WLD,

I don't mind formulae but the standard Western formula was so bloody tedious! It was also bloodless (no pun intended - all gunshots were either fatal or involved a virtually trauma-less wound to the arm - very little blood).

I read a lot of books about The West when I was younger - and virtually none of what I read about appeared on screen. As for:

"If you want to know about history - read a book, or watch the history channel."

This is part of the old 'entertainment should be mindless' debate ("bollocks" is the short answer to this assertion!). I'm an information junky - I need to know about things. For me, an historical film should vicariously convey something about what it FELT like to live during a particular historical period. At the end of the day I don't mind if it is later revealed that the filmaker made it all up - just as long as it's not just lazily formulaic and I can't see the joins at the time I'm watching the film.

Thanks for the info. 'Slag'. I thought that it was somewhere in California in all those films - even though I've never been there.