Western (genre) is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on May 12, 2004.
Article milestones Date Process Result December 15, 2003 Featured article candidate Promoted March 12, 2006 Featured article review Demoted
Current status: Former featured article

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Material from Western (genre) was split to Western film (genre) on 13:18, 11 April 2023 from this version. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted so long as the latter page exists. Please leave this template in place to link the article histories and preserve this attribution.

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I hope I'm not asking a stupid question, but is there a reason that the "The" at the very start of the article is a link to the page about the word "The"? Is that fully necessary? Xanthos IV (talk) 16:33, 23 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Probably the same reason revenge and allegorical are hotlinked further down the page. The article was splurged into being in 2005, when Wikipedia was basically Everything2 without the jokes. The article has rolled downhill since then, attracting fluff on the way. Some Wikipedia articles demonstrate the power of spontaneous collaboration but this is a good counter-example, because as with e.g. New Wave science fiction it's basically unrecoverable in its current form and can only be meaningfully improved by erasing it and starting from scratch. A simple decade-by-decade chronology of Hollywood Western films would be a major undertaking by itself. An article about The Western in all its forms including the historical background plus the shifting cultural context plus all the world's media would be multiple 700-page volumes enormous. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 22:07, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"Many of the most acclaimed Westerns were released during this time, including High Noon (1952), Shane (1953), The Searchers (1956), and The Wild Bunch (1969)."

What is the specific source or basis for this short list? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.239.95.121 (talk) 07:48, 20 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

While that cite wasn’t the best one for the assertion made before it, it is, in fact, both expert - Howson may be a bit of loose cannon on some things, but film ain’t one of them, and it appears to be the actual origin of the term. It probably belongs in the article. Qwirkle (talk) 15:52, 22 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't actually remove that source, I moved it to be more specific (re spaghetti comparison). I also used it in the Meat pie article - which has now been considerably expanded - but you have just reminded me that I noticed before that the Trove citation didn't include the author, so have added it to both. I have spent way too much time on reading up and adding bits to various elements of these topics and am done now - feel free to edit further as you wish! Laterthanyouthink (talk) 06:06, 24 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Many works are described as "Westerns", which is directed here, even though they aren't set in the nineteenth-century. For example:

• The Hi-Lo Country - post WW2
• Brokeback Mountain - 1963-83
• All the Pretty Horses (film) - 1949-
• No Country for Old Men (film) - 1980 - described as "neo-Western" which links here anyway.
• The Sundowners (1960 film) - set in the 1920s in Australia

If these are Westerns, what exactly makes them Western? Why are readers being directed here? What will they find out? I think there needs to be a better and broader explanation of what the genre is about, or else these links should be removed.--Jack Upland (talk) 09:03, 21 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

An unregistered user with the IP "184.97.128.161" added the "snow Western" subgenre on 6 September 2019 to the article, diff:

The snow Western subgenre is  based during mid- to late winter, and set in the continental United States. It is a more rare Western, as most focus during warm weather or areas without snow. Popular films of this subgenre are Andre de Toth's Day of the Outlaw (1959), Sergio Corbucci's  The Great Silence (1968), Sydney Pollack's Jeremiah Johnson (1972), Breakheart Pass (1975), Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight (2015), and Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant.

I searched the Google for "snow Western genre" and couldn't find a useful source for the claimed subgenre, so I removed it now, but if you could find something useful you can re-add it.--FMM-1992 (talk) 00:44, 25 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Why are a majority of Hollywood western films take place after the Civil War ? 2.29.250.239 (talk) 23:14, 1 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I am not certain, but it may have something to do with the phase of the American Indian Wars in the post-war period. The period includes Red Cloud's War (1866-1868), the Comanche campaign (1867-1875), the Modoc War (1872-1873), the Red River War (1874-1875), the Great Sioux War of 1876 (1876-1877), the Buffalo Hunters' War (1876-1877), the Nez Perce War (1877), the Bannock War (1878), the Northern Cheyenne Exodus (1878-1879), the Sheepeater Indian War (1879), Victorio's War (1879-1880), the Meeker Massacre (1879), the Crow War (1887), the Ghost Dance War (1890-1891), the Crazy Snake Rebellion (1909), the Bluff War (1914-1915), and the Posey War (1923). The Apache Wars finally ended in 1924, marking the end of the American Indian Wars. Hard to believe, but the peace has lasted for nearly a century. Dimadick (talk) 11:26, 2 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Westerns are not all about Indians, so it's also the period of the railroads opening up the West, when most of the famous outlaws were doing their things, and weaponry included repeating rifles and such. Carptrash (talk) 19:45, 16 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Concur with the above. There are some Hollywood films set in the West before the Civil War, like The Revenant (2015 film), but they tend to be characterized as adventure films, not Westerns. --Coolcaesar (talk) 14:35, 17 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

