Revisionist Westerns - 1970s Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Man from Laramie

"The Man from Laramie" was a Revisionist Western from 1955 starring James Stewart, not Eastwood. The other movies were all Eastwood Revisionist Westerns from the 70s.

"Two Mules For Sister Sara" came out in 1970, featuring Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine. Eastwood played Hogan, a mercenary working for the Juaristas in French occupied Mexico, and MacLaine played Sister Sara, a prostitute and Juarista supporter, disguised as a nun. As was typical of the revisionist model, the two were less than fine upstanding citizens and yet were driven to do what their own morality told them was right.

In 1973, Eastwood directed his second film, "High Plains Drifter". Although the violence in the movie was not of the blood splattering variety, it still had an edge that was disturbing in its ability to inspire terror, most notably a rape scene and the use of a bull whip to kill. The movie was a morality play with supernatural/spiritual overtones, which many reviewers likened to a tale of Old Testament vengeance. Eastwood played the Stranger, a man, who in true revisionist fashion, wreaked vengeance on the town of Lago for killing their righteous Marshal out of greed. Whether Eastwood was the ghost of the Marshal or someone else is never made clear.

"The Outlaw Josey Wales" was released in 1976 and starred Eastwood as the title character, a Confederate guerilla who refused to surrender at the end of the Civil War. The movie's revisionist view of the Civil War had the Union Cavalry playing the role of villain and and the bushwhacker as the hero. The movie also had strong roles for both women and Native Americans, a clear departure from the Traditional Western. In 1996 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation because of its cultural significance.

Answer: Soldier Blue

"Soldier Blue" starred Candice Bergen as Cresta and Peter Strauss as Private Honus. The two were the only survivors of an ambush of US Cavalry by Dog Soldiers (Cheyenne warriors), who must make their way to Fort Reunion. They arrived at Fort Reunion just in time for a planned retaliatory attack on a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapahoe village. They tried to warn the village but were too late and had to watch a massacre unfold. The movie was based on the historic Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. The movie was the first movie of its type to present the US Cavalry in a bad light. But the force was not a force of regular Cavalry, rather a volunteer militia from Colorado and New Mexico. The original theatrical release had much of the worst violence cut out, so that it could receive a PG rating, but uncut versions are now available that depict the massacre in graphic detail. Even in its original release it was considered very violent. The movie was a Revisionist Western in every sense of the term. The title song for the movie was performed by Buffy Sainte-Marie, a member of the Cree tribe from Canada.

The movie came out right after the disclosure by the American military of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, making it controversial both because of the current history of the time and the film's own subject matter.

Answer: A Man Called Horse

In "A Man Called Horse" (1970) Richard Harris played English aristocrat John Morgan, who was captured by the Sioux while on a hunting expedition in the Dakotas. He was spared because of his blond hair. At first he was used as a slave but he soon accepted the Sioux ways and proved himself according to their customs. From slave he rose eventually to lead the tribe. The sequels were "The Return of a Man Called Horse" (1976) and "Triumphs of a Man Called Horse" (1983).

The movie was revisionist because it painted the Sioux as neither noble savages nor cliched villains, but looked more objectively at both white culture and Native American culture. The film was noted particularly for its graphic portrayal of the Sun Vow ceremony. Some Native American activists have complained that even though it attempted to portray Native Americans more favorably, it still was from a white man's perspective. Considering the time that it came out, the movie made great strides in being more fair and balanced, despite this criticism.

Answer: Apache

Ulzana led an Apache war party off the reservation and cut a swath of destruction and brutality across Southern Arizona before he was tracked down and killed by a US Cavalry detachment. Burt Lancaster starred as the grizzled veteran tracker MacIntosh and Bruce Davison played the young, naive and idealistic Lt. DeBuin.

This revisionist movie was unflinching in its portrayal of the Apache atrocities, which it neither condoned nor condemned. The atrocities were a fact of nature, much like a hurricane or tornado. DeBuin's transformation throughout the picture, from a good Christian who did not hate the Apache, to a man obsessed with catching and killing Ulzana, and then finally to grudging respect for his foe, was the heart of the movie. MacIntosh was a man stuck between two worlds - that of the white man, from whence he came and the Apache with whom he shared a kindred spirit. Many saw the movie at the time as an allegory for the ongoing conflict in Vietnam.

Answer: Sitting Bull's History Lesson

The full title was "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson". The movie was directed by Robert Altman who also directed the anit-establishment classic "MASH". It starred Paul Newman as Buffalo Bill, a man who had become a caricature of his former self. He came to believe the myth he created in his show. The movie told the story of the behind the scenes action that occurred during the run of the Wild West Show. The title referred to the fact that Sitting Bull would not portray Custer's Last Stand the way Buffalo Bill wanted and instead wanted him to portray a massacre of a peaceful Sioux village by Bluecoats.

