The Neo-Western Genre in Movies | Video Essay 

What are your favorite Neo-Western movies? Here are some of ours: boxd.it/4xJeA

So basically, if there's a desert, it's probably a Neo Western

I would say that El Camino, the Breaking Bad movie, is a Neo-Western. Would you agree?

I am a fan of many genres. Neo- Westerns have always occupied a place of interest for me, and particularly my late father. This genre isn't just a western set in modern times. It takes us to an environment and explores a general lack of rules, with characters guided by a singular moral compass, and a desire to find justice. Rooted in forms of neglect, violence, and systematic abuse, characters find themselves using the rules they have created as a guideline for how they seek justice. My father was a fan of this genre, especially films by Sam Pekinpah. I thoroughly enjoyed the video and it's exploration of life, death and struggle.

Wind River doesn't get enough attention

Man, I do love Neo-Westerns. Thanks for this great video!

"It's always hardest for those who live in the transition period"... Arthur Morgan and John marston Damn!...

*buys popcorn* Guys, Im in the mood for a movie that englobes the realization and awareness that many of the stories and myths that we were encourage to believe might be false, charged with action and fireguns that symbolize the journey inside of a man traveling hundreds of miles into the desert, and into the depths of his soul” -Oh, you mean you wanna watch a cowboy flick?

I ain't gonna lie, I highly recommend the mandalorian for people who like neo-westerns. It may be a star wars show, but oh man does it give me those neo-western vibes. Deserts, shootouts, standoffs, space horses, and the mandalorian is like a space cowboy but not in a corny way.

Current masters of the Neo-Western: Taylor Sheridan, Denis Villeneuve, Roger Deakins, Coen Bro's, and James Mangold. I'll see anything these men make.

I feel like Taxi Driver would be a good example of a Neo-Western, it's a contemporary twist on the Western Genre. Everything about De Niro's Character-- Travis, screams outlaw and cowboy (his taxi's like a horse, he has questionable ethics, gunslinger of sorts, damsel in distress, one of the final scene's a huge shootout), correct me if I'm wrong but I think the setting of NYC is more Neo-western than a desert.

Sicario, Wind River, Hell or High Water, and Yellowstone. All excellent examples of Neo Westerns. All written by Taylor Sheridan.

I’m currently writing a graphic novel and even though it is a vigilante story, it’s in the realm of neo western. And I have to thank you for showing the films for some inspiration. Love the video.

True Masterful Analysis of the Neo-Western. I never thought he was named in this way. Even with Metaphors of the Identity in all decades. Thank you very much. Thanks to you I keep learning by discovering new horizons from the videos you made. Keep going.

This is one of my very favorite genres, thanks for covering it

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) is also a very good neo-western. Tommy Lee Jones is a great contemporary cowboy actor, also a good director

Another great video. My favorite neo-western is also one of my favorite neo-noir films: Nocturnal Animals.

I'm in the middle of a film class for college and its ignited a love for westerns in me that I didn't think was possible. Thank you for your insightful analysis of the neo-western! I've learned a lot from this!

I've literally found myself thinking about this topic a lot over the last few months. Surprised El Camino wasn't mentioned, it's my favorite neo-western since No Country for Old Men. Either way, great video man!

My dad loved Westerns. I wish he could have seen this

I see neo-western, I think No Country for Old Men, I click.

Such an excellent video and breakdown. I absolutely love Screened!

When the first western was made the wild west still was around xD nice

Goddamit I love Neo-Western. Especially No country for Old Men. One of the best films in my list.

Brilliant essay. Now i want to watch all movies from the video again. Thank you for this vibe

thank you for taking the time to make these videos, fucking love this channel to bits

'look back at them, not with nostalgic eyes but with an understanding that it's time to move on' really well said, great video on one of my favorite sub-genres. Subscribed.

Thank you for this excellent video. The editing is great and your critical, thoughtful commentary is very much appreciated. I just watched Sicario: Day of the Soldado for the first time last night. I purchased No Country For Old Men and Hell or High Water on release, and I rewatched them over the last couple weeks for the first time in years. Last night, I began my second round listening to the audiobook series Red Rising by Pierce Brown, novels that rival and sometimes exceed Asimov's Foundation and Herbert's Dune series. In retrospect, no coincidence I have been exploring these difficult ideas recently now that our current circumstances are beginning to sink in for me. The most important message I took from your video for our current times is the scene in No Country For Old Men where we are reminded to avoid vanity and to face up to the stark, awesome nature of the world in which we find ourselves, especially in moments of sudden paradigm transition. Similarly, the message from Logan to his daughter, "Don't be what they made you," should remind us that we dont have to try to relive the past, and in some ways we can and sometimes must forge a different future.

I think Logan is one of the best neo Western movies... It wonderfully combines both the superhero genre and the western genre

What an absolutely awesome video, thank you!

Wow. This video was DEEP! Great content for sure.. Maybe the best I’ve ever seen. I had to stop and replay several sections just because it hit so hard and the ideas were so well thought out.

Amazing analysis on the western genre through its change and progression. This will help me on my script.

I love this channel so much. Thank you for making videos.

I’ve seen this video a dozen times and still find it mesmerising…

I love this channel, oh my god.

Gran Torino is also a neo-western, it just trades in the traditional vast western landscapes for an urban setting.

Blew my mind when a film prof explained to me that the Matrix is essentially a western (or neo-western) Even in the subway standoff between Neo and Mr. Smith a trash bag rolls by like a tumbleweed would

A smart analysis of some great movies and a fascinating trend. Thanks for putting this together!

