133-669: James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career. Coburn was a capable, rough-hewn leading man, whose toothy grin and lanky physique made him a perfect tough guy in numerous roles in Westerns and action films. He played supporting roles in The Magnificent Seven , Hell Is for Heroes , The Great Escape , Charade and Hard Times as well as
266-675: A 2016 film remake . Elmer Bernstein 's film score was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score and is listed on the American Film Institute 's list of the top 25 American film scores . In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A gang of bandits led by Calvera periodically raids
399-512: A " Western " theme (mainly in the episode titled " Dude, Where's My Ranch? "). The opening horn riff in Arthur Conley 's 1967 hit " Sweet Soul Music " is borrowed from the theme. Canadian band Kon Kan use the opening bars of the theme in their single " I Beg Your Pardon ". Celtic Football Club (Glasgow, Scotland) used the theme music whenever Henrik Larsson scored a goal. The 2008 J-pop song " Ōgoe Diamond " by AKB48 also used part of
532-561: A "mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways, wilderness, and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a shootout or quick draw duel. The Western genre sometimes portrays
665-618: A German soldier. He finished directing the film because of Peckinpah's constant drunkenness. This critically acclaimed war epic performed poorly in the United States, but was a huge hit in Europe. Peckinpah and Coburn remained close friends until Peckinpah's death in 1984. Coburn returned to television in 1978 to star in a three-part miniseries version of a Dashiell Hammett detective novel, The Dain Curse , tailoring his character to bear
798-486: A coin during one of Brynner's speeches, and rattling his shotgun shells. Brynner would often build up a little mound of earth to make himself look as tall as McQueen, only to have McQueen kick the dirt out of place when he passed by. When newspapers started reporting about a rivalry, Brynner issued a press statement saying, "I never feud with actors. I feud with studios." The film's score is by Elmer Bernstein , with orchestrations by Leo Shuken and Jack Hayes . Along with
931-523: A fantastic effect on women filmgoers and I think it's because ladies go more for masculinity and charm than prettiness in a male star."" The movie was a big success at the box office on its release in 1966 and established Coburn as a star. Coburn followed it with What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966), a wartime comedy from Blake Edwards , which was made for the Mirisches; Coburn was top billed although
1064-479: A fortune; Harry smiles before dying. Lee finds the nerve to burst into a house where several villagers are being held, shooting their captors and releasing the prisoners to join the fight, but is gunned down as he leaves the house. Bernardo, shot protecting the boys he befriended, tells them as he dies to see how bravely their fathers fought. Britt dies after killing many bandits and exposing himself from cover. Chris shoots Calvera, who demands to know why he came back for
1197-507: A group of seven gunfighters hired to protect a small village in Mexico from a group of marauding bandits led by Eli Wallach . The film was released by United Artists on October 12, 1960, becoming both a critical and commercial success and has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre. It spawned three sequels, a television series that aired from 1998 to 2000, and
1330-722: A hitman in Hard Contract (1969) for Fox, another flop. Coburn tried a change of pace, an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play, Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970) directed by Sidney Lumet , but the film was not popular. In July 1970, Richard F Zanuck of Fox dropped the $ 300,000 option it had with Coburn. In 1971, Coburn starred in the Zapata Western Duck, You Sucker! , with Rod Steiger and directed by Sergio Leone , as an Irish explosives expert and revolutionary who has fled to Mexico during
1463-447: A horse and is armed with a revolver or rifle . The male characters typically wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas , vests , and cowboy boots with spurs . While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include buckskins and dusters . Women are generally cast in secondary roles as love interests for the male lead; or in supporting roles as saloon girls, prostitutes or as
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#17327825501741596-426: A number of occasions, famous examples being Support Your Local Sheriff! , Cat Ballou , Mel Brooks 's Blazing Saddles , and Rustler's Rhapsody . George Lucas 's Star Wars films use many elements of a Western, and Lucas has said he intended for Star Wars to revitalize cinematic mythology, a part the Western once held. The Jedi , who take their name from Jidaigeki , are modeled after samurai, showing
1729-509: A physical resemblance to the author. During that same year as a spokesman for the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company , he was paid $ 500,000 to promote its new product in television advertisements by saying only two words: "Schlitz. Light." In Japan, his masculine appearance was so appealing, he became an icon for its leading cigarette brand. He also supported himself in later years by exporting rare automobiles to Japan. He
1862-422: A poor Mexican village for food and supplies. After the latest raid, during which Calvera kills a villager, the village leaders decide to fight back. They send three villagers carrying their few objects of value to try and barter for weapons. In a town just inside the United States, the villagers find Chris , a veteran Cajun gunslinger , and approach him. Chris advises that they instead hire gunfighters to defend
1995-452: A popular art form. Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as seminomadic wanderers who wear Stetson hats, bandannas , spurs, and buckskins , use revolvers or rifles as everyday tools of survival and as a means to settle disputes using frontier justice. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds. The first films that belong to
2128-570: A setting, where it tasked players to lead a party of settlers moving westward in a covered wagon from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. The game only grew popular in the 1980s and 1990s as an educational game. The first video game Westerns to engage the mass public arrived in arcade games focused on the gunfighter in Westerns based on depictions in television shows, films and Electro-mechanical games such as Dale Six Shooter (1950), and Sega 's Gun Fight (1970). The first of these games
2261-688: A sheriff in fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming . Originally aired on the A&;E network from 2012 to 2014, it was picked up by Netflix in 2015 until the show's conclusion in 2017. AMC and Vince Gilligan's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad is a much more modern take on the Western genre. Set in New Mexico from 2008 through 2013, it follows Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ), a chemistry teacher diagnosed with Stage III Lung Cancer who cooks and sells crystal meth to provide money for his family after he dies, while slowly growing further and further into
