“A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it,” says Alan Ladd as the mysterious buckskin-clad stranger in Shane. “There’s some things a man just can’t run away from,” drawls a young John Wayne to his terrified fellow passengers in John Ford’s Stagecoach. “Draw fast and aim slow,” quips Richard Dix as Wyatt Earp in Tombstone.
The West and the western are the stuff of legend-and American movies. Since the birth of motion pictures more than 8,000 western films have been made. That’s a lot of cowboys, cattle, wagon trains, and shoot-outs. With the exception of Key Largo, most of my favorite films are westerns. Westerns have not only influenced the way people think, they have also influenced the way we dress and the way we talk. The following are a few of the frank, funny, poignant lines from some of those films that remind us of that independent western spirit.
From the movie The Alamo-1960
“You never pray, do you, Davy?”
“I never found the time.” Parson (Hank Worden) and Davy Crockett (John Wayne)
“I’m a stranger ‘round these here parts. What do you Texans use for drinking whiskey?”
“Drinking whiskey.”
Captain Almeron Dickson (Ken Curtis) and Beekeeper (Chill Wills)
From the movie Bad Day at Black Rock-1955
“I’ll only be here twenty-four hours.”
“In a place like this, that could be a lifetime.”
Passenger John J. McReedy (Spencer Tracy) and train conductor (bit player)
From the movie Destry Rides Again-1939
“You’d better mind your own business or you’re heading for trouble.”
“Trouble is my business.”
Saloon singer Frenchie (Marlene Dietrich) and Sheriff Tom Destry (James Stewart)
“Wait a minute, lady!”
“Who you calling a lady?!”
Sheriff Tom Destry (James Stewart) and saloon singer Frenchie (Marlene Dietrich)
Long live the western.
