I loved the old Westerns.
I sat in front of the television set in the early 1950s, my gun and holster strapped to my 13-inch waist. Why I brought that up, I do not know. I guess because I had that youthful look back then, and now, in 2026, I have trouble fastening a belt.
I grew up loving the shoot-’em-up Westerns …my television heroes like Hopalong Cassidy, The Cisco Kid…and The Lone Ranger.At the box office: The bigger-than-life movies like High Noon…Hondo…Man Without A Star…Shane — all of them would keep me in my seat to the very end.
Later in life, I graduated from Western Movies 101 to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly…Once Upon a Time in the West…Lonesome Dove…Unforgiven… all bigger-than-life Westerns seen through the eyes of an adult.
At the movies, as a young man, I would settle in my seat, juggle the box of popcorn and the soda in my lap, but keep my eyes focused on the large screen in front of me.
I would memorize the names that suddenly appeared on the screen: the headliners like John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Glen Ford, and Robert Taylor, but I wouldn’t stop there as I memorized the list of the supporting cast as well — actors like Walter Brennan, Noah Berry Jr., Chill Wills…and the ugly ones, too, like Jack Elam and Strother Martin.
Well, I could go on and name them all.
I recognized the cowgirls also: the ladies like Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar; Grace Kelly in High Noon; Dorothy Malone in the Last Sunset, and Claire Trevor in The Man Without A Star…well, the list goes on.
My mind was forever linked to action-packed Westerns like Hondo with John Wayne and Shane with Alan Ladd, along with the co-star Jack Palance, the meanest gunslinger ever.
I miss the wide-open spaces of the grasslands, the breeze across the prairie, the clear blue sky, and the sound of a Frankie Lane song echoing in the background. I miss the first days of Technicolor, the names of my favorite cowboys splashed across the screen in red letters.
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