2394-459: A speech: "Farewell, Brother. It has been an honor to share this space in time with you. As a friend and a teacher, you have given to me, have brought my physical, spiritual, and psychological selves together. Thank you. May peace be with you." Coburn was one of several stars in the popular The Last of Sheila (1973). He then starred in a series of thrillers: Harry in Your Pocket (1974),
2527-496: A sweat," he recalled. Then, in 1996, Coburn tried methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), a sulfur compound available at most health food stores. The result, he said, was nothing short of miraculous. "You take this stuff and it starts right away," said Coburn. "Everyone I've given it to has had a positive response." Though the MSM did not cure Coburn's arthritis, it did relieve his pain, allowing him to move more freely and resume his career. Coburn
2660-571: A whiplash injury and had to wear a neck brace. During the interval required for his "recuperation", he was free to appear in The Magnificent Seven . James Coburn was a great fan of the Japanese film Seven Samurai , having seen it 15 times, and was hired through the help of co-star and former classmate Robert Vaughn, after the role of the expert knifethrower had been rejected by actors Sterling Hayden and John Ireland . The film
2793-440: Is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges . The screenplay, credited to William Roberts , is a remake – in an Old West -style – of Akira Kurosawa 's 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai (itself initially released in the United States as The Magnificent Seven ). The ensemble cast includes Yul Brynner , Steve McQueen , Charles Bronson , Robert Vaughn , Brad Dexter , James Coburn , and Horst Buchholz as
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#17327825501742926-589: Is a genre of literature set in the American Old West, most commonly between 1860 and 1900. The first critically recognized Western was The Virginian (1902) by Owen Wister . Other well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey , from the early 1900s, Ernest Haycox , Luke Short , and Louis L'Amour , from the mid 20th century. Many writers better known in other genres, such as Leigh Brackett , Elmore Leonard , and Larry McMurtry , have also written Western novels. The genre's popularity peaked in
3059-512: Is a series of seven books that meshes themes of Westerns, high fantasy , science fiction, and horror. The protagonist Roland Deschain is a gunslinger whose image and personality are largely inspired by the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone's films. In addition, the superhero fantasy genre has been described as having been derived from the cowboy hero, only powered up to omnipotence in a primarily urban setting. The Western genre has been parodied on
3192-443: Is a war film, but its action and characters are Western-like. The character played by Humphrey Bogart in noir films such as Casablanca and To Have and Have Not —an individual bound only by his own private code of honor—has a lot in common with the classic Western hero. In turn, the Western has also explored noir elements, as with films such as Colorado Territory and Pursued . In many of Robert A. Heinlein 's books,
3325-573: Is also ranked No. 79 on the AFI's list of American cinema's 100 most-thrilling films . Three sequels were eventually made: Return of the Seven (1966), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972). Yul Brynner returned as Chris Adams for Return of the Seven , but was replaced in the sequels by George Kennedy and Lee Van Cleef . He was the only member of
3458-606: Is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys , outlaws , sheriffs , and numerous other stock gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice , freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny , and the national history and identity of the United States . Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or savages . Originating in vaquero heritage and Western fiction ,
3591-413: Is maintained predominantly through relatively impersonal institutions such as courtrooms . The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a seminomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered
3724-757: Is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often prostitutes ), gambling (draw poker or five-card stud), drinking ( beer , whiskey , or tequila if set in Mexico), brawling, and shooting. In some Westerns, where civilization has arrived, the town has a church, a general store, a bank, and a school; in others, where frontier rules still hold sway, it is, as Sergio Leone said, "where life has no value". Author and screenwriter Frank Gruber identified seven basic plots for Westerns: Gruber said that good writers used dialogue and plot development to develop these basic plots into believable stories. The American Film Institute defines Western films as those "set in
3857-412: Is usually punctuated with a Western music score , including American folk music and Spanish / Mexican folk music such as country , Native American music , New Mexico music , and rancheras . Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid , desolate landscape of deserts and mountains . Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting
3990-1342: The Atari 2600 and Gun Fight (1978) for the Bally Astrocade were derivative of Midway's Gun Fight . These early video games featured limited graphical capabilities , which had developers create Westerns to the most easily recognizable and popular tropes of the gunfighter shootouts. Western radio dramas were very popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. There were five types of Western radio dramas during this period: anthology programs, such as Empire Builders and Frontier Fighters ; juvenile adventure programs such as Red Ryder and Hopalong Cassidy ; legend and lore like Red Goose Indian Tales and Cowboy Tom's Round-Up ; adult Westerns like Fort Laramie and Frontier Gentleman ; and soap operas such as Cactus Kate . Some popular shows include The Lone Ranger (first broadcast in 1933), The Cisco Kid (first broadcast in 1942), Dr. Sixgun (first broadcast in 1954), Have Gun–Will Travel (first broadcast in 1958), and Gunsmoke (first broadcast in 1952). Many shows were done live, while others were transcribed. Westerns have been showcased in short-episodic web series. Examples include League of STEAM , Red Bird , and Arkansas Traveler . Within
4123-537: The Grand Canyon , Yosemite , and the giant redwoods , due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the Great Depression . After renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of Westerns continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined. The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called
James Coburn - Misplaced Pages Continue
4256-551: The La Jolla Playhouse in Herman Melville 's Billy Budd . Coburn's first television appearance was in 1953 on Four Star Playhouse . He was selected for a Remington Products razor commercial, where he was able to shave off 11 days of beard growth in less than 60 seconds while joking that he had more teeth to show on camera than the other 12 candidates for the part. Coburn's film debut came in 1959 as
