The Art of the Classic Western Movie Poster

Acknowledging the iconic, but with plenty of room for the rare and unfamiliar,**xA0;The Art of the Classic Western Movie Poster**xA0;presents**xA0;poster art created for several hundred classic (and not-so-classic) westerns produced from 1903 to 1978.**xA0;More than 800 images**x2014;many reproduced as full page**x2014;make this the most comprehensive book of western movie poster art ever published, and the definitive history of a genre often underestimated for its impact on American audiences.**xA0;One of the earliest narrative films, 1903's**xA0;The Great Train Robbery, was a western, and before commercial cinema was a decade old the form had proliferated to such an extent that practically every nickelodeon in the country used short-length shoot-'em-ups in their daily programs.**xA0;The book begins with a fact-heavy introduction that details how western movies became popular as a result of America's fascination with the Wild West, as portrayed in dime novels and pulp-fiction magazines. How and when the genre archetypes**x2014;white hat vs. black hat, the cowboy's love for his horse, the western hero as roving do-gooder**x2014;were fixed is discussed. The difference between "A" and "B" movies and which westerns fit into those categories are also explained ("A"s including such movies as**xA0;Stagecoach,**xA0;Destry Rides Again, and**xA0;True Grit, and "B"s such films as**xA0;Gold Mine in the Sky,**xA0;Saga of Death Valley, and**xA0;Hopalong Cassidy, and the likes of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers). Each chapter devotes a special feature to a specific "western" star, writer, director, stuntman, or leading lady. Also included are the author's firsthand interviews conducted from as far back as the mid-1970s.**xA0;This unique book is a celebration of the American motion picture's first and most enduringly popular genre.