I’ve been looking around, metaphorically speaking that is, for the old west. Has anyone seen it? I sure haven’t; not in the last few years anyway. I’ll give you fair warning right now, don’t tell me Brokeback Mountain, because that’s a sure fire way to get sideways with me! A movie about a couple of rope smokin’ sheep herders is NOT the old west. That is a propaganda film.That reminds me of a joke I heard a while back. St. Peter was walking around in heaven one day when he noticed John Wayne laying on the ground, passed smooth out. “John, John are you all right?” He asked him as he was slapping his face and shaking him. John finally came to and said “Yeah, yeah, Pete, I’m ok.” “Well what happened?” St. Peter asked. John told him “I just saw Brokeback Mountain!!”
Yeah, that was kind of my reaction too. But I don’t want to spend this whole article on what’s wrong with Hollywood. I want to focus on what used to be right with Hollywood, as well as the real west.
I really feel I was born about 150 years too late. I’ve had people tell me that I’m crazy. They wonder how you could do without things like TV, computers, cell phones, etc. Yeah, I use those things too, but I would give them up for the chance to saddle a horse and just ride into some wide open land I’d never seen before. You know as far as I’m concerned, the best thing about TVs, radios, and the internet is that those are the things that we modern day wanna be’s use to pretend and recreate the old west. So, why not just live in the real thing instead of trying to recreate it?
When I say pretend, you have to understand the context that I’m using. There are still plenty of Sho’ Nuff cowboys out there. It’s just that most of these men and women would also tell you they feel like they were born too late.
I don’t really know what has happened to Hollywood, other than their ultra-liberal agenda, but maybe that is the problem. Hollywood was built on westerns, ever since “The Great Train Robbery” in 1903. Throughout the 1930’s and 40’s Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were box office kings. Those two were the heavyweights but there were plenty of others like Tom Mix and William Hart and the rest of the singing cowboys like Tex Ritter, Rex Allen and others. Also after becoming a star with Stagecoach in 1939 there was a new gunslinger in town. John Wayne was riding tall in the saddle (literally and figuratively).
He is my personal favorite. I’m his namesake (Wayne is my middle name, thanks Dad!) The Duke had about a 50 year career mostly in westerns. He became the epitome of what a man should be. As far as I’m concerned that man can do no wrong.
After the Duke died in 1979, the genre damn near died with him. Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott have done their best to keep it going, but most of their movies, which are excellent, are either made for TV or strait to video. Even the two westerns I personally consider to be the best ever, Lonesome Dove and The Good Old Boys, were both made for TV. 
Off the top of my head I can’t think of a western made since Open Range in 2003. We are going on three years without a good old fashioned cowboy movie. What the hell is wrong with that picture?
Enough about Hollywood, lets look at the real modern west for a minute. I live here in the Austin area and this place is growing like a weed. People are being shoe-horned in here. I know that is a sign of a strong economy and that is a good thing but I hate to see all this good country getting developed into strip malls and gated communities.
These old farmers and ranchers who have had their land for generations are starting to sell it off in sub-divided tracts for huge payoffs. I can’t say I blame them for taking the money. I just hate to see all this beautiful hill country land disappear.
Where I live here in Lockhart is a little different. It is still a rural area for the most part but so many people are moving out of Austin that they are littering the countryside. You just can’t get away from your neighbor. I like to have good neighbors as much as the next guy; I just don’t want to have to look at them all the time. When I am out in the country I want to feel like I am in the middle of nowhere.
That brings me finally to those who are keeping it alive. I do a lot of research on people and organizations that are dedicated to keeping the old west alive. You know for years I have had this fantasy of building my very own old west town, just like a movie set, except actually functional. The only thing that has stopped me from doing it is a glaring lack of funds. So if any of you old west aficionados out there have some money you would like to invest give me a call and we will make this thing a reality! Ok, I’m getting sidetracked, dammit, back to the people keeping it alive.
Once again I have to thank my dad for stoking my interest in the west. When we were growing up he was a buckskinner. That is a person who does Mountain Man reenactments. It was a lot of fun for a boy to be involved with. It was like being in a movie, except you weren’t paid! From there I got into Civil War history and, finally, cowboys. Over the last several years this has led me to become huge fans of people like Red Steagall, Don Edwards, R.W. Hampton and Jeff Gore who also happens to be a friend of my parents.
It seems like they are fighting overwhelming odds, but these men are doing all they can through music, poetry and stories to keep the cowboy alive. I have become a regular listener to Red Steagall’s Cowboy Corner on Sunday mornings as I’m driving home from work. If you want to hear stories from real westerners, not just cowboys per say, but anything dealing with the west, I highly recommend it.
Speaking of 'not just cowboys', I would like to emphasize that the “Old West” was not just about cowboys. That is just a generic term that gets thrown around for anything that happened in the 1800’s. The west was actually full of all kinds of sub-genre’s from Mississippi river boat gamblers to mountain men, pioneers, chuck wagon cooks, prospectors, civil war soldiers, the western Calvary soldiers, Indian dancers, Buffalo Soldiers, gunfighters, and yes, the cowboy, whose heyday was from 1866 to 1886 roughly.
You know if I ever did get to build my old west town, I would like to have a yearly festival out there. I’d call it Jason Watson’s Old West Fest. Anything that happened from 1800 to 1900 would be welcome. Whatever your particular reenactment or craft is you could set up out there and show it off to the public. Once again if anyone reading this has lots of money please get in contact with me.In closing I want leave you with a line of one of the most popular cowboy songs ever written that pretty much sums it up for all of us who missed out on the good old days.Round up in the spring:
In the lobby of a big hotel in New York town one day, sat a bunch of fellers tellin yarns to pass the time away. They told of places where they had been and the different things they’d seen. Some preferred Chicago town, while others New Orleans. In a corner in an old armchair sat a man whose hair was gray. He listened to them eagerly to what they had to say. They asked him where he'd like to be, his clear old voice did ring, I'd like to be in Texas for the round-up in the spring.
So until next time, happy trails, keep yer back to the wind, keep yer powder dry, and all those other great western goodbyes.
God and Texas,
Jason Watson
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