In the end, I think we can only offer subjective views on what we think Westerns are. When I go to see a "Western", I expect it to be set in a small town at sometime between the end of the Civil War and WWI. It will be set well West (and South) of New England but not quite as far away as the West Coast. I expect horses, punch ups and shoot outs and probably a scene in the cliched saloon. I also expect to see the stock characters mentioned by Kat. I think any of the classic Westerns, which spring to my mind, has those elements. That does not make me any less interested in the sort of films described by John or Stilly River Sage, but if I am told that a film will be a "Western", that is what I expect to see.