The movie was revisionist because it attacked the heroic myth of settling the West by the white man and made Buffalo Bill into a cartoon character. It came out in 1976, at the height of the bicentennial celebrations and was poorly received as a result, unlike Altman's earlier hit "MASH", which was considered an instant classic and benefitted from the anti-Vietnam mood of the country in 1970.

Answer: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan released "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" in July 1973, two months after the movie's premiere. The soundtrack spawned one of Dylan's biggest hits, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", a song that has become a rock anthem. The song has been covered by Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, and Avril Lavigne among others.

The movie starred James Coburn as Pat Garrett and Kris Kristofferson as Billy the Kid. Although based on historical figures, the film fictionalized the details. It followed the action from Billy's first arrest and escape to his eventual death at the hands of Garrett. Although Sam Peckinpah directed the movie, the original theatrical release in 1973 was not his version but one the studio did after his version was completed. The studio version bombed at the box office. A subsequent director's cut was released in 1988 and has been praised as one of Peckinpah's best.

As a Revisionist Western, the director's cut, was noted for its realism juxtaposed against its sentimentalism. The black and white morality of Traditional Westerns gave way to a world of grays. Garrett was hired to hunt down and kill his long time friend, which he did in cold blood. In the end, Garrett died at the hands of the men who hired him to kill Billy.

Answer: Roy Bean

"The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" starred Paul Newman as the Judge and was directed by legendary director John Huston. The movie took liberties with the truth and made the Judge bigger than life, as a hanging judge, which the historical evidence does not support. It featured many different characters coming into Judge Bean's life and how they interacted with him.

The movie was revisionist not only because it stretched the historical truth, but also for the amount of violence it portrayed and the moral ambiguity of the lead character. In the movie, Judge Bean had no qualms about being judge, jury, and executioner. Although the judge and jury part was right, he was only known to have ordered two men to be hanged, one of which escaped. The movie also portrayed the Judge as being willing to shoot a killer in the back, clearly not a traditional portrayal of the code of the West, no matter how deserving the culprit.

Answer: Buck and The Preacher

"Buck and The Preacher" told the story of African Americans in the West. Poitier was Buck, a scout, and Belafonte was the Preacher, a minister of the High and Low Order of the Holiness Persuasion Church but in reality he was a con man. Buck helped former slaves who wanted to settle in the West and in so doing crossed paths with the Preacher.

The movie was revisionist because it showed African Americans were more than merely slaves or servants and actually had a part in settling the West. Historically their numbers were few but they participated in all aspects of frontier life. The biggest number came west as part of the Buffalo Soldier regiments of the US Army in two infantry and two cavalry regiments. The units played a critical part in the Indian Wars of the Plains and in the fight against the Apache in Arizona.

Answer: Jeremiah Johnson

In "Jeremiah Johnson", Redford played the title character, a mountain man of the Old West. He was joined by Will Geer as Bear Claw Chris Lapp. The film was purported to have been inpsired by the real life mountain man, Liver-Eating Johnson. It told the story of Johnson's journey from greenhorn to bonafide mountain man and feared opponent of the Crow tribe.

The movie was considered revisionist because of its stark portrayal of the life of a mountain man and how harsh that life really was. It was a violent, bloody affair. The real Liver-Eating Johnson did carry on a war with the Crow for years, in revenge for the killing of his Native American wife. He would eat the liver of his victims, which was an affront to the Crow. Eventually the Crow came to respect him and the two sides made peace.

Answer: "Little Big Man" and "The Missouri Breaks"

In "Little Big Man" Hoffman played Jack Crabb, a survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn and Dunaway played the wife of a preacher and attempted seducer of Jack. Jack was raised by the Cheyenne, became a gun slinger along side Wild Bill Hickok, and acted as a scout for Custer.

The movie was revisionist in both the context of its portrayal of the West and in its use of the West as commentary on American involvement in Vietnam. Penn himself, in a TCM promo for the film, claimed the movie was a comment on American genocide (source: wikipedia). The film drew from actual historical events but can in no way be considered accurate in its depiction of those events.

"The Missouri Breaks" was a much anticipated collaboration between Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson as regulator Robert E. Lee Clayton and rustler Tom Logan respectively. Logan rustled cattle from a rancher named Braxton who hired Clayton to stop the rustling.

The movie was a violent tale in the revisionist tradition that seemed to glory in the violence. In typical fashion, the outlaw became the hero and the 'lawman' became the villain, a particularly vicious one at that. The movie was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release and has not fared any better over time.