Acknowledging the iconic, but with plenty of room for the rare and unfamiliar,The Art of the Classic Western Movie Posterpresentsposter art created for several hundred classic (and not-so-classic) westerns produced from 1903 to 1978.More than 800 imagesmany reproduced as full pagemake this the most comprehensive book of western movie poster art ever published, and the definitive history of a genre often underestimated for its impact on American audiences.One of the earliest narrative films, 1903sThe Great Train Robbery, was a western, and before commercial cinema was a decade old the form had proliferated to such an extent that practically every nickelodeon in the country used short-length shoot-em-ups in their daily programs.The book begins with a fact-heavy introduction that details how western movies became popular as a result of Americas fascination with the Wild West, as portrayed in dime novels and pulp-fiction magazines. How and when the genre archetypeswhite hat vs. black hat, the cowboys love for his horse, the western hero as roving do-gooderwere fixed is discussed. The difference between A and B movies and which westerns fit into those categories are also explained (As including such movies asStagecoach,Destry Rides Again, andTrue Grit, and Bs such films asGold Mine in the Sky,Saga of Death Valley, andHopalong Cassidy, and the likes of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers). Each chapter devotes a special feature to a specific western star, writer, director, stuntman, or leading lady. Also included are the authors firsthand interviews conducted from as far back as the mid-1970s.This unique book is a celebration of the American motion pictures first and most enduringly popular genre.