10 Reasons You're Wrong About Westerns

Simply put, the western film is an auteur's genre.

Some of the most renowned directors of all time have made western films. From classic directors like Howard Hawks, John Ford, or Sergio Leone to more modern examples like James Mangold, Quentin Tarantino, or the Coen Bros. - great directors love working in the western genre.

This has resulted in some of the greatest films of all time being western films. Again, the genre has such a long and storied history that its kind of a natural fit for filmmakers looking to make a statement about the art of filmmaking itself. Films like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or even something more recent like The Revenant are revered as filmmaking classics because of the ability of great directors to utilize the genre to fit their needs. Even one of the greatest creators of comedy content of all time, Mel Brooks loved the genre and gave the world Blazing Saddles, regularly regarded as one of the funniest films of all time, as a result.

It's also important to note that even directors who haven't actually made a quote-unquote western film have publicly said that they owe their entire career to the genre. Big-hitters such as Martin Scorcese and David Fincher were both inspired to get into filmmaking by western films, with The Great Train Robbery and Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, influencing their respective decisions.

So the next time your friend writes westerns off as 'boring', remind them that Oscar-winners like Martin Scorsese, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Quentin Tarantino would beg to differ.