4389-713: The Mirisch Company . Coburn was hired on the recommendation of his friend Robert Vaughn . During the 1960–61 season, Coburn co-starred with Ralph Taeger and Joi Lansing in the NBC adventure/drama series Klondike , set in the Alaskan gold rush town of Skagway . When Klondike was cancelled, Taeger and Coburn were regrouped as detectives in Mexico in NBC's equally short-lived Acapulco . Coburn also made two guest appearances on CBS 's Perry Mason , both times as
4522-590: The New Hollywood era, he cultivated an image synonymous with "cool". James Harrison Coburn III was born in Laurel, Nebraska , on August 31, 1928, the son of James Harrison Coburn II and Mylet S. Coburn ( née Johnson). His father and namesake was of Scots-Irish ancestry and his mother was an immigrant from Sweden . His father had a garage business in Laurel that was destroyed by the Great Depression . Coburn
4655-807: The Rat Pack kind of style." Western (genre) The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States , particularly the Southwestern United States , as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada . The frontier
4788-457: The space opera series Firefly used an explicitly Western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. Anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop , Trigun and Outlaw Star have been similar mixes of science-fiction and Western elements. The science fiction Western can be seen as a subgenre of either Westerns or science fiction. Elements of Western films can be found also in some films belonging essentially to other genres. For example, Kelly's Heroes
4921-419: The "Golden Age of the Western". It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including Robert Aldrich , Budd Boetticher , Delmer Daves , John Ford , and others. Some of the popular films during this era include Apache (1954), Broken Arrow (1950), and My Darling Clementine (1946). The changing popularity of the Western genre has influenced worldwide pop culture over time. During
5054-432: The 1960s and 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns from Italy became popular worldwide; this was due to the success of Sergio Leone 's storytelling method. After having been previously pronounced dead, a resurgence of Westerns occurred during the 1990s with films such as Dances with Wolves (1990), Unforgiven (1992), and Geronimo (1993), as Westerns once again increased in popularity. When television became popular in
5187-416: The 1960s, due in part to the shuttering of many pulp magazines, the popularity of televised Westerns , and the rise of the spy novel. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few Western states, now only carry a small number of Western novels and short-story collections. Literary forms that share similar themes include stories of
5320-458: The 1970s. These games and drew on the imagery of a mythic West portrayed in stories, films, television shows, and other assorted Western-themed toys. When game developers went to the imaginary West to create new experiences, they often drew consciously or unconsciously from Western stories and films. The 1971 text-based, Mainframe computer game The Oregon Trail was first game to use the West as
5453-433: The 1980s, despite continuing to work during his final years. This disease had left Coburn's body deformed and in pain. He told ABC News in a 1999 interview: "You start to turn to stone. See, my hand is twisted now because tendons have shortened." For 20 years, Coburn tried a host of both conventional and unconventional treatments, but none of them worked. "There was so much pain that...every time I stood up, I would break into
James Coburn - Misplaced Pages Continue
5586-582: The American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier ". Originally, these films were called "Wild West dramas", a reference to Wild West shows like Buffalo Bill Cody's . The term "Western", used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th-century popular Western fiction , and were firmly in place before film became
5719-570: The American frontier, the gaucho literature of Argentina , and tales of the settlement of the Australian Outback. A number of visual artists focused their work on representations of the American Old West. American West-oriented art is sometimes referred to as "Western Art" by Americans. This relatively new category of art includes paintings, sculptures, and sometimes Native American crafts. Initially, subjects included exploration of
5852-672: The Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the Russian Revolution , the Russian Civil War , and the Basmachi rebellion. Many elements of space-travel series and films borrow extensively from the conventions of the Western genre. This is particularly the case in the space Western subgenre of science fiction. Peter Hyams 's Outland transferred the plot of High Noon to Io, moon of Jupiter. More recently,
5985-643: The James and Paula Coburn Foundation. In spite of his severe rheumatoid arthritis, Coburn was a martial arts student and a friend of fellow actor Bruce Lee. Upon Lee's early death, Coburn was one of his pallbearers at the funeral on July 25, 1973. Coburn died from a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills on November 18, 2002, at the age of 74. His wife, Paula, said that he died in her arms when they were listening to music together. Paula Coburn died from cancer less than two years later, on July 30, 2004, at
6118-519: The Mexican village prior to Chico being brought into the group. During filming there was considerable tension between Brynner and McQueen, who was displeased at his character having only seven lines of dialogue in the original shooting script. (Sturges had told McQueen that he would "give him the camera".) To compensate, McQueen took numerous opportunities to upstage Brynner and draw attention to himself, including shielding his eyes with his hat, flipping
6251-565: The Mirisches, Coburn narrated Kings of the Sun (1963). Coburn was one of the villains in Charade (1963), starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn . He followed that role playing a glib naval officer in Paddy Chayefsky 's The Americanization of Emily , replacing James Garner , who had moved up to the lead role when William Holden withdrew from the production. As a result, Coburn
6384-524: The Prairie , McCloud , The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams , and the short-lived but highly acclaimed How the West Was Won that originated from a miniseries with the same name. In the 1990s and 2000s, hour-long Westerns and slickly packaged made-for-TV movie Westerns were introduced, such as Lonesome Dove (1989) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . Also, new elements were once again added to
6517-493: The Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a performance released by RCA in 1997, but the original film soundtrack was not released until the following year by Rykodisc. ( Varèse Sarabande issued this album in 1996, and reissued it in 2004.) At the 33rd Academy Awards , the score was nominated for Best Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture , losing to Ernest Gold 's score for Exodus . In 2005,
