By the late 1970s, John Wayne was dead and the enduring genre of the American movie western was left a high-plains drifter.
Sure, there were revisionist westerns and elegiac westerns and, from beyond our borders, spaghetti westerns and even acid westerns. But by and large, the great tradition of sundrenched morality tales, with white hats beating black hats to lay the cornerstones of justice and civilization, had run their course.
Still, never underestimate the resonance of a good myth.
In the wake of “Star Wars,” with its space cowboys, cantinas, and laser sidearms, shoot-‘em-ups and showdowns were increasingly cast on distant worlds, though all-too-frequently without the uncomplicated, “classic western” moral gravitas.
A notable exception is “Outland” (1981), a gritty update of “High Noon,” transplanted to a mining colony on one of the moons of Jupiter. Sean Connery plays the upright marshal who, like Gary Cooper’s Will Kane, is left to stand alone against hired gunmen.
Space truly is the final frontier, as Roy and I discuss “Outland” on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. We’ll be looking for armchair deputies in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:30 EST!
