The Cowboy Way: Westerns with a gay theme or subtext
Stephen Arnell
Broadcast/VoD Consultant for TV & Film, Writer/Producer (Bob Fosse, Alex Cox, Prince, Sinatra etc), Media/Culture Commentator (BBC Radio, magazines, newspapers) & author (novel The Great One published November 2022)
One could argue that many Westerns are tinged with elements of homo-eroticism, but some are more conspicuous than others.
Hardly surprising, given the circumstances of the expansion of the USA into the West, when all-male camaraderie was the norm, rather than the exception.
“Actually, there is no such thing as a homosexual person, any more than there is such a thing as a heterosexual person. The words are adjectives describing sexual acts, not people. The sexual acts are entirely normal; if they were not, no one would perform them.”
Gore Vidal
Power of the Dog (2021)
Rancho Notorious (1952)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)
Lust In The Dust - full movie (1984)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
One-Eyed Jacks - full movie (1961)
Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Red River (1948)
Warlock - full movie (1959)
The Ballad Of Little Jo (1993)
Deadwood - The Movie?(2019)
EXTRAS:
Village People - Go West
Mot?rhead - Bite the Bullet
Eric Burdon & War - Bareback Rider
Dave Grusin - The Electric Horseman
Professor Electric - Saddle Sore
Joan Armatrading - Tall in the Saddle
Paul Davis - Ride em Cowboy?
Jimmy Buffett - Rancho Deluxe