6650-450: The Seven . Electric guitar cover versions by Al Caiola in the U.S. and John Barry in the U.K. were successful on the popular charts. A vocal theme not written by Bernstein was used in a trailer . In 1994, James Sedares conducted a re-recording of the score performed by The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, which also included a suite from Bernstein's score for The Hallelujah Trail , issued by Koch Records ; Bernstein himself conducted
6783-572: The US for $ 2,500. He later signed a deal with Yul Brynner's production company, who bought the rights from Morheim for $ 10,000 up front plus $ 1,000 a week as a producer and 5% of the net profits. Anthony Quinn was lined up to star with Brynner as director but later Martin Ritt was appointed as director with Brynner starring. Brynner approached producer Walter Mirisch with the idea of remaking Kurosawa's famous samurai film. However, once Mirisch had acquired
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#17327825501746916-823: The United Kingdom, becoming one of the top 100 highest-grossing films in the United Kingdom and in France . It was also successful in Germany. In the Soviet Union (where Brynner was originally from), the film sold 67 million tickets, becoming the highest-grossing Hollywood film ever in the Soviet Union (where it was among only a handful of Hollywood films to become blockbusters there). In South Korea, it sold 80,870 tickets in Seoul City , and it
7049-419: The Western formula, such as the space Western , Firefly , created by Joss Whedon in 2002. Deadwood was a critically acclaimed Western series that aired on HBO from 2004 through 2006. Hell on Wheels , a fictionalized story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad , aired on AMC for five seasons between 2011 and 2016. Longmire is a Western series that centered on Walt Longmire ,
7182-881: The Western genre are a series of short single reel silents made in 1894 by Edison Studios at their Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey . These featured veterans of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show exhibiting skills acquired by living in the Old West – they included Annie Oakley (shooting) and members of the Sioux (dancing). The earliest known Western narrative film is the British short Kidnapping by Indians , made by Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn , England, in 1899. The Great Train Robbery (1903, based on
7315-705: The Western states and cowboy themes. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are two artists who captured the "Wild West" in paintings and sculpture. After the death of Remington Richard Lorenz became the preeminent artist painting in the Western genre. Some art museums, such as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming and the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, feature American Western Art. With anime and manga ,
7448-478: The Wild West and modern technology like cars and cellphones, while also focusing primarily on being a Crime drama makes the show a unique spin on both genres. Walter's reliance on the desert environment makes the Western-feel a pivotal role in the show, and would continue to be used in the spinoff series Better Call Saul . The neo-Western drama Yellowstone was streamed from 2018-2024. Western fiction
7581-547: The age of 48. In The New Biographical Dictionary of Film , critic David Thomson states that "Coburn is a modern rarity: an actor who projects lazy, humorous sexuality . He has made a variety of flawed, pleasurable films, the merits of which invariably depend on his laconic presence. Increasingly, he was the best thing in his movies, smiling privately, seeming to suggest that he was in contact with some profound source of amusement". Film critic Pauline Kael remarked on Coburn's unusual characteristics, stating that "he looked like
7714-629: The bank of the Rivers of the Far West . The "Main Title" was used as an intro tune on many nights of Bruce Springsteen 's 2012 Wrecking Ball Tour . The theme was played as the E Street Band entered the stage, adding to the dramatic atmosphere in the stadium. The film opened on October 12, 1960, in a thousand theaters across the South and Southwest of the United States. In the United States and Canada,
7847-418: The biggest hits of the year. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream screen star in the wake of a decade of headlining B Westerns. Wayne had been introduced to the screen 10 years earlier as the leading man in director Raoul Walsh 's spectacular widescreen The Big Trail , which failed at the box office in spite of being shot on location across the American West, including
7980-409: The border. Preparing to depart, Chris and Vin admit they have become emotionally attached to the village. Bernardo likewise gets angry when the boys he befriended call their parents cowards. Chico declares that he hates the villagers; when Chris points out he grew up as a farmer as well, Chico angrily responds that it is men like Calvera and Chris who made the villagers what they are. The gang escorts
8113-405: The cast to return for any of the sequels. None were as successful as the original film. The film also inspired a television series, The Magnificent Seven , which ran from 1998 to 2000. Robert Vaughn was a recurring guest star, a judge who hires the seven to protect the town in which his widowed daughter-in-law and his grandson live. In 1981, The Clash released a song, " The Magnificent Seven ",
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#17327825501748246-462: The challenge involved; and the dapper, on-the-run gunman Lee, plagued by nightmares of fallen enemies and so haunted that he has lost his nerve for battle. On their way to the village, they are trailed by the hotheaded Chico, an aspiring gunfighter whose previous attempts to join Chris had been spurned. Impressed by his persistence, Chris allows him into the group. Arriving at the village, they work with
8379-479: The child of the liaison between Lt. Pinkerton and Madame Butterfly ". George Hickenlooper, who directed Coburn in The Man from Elysian Fields called him "the masculine male". Andy García called him "the personification of class, the hippest of the hip", and Paul Schrader noted "he was of that 50s generation. He had that part hipster, part cool-cat aura about him. He was one of those kind of men who were formed by
8512-618: The classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s (namely Kid Colt, Outlaw , Rawhide Kid , and Red Ryder ) or more modern ones as Blueberry ), cartoons, and parodies (such as Cocco Bill and Lucky Luke ). In the 1990s and 2000s, Western comics leaned towards the fantasy , horror and science fiction genres, usually involving supernatural monsters, or Christian iconography as in Preacher . More traditional Western comics are found throughout this period, though (e.g., Jonah Hex and Loveless ). Video game Westerns emerged in
8645-752: The conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American, inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them (e.g., True Grit has revenge and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which social order
8778-428: The culture, such as spaghetti Westerns (Italy), meat pie Westerns (Australia), ramen Westerns (Asia), and masala Westerns (India). Being period drama pieces, both the Western and samurai genre influenced each other in style and themes throughout the years. The Magnificent Seven was a remake of Akira Kurosawa 's film Seven Samurai , and A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo , which itself
