John Ford's masterpiece The Searchers (1956) was voted the seventh greatest film of all time in Sight & Sound's most recent poll of critics. Its influence on many of America's most distinguished contemporary filmmakers, among them Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, and John Milius, is enormous. John Wayne's portrait of the vengeful Confederate Ethan Edwards gives the film a truly epic dimension, as does his long and lonely journey into the dark heart of America. Edward Buscombe's insightful study provides a detailed commentary on all aspects of the film, drawing on material in the John Ford archive at Indiana University, including Ford's own memos and the original script, which differs in vital respects from the film he made, to offer new insights into the film's production history.

The Western is one of Hollywood cinema's most potent and enduring genres, bound up with America's understanding of itself as a frontier nation. Edward Buscombe provides an illuminating guide to a hundred key films of the genre, from Bad Day at Black Rock to The Wild Bunch, by way of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A Fistful of Dollars, The Searchers and The Magnificent Seven. Each entry includes a plot synopsis, major credits, and a commentary on the film's significance and its production and exhibition history. Edward Buscombe's introduction to the volume addresses the perennial appeal of the Western, exploring its 19th century popular culture, and its relationship to the economic structure of Hollywood. He considers the defining features of the Western - the concept of the frontier, and the key role of masculinity - and traces its main cycles, from the epic Westerns of the 1920s and singing cowboys of the 1930s to the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and its marked decline from the 1970s, as well as the contribution of major auteurs such as Ford, Mann, Peckinpah, Leone and Eastwood.

Though one of the most popular genres for decades, the western started to lose its relevance in the 1960s and 1970s, and by the early 1980s it had ridden into the sunset on screens both big and small. The genre has enjoyed a resurgence, however, and in the past few decades some remarkable westerns have appeared on television and in movie theaters. From independent films to critically acclaimed Hollywood productions and television series, the western remains an important part of American popular culture. Running the gamut from traditional to revisionist, with settings ranging from the old West to the "new Wests" of the present day and distant future, contemporary westerns continue to explore the history, geography, myths, and legends of the American frontier. In Contemporary Westerns: Film and Television since 1990, Andrew P. Nelson has collected essays that examine the trends and transformations in this underexplored period in Western film and television history. Addressing the new Western, they argue for the continued relevance and vibrancy of the genre as a narrative form. The book is organized into two sections: "Old West, New Stories" examines Westerns with common frontier locales, such as Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Deadwood, and True Grit. "New Wests, Old Stories" explores works in which familiar Western narratives, characters, and values are represented in more modern-and in one case futuristic-settings. Included are the films No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, as well as the shows Firefly and Justified. With a foreword by Edward Buscombe, as well as an introduction that provides a comprehensive overview, this volume offers readers a compelling argument for the healthy survival of the Western. Written for scholars as well as educated viewers, Contemporary Westerns explores the genre's evolving relationship with American culture, history, and politics.

British television has been a success story. One factor in this success has been the distinctive institutional structure of British broadcasting, a mix of state-regulated and publicly-funded services with commercial services. This book attempts to give a broad overview of British television by examining both the institutional framework and the programmes that it has produced. A range of reprinted writings from the work of acknowledged experts is supplemented by specially commissioned essays on such key topics as sport and British television in the global context.