Gunfight at the Eco-Corral

Gunfight at the eco-corral : western cinema and the environment / 

         Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann

Author

Murray, Robin L

Subjects

Western films - History and criticism.; Nature in motion pictures.; Ecology in motion pictures.

Contents

• Introduction
• Don't fence me in: ecology and free-range and fenced ranching in shane and sea of grass
• Mining westerns: seeking sustainable development in McCabe and Mrs. Miller
• Is water a right?: The ballad of Cable Hogue and environmental law
• The rush for land, the rush for oil, the rush for progress: spectacle in Cimarron, Tulsa, Comes a horseman, and There will be blood
• Transcontinental technologies: telegraphs, trains, and the environment in Union Pacific, Jesse James, and The last hunt
• Smoke signals and American Indian westerns: narratives of environmental adaptation
• A west and a western that works?: contemporary traditional westerns, Riders of the whistling pines, and Silver City.

Most film critics point to classic conflicts—good versus evil, right versus wrong—as defining themes of the American Western. In this provocative examination of Westerns from Tumbleweeds (1925) to Rango (2011), Robin l. murray and Joseph K. Heumann argue for a more expansive view that moves beyond traditional conflicts to encompass environmental themes and struggles.