Softback. Brown cover with white title and movie stars images.

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Westerns were a huge part of movies during the silent movie era and even more so beginning in the late 1930’s through the 1960’s. Westerns developed such great stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Randolph Scott, and were instrumental in the careers of movie luminaries like James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Alan Ladd, Glenn Ford, and Clint Eastwood. Stars not normally associated with westerns – like Burt Lancaster, Gregory Peck, Robert Taylor, and Joel McCrea -also made a number of quality westerns. However, after the 1960’s, westerns dropped out of sight for several decades as movie westerns fell out of favor with the baby boomers. After all, we had more relevant concerns than what took place in the American west after the Civil War – Vietnam, social unrest, civil rights, equality, and women’s rights were just some of those issues that movies seemed to focus on. Who needed westerns with good guys and bad guys clearly differentiated? But in recent years, westerns have made somewhat of a comeback. Films like Unforgiven (Oscar winner for Best Picture), Tombstone, Dances with Wolves (another Best Picture Oscar winner), Open Range, and Silverado have brought a renaissance to the western, truly the most American form of films. Even an old west comedy like Blazing Saddles has helped bring the western film back into the limelight. Therefore, this book will concentrate on my personal favorites in three categories of westerns : 1. Good Guys (and one gal) 2. Bad Guys and Sidekicks 3. My all-time favorite western films – again, my own personal favorites. This book is dedicated to all fans of classic western movies from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Not the serials, not the “B” westerns with stars like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy’s William Boyd, and Buck Jones, just to name a few; and not the great television shows like The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, or others. As good as those shows were, this book has a specific movie, not television, focus.

Review – My own lifetime covers much of the period in which the names in this volume were regularly seen on the big screen. They are all known to me , some more familiar than others. But all should be known to any Western film fan worth the name. The views of the author are subjective but that’s no bad thing, since the genre has always attracted strong opinions during its long existence. I relished the reminders of the likes of Arthur Hunnicutt and Donald Meek as examples of the character actors who made Western films so enjoyable; indeed memorable in certain famous productions. This is a worthy addition to the bookshelf of any film fan with a special affection for the “shoot ’em ups”!.

About the Author – Gary Koca has had a love of old movies for as far back as he can remember. Professionally, he worked in human resources for 42 years, either as a Federal government employee or contractor. During that time, he wrote hundreds of position papers, proposals, articles for journals, letters, and many other written products. Now retired and able to devote more time to writing about his two favorite topics – baseball and old movies from the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s – his major character flaw is being a life-long fan of the Chicago Cubs. Gary is married with two daughters and four grandchildren and lives in suburban Chicago and Central Florida. His previous books include Forgotten Movie Stars of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, (2013) and Great Chicago Cub Baseball Players Since 1876