8911-533: The debut feature from Mission Impossible creator Bruce Geller, and The Internecine Project (1975). Neither was widely seen. Coburn began to drop back down the credit list: he was third billed in writer-director Richard Brooks ' film Bite the Bullet (1975) behind Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen . He co-starred with Charles Bronson in Hard Times (1975), the directorial debut of Walter Hill , but it
9044-456: The dialogue as "by turns, virile, rowdily funny and then, abruptly, not always predictably, it is pensive, even gentle. John Sturges' direction is superbly staccato; making a knife-sharp use of pauses and silences, it brings out both the humor and melancholy, the humanity as well as the evil inherent in the situation." The Monthly Film Bulletin called the casting of Yul Brynner and Horst Buchholz "curious" and thought Chico's decision to stay put
9177-407: The earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary ), Edwin S. Porter 's film starring Broncho Billy Anderson , is often erroneously cited as the first Western, though George N. Fenin and William K. Everson point out (as mentioned above) that the "Edison company had played with Western material for several years prior to The Great Train Robbery ". Nonetheless, they concur that Porter's film "set
9310-463: The early 1960s, and their replacement by hour-long television shows, increasingly in color. Traditional Westerns died out in the late 1960s as a result of network changes in demographic targeting along with pressure from parental television groups. Future entries in the genre would incorporate elements from other genera, such as crime drama and mystery whodunit elements. Western shows from the 1970s included Hec Ramsey , Kung Fu , Little House on
9443-476: The film "rough, tough, funny and splashy most of the way. There's a serious dip the final third, but Keith's newcomer offers shrewd, vastly enjoyable performances." Harrison's Reports praised the film as "A superb Western, well acted and crammed full of action, human interest, pathos, suspense, plus some romance and humor." A positive review from Charles Stinson in the Los Angeles Times praised
9576-501: The film earned $ 2.25 million in theatrical rentals and was a box office disappointment , but proved to be such a smash hit in Europe that it ultimately made a profit. The overseas rental was almost three times as much as in the U.S. with a total of $ 7.5 million, giving it worldwide rentals of $ 9.75 million. In Western Europe, the film sold 7.3 million tickets in Italy, 7,037,826 tickets in France, and 7.7 million tickets in
9709-525: The filming of McQueen's Bullitt . Coburn sold the Spyder in 1987 after 24 years of ownership. The car was restored, had several owners, and was sold in 2008 for $ 10,894,400 to English broadcaster Chris Evans . At that time, it set a new world record for the highest price ever paid for an automobile at auction . Over time, he also owned a Ferrari Daytona , at least one Ferrari 308 , and a 1967 Ferrari 412P sports racer. From 1998 until his death, Coburn did
9842-475: The genre popularized the Western lifestyle , country - Western music , and Western wear globally. Throughout the history of the genre, it has seen popular revivals and been incorporated into various subgenres. The classic Western is a morality drama , presenting the conflict between wilderness and civilization . Stories commonly center on the life of a male drifter , cowboy , or gunslinger who rides
9975-426: The genre tends towards the science-fiction Western – e.g., Cowboy Bebop (1998 anime), Trigun (1995–2007 manga), and Outlaw Star (1996–1999 manga). Although contemporary Westerns also appear, such as Koya no Shonen Isamu , a 1971 shonen manga about a boy with a Japanese father and a Native American mother, or El Cazador de la Bruja , a 2007 anime television series set in modern-day Mexico. Part 7 of
10108-465: The gunfighters to leave. Even some of the seven waver, but Chris insists that they stay. The seven ride out for a pre-emptive raid on Calvera's camp but find it abandoned. Returning to the village, they are captured by Calvera and his men, who have colluded with some of the villagers to sneak in and take control. Calvera spares the seven's lives, part believing they have been disillusioned by the betrayal, and part fearing reprisals from their friends across
10241-464: The harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages, or small frontier towns with a saloon. Oftentimes, these settings appear deserted and without much structure. Apart from the wilderness, the saloon usually emphasizes that this is the Wild West ; it
10374-466: The heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress . Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, although some notable examples (e.g. the later Westerns of John Ford or Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven , about an old contract killer ) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress
10507-451: The hit television series The A-Team , but NBC changed their mind and went with George Peppard . He supported Walter Mondale 's campaign in the 1984 presidential election . Coburn also portrayed Dwight Owen Barnes in the PC video game C.E.O. , developed by Artdink as a spin-off of its A-Train series. Because of his severe rheumatoid arthritis , Coburn appeared in very few films during
10640-401: The illicit drug market, eventually turning into a ruthless drug dealer and killer. While the show has scenes in a populated suburban neighborhood and nearby Albuquerque , much of the show takes place in the desert, where Walter often takes his RV car out into the open desert to cook his meth, and most action sequences occur in the desert, similar to old-fashioned Western movies. The clash between
10773-698: The influence of Kurosawa. The character Han Solo dressed like an archetypal gunslinger, and the Mos Eisley cantina is much like an Old West saloon. Meanwhile, films such as The Big Lebowski , which plucked actor Sam Elliott out of the Old West and into a Los Angeles bowling alley, and Midnight Cowboy , about a Southern-boy-turned-gigolo in New York (who disappoints a client when he does not measure up to Gary Cooper), transplanted Western themes into modern settings for both purposes of parody and homage. The Magnificent Seven The Magnificent Seven
10906-406: The larger scope of the Western genre, there are several recognized subgenres. Some subgenres, such as spaghetti Westerns , maintain standard Western settings and plots, while others take the Western theme and archetypes into different supergenres, such as neo-Westerns or space Westerns . For a time, Westerns made in countries other than the United States were often labeled by foods associated with
11039-788: The late 1940s and 1950s, Television Westerns quickly became an audience favorite. Beginning with rebroadcasts of existing films, a number of movie cowboys had their own TV shows. As demand for the Western increased, new stories and stars were introduced. A number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right, such as: The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Death Valley Days (1952–1970), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), Cheyenne (1955–1962), Gunsmoke (1955–1975), Maverick (1957–1962), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963), Wagon Train (1957–1965), The Rifleman (1958–1963), Rawhide (1959–1966), Bonanza (1959–1973), The Virginian (1962–1971), and The Big Valley (1965–1969). The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
