"Your landscape in a western is one of the most important characters the film has. The best westerns are about man against his own landscape." - Ridley Scott
John Ford didn't pioneer the use of long shot cinematic scenes, but he was arguably the master of it, especially as it concerns westerns. So much so, that to my mind any movie or tv show that wants to claim the mantle of "western" has to pay off the sweeping vast landscape of a harsh frontier juxtaposed with the fragility and smallness of the common man. In fact, almost any western made today pays homage to this style, as both a nod to John Ford directly, and to the inextricably linked visual.
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| John Ford does Monument Valley. Image found on the Internet. |
This is on my mind because I've watched a couple of TV shows that do this well, and a few that do it so poorly it is practically criminal. Specifically, I will look at Longmire, Godless, Frontier, and The Pinkertons.
Longmire is a classic western placed in modern day. Beyond the plots, what really sold it as a western is the frequent long shots where for a few brief moments, it let the audience dwell on the scope and vastness of the landscape. The scenes from Walt's front porch, or the wilderness trekking, or the rugged ground of the Indian reservation. The producers of the show stated in the "making of" on one of the DVDs that the New Mexico landscape became an additional "cast member" with equal air time.
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| Robert Taylor as Walt Longmire. Image found on the internet. |
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| Jack O'Connell and Michelle Dockery in Godless. Image found on the internet. |
Godless too was filmed all over New Mexico for near authenticity and it
shows. Like Longmire, the camera lingers on landscapes, such as when one
man on a horse is shown in the foreground, but behind him is a
limitless horizon. It elevates the material to something genuine from
something that could have been filmed on a back lot (The tv show
Justified, for example was supposed to take place in Kentucky, but was
filmed in Southern California and it was obvious).
Now, two shows that do an injustice...
First up is the show Frontier (on Netflix). Not exactly a western, as it takes place in Canada between Montreal and Hudson Bay during the late 1700s, but it is near enough to a western to warrant a discussion precisely because they are literally filming in the middle of nowhere, on location in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Labrador, etc and the filming is practically claustrophobic. Title cards appear claiming the action is taking place somewhere remote, but then we get close ups of trees. The show makes frequent comments about the vastness of the territory, and yet every scene looks like it's happening mere yards from the last scene. It might as well have been filmed in the woods on a back lot. It becomes extraordinarily noticeable during the 2nd season when someone figured out they were wasting their locations and suddenly we are treated to these sweeping vistas. The sudden change is a shock, but the show improved significantly purely because of long shots and context. The plot and acting didn't get any better, but the show is better for showing us more than a few trees.
Now, two shows that do an injustice...
First up is the show Frontier (on Netflix). Not exactly a western, as it takes place in Canada between Montreal and Hudson Bay during the late 1700s, but it is near enough to a western to warrant a discussion precisely because they are literally filming in the middle of nowhere, on location in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Labrador, etc and the filming is practically claustrophobic. Title cards appear claiming the action is taking place somewhere remote, but then we get close ups of trees. The show makes frequent comments about the vastness of the territory, and yet every scene looks like it's happening mere yards from the last scene. It might as well have been filmed in the woods on a back lot. It becomes extraordinarily noticeable during the 2nd season when someone figured out they were wasting their locations and suddenly we are treated to these sweeping vistas. The sudden change is a shock, but the show improved significantly purely because of long shots and context. The plot and acting didn't get any better, but the show is better for showing us more than a few trees.
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| Landon Liboiron in Frontier Season 1. Image found on the internet. |
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| Jason Momoa in Frontier Season 2. Image found on the internet. |
And finally to cap this rambling essay, I bring you The Pinkertons. While containing a great premise of following real (but fictionalized) Pinkertons in Kansas City shortly after the Civil War, and drawing upon actual cases worked by the Pinkertons, it comes off a Cosplay Western Police Procedural. There are a few set pieces endlessly reused (it's amazing how many cases can be solved in a saloon) and the few exterior shots we get are, like Frontier, claustrophobic outside of a cheesy matte painting of Kansas City. Again, this is all so criminal because it is actually filmed in Manitoba, Canada, and has available a luxury of landscape.
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| Jacon Blair in Pinkertons. Image found on the internet. |
I guess really, if I have a point, is that a western (or something like it) needs that long shot to establish authenticity. Otherwise, it looks like people playing pretend in silly costumes.
