The June 17th episode of Longmire – the fourth of Season Two – demonstrated well the ability of the contemporary Western to interweave historical components of the Western genre with issues in the modern West. In an episode entitled “The Road to Hell”, the A&E series presented a story-line that combined facets of the Old West such as cattle rustling and vigilante lynching with the tactics that some current environmentalists will undertake. Longmire is based upon the popular Craig Johnson novel series of the same and stars Robert Talyor as Sheriff Walt Longmire; Walt Longmire is a present-day sheriff in the fictional county of Absaroka, Wyoming.
The episode begins with a Wyoming state trooper calling Longmire to inform him of a tractor-trailer that has been abandoned on the highway with the rig shot up and both the cattle trailer and the truck’s driver missing.
Deputies Connally (Bailey Chase) & Moretti (Katee Sackhoff) and Sheriff Longmire (Robert Taylor) Investigate the Abandoned Rig
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The title of the episode references the phrase “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”; there are individuals tied to the disappearance of the cattle that believe what they are doing is justified and in fact, morally good. Those characters, however, are unable to foresee how their actions will be misinterpreted and will lead to the death of the truck driver.
The episode acknowledges both the history of the cattle industry in Wyoming and the West and its current role as part of the regional economy – cattle ranches are a multi-generational livelihood and lifestyle. The term rustler is still used and they are looked upon with the same scorn as in the 19th century and continue to be pursued by “stock detectives”. The cattle industry of the modern West, however, faces another challenge that was not present in the 1800s – a well-organized and media-savvy environmental movement that challenges the practices of the industry on both moral and scientific grounds. Within one exchange, characters representing each side of debate demonstrate just how right they believe themselves to be and scoff at the approach of the other. Here in the following A&E-produced clip is that scene:
Longmire, as a contemporary Western, demonstrated in its June 17th episode that it offers the viewer an opportunity for serious reflection upon both the history and current state of the West as well as debates that are in fact global in nature….literally.
(Copyright – Chad Beharriell)
As the August 3rd premiere date for Season Three of AMC’s Hell on Wheels approaches, some early rumblings are coming down the media “track”. Cast member Anson Mount and new showrunner John Wirth attended the ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas the second weekend of June and gave attendees some insight into the upcoming season of the acclaimed Western series.
Those in attendance were able to view a screening of Episode 1 from Season Three and engage in dialogue with Mount – who plays the former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon – and Wirth. As showrunner, Wirth is responsible for the daily operations of the series. Hell on Wheels is filmed in Alberta, Canada.
Mount and Wirth at the 2013 ATX Television Festival
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Debuting in 2011, Hell on Wheels is centered around the construction of the Union Pacific transcontinental railroad in the immediate post-Civil War era. Along with Mount, the show boasts a strong ensemble cast and takes a nuanced look at such themes as American westward expansion, pre-existing Indigenous territorial rights, race relations and social class. The character of Bohannon was initially drawn to the western railroad project as he searched for a Union gang that had murdered his wife, son and hired help during the war.
The ten-episode Season Three will be set in the year 1867 and will feature a new female character. Jennifer Ferrin will play a strong-willed journalist named Louise Ellison. Ellison will travel to the “end of track” to cover the building of the Union Pacific railway. Background for such a character can be found in real-life 19th century female writers such as Margaret Fuller and Nellie Bly.
Wirth has been quoted on the AMC official site for Hell on Wheels as describing Season Three as being “….about work – the building of the railroad, the binding of the nation after the Civil War, and the rehabilitation of the men who live and fought their way through those exploits. This season we’re placing Cullen Bohannon at the center of the show….”
AMC has released some photos from the first episode of Season Three, showing an almost mountain man-like Bohannon in a winter scene (see below). At the conclusion of Season Two, both Bohannon’s personal direction and the construction of the railroad itself was left in state of uncertainty.
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As the third season of Hell on Wheels approaches, westernsreboot.com will keep its “ear to the track” for more developments as the debut episode nears. An additional “sneak peek” photo from Season Three and further info about the series can be found at this link: Hell on Wheels – Season 3
(Copyright – Chad Beharriell)
One of the interesting threads – and tensions –in A&E’s contemporary Western crime series Longmire is the relationship between Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) and his deputy, Branch Connally (Bailey Chase). Longmire is now in its second season and three interwoven aspects of that contentious relationship – first introduced in Season One – are now developing further. Drawn from the Craig Johnson novel series of the same name, the series debuted in 2012 and currently holds the distinction of being A&E’s highest original series premiere to date.
