The Best Modern Western is ‘Star Wars’
The Scoop features personal essays on movie-centric topics.
By Jeffrey Pohorski
Westerns often deal with themes such as morality, justice, revenge, gun-fighting, and the struggle for survival in vast landscapes. As a fan of westerns and their development over the decades, I enjoy watching how they have influenced and combined with other genres like science fiction in the modern era—notably Back to the Future Part III, Serenity, and Mad Max: Fury Road.
But there’s one modern sci-fi western that remains 12 parsecs ahead of the rest.
A long time ago, in the 1970s…
The influence of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope on American culture is hard to overstate. I remember standing in a long line to see the theatrical release in 1977 with my girlfriend Andrea and dozens of other movie enthusiasts. I was captivated by the sheer excitement of seeing spectacular galactic vistas and hearing sound effects emanating from Luke’s X-wing Starfighter T-65B.
The impact it had on me and many others was significant. America was just coming out of Vietnam and dealing with the realities of losing a war. We also watched our government plunge into disarray during the Watergate scandal, with the Iran hostage crisis and gas shortages just around the corner. It was really a dark time in our history and for my generation.
I was in the middle of my college career as a journalist and losing some of my mojo of making a name for myself. But experiencing A New Hope with other disillusioned youths helped reimagine our perspective. It brought newfound dreams to many of us who were looking for heroes. Someone who could right wrongs and lead us into the future. Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi, R2-D2, C-3PO, Darth Vader, and Yoda all became part of our reawakening to new possibilities. The dark side of life was being pushed back by a bunch of brave and weird characters, who lived in a galaxy far, far away.
At the time of the Star Wars premiere in 1977, the classic western was already fading out of Hollywood and moviegoers’ tastes. The last real western blockbuster was 1969’s Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Clint Eastwood was continuing to shape westerns into the mid ‘70s, but stopped after The Outlaw Josey Wales. Popular science-fiction had a run in the ‘60s with the Star Trek TV series and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it became less interesting and profitable as crime dramas like The Godfather ascended in popularity.
That’s the milieu in which George Lucas wrote Star Wars, an epic saga that was able to combine the very best of sci-fi entertainment with core elements of western storytelling. Lucas was explicit about westerns like The Searchers being a major influence on Star Wars, and even pays homage to the film when Luke discovers the destruction of the Lars homestead in A New Hope.
4 reasons Star Wars is a western
Knowing that, it becomes clear how Star Wars echoes these four common tropes and characteristics of westerns.
1. The Setting
Like a good western, Star Wars had its heroes galloping through vast, desert-like spaces not unlike the Old West—though on hovercraft instead of horses. This made for a wide-open backdrop for supersonic chase scenes, outlaw hideouts, and high-noon shoot-outs. The heroes in this case weren’t cowboys but Jedi, representing the classic gunslinger archetype by being the fastest, bravest, and most skilled pistol shooters in the territory.
2. The Gunslingers
Han Solo was the perfect lone ranger figure who didn’t back down from anybody, like cigar-chewing Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. He even toted a holster and laser blaster that closely resembled a Colt .45, the gun that won the West. Solo carried it with a kind of swagger that matched anything John Wayne could dish out. Clad in boots and a vest, the only thing missing from his traditional western wardrobe were some spurs, which had no use in the Millennium Falcon.
3. The Supporting Color
A good western has to have a saloon to drink and carouse in, with all kinds of colorful characters around who might even pick a bar fight with the meanest and ugliest gamblers. The iconic Mos Eisley cantina scene harkens back to the smoke-filled saloons of the Wild West, its alien visitors sitting around tables, filled with suspicion, and whispering about the next plot.
4. The Motivation
Finally, it wouldn’t be a western without revenge. Luke starts off on Tatooine, a backwoods planet far from anything significant. He’s bored and restless, forced to stay with his uncle and aunt to help with the harvest. But he stares at the stars, eager to explore the larger galaxy and find adventure. He gets his chance when he learns the fate of his family and decides to avenge their untimely deaths—a common refrain with western rogues like William Munny in Unforgiven and Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.
I was immediately caught up by the scope of Luke’s dilemma and the prospect of pursuing an enemy in an infinite universe. However it turned out, I was committed until the end of this otherworldly tale, to find out if light overcomes darkness and in the process find a new hope. At least for those two hours. And I loved every minute of it.
Jeffrey Pohorski is the owner of Skunkfilms, Inc. He is a producer, director of photography, and editor of documentaries and features. You can find him at jeff@skunkfilms.com.