11172-579: The lead role in Our Man Flint and its sequel In Like Flint , The President's Analyst , Duck, You Sucker! , Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid , and Cross of Iron . In 1998, Coburn won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction . In 2002, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries nomination for producing The Mists of Avalon . During
11305-402: The lead was Dick Shaw. It was a commercial disappointment. Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) was a crime movie made at Columbia. Back at Fox, Coburn made a second Flint film, In Like Flint (1967), which was popular, but Coburn did not wish to make any more movies in that series. He went over to Paramount for a Western comedy made through Edwards' company, Waterhole No. 3 (1967) and
11438-485: The literary descendants of the knights-errant , who stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian romances . Like the cowboy or gunfighter of the Western, the knight-errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds, and bound to no fixed social structures, but only to his own innate code of honor. Like knights-errant,
11571-524: The main theme. The Cheers episode "Diane Chambers Day" (season 4, episode 22) revolves around the bar denizens being invited to watch The Magnificent Seven and ends with them singing an a cappella version of the theme. The Mick Jones 1980s band Big Audio Dynamite covered the song as "Keep off the Grass" (although this cover was not officially released). In 1995, the KLF also did a drum and bass cover of
11704-494: The main title as " The Magnificent "; it was released under the group alias One World Orchestra on the charity compilation The Help Album . In 1992, the main theme of The Magnificent Seven came into use on a section of the Disneyland Railroad at Disneyland Paris . Portions of the theme play as the train exits the Grand Canyon diorama tunnel behind Phantom Manor , enters Frontierland , and travels along
11837-461: The major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. An exception was The Big Trail, a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. The epic film noted for its authenticity
11970-683: The manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is based in the American Western setting. The story follows racers in a transcontinental horse race, the "Steel Ball Run". Golden Kamuy (2014–2022) shifts its setting to the fallout of the Russo-Japanese War , specifically focusing on Hokkaido and Sakhalin , and featuring the Ainu people and other local tribes instead of Native Americans, as well other recognizable Western tropes. Western comics have included serious entries, (such as
12103-609: The murder victim, in "The Case of the Envious Editor" and "The Case of the Angry Astronaut". In 1962, he portrayed Col. Briscoe in the "Hostage Child" of CBS's Rawhide . Coburn had a good role in Hell Is for Heroes (1962), a war film with Steve McQueen . He followed it with another war film with McQueen, The Great Escape (1963), directed by Sturges for the Mirisches, where Coburn played an Australian POW. For
12236-432: The pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre". The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first Western star; he made several hundred Western film shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon faced competition from Tom Mix and William S. Hart . Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era (1894–1927). With the advent of sound in 1927–1928,
12369-467: The pile-driver tempo of the first Seven ." According to Variety , "Until the women and children arrive on the scene about two-thirds of the way through, The Magnificent Seven is a rip-roaring rootin' tootin' western with lots of bite and tang and old-fashioned abandon. The last third is downhill, a long and cluttered anti-climax in which The Magnificent Seven grow slightly too magnificent for comfort." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called
12502-513: The planet Akir, home of the Akira (named after Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa ). The Magnificent Seven , a remake of the film with the same title, was released in 2016, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starred Denzel Washington , Chris Pratt , Ethan Hawke , Vincent D'Onofrio , Lee Byung-hun , Manuel Garcia-Rulfo , Martin Sensmeier and Peter Sarsgaard . On April 14, 2023, it
12635-516: The political satire The President's Analyst (1967). Neither performed particularly well commercially, but over the years, The President's Analyst has become a cult film. In 1967, Coburn was voted the 12th-biggest star in Hollywood. Over at Columbia, Coburn was in a Swinging '60s heist film, Duffy (1968), which flopped. He was one of several stars who had cameos in Candy (1968), then played
12768-462: The production, they brought on Walter Newman , whose version "is largely what's onscreen." When Newman was unavailable to be onsite during the film's principal photography in Mexico, William Roberts was hired, in part to make changes required by Mexican censors. When Roberts asked the Writers Guild of America for a co-credit, Newman asked that his name be removed from the credits. Sturges
12901-438: The quality of the script. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval score of 89% based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 8.00/10. The consensus reads, " The Magnificent Seven transplants Seven Samurai into the Old West with a terrific cast of Hollywood stars—and without losing any of the story's thematic richness." It is the second most shown film in U.S. television history, behind only The Wizard of Oz . The film
13034-401: The readily recognized main theme and effective support of the story line, the score also contains allusions to twentieth-century symphonic works, such as the reference to Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra , second movement, in the tense quiet scene just before the shootout. The original soundtrack was not released at the time until reused and rerecorded by Bernstein for the soundtrack of Return of
13167-415: The rights and finalized a deal with United Artists , Brynner was sued for breach of contract by Quinn, who claimed that he and Brynner had developed the concept together and had worked out many of the film's details before the two had a falling-out. Quinn ultimately lost his claim because there was nothing in writing. The film's title comes from the initial American localized title of Seven Samurai , which
13300-489: The role of Butch Cassidy ; and The Restless Gun with John Payne in "The Pawn" and "The Way Back", the latter segment alongside Bonanza' s Dan Blocker . "Butch Cassidy" aired in 1958. He played a rustler in The Rifleman - Season 1, Episode 13 - The Young Englishman. Coburn's third film was a major breakthrough for him, as the knife-wielding Britt in The Magnificent Seven (1960), directed by John Sturges for