Robert Taylor as Walt Longmire
The first component of the tension is that Branch is publicly seeking to replace Walt – Connally is running against Longmire in the upcoming election for Sheriff of (the fictional) Wyoming county of Absaroka. Connected to that public challenge is the fact that Connally secretly dated Walt’s daughter, Cady (Cassidy Freeman), for six months. Cady ended the relationship despite Branch stating he would quit the race for sheriff in order to remain with her.
Bailey Chase as Branch Connally
Thirdly, Connally feels – and is backed by his father (played by Gerald McRaney) – that it is now time for his generational approach to law enforcement. Connally outwardly teases Longmire about his resistance to such technology as cell phones but such joking appears to represent a very real difference toward solving crimes. Longmire – representing “old school” Wyoming – is more instinctual while “new school’ Wyoming – as represented by Branch – is more procedural. That said, there have been moments during the series in which Connally has acknowledged that he could still learn more from Walt. This A&E-produced clip examines the relationship further (note: some mature themes):
The next episode – the 4th of Season Two – airs on A&E on Monday, June 17th at 10pm EST/9pm CST. In the upcoming episode, Longmire and deputies look for cattle thieves when both cattle and their driver go missing and deputy Victoria “Vic” Moretti (Katee Sackhoff) alarmed by an apparent stalker.
Further information about the series can be found at this official A&E link: Longmire
(Copyright – Chad Beharriell)
The previous post on this site looked at the lineage of the Contemporary Western that A&E’s current series Longmire draws upon – the example of Cade’s County, a 1971 series starring Glenn Ford, was examined. This writer frames a contemporary Western as one that that is set in the time it is made. Longmire, now into its second season, is set in the Wyoming and American West of the present.
The contemporary Western offers a singular creative approach toward a range of issues in North America because of its connection to the Western genre as a whole. It is singular in that the larger genre itself is directly drawn from the history and geography of North America, a past and place that has been most often explored in those films and TV shows set in the Old West (i.e. prior to 1914 / World War One). The contemporary Western draws upon both actual history and its treatment within creative media to examine the West of today. Western landscapes, history, relationships (e.g. between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples) and approaches to life are carried forward from both the real past and the historical Western to find expression in the present. Past truly is prologue for the Western set today.
The previous post, in its contextualization of Longmire, named a contemporary Western entitled Lonely Are the Brave (1962), directed by David Miller. Starring Kirk Douglas as free-roaming cowboy Jack Burns, the film looked at the difficulty of trying to carry Old West codes and ways of living into the New Mexico of 1962. It is to that film that this post turns for an example of how the contemporary Western can provide an opportunity to meditate on the level of personal freedom that North Americans experience today.
Based on the Edward Abbey novel, The Brave Cowboy (1956), Jack Burns is a ranch hand who consciously rejects modern society and its technology. Burns resists the need to carry identification cards – he says it’s unnecessary as he knows who he is – and detests the carving up the land by borders and fences that he sees as artificial. As he rides into the home of his long-time friend, Paul (Michael Kane), he discovers from Paul’s wife, Jerry (Gena Rowlands), that Paul has been arrested for helping “illegal” immigrants find assistance. An imaginary line that one could not find on the ground by looking for it – the border – has literally imprisoned Burns’ good friend.
Burns will get himself purposely arrested in order to help his friend bust out of jail. Paul refuses to do so – he knows that the power of the central state will not let things “blow over” as Burns claims they will. Burns escapes jail, heads to the adjacent hills with his horse, Whiskey, and is pursued by the contemporary technology of the time. Despite the use of jeeps, walkie-talkies, planes and helicopters, Burns and his horse are able to elude his pursuers by moving across the natural geography in a way they can’t. The ending of the film, as Burns appears to finally be free, is poignant.
One key theme within Lonely Are the Brave – evident from the opening to the closing shot – is the encroachment of technology upon society and the natural landscape. Within that idea is the film’s core component of resistance by maintaining personal freedom. As illustrated in the film, Jack Burns believes that a man on horseback should still be able to move across the land without restriction. When Burns transgresses the conventions of law, technology is employed to restrict his personal freedom to the utmost degree. This is the trailer for the film:
As a contemporary Western, Lonely Are the Brave (which Douglas has cited as his favorite film) offers a viewer today the chance to reflect upon the level of free movement he or she currently can exercise in North America. Does a river know when it is half in one country and half in another? Should it care how others define it? Jack Burns would say no. What would you say?
(Copyright – Chad Beharriell)
Longmire – the acclaimed Western crime drama now in its second season on A&E – represents the most recent form of a Western that often serves to draw new viewers to the genre – the Contemporary Western. This writer defines a contemporary Western as a Western that is set in the time that it is made. Longmire is set in the Wyoming and West of today and thus mixes Western landscapes, history and long-standing models for behavior with the issues and technological ‘patina’ of today.
