needham — one of the most famous practitioners of his dangerous craft — died of cancer on Oct. 25 at age 82. We'll listen back to a conversation with Needham from Feb. 7, 2011, when he had just published a memoir, called Stuntman!: My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life.

We'll listen back to a 1989 interview with actor Harry Carey Jr., who died Dec. 27. Carey co-starred with John Wayne in the classic Westerns She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers and 3 Godfathers. He talked to Fresh Air about filming epic cavalry-versus-Indian scenes — and his most challenging stunts.

It's been more than 30 years since the rugged film star's death, yet he still looms large in the national psyche. Critic John Powers was surprised to find that the indomitable American fighting man was actually a hard-earned act of self-invention.

The sci-fi Western Cowboys & Aliens and the low-budget British film Attack the Block both open this weekend. Critic David Edelstein says both movies bring people together from different walks of life — but only one is really worth seeing.

The Singing Cowboy was one of the country's most popular and prolific film stars during his career; he also gained fame as a radio star, producer and TV personality. Biographer Holly George-Warren traces Autry's lengthy career in Public Cowboy No. 1.

Michelle Williams plays settler Emily Tetherow in Kelly Reichardt's frontier drama Meek's Cutoff. Both Williams and Reichardt join Fresh Air's Terry Gross for a discussion about the film, which was shot with exquisite landscapes and virtually no dialogue.

Joel and Ethan Coen's latest film is an adaptation of the Charles Portis western novel True Grit. The filmmakers and writers discuss the making of the film and the difficulties of working with both child actors and horses.

Fresh Air's film critic reviews 3:10 to Yuma, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

It's a remake of the 1957 movie of the same title — which was in turn based on an Elmore Leonard short story.

Eastwood joins Fresh Air with his biographer Richard Schickel.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new box-set of film music by Italian composer Ennio Morricone, "A Fistful of Film Music" (Rhino).

Singer/Actor Herb Jeffries. In the late 1930's he became the first and only black singing cowboy on the silver screen. Then in the late 1940's he sang with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. At 83, Jeffries has recently recorded his western songs for the first time on an album - "The Bronze Buckaroo (Rides Again)" (Warner). Included on this album are highlights from his work with Earl Hines (who discovered him) and Ellington, including "Flamingo" and the original version of "You, You Darlin."

Raimi is best known for 1982's cult classic "The Evil Dead," which Steven King called "the most ferociously original horror film of the year." He has just directed his first big budget film, "The Quick and The Dead," starring Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. It's a western with a touch of humor. He also directed 1990's hit "Darkman."

Movie Critic Stephen Schiff reviews the Western spoof, "Maverick," starring Jodie Foster, James Gardner and Mel Gibson.