Cowboy Dreams

Talking of home and my nan's house the other day reminded me of a routine from back in my childhood: of being shipped to my grandparents' house as a child with my brother on a Saturday while my mother did the shopping.

After being topped up with numerous Penguin chocolate biscuits, inevitably we'd settle down to watch the cowboy film on BBC2, which always seemed to star John Wayne. Granddad was a fan too and we'd revel in the gunfights and Big Leggy's tough talking.

Tim Butler once compared Martin Hannett to John Wayne, in that they could only both be themselves: all Hannett's records sounded the same, and the Duke acted the exact same character in every film, whether he was shooting at the injuns, the Mexicans or the Viet Cong (as seen in the amusingly terrible and jingoistic 'The Green Berets').

Mind you, the other month my dad told me that Wayne once played Genghis Khan in a film. Seriously! Can you imagine that? I don't actually want to see this for real, as the absurdity of the idea alone is enough to make me chuckle.

Back on topic, Wayne's films were classic in their simplicity. He normally played a rugged, maybe bad-tempered old cove, but one who had a good heart and would save the day - simple and enjoyable stuff for every young child. When you get older, you move on to Clint Eastwood westerns.

Clint's films tended to have a bit more moral ambiguity. In the "Dollars" trilogy, he was out for himself for the most part, willing to shoot down anyone in his path. High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider were excellent portrayals of brutal revenge, Unforgiven showed the dark side of the Wild West. Such films more than likely inspired the game Red Dead Redemption.

Yet, despite the adult me preferring Clint, there's still something about John Wayne doing his walk and punching out some young punk who badmouthed him. And it makes me wonder, do kids still play Cowboys and Indians anymore?