How the West Was Lost

Decent enough documentary for the greenhorns and freshcuts of the genre, with a political commentary that might alienate George W. supporters, but the tiny segment on the great maestro Sergio Leone is downright uninformed, moronic, an embarrassment to all involved and makes the entire project a throwaway thing. As if insulting possibly the greatest director of westerns and certainly the most influential since his time in all manner of modern films was not enough, pipsqueak Rich Hall completely ignores the avalanche of terrific spaghetti westerns that followed in A Fistful of Dollars' wake. I'm talking about the works of Corbucci, Sollima, Carnimeo, Castellari and other one hit wonders.

Disappointingly familiar coverage reeks of Pauline Kael with Hall as a mean cowboy wanders round the present day western scenery - lots of derelict Prairie Schooners. It starts in with a Tombstone coffee mug and abusing a kid with a lap top. Shane & High Noon in the 1952 era when a quarter of Hollywood production was westerns and Son of Paleface Was their biggest earner. He compares the action with American national policy - High Noon as a Coalition of the Willing. ("The dude can't network")

Hall puts forward a contrast between the straight forward values of My Darling Clemantine and the increasingly perverse action of westerns from the Bay of Pigs and Vietnam eras, the Searchers follows integration etc. Misfits & Hud represent contemporary deglamorisation like Liberty Valance, along with Little Big Man and McCabe & Mrs Miller, Sergo Leone.

The odd unfamiliar story like Peckinpah killing his horse by trying to get it into a hotel lift. Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, Richard Dix don't figure. The famous (mainly 50s) scores turn up often of different films. Passable documentary production values and unsurprising interviews.

Move along - nothing happening here.

I'm just about finished with this fascinating documentary after finding it on YouTube. I've been a big fan of the western film since the fifties. Rich Hall's How the West Was Lost begins its history and analysis of The Western with early John Ford and spends nearly ninety minutes progressing through some 50 years of classic films, great directors and iconic stars. The nearly non-stop film clips alone make this worth watching.

Mr. Hall also does an excellent job of identifying and comparing the various themes of these Westerns and how they have evolved as America has evolved.

Side note: Is anyone else curious why someone would review a film they admit they have not watched? And base that negative review solely on a negative opinion given by another reviewer. Deep stuff.

There are two points here I would like to make:

(1) Let me say right off that I was quite anxious to find this film, but after reading all the reviews offered here, I don't think I want to. Man, I sure am glad I read the reviews from others first who have seen it before I wasted my money! Maybe it's easy for a reviewer from the United Kingdom or Ireland to accept Rich Hall's obvious disdain for America (as pointed out in these reviews), but being from America, I know I wouldn't be able to stomach it. I think it's laughable for someone from another part of the globe to grouse about what's wrong with America! Methinks you need to be an American to really know that.

(2). The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is my favorite Western, but from reading the other reviews here, it appears Mr. Hall despised that classic Western above all. That alone is enough to make me avoid this so-called "documentary" at all costs. I have a feeling I would end up jerking the DVD out of its player, taking it outside and running over it several times with my automobile! Rich Hall and BBC America, there's your "documentary"; and as Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly said, "I can give you a good idea where you can put it!"

Rich Halls hatred for the United States and the Western movies are clear. His "feeling" of inferiority are quite obvious in this stupid film. The totally unnecessary rant about President George Bush shows his lac of understanding of History be that of the American West or anything regarding history. Buddy Americans are not the problem! It's short sighted people like you who are the problem! The history of man is not 232 years Americans are not the blame for the worlds troubles we haven't been here long enough. Yes I saw your smug ass here in Tombstone outside //The Crystal Palace and I'm sure if those people you talked to knew what you were up to, they would not have been part of this.

Yes that's part of your deception i understand.