The West-KO

In "The West-Hardboiled: Adaptations of Film Noir Elements, Existentialism, and Ethics in John Wayne's Westerns," Sue Matheson explores the western films of John Wayne and goes deeper into the characters that star in the films, the cowboys. To begin with, Matheson focuses on the cowboy and his loyalty to his duty that makes him ignore his wife, his children, and the law. Matheson believes that by doing this, Wayne's characters are actually proving their love for their wife, children, and the law. Matheson further writes, "only the fittest, the strongest, and the most ruthless survive in the noir frontier, those who...draw a gun faster than anyone else" (891). Matheson continues her idea of the alpha male by saying how the characters are corrupt and antisocial. One interesting point she makes is about the appearance of the cowboy and how "their clothes may be worn but not greasy...they seldom sweat...they have always just shaved" (892). This gives the audience a deeper look into the cowboy's psychology. More importantly, this article examines the connection between the characters and their environment. How the "claustrophobic rooms, labyrinthine alleyways, and dripping, dank cities" (890) are all really metaphors of the protagonists and their psychological conditions. She uses The Searchers as an example and how John Wayne's use of the landscape really created the sense that the cowboy's home is the desert. Like when Ethan, Scar, and their companions are riding on blood-soaked ground, it looks like they are riding from out of it, like they were coming from out of the desert.