13433-476: The score for The Magnificent Seven was listed at No. 8 on the American Film Institute 's list of the top 25 American film scores . Bernstein's score has frequently been quoted in the media and popular culture. Starting in 1963, the theme was used in commercials in the U.S. for Marlboro cigarettes for many years. A similar-sounding (but different) tune was used for Victoria Bitter beer in Australia, as
13566-637: The settlement of other planets is depicted in ways explicitly modeled on American settlement of the West. For example, in his Tunnel in the Sky , settlers set out to the planet New Canaan, via an interstellar teleporter portal across the galaxy, in Conestoga wagons , their captain sporting mustaches and a little goatee and riding a Palomino horse—with Heinlein explaining that the colonists would need to survive on their own for some years, so horses are more practical than machines. Stephen King 's The Dark Tower
13699-470: The seven gunmen from the village and returns their weapons. The seven debate their next move. All agree to return and fight, except Harry, who believes the effort is futile and suicidal. The gunmen infiltrate the village and a gunfight breaks out. Harry, who has had a change of heart, returns in time to save Chris's life but is himself fatally shot. Harry pleads to know what they were fighting for, and Chris lies about hidden gold to let Harry believe he died for
13832-509: The sidekick of Pernell Roberts in the Randolph Scott Western Ride Lonesome . He soon got a job in another Western, Face of a Fugitive (1959). He also appeared in dozens of television roles, including, with Roberts, several episodes of NBC 's Bonanza . He appeared twice each on three other NBC Westerns: Laramie with Robert Fuller , Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson , one episode in
13965-508: The third single from their fourth album, Sandinista! , which references the title of the 1960 film. The 1980 science fiction film Battle Beyond the Stars was a remake of The Magnificent Seven set in space. A group of mercenaries, including ones played by George Peppard (as a character known only as "Space Cowboy") and Robert Vaughn (playing essentially the same character as in The Magnificent Seven ) defend farmers from space raiders on
14098-437: The thriller The Carey Treatment (1972). It was badly cut by MGM and was commercially unsuccessful. So, too, was The Honkers (1972), where Coburn played a rodeo rider. Coburn went back to Italy to make another Western, A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1973), or Massacre at Fort Holman . He then reteamed with director Sam Peckinpah for the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid , playing Pat Garrett . In 1973, he
14231-511: The time of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. In 1964, Coburn had said he would do A Fistful of Dollars if they paid him $ 25,000, which was too expensive for the production's tiny budget. Duck You Sucker , also called A Fistful of Dynamite , was not as highly regarded as Leone's four previous Westerns, but was hugely popular in Europe, especially France. Back in the US, Coburn made another film with Blake Edwards,
14364-593: The village, as "men are cheaper than guns." At first agreeing only to help them recruit, Chris eventually leads the group. Despite the meager pay, Chris finds five willing gunmen. They include Vin Tanner, a gunfighter gone broke from gambling ; Chris' friend Harry Luck, who assumes Chris is hiding a much bigger reward for the work; the Irish Mexican Bernardo O'Reilly, who has fallen on hard times; Britt, an expert in both knife and gun who joins purely for
14497-405: The village. The remaining bandits flee. After Chico decides to stay with Petra, Chris and Vin bid farewell to the village elder. The elder tells them that only the villagers have won, whereas the gunslingers are "like the wind, blowing over the land and passing on." As they pass the graves of their fallen comrades, Chris admits the elder was right. Lou Morheim acquired rights to remake the film in
14630-431: The village; due to a mistake by Chico, the seven are forced to kill all three. Some days later Calvera and his bandits arrive in force. The seven and the villagers kill eleven gang members and run the rest out of town. The villagers celebrate, believing Calvera will not return. However, Chico infiltrates Calvera's camp and learns that Calvera will return, as his men are short on food. Some villagers fear reprisals and call for
14763-461: The villagers to build fortifications and train them in combat. They note the lack of young women in the village until Chico stumbles upon Petra and discovers the women were hidden in fear that the gunmen would rape them. The gunmen begin to bond with the villagers, and Petra pursues Chico. When Bernardo points out that the gunmen are being given the choice food, they share it with the village children. Three of Calvera's men are dispatched to reconnoiter
14896-463: The voice of Henry J. Waternoose III in the Pixar animated film Monsters, Inc. . Coburn's interest in fast cars began with his father's garage business and continued throughout his life, as he exported rare cars to Japan. Coburn was credited with having introduced Steve McQueen to Ferraris , and in the early 1960s, owned a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso and a Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California SWB . His Spyder
15029-472: The voiceovers for Chevrolet 's Like a Rock commercials. Coburn was married twice. His first marriage was to Beverly Kelly, in 1959; they had two children together. The couple divorced in 1979 after 20 years of marriage. He later married actress Paula Murad Coburn, on October 22, 1993, in Versailles, France; they remained married until Coburn's death in 2002. The couple set up a charitable organization,
15162-486: The wives of pioneers and settlers . The wife character often provides a measure of comic relief . Other recurring characters include Native Americans of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians, African Americans , Chinese Americans , Spaniards , Mexicans , law enforcement officers , bounty hunters , outlaws , bartenders , merchants , gamblers , soldiers (especially mounted cavalry ), and settlers ( farmers , ranchers , and townsfolk). The ambience
15295-439: Was Midway 's Gun Fight , an adaptation of Taito 's Western Gun (1975) which featured two players against each other in a duel set on a sparse desert landscape with a few cacti and a moving covered wagon to hide behind. Atari 's Outlaw (1976) followed which explicitly framed the shootouts between "good guys" and "outlaws" also borrowing from gunfighter themes and imagery. Early console games such as Outlaw (1978) for
15428-508: Was "the film's most completely unbelievable contrivance," but still thought that "the film manages to be both impressive and likeable." Akira Kurosawa was reportedly so impressed by the film that he presented John Sturges with a sword, but said: "The American copy is a disappointment. Although entertaining, it is not a version of Seven Samurai." The film has grown greatly in esteem since its release, partly as several of its cast went on to become superstars, and its music score, but also due to
15561-539: Was Shirley MacLaine's husband in Loving Couples (1980) and had the lead in a Canadian film, Crossover (1980). In 1981, Coburn moved almost entirely into supporting roles, such as those of the villains in both High Risk (1981) and Looker (1981). He hosted a TV series of the horror-anthology type, Darkroom , in 1981 and 1982. According to Mr. T , Coburn was slated to play the Hannibal character on
