“How the West was Lost” is a 90-minute documentary on the emergence, evolution and ultimate decline of the Western movie genre. Now while I’m not a great fan of westerns I was drawn to this documentary on account of it being presented and written by Rich Hall. Rich Hall, formerly part of Saturday Night Live and currently a comedian based in the UK. He is one of my favorites so I shelved my non-affinity to Westerns for the duration and gave it a viewing.
Hall is quite the grouchy, darkly humorous but intelligent character and he stays true to form here. We start off with Rich Hall becoming annoyed at an arrogant ‘know-it-all’ brat while he’s trying to read his paper. Their encounter serves as the kickoff point for the documentary.
Rich Hall: “You said the Western was dead, well that might be true, but the day it started dying is the day it got interesting. And you and I are gonna discuss what killed it.”
The Brat: “OK, I get it. This is a documentary... like ‘An Inconvenient Truth’."
Rich Hall: “No, that was a PowerPoint presentation. This is film history.”
More than just a chronology or anthology of Western movies the documentary takes us on a journey through of a variety of backgrounds, literally and figuratively. Moving from Tombstone to stretching desert roads, saloons and tourist traps we are presented with the historical West and the fictional, a variety of well-known actors and their characters and from directors to US presidents. We are told of where, according to Hall at least, American culture intersects with Westerns and of how the western genre changed in line with changes in the culture or as the directors themselves changed. We are shown a great many clips from Westerns but also historical footage. Aside from Rich Hall himself there are several experts chiming in such as a historian, a gun expert and a film historian. All in all it’s an entertaining watch for when you have a bit of time to kill.
If I did a good enough job of selling it, you can watch it right here as an 11-part playlist.
Update: Video is no longer available on YT unfortunately, the only other place I can still find it online requires downloading and installing a codec, which I don't recommend.
And if I didn't manage to convince you to watch the documentary, don't worry, I won't leave you empty handed. Here are clips of two routines performed by Rich Hall at the Apollo in London.
Hope you enjoyed that since if you didn't I would think that a)you've undergone a lobotomy, or b) you should get one.
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