Courtesy Unsplash
Although entertaining, Hollywood stereotypes are rarely accurate. For example:
1. Cowboys were exceptionally diverse. Around one in four cowboys were Black, and many others were Mexican, Indigenous, or of mixed heritage. The Hollywood image ignores this multicultural reality.
2. Gunfights were rare. The classic “high noon” duel was extremely rare. Most towns had strict gun control laws, including weapon checks when entering town. Dodge City, for example, had ordinances banning the carrying of firearms.
3. Towns were often safer than today. Despite their rowdy reputations, many Western towns had lower murder rates than modern cities. Tombstone, AZ, had fewer than 10 murders a year at its peak.
4. Stagecoach robberies were rare and often nonviolent. There were fewer than 10 major stagecoach robberies per year across the West during its peak. Most robbers avoided violence, opting for speed and efficiency. Continue reading…
Courtesy Amazon Studios
My wife and I recently watched Manchester by the Sea. It’s a beautifully-acted but heart-wrenching story about a Boston man (played by Casey Affleck) that is left utterly devastated and largely alone after a careless act and some horrifying bad luck. In fact, it’s one of the saddest movies I’ve seen in years.
Although I appreciated the film, I forgot the importance of tragedy while exiting the theater. “For someone who is living in a comedy, is there any value in being reminded that life sucks sometimes?” I asked myself. “Is there any harm in solely watching movies with happy endings?”
With the help of the internet, this is what I learned: Continue reading…
Courtesy Paramount Pictures
You are bound to encounter a noticeable number of people in life who don’t watch TV, avoid books, or ignore performance art and sports altogether. But you’ll probably never encounter someone who doesn’t watch movies—they’re that universal.
Because of this, film tourism (or “location vacations”) are a big deal. Indeed, an untold number of scenic or otherwise interesting places might not have entered our collective radars had some movie director chose to shoot somewhere else.
Of those immortalized backdrops, few trips are more iconic or deserving than to one of these. Continue reading…
