The Best Western Film Books of All Time

The American West, as we know it, is defined by the movies, and the Western is the oldest film genre. When the movies were born, it was not that long after Promontory Point and the Civil War, so those memories were still there in the minds of the very first movie audiences as they ­watched The Great Train ­Robbery. And the myth-making is as important as the brutal truths of history. As the reporter tells Jimmy ­Stewart in Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty ­Valance, “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”.

Rendered in rare, evocative tones reminiscent of Edward Sheriff Curtis’s immortal photographs, Western Portraits of Great Character Actors provides readers with a collection of stylized portraits that capture the allure and mystique of the Old West, complete with authentic costuming, weaponry and settings. From the epic feature film to the TV series and serial, this coffee table book will put the story of character actors and the significance of their memorable roles into an entertaining ­perspective. The subjects include such popular, recognizable actors as Karl Malden, David Carradine, Denver Pyle, R.G. Arm­strong, L.Q. Jones, Horst Buchholz, Henry Silva, Ruta Lee, Morgan Woodward, Bo Hopkins, Clu Gulager and 72 others. The market for this book will include lovers of classic ­cinema, Western history aficionados, writers….

THE EURO-WESTERN BEYOND LEONE. The full, vibrant history of the Euro-Western, offering everything any fan of Euro-Westerns could ever want to know. The success of Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy in the 60s sparked a gold rush, as a legion of European film-makers, many of them sharing the get-rich-quick mentality of Leone's mercenary anti-heroes followed the master's lead to create some of the wildest Westerns ever made. Cynical and stylish, bloody and baroque, Euro-Westerns replaced straight-shooting sheriffs and courageous cowboys with amoral adventurers, whose murderous methods would shock the heroes of Hollywood Westerns.

Any Gun Can Play explores the films' wider reaches, their recurrent themes, characters, quirks and motifs. It examines the American models and explores the mechanics of the Italian film industry. - Features the genre's leading lights, including Franco Nero, Giuliano Gemma and Gianni Garko, writer Sergio Donati, and directors Sergio Sollima and Giuliano Carnimeo. - Foreword by Euro-Western legend Franco Nero. This stunningly illustrated reference guide demonstrates why these films became box-office sensations around the world, and their influence can still be felt today.

"Once Upon a Time in the West was the movie that made me consider filmmaking."–Quentin Tarantino. Sergio Leone's film Once Upon a Time in the Westset out to be the ultimate Western―a celebration of the power of classic Hollywood cinema, a meditation on the making of America and a lament for the decline of one of the most cherished film genres in the form of a "dance of death.

" With this film, Leone said a fond farewell to the noisy and flamboyant world of the Italian Western, which he had created with A Fistful of Dollars and sequels , and aimed for something much more ambitious―an exploration of the relationship between myth ("Once Upon a Time..."), history ("...in the West") and his own autobiography as an avid film-goer. This would be a horse opera in which the arias aren't sung, they are stared. Once Upon a Time has since inspired several generations of filmmakers worldwide. Its combination of "film about film" with an angry historical epic, told with great style, has resonated for half a century, and its reputation has steadily grown. This book, by the world-renowned authority on Sergio Leone, Christopher Frayling, includes revealing personal interviews with all the key players involved in the movie (in front of the camera and behind it) a wealth of never-before-published documents, designs and photographs, and the latest research into the making of a masterpiece, shot by shot. It is introduced with a foreword by Quentin Tarantino. This year is the 50th anniversary of Once Upon a Time in the West and this richly illustrated book is a suitably spectacular birthday tribute.