10 Reasons You're Wrong About Westerns
6. The Action Is Great
Even in bad classic western films, the action is absolutely incredible.
Perhaps more so than any other subgenre of action filmmaking, the western is rooted in gargantuan practical effects and stunts. In the genre's earliest days, these films were simply looking to entertain viewers any way they could, which meant offering up action sequences the likes-of-which had never been seen before.
This led to a lot of horseback-and-carriage-centric chase scenes, as well as shootouts at high noon. The limitations of the genre might initially sound stifling, but they're actually some of the action's greatest attributes. Filmmakers know what they can't do, so the question becomes how can they assemble the pieces they have in a new way.
For decades, great filmmakers have been continuously finding inventive answers to that very question. Sequences like Butch and Sundance's final shootout in Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, any number of showdowns in Silverado, or the final stand-off in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly remain as some of the most thrilling action sequences ever committed to film.
They take the perceived limitations of the time period, such as the slower firing rate of the weapons or the need of horses for travel, and turn them into narrative strengths.