When I was a kid my heroes were sheriffs, gunmen, outlaws, train robbers and Indian fighters. Tony Robinson’s Wild West I, Discovery 2015
These are genuine 3-D photographs of real Cowboys and Indians ... Stereograph prints were popular all over the world. ibid.
Before the Europeans arrived there were around two million Native people living in America. ibid.
The Sioux lived on the Great Plains ... These were a nomadic people. ibid.
Sitting Bull: People joined his resistance. ibid.
A crime that shocked America: it was one of the first passenger train robberies and the culprits were the James gang. Tony Robinson’s Wild West II
Calamity Jane: in reality she was a drunken fantasist and former prostitute who Hitchcock met briefly and openly despised. ibid.
Jesse James: At age 16 he went to fight in the Civil War with his brother Frank; when it ended they continued to fight a guerrilla campaign against the victorious North. ibid.
New towns sprang up on the prairie, and railway lines began to shrink the wide open spaces. More settlers began arriving here. ibid.
‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid assembled and commanded the last of the great outlaw gangs – the Wild Bunch.’ ibid. historian
[Buffalo] Bill would be instrumental in shaping the cowboy myths we recognise today. Tony Robinson's Wild West III
[Doc] Holliday was someone who did live up to the hellraiser tag. ibid.
‘You speaking to me?’ Rich Hall, How the West Was Lost, Shane, BBC 2008
All Westerns start the same: a man or men on horseback against a sweeping backdrop … All Westerns are about individualism versus evil encroachment. ibid.
The West is far more than just a place – an idea … a myth. ibid.
Bush [George W] claims that his favourite is High Noon. Of course it is. ibid.
One third of all studio releases in 1952 were Westerns. ibid.
‘Out here a man settles his own problems.’ ibid. John Wayne to James Stewart
The killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns ... The West was made by violent, uncomplicated men, and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures. Sergio Leone
The best directed film of all time. Quentin Tarantino
cf.
The most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre. Renata Adler, The New York Times
Lexington, Missouri, 1851: The story of the West begins at the end of the Civil War; for a young man named Jessie James is a soldier in a French military group known as Quantrill’s Raiders. In the spring of 1865 Jesse James is shot and captured by the Union army. Robert Redford’s The West aka The American West I: America Divided, AMC 2016
He forms a gang and begins stealing. But the Union army quickly cracks it down. Fed up with the North’s presence, Jesse James is determined to fight back. ibid.
The Railroads then take the land they got for free and sell it to the settlers, using a massive advertising campaign that promotes the West as an uninhabited paradise. ibid.
In 1866 Crazy Horse takes place in a bloody campaign throughout the Wyoming territory. In the span of six months dozens of settlers are killed, and movement throughout the territory is restricted. ibid.
Jesse James has been leading an uprising in Missouri. ibid.
Jesse James is fanning the flames of rebellion in the South. ibid.
On November 27 1868 George Armstrong Custer leads a brutal attack on an Indian camp near the Washita river. An estimated 150 Cheyenne are killed and what remains of their village is burned to the ground. It will come to be known as the Washita massacre. Robert Redford’s The West aka The American West II: Two Front War
Custer’s mission was to put an end to Indian attacks in the West but the fighting persists. ibid.
Sitting Bull knows his people need to form a united front so he calls a meeting of Lakota leaders. ibid.
‘The Trans-Continental Railroad was the biggest public works project of its time.’ ibid. H W Brands, historian
James partners with Edwards and launches another robbing spree, targeting northern wealth. But now he has the power of the press behind him. ibid.
The Inside Ring of the Union Pacific Railroad Company: Massive Bribery of Senators and Members of Congress. Grant’s Candidate for Vice President and Other Leading Radicals in the Ring. ibid. newspaper article
Nearly sixteen hundred miles from Washington, rumour of gold deep in the Black Hills of Dakota is beginning to spread. ibid.
Train robberies by Jesse James and his brother Frank are wreaking havoc on the country’s railroad industry. ibid.
Another battle is being fought: Jesse James has been on a crime spree across Missouri and Iowa, fighting for the confederate cause by robbing the northern railroads of their funds. In Chicago famed private detective Allan Pinkerton is looking to put a stop to it. Robert Redford’s The West aka The American West III: Blood & Gold
Custer believes that defeating Sitting Bull will be the crowning achievement of his military career and will clear a path straight to the White House. Robert Redford’s The West aka The American West IV: Showdown
Celebrated civil war hero George Armstrong Custer and over 250 of his men lay dead on the battlefield of Little Bighorn. ibid.
Now the most wanted man in America [Jesse James] is forced to go into hiding. ibid.
The ‘Deal’ marked a sad end to Grant’s presidency. Despite his failings, Grant oversaw the completing of the Trans-Continental Railroad and kept a divided country together. ibid.
Despite winning small battles against the US army, the struggles for the Indians are only getting worse. General William Tecumseh Sherman’s strategy of exterminating the buffalo is working as more and more Indians face starvation. Robert Redford’s The West aka The American West V: Outlaw Rising
Herds belonging to cattle barons are becoming a major target for outlaws. ibid.
The government isn’t content just to tell the Indians where to live: they’re also determined to change their culture. It’s a policy known as Assimilation. ibid.
The death of Billy the Kid marks the end of an era … One of the most controversial figures in the old West. ibid.
In Lincoln County, New Mexico, Billy the Kid is determined to avenge the murder of his friend and mentor John Tunstall. Tunstall’s death is orchestrated by a corrupt group of wealthy businessmen known as The House. Robert Redford’s The West aka The American West VI: The Big Killing
After two years in hiding, Jesse James is going back to a life of crime. ibid.
After years of roaming the West looking to make his fortune Wyatt Earp has finally found himself a home: as deputy marshal of Dodge City. ibid.
After failing to recruit Billy the Kid in Las Vegas, Jesse James has finally managed to pull together a new gang. ibid.
Lincoln County, New Mexico, 1881: After surrendering to lawman Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid awaits his trial for the murder of corrupt Lincoln County sheriff William J Brady. Robert Redford’s The West aka The American West VII: Frontier Justice
The government knows they can use Billy the Kid to send a message about lawlessness in the West. ibid.
Once again Billy the Kid has pulled off an impossible escape leaving two deputies dead. ibid.
Wyatt Earp is appointed deputy sheriff of Tombstone. ibid.
Jesse James starts planning his next heist … With a new gang by his side, Jesse James has successfully pulled off a series of train heists but his actions are gaining more attention than ever. ibid.
Sitting Bull realises he has no choice but to lead his people back to America and agree to live on the reservation. ibid.
Billy the Kid is dead at 21 years old. ibid.