"The Old West" period of American history is defined as starting after the Civil War, so movies about that period kinda HAVE to be set then.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 22:10, 20 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Not all Pre-Civil War Hollywood Westerns are categorized as adventure films, take a look at Django Unchained or The Sisters Brothers, they are some of the few Hollywood films set in the West before the Civil War and are classed as Westerns. All I want to know is why are nearly all Western films made by Hollywood take place after the Civil War. 2.29.250.239 (talk) 21:17, 20 November 2022 (UTC

Dear Khajidha, I thought the Old West period started in 1848 during the California Gold Rush (which was before the Civil War). 2.26.1.169 (talk) 15:31, 22 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Seems the Library of Congress agrees with me: https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/rise-of-industrial-america-1876-1900/american-west-1865-1900/ --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:04, 28 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

All I want to know is why are nearly all Western films made by Hollywood take place after the Civil War. Is the purpose to improve the article, or just quest for personal knowledge? We're not a discussion forum and the talk page is specifically for discussing improvements to the article, not for expanding into other discussion. ButlerBlog (talk) 18:23, 28 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Why is it that dynamite is the only explosive used in western films ? 2.29.250.239 (talk) 13:23, 13 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You really need to ask the western script writers about that. I suspect that it is because it was the best known explosive from that era. Carptrash (talk) 16:51, 13 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Also the safest for the user. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 23:43, 20 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Same as above, the talk page is WP:NOTAFORUM. ButlerBlog (talk) 18:24, 28 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

There is currently a discussion regarding the capitalization of Western as a genre, and a number of related page moves of subgenre articles. ButlerBlog (talk) 21:27, 13 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I think the definition "The Western is a genre of fiction set in the American frontier between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890" is too narrow, as there are many films that are clearly understood and accepted as being Westerns, that are set before or after this period. Perhaps the definition should read "usually set in the second half of the 19th century".2A02:2F0F:B111:6400:839:8575:8371:3A6A (talk) 07:33, 16 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Various definitions:

"western, a genre of novels and short stories, motion pictures, and television and radio shows that are set in the American West, usually in the period from the 1850s to the end of the 19th century." [1]

"a story, movie, or radio or television play about the U.S. West of the 19th century."[2]

"a novel, story, motion picture, or broadcast dealing with life in the western U.S. especially during the latter half of the 19th century"[3]

"a film based on stories about life in the west of the US in the past" [4]

"a movie based on stories about life in the part of the US west of the Mississippi River when white people began going there to live in the 19th century" [5]

"A western is a book or film about life in the west of America in the nineteenth century, especially the lives of cowboys" [6]

"a film, book, etc, concerned with life in the western states of the US, esp during the era of exploration and early development" [7]

"a film, book, etc. having a setting in the western U.S., esp. during the 19th-cent. period of development and expansion of the frontier" [8]

"a story, movie, or radio or television play about the U.S. West of the 19th century" [9]

"a story, movie, or television show about life in the American West in the late 19th century" [10]

"A novel, film, television program, or other dramatic work including themes, characters, or settings characteristic of the American West, especially of the late 1800s" [11] 2A02:2F0F:B111:6400:839:8575:8371:3A6A (talk) 08:23, 16 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

there are many films that are clearly understood and accepted as being Westerns, that are set before or after this period - What do you mean by "many"? And can you provide an example? Certainly, there are films in the various Western subgenres that fall outside that time period, the classic Western falls within that definition (which comes from the cited source). It is the themes of the classic Western that define and identify the Western genre when the setting falls outside of that time period. With that in mind, and reviewing the cited source, add revised it to read typically set in... ButlerBlog (talk) 01:47, 26 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

When it comes to being set before 1850, I agree that "many" is not a good word, although Westerns set in the first half of the 19th century or even earlier are not unheard of (eg Across the Wide Missouri, The Far Horizons, Rachel and the Stranger, The Big Sky, Northwest Passage, to name a few from the classical era; there are others too, but as someone said above, there will always be debates about 'Western' vs 'Adventure' vs 'Historical' film categories). It is indeed quite difficult to create a 'Western' film set during that period because of the history of the region and how it relates to the elements that make a film a 'Western'. I think my main problem is with the cutoff of 1890, which excludes films set in the 1890s; after all, a common definition of the timeframe used in Westerns is 1865-1900 [12]. It seems most Westerns are set in the 1870s and 1880s. Westerns are rarely set during the Civil War, and even more rarely during the 1850s - yet the period of 1849-1865 is included in the lede. 2A02:2F0F:B111:6400:E4EF:3121:BE0E:D663 (talk) 18:23, 26 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]