B-Westerns Deserve A’s
The above storyline seems way too general to be the plot of a movie, yet it was this very formula that spawned over 200 “B-Westerns” between 1930 and 1940. A B-Western-like any B-movie-is a