15694-578: Was a financial failure due to Depression era theatres not willing to invest in widescreen technology. By the late 1930s, the Western film was widely regarded as a pulp genre in Hollywood, but its popularity was dramatically revived in 1939 by major studio productions such as Dodge City starring Errol Flynn , Jesse James with Tyrone Power , Union Pacific with Joel McCrea , Destry Rides Again featuring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich , and especially John Ford's landmark Western adventure Stagecoach starring John Wayne , which became one of
15827-549: Was a similar-sounding (but different) tune for the introduction to the National Geographic television show. The theme was included in a scene of the James Bond film Moonraker . Other uses include in the 2004 documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 ; in the 2005 film The Ringer ; in the 2015 film Hardcore Henry ; as entrance music for the British band James , as well as episodes of The Simpsons that had
15960-492: Was also successful in Japan. This adds up to a total of at least 89,118,696 tickets sold in overseas territories. Contemporary reviews were mixed to positive. Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film a "pallid, pretentious and overlong reflection of the Japanese original"; according to Thompson, "don't expect anything like the ice-cold suspense, the superb juxtaposition of revealing human vignettes and especially
16093-495: Was announced Coburn would star in Fox's James Bond parody film Our Man Flint (1966), playing super agent Derek Flint . Producer Saul David commented, Coburn "is undoubtedly one of the most interesting looking actors in the business today. I would describe him as a cross between Humphrey Bogart and Jean Paul Belmondo - a true descendant of that bygone generation of character actors who became leading men by accident... Coburn has
16226-634: Was deeply interested in Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, and collected sacred Buddhist artwork. He narrated a film about the 16th Karmapa called The Lion's Roar . Coburn starred in Firepower (1979) with Sophia Loren , replacing Charles Bronson when the latter pulled out. He had a cameo in The Muppet Movie (1979) and had leading roles in Goldengirl (1980) and The Baltimore Bullet (1980). He
16359-410: Was eager to cast Steve McQueen in the picture, having just worked with him on the 1959 film Never So Few , but McQueen could not get a release from actor/producer Dick Powell , who controlled McQueen's hit TV series Wanted Dead or Alive . On the advice of his agent, McQueen, an experienced race car driver, staged a car accident and claimed that he could not work on his series because he had suffered
16492-818: Was in a four-year relationship with British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul from the late 1970s. They co-wrote her songs "Losin' the Blues for You" and "Melancholy Melon" that appeared on her album Tigers and Fireflies . Coburn resumed his film career in the 1990s, where he appeared in supporting roles in Young Guns II , Hudson Hawk , Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit , Maverick , Eraser , The Nutty Professor , Affliction , and Payback . His performance as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . He also provided
16625-406: Was initially released under the title The Magnificent Seven in the United States in 1955. Script credit was a subject of contention. Associate producer Morheim commissioned Walter Bernstein , a blacklisted scriptwriter , to produce the first draft "faithfully" adapted from the original script written by Shinobu Hashimoto , Hideo Oguni and Akira Kurosawa ; when Mirisch and Brynner took over
16758-470: Was inspired by Red Harvest , an American detective novel by Dashiell Hammett . Kurosawa was influenced by American Westerns and was a fan of the genre, most especially John Ford . Despite the Cold War , the Western was a strong influence on Eastern Bloc cinema, which had its own take on the genre, the so-called Red Western or Ostern. Generally, these took two forms: either straight Westerns shot in
16891-620: Was raised in Compton, California , where he attended Compton Junior College . In 1950, Coburn was drafted into the U.S. Army , where he served as a truck driver and occasionally a disc jockey on an Army radio station in Texas . He also narrated Army training films in Mainz , West Germany . He attended Los Angeles City College , where he studied acting with fellow actor Jeff Corey under Stella Adler ’s tutelage, and later made his stage debut at
17024-533: Was shot by cinematographer Charles Lang in a 35 mm anamorphic format using Panavision lenses . Location shooting began on March 1, 1960, in Mexico, where both the village and the U.S. border town were built for the film. The location filming was in Cuernavaca , Durango , and Tepoztlán and at the Churubusco Studios . The first scenes were the first part of the six gunfighters' journey to
17157-553: Was signed to a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Coburn had another excellent supporting role as a one-armed Indian tracker in Major Dundee (1965), directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Charlton Heston . At Fox, he was second-billed in the pirate film A High Wind in Jamaica (1965), supporting Anthony Quinn in the lead role. He had a cameo in the black comedy The Loved One (1965). In December 1964 it
17290-478: Was the 13th of just 56x built. Coburn imported the used car in 1964, shortly after completing The Great Escape. Cal Spyder #2377 was repainted several times during Coburn's ownership; it has been black, silver, and possibly red. He kept the car at his Beverly Hills -area home, where it was often serviced by Max Balchowsky , who also worked on the suspension and frame modifications on the Mustang GTs used in
17423-515: Was the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. The peak year for television Westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during primetime. At least six of them were connected in some extent to Wyatt Earp : The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp , Bat Masterson , Tombstone Territory , Broken Arrow , Johnny Ringo , and Gunsmoke . Increasing costs of American television production weeded out most action half-hour series in
17556-598: Was very much Bronson's film. The movie was popular. Coburn played the lead in the action film Sky Riders (1976), then played Charlton Heston's antagonist in The Last Hard Men (1976). He narrated the official documentary film of the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics , White Rock . He was one of the many stars in Midway (1976), then had the star role in Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron (1977) playing
17689-450: Was voted the 23rd-most popular star in Hollywood. In 1973, Coburn was among the featured celebrities dressed in prison gear on the cover of the album Band on the Run made by Paul McCartney and his band Wings . Coburn was one of the pallbearers at the funeral of Bruce Lee along with Steve McQueen, Bruce's brother, Robert Lee, Peter Chin, Danny Inosanto , and Taky Kimura. Coburn gave
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