Katee Sackhoff and Robert Taylor in Longmire
In this writer’s view, it is problematic to use the term contemporary Western to describe Westerns currently being made but that are set in the past. The term has been applied to AMC’s Hell on Wheels by some reviewers but it is more helpful to view Hell on Wheels as a historical or “Old West” Western series – a TV Western series set in the past - that is currently being produced.
Past examples of contemporary Western films would include Lonely Are the Brave (1962), starring Kirk Douglas, which sees the difficulty of a cowboy trying to carry the Old West way of living forward into the New Mexico of 1962.
The contemporary Western is a rich canvass for exploring issues that connect the West of the past to the West (and North America) of today – relationship to the environment, relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, notions of personal freedom and movement. For example, in Longmire, the historical treaty relationship maps out the jurisdictional boundaries between the county overseen by Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) and the local Cheyenne reservation protected by Officer Mathias (Zahn McClarnon), chief of the tribal police.
The great Glenn Ford also contributed to the canon of the contemporary Western in a short-lived yet noteworthy TV series entitled Cade’s County. This Western crime drama ran for one season (24 episodes) from 1971-72 on CBS.
As Walt Longmire is the sheriff of a fictional county (Absaroka), so too was Sheriff Sam Cade (Ford) – Cade oversaw a fictional Madrid County. Interestingly, while the state of Longmire’s county is highlighted (Wyoming), the state in which Cade works is never named. The geography of Madrid County would indicate a location in the Southwest.
Alongside his chief deputy, played by Edgar Buchanan, Cade mixed modern law enforcement techniques with an understanding of his area of the West – Glenn Ford’s character travelled by jeep across the rugged terrain. The series had a number of Indigenous characters, which included deputies of Cade. Cade did not have a wife nor was there any mention of his family during the series.
The following clip, with theme song composed by Henry Mancini, was the opening for Cade’s County:
The next episode of A&E’s Longmire airs this Monday, June 10th at 10pm EST/9pm CST. Official information about the series can be found this link: Longmire
(Copyright – Chad Beharriell)
Nat Geo Wild, a TV channel of National Geographic, is set to premiere a three-part special that looks at nature in the West of North America. The Wild West makes its TV debut tonight – Sunday, June 2nd – from 8 to 11 pm EST.
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The three-hour special is narrated by actor Timothy Olyphant (star of the rural crime series Justified) and uses high-quality footage to show the wild creatures of the western deserts, mountains and coasts. “High Noon” (the first episode at 8pm EST) looks at the living things that can survive in one of the toughest climates on the continent – the desert. Hawks, rattlesnakes and scorpions are among the creatures showcased.
The second episode “True Grit” travels up into the Rocky Mountains to follow wolves and grizzly bears amongst spectacular scenery. Viewers then make their way to the coast with “Gold Rush” to see how bobcats, owls and snakes make a home within the redwood forest and how an elephant seal colony survives on the shores of California.
The Wild West had its film premiere on March 17th at the Sun Valley Film Festival in Idaho.
Viewers in various time-zones should consult local listings for the running order of the special in their region. For further information on The Wild West (and for a listing of episodes across time-zones), one can visit this official link: National Geographic – The Wild West
(Copyright – Chad Beharriell)
The second season debut of A&E’s acclaimed Western mystery series Longmire had 4.3 million viewers tune in for its May 27th episode. This marks a season-start increase from the 4.1 million that viewed the series premiere in 2012. That 2012 premiere itself remains A&E’s highest original series launch ever.
Drawn from the popular Craig Johnson series of the same name, Walt Longmire (played by Robert Taylor) is a present-day Wyoming sheriff in the fictional county of Absaroka. The ensemble cast includes Lou Diamond Phillips as Henry Standing Bear, a Cheyenne man who is Longmire’s best friend, and Katee Sackhoff, Bailey Chase and Adam Bartley as Longmire’s deputies. Cassidy Freeman plays Cady, Longmire’s daughter, who is an attorney.
Longmire Cast – L to R: Taylor, Sackhoff, Bartley, Chase, Freeman, Phillips
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The first episode of Season Two also coincided with the May 28th launch of the first season on DVD. Longmire: The Complete First Season is a 2-disc set that includes all 10 episodes of Season 1, unaired scenes, a gallery of photos and a making-of-the-series documentary entitled The Slow Burn: Shooting Longmire. The show averaged 4 million viewers per episode during its first season.
In the following A&E-produced clip, the cast of Longmire discusses its sophomore season (note: some mature scenes and language):
The next episode of Longmire airs Monday, June 3rd at 10pm EST/9pm CST on A&E.
(Copyright – Chad Beharriell)
