Westerns aren’t as popular as before but it doesn’t matter. The cowboy myth, with its ideal of rugged individualism, has permeated American popular culture.
The Western genre developed through 1880s dime novels and peaked during Hollywood’s Golden Age of the Western in the late 1940s and 1950s. Cowboys were heroic figures in these frontier adventure stories:
gun-toting men on horseback, riding tall in the saddle, unencumbered by civilization, and, in Teddy Roosevelt’s words, embodying the ‘hardy and self-reliant’ type who possessed the ‘manly qualities that are invaluable to a nation.’
This depiction of American wranglers was neither historically nor sociologically accurate; it was fiction but it was useful. Popular culture romanticized the frontier and created an archetype that sold movies and political narratives.
Like a taciturn, self-reliant Western cowboy riding to the rescue, a politician could mount a horse, don a Stetson, and look steely-eyed into a camera to declare his candidacy. Once elected, he could relax by getting away from DC to clear brush on his ranch with the press corps in tow. The image becomes the man.
The Western offers a dramatis personae and—even better—an action scenario. The climax of a cowboy story is the shoot-out between a heroic gunman and desperados terrorizing the townsfolk. This classic confrontation provides an enduring template for American politics.
Fitting this framework is the recent dramatic showdown between Donald Trump and his former “fixer,” Michael Cohen. Journalist Brian Karem narrates the Trump-Cohen stand-off in light of two classic westerns:
[Trump] views himself as a cinematic hero facing off against the forces trying to bring him down. . . he always sees himself as the hero. He promotes himself as Gary Cooper in “High Noon”; the brave, rugged individualist ready to save the gentry . . .
But Trump isn’t the salvation. He’s the storm. And the reality is, he’s more like Lee Marvin in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” though he’d love everyone to think he’s John Wayne.
Lee Marvin in this, as in many other films, is the bad guy. But that doesn’t make Michael Cohen the good guy. There is more to the story of the former president and his fixer. And there is more to learn about American culture and politics from these classic movies.
In fact and fiction, the search for justice is lengthy and convoluted. The meaning of law and order is obscure. Complacency in the face of bullying is the norm. As the denouement of the Trump “hush money” trial in New York approaches, let’s take a moment to revisit our Western dramas and assess their continuing relevance.
For the record, Michael Cohen is neither Gary Cooper in “High Noon” nor John Wayne as in “Liberty Valance.” Cohen is the . . . [tenderfoot lawyer] Ransom Stoddard played by Jimmy Stewart in “Liberty Valance,” but with a few more colorful curse words at his disposal . . .
Shoot-em-up movies brought the cowboy myth to the silver screen, offering audiences action and satisfaction. But their appeal waned. Classic Westerns like “High Noon” and “Liberty Valance” endure because they demystified the form. These films of the West suggest hidden motives and a darker reality. Moral ambiguity, not certainty; corruption, not courage; appearance, not reality.
For anyone whose memory of classic Westerns is hazy, let’s review. (“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” was one of my Dad’s favorite movies. I’ve seen it a million times so I’m kind of an expert.)
Here’s my plot summary:
Justice was served when Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) shot Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), an outlaw who had been terrorizing the frontier town of Shinbone. But Ranse Stoddard, the tenderfoot lawyer from back East, was credited with Valance’s demise. Doniphon had been in the shadows when Liberty pulled on Rance, so onlookers thought that it was Ranse’s shot that took him down. Stoddard’s reputation grew as a result of the shoot-out—providing him with a springboard into national politics. This was the irony: Ranse Stoddard, devoted to the law, got ahead based on violence and a lie. Tom Doniphon, indifferent to the law, saved Ranse’s life and restored order in Shinbone with his revolver. Stoddard married Doniphon’s sweetheart and was elected senator. Doniphon drank himself to death.
Karem considers which movie character Michael Cohen resembles:
For the record, Michael Cohen is neither Gary Cooper in “High Noon” nor John Wayne as in “Liberty Valance.” Cohen is the . . . [tenderfoot lawyer] Ransom Stoddard played by Jimmy Stewart in “Liberty Valance,” but with a few more colorful curse words at his disposal . . .
Hmmm. . . . Michael Cohen as Ranse Stoddard, in the Jimmy Stewart role? It’s not . . . a tight fit. OK, Michael and Ranse were both lawyers who cut corners and traded on their reputations (Michael, as Trump's enforcer, and Ranse, as Valance’s killer). Still, there’s a major difference: Cohen was punished by the system and Stoddard was rewarded.
Leaving the Cohen casting aside, Karem’s framing does highlight an important theme:
Who sets the dividing line between truth and lies in politics?
My plot summary continues:
At the film’s conclusion, an aging Senator Stoddard returns to Shinbone for Tom Doniphon’s funeral. A local reporter corners him, asking what brings the Senator back to Shinbone? For the first time, Ranse tells the truth about who shot Liberty Valance. At the end of the interview, the reporter tears up his notes. Ranse asks him why he doesn’t want to publish the story? The reply:
This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
Except now we’re drowning in a deluge of legends.
And now your moment of . . . kids and puppies.
Writing—and reading—about serious subjects can be fairly depressing. Grounded will conclude each week with a lighter story so that you may leave with a bit of joy in your heart.
To help reduce anxiety—and open the way for learning—several elementary schools in Michigan have enrolled service dogs as full-time happiness ambassadors—and it is paw-sitively working.
Research out of Georgia Southern University shows that literacy scores went up among children after reading to dogs.
"My hope is that Meeka the Goldendoodle can go from classroom to classroom, really making the kids’ ability to actively participate in their education far more valuable and beneficial," Principal Abbott added.
I can’t embed the video, but you can click here to watch it.
Related Grounded articles:
Who Shot Liberty Valance? (February 4, 2022)
It’s Complicated (February 15, 2022)
American Vigilantes (February 20, 2024)
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Notes:
Glen Frankel, High Noon’s Secret Backstory.
Chris Geidner, Washington Post Bombshell: Washington Post buried Alito flag story for three years
Tim Lehman, The Making of the Cowboy Myth.
Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, May 12, 2024.
Wikipedia, High Noon.
Wikipedia, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Leah Williams, How Hollywood Whitewashed the Old West.
Trump definitely fits the villain role, although I don't know if any bad guy is as villainous as His Orangeness.
Unlike in Hollywood pictures, the Orange Villain gets away with it