Of the four movies discussed, Jon Bernthal’s character dies in two of them. Maybe he’s our new Sean Bean

I could watch your videos all day. Thought provoking, gorgeous, exceptional. Lovely stuff - thank you!

I've just found this channel today and I've been binging your videos. Fantastic stuff!

One of my favorite genres, fantastic video!

Loved the video! I want to watch them all!

man, those closing statements... fucking goosebumps! really resonated with me!

its been a while since i've seen you guys uploads. i'm super glad to be back.

The classic and critically acclaimed 1953 Western Shane is playing in the background of Logan at 4:23.

just stumbled on your channel when i was watching (FILM COMICS EXPLAINED ) channel and so far watched 3 videos i have to give it to you your work is world class...

Working on writing a neo-western fiction novel now, and this video was VERY helpful. Thank you very much.

Maybe your best essay yet. Well done.

Fantastic video. Keep it up, my dudes!

Such a powerful video man congrats !

This is the first video of this channel that I ever watched and already subscribed.

So nice. Thank you.

Great video. Thanks

Fantastic channel!!

This was a great video!

Love you guys and your videos! Gracias

I genuinely think No Country For Old Men is one of the top 5 greatest films ever made.

22k views in a day. This channel has grown. Congratulations.

Such a great video, deserves more views.

Excellent video. I love this genre.

your channel is awesome

Superb breakdown.

El Camino is one of the most western neo-westerns out there, it couldn't be any better and I'm thankful for that.

Great video well done I enjoyed this

Great video!

Lack of Red Dead references.... Strange..

Man, these videos are good

This is you best video!

Great video and channel, I get many movies from your videos on my "to watch" list. :D Also they are inspiring and thought-provoking. Keep up the good work!

I found the (formerly SyFy) Amazon show The Expanse does fit the Western Genre, as well as some noir. Humans colonized space and something society has glorified to Utopian expectations, then it becomes a wild restless solar system. Earth is essentially the overpopulated dying town that has lost it's sacred glory, Mars is a place that has delayed their green terraformed future for the military industrial complex. Belters, pretty much live in a place as wild west as it gets. Miller is the western protagonist, in a humanity with direction or end to their struggle, yet finds himself trying to do good by a woman he never met and his compatriots.

Excellent.

excellent video

Brilliant! 🤘

A beautiful breakdown of an often misunderstood genre 👍👍

gorgeous video

One of my favorite genres, love stuff like The Rover and Nocturnal Animals, too many times these great films fall in between the cracks

Interesting video. Really! 👍

i love the phrase "the end of romance"

I really love seeing this genre have an evolution and adapt to the modern era, western stories have a lot of potential and material to tell, just see that many of the neo western type movies are some of the best done of the last decade

There have been Westerns in Australia, in Japan, even in space. The essential element of a Western is the vanishing frontier. They are stories set on the edge of society, during a time when the old ways are fading away and the new ways are just arriving. Any story about that transition is a Western. And any contemporary story about that transition is a neo-Western.

I struggle with classic westerns. I do a bit better with the dollars films. I love Neo Western. Wolf Creek is one of my favorite films of all time. I think there's just something I like about the idea that civilisation is at constant war with it's own sins. We cover them up and try to conceal them. But the devils born of that sin are pushed out into the desert. And when we wander out there, those devils wander with us.

*this was excelent*

I never saw Sicario as Neo-Western but thanks to the vid, I now have a newfound love for the film!!!!

At 6:51, when he is talking, it reminds me of the thanos quote: "dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same".

I was surprised they didn't mention No Country For Old Men in this video...

Very insightful video! Here, take my sub :)

Ozark, Arkansas, Out of the Furnace; would those be considered this genre or like Southern Gothic? Neo Western is my favorite genre of film and I’ve never really been able to specify stuff like this when recommending, great video.

great work. i like DONNYBROOK -BELOW THE BELT

Neo Western is considered as a style, not a genre during the early days... But now, it does Nonetheless it's cool...

Hell or high wate ,sicario, and wind river are the perfect Trifecta of neo westerns imo

For all the acclaim Logan gets I still feel like it's underrated. I like Joker but literally everything people were saying about that, Logan also did for dark, gritty, mature comic book films. I've hardly heard it discussed in the past few years. Always great to hear it discussed.

Drive with Ryan Gosling is a great example of a Neo-Western

Love this video. Came back to place a like . And the hit subscribe button just cuz of this video. Logan deserve more credit than any other marvel movies after infinity war. That is another topic about sacrifice.

The neo-western genre is one of my all time favorites in film making!

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia is one of my favorites. It predates No Country by decades, and yet it's just as weird and violent and riveting as that film.

Your content is gold. I look forward to your videos. Thanks.

Good list. I also enjoyed Desperado and Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...........

Your analysis is very interesting, I think you've said it all. My only point, and it's just to open the reflexion : I think there is a gap between movies like Unforgiven, Coen's True Grit or even Django Unchained and the movies you presented more deeply in your videos. For No Country for Old Men, Logan, Hell or High Water, the story is more desperate, as you said, it's talking about time passing or that already passed and the counsciousness of one's own finitude. I think it would be more appropriate here to talk about "Post-Western" cause we have with this term the notion of something's missing or gone. As for me Neo-Western would be a modern western that is not aware of its so called weakening. A Neo Western can be capable of breath again life into the genre with modern techniques or scenery. Just a question of "genre names" cause I think we have two very different kind of movies... but we don't have to put every movie in a case anyway ! What do you guys think ? Great video as always.

If anyone hasn’t seen “Bacurau”, I highly recommend it. It’s got that western story, except it’s not in a modern village in Brazil. It’s got the great Udo Kier in it.