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At first glance Westerns and Noirs appear to be quite different genres with vastly different settings, time periods and philosophical outlook. Yet, a closer examination reveals that both film types do share some remarkable similarities. This was one of the aspects of Hollywood filmmaking which we explored in my ASU course: FMS 394: Arizona Identity In Western Film which also had a lively e-discussion board where we posted our thoughts about the parallels between Westerns and Noirs along with other conversations about Arizona’s illustrious film heritage. Yes, I’m on a kick lately about Westerns, (as recent articles I’ve shared during the past month reveal) reliving good memories of classes which I had enjoyed back in the day – some twelve years ago. Now, I enjoy having a site to share these things with other film aficionados.
I realized during our course lessons and discussions that both Westerns and Noir have an undeniable penchant for villains unmatched in any other film style, except for war films or slasher horror which also tend to be quite gruesome and over-the-top for obvious reasons. The Western and the Noir though, are both remarkable for violence and gunplay with criminals on the lam trying to escape so-called justice whether we’re watching a rural posse in hot pursuit after marauding Indians or horse thieves, or a big city detective hunting down a sociopathic killer. It would be quite an understatement to say that firearms play significant roles in such encounters, especially in the former. As both genres were in their prime during the 1940s and 50s, heavy alcohol consumption was also an integral part of the onscreen appearance, whether it was the ubiquitous, rough mining town saloon in places like Virginia City, Nevada or Tucson, Arizona in the 1870s, or a local, neighborhood dive in contemporary 1940s New York or San Francisco.
Both film type narratives make it abundantly clear that guns and alcohol are the downfall of many hard-core residents of the Old West and also the desperate denizens of the harried, 20th century urban rat race. It’s also important to consider another strong parallel where tense gambling sequences figure prominently into both types of stories, whether it’s card sharps eyeing each other suspiciously (with itchy trigger fingers) at the saloon or jewel encrusted dames losing it all on the roulette wheel at a garish casino in modern Buenos Aires or Monte Carlo. Many Westerns and Noirs would also be wholly incomplete without their compliments of brassy saloon hall “hostesses” in the raucous cattle towns like Dodge City or Wichita in the latter 19th century – – which certainly had their mid-20th century counterparts in the femme fatales who twisted men around their pretty little fingers, dominating the seedier sides of Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, or London.
Of course, crime is usually the main thematic element of Westerns and noirs with armed robberies often taking center stage. The train and stage coach ambushes of the Old West become the armored truck heists and payroll office robberies of mid-20th century urban noir narratives. Naturally, corruption and dishonesty among civic officials and law enforcement are a regular feature of both genres. However, among the noirs crime tends to be more sophisticated and deeply entrenched compared to the typical Western, although such conniving and corruption is excellently portrayed in The Baron Of Arizona (1950). Based on a true story, the film concerns a how a cunning and talented forger James Reavis (played by the ultimate silky villain Vincent Price) who attempted to take over the entire Arizona Territory for himself in the 1880s utilizing numerous false documents in the attempt. While the story is fascinating, it should be kept in mind while viewing this that a number of incidents in the film were fictionalized.
While there is a pervasive cynicism and pessimism that parallels the many films of both genres, truth and justice typically wins out over villainy by the final fade-out in most westerns where the eponymous hero ultimately saves the day. In most noirs outcomes are considerably more bleak where nobody saves the day. With that in mind, big bad bullies also typify both genres but tend to be a heavier presence in Westerns where a greedy cattle barons and/or railroad magnates persecute the small farmers and townspeople in conflicts over land and water rights. However, bullies can certainly be a fearsome presence in the Noirs such as On Dangerous Ground (1951) where an inner-city detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) with too many issues regularly harasses and beats suspects and witnesses to get information out of them and eventually has to come to terms with himself (what we call anger management today) and make life changes for the better. Continuing with the theme of bullying, though, one of the most outstanding films with a western setting and contemporary plot where bullies dominate a small town is Bad Day At Black Rock (1955).
In this story, a stranger John J. Macready (Spencer Tracy) comes to the town of Black Rock inquiring after the father of a man who saved his life during World War Two combat in Italy. His efforts to find out anything are repeatedly thwarted by racist bullies who are desperate to conceal a terrible town secret. This film is a must-see, so no spoilers here! I’ve also found it noteworthy that certain stars of the films noir also figure prominently in Westerns. For example, during the 1940s and 50s Alan Ladd (who is not well remembered today) was nonetheless a huge star and one of Paramount’s leading box office draws who played a series of gangster/ hit men roles during the World War Two period. These roles and other tough-guy types he played carried over well into many of the Westerns he made for other studios like Columbia and Warner Brothers.
Ladd’s cool, unsmiling, and hard-bitten persona in bitter, jaded noir roles such as This Gun For Hire and The Glass Key (both Paramount, 1942) which served him well later on, with classic western gunslinger leads in such big Technicolor moneymakers like Whispering Smith (Paramount, 1948) and The Iron Mistress (Warner Brothers, 1952). Overall, though, the most outstanding point of comparison of the Noir and the Western is the appearance and the sense of seediness and decay (both literally and morally) which generally typified both genres. These aspects of narrative are vividly apparent in more contemporary noir/western hybrids such as No Country For Old Men (2007) and Hell Or High Water (2016).
In the former, a hunter inadvertently comes across a drug deal gone bad in the remote Texas desert, leading to a deadly cat-and-mouse game with all the attendant plot twists. In the latter, two brothers played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster engage in a series of small town Texas bank robberies in order to save their family ranch from going into foreclosure. Both films highlight the seeming hopelessness of regular people struggling against bigger forces than themselves which want to push them around and destroy them. These are the timeless themes which have become an indelible part of both the Western and the Noir genres.
