The Western genre has existed as long as cinema has, and has taken dozens of forms over the 123 years since it officially began with the 1903 silent film The Great Train Robbery. Containing everything from mindless action fodder to Oscar-worthy psychological dramas, the Western genre remains supremely malleable. Given its extensive history and variety of forms, it’s also a particularly influential genre, as Western tropes, aesthetics and archetypes have been bleeding into other genres for decades.

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