Coen Brothers and Tommy Lee Jones on "Westerns"

IFC's coverage of the "No Country for Old Men" press conference at the 2007 New York Film Festival. Producer/Directors Joel & Ethan Coen and star Tommy Lee Jones weigh in on the definition of the cinematic "Western," and discuss whether their adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel "No Country for Old Men" conforms to the conventions of the genre.
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[futurestoryteller]

Actually Star Wars - I personally think - was influenced more by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. But he was influnced by John Ford and his westerns so, I guess things like that will always come full circle.

[NGS712]

I think a Western would have to be set somewhere in the west and deal with certain aspects of human nature which include greed and violence without meaning.

[randallmckay]

ifc needs to redo their intro and outro cuts, please.

[MsSlashgirl]

When I think western, I think TX with the dust and the wide shot scenes,etc...

There's usually a horse or 2 and it can be set in the modern day or the past.

Also, certain language that gets used is part of western films to. So I'd say that even if this isn't what you might call "classic western", it still has the same feel as one and thus, it counts as one.

[futurestoryteller]

@joegibbskins I think you overestimate the importance of explaining this to me. I was simply pointing out that given Lucas' admitted influence, claims that fans have made (that he refuses to) the Jedi's choice of weaponry and indeed their very name is derived from (Japan or) the work of Kurosawa. And there are many more. I did not say Star Wars had no 'Western' elements, I said it was 'more of' a Samurai film. Or influenced more greatly by that single director, he even stole his 'screen wipes'.

[joegibbskins]

@futurestoryteller not yet made round by the law or the stabilizing conventions of civilizations can be called a Western, whether or not that story takes place west of the Mississippi in the decades immediately following the American Civil War.

[joegibbskins]

@futurestoryteller While I grant that this comment is probably true in the main, I think that you underestimate the western's influence. The character of Han Solo obviously echoes the classical cowboy archetype, and the thrust of the Vader plot in the original trilogy Lucas admits was lifted from the Ethan Edwards arc from The Searchers. More generally speaking any story that deals with the inconquerable freedom of the individual set against a harsh unforgiving world with its sharp corners

[superhornet69]

Check out the interview with John Carpenter when he did, "Ghosts of Mars." He comes right out and says that it is indeed a western, set in the future and on another planet. So there you have it. I think the essence of a "western" is really more an attitude, a state of mind and approach to life than a bunch of guys in cowboy hats riding horses across the desert and shooting at bad guys. A "western" simply does not have to be that cliche.

[boomshuka]

hahah I like his comment about how people consider any movie setting with horse's instead of car's makes people think its a "western"....I mean really most of human history has involved men on horse's its kinda silly to classify an entire stretch of human history as a "western".

[MooreSaleh43766]

You can grab the audio-mp3 of this clip at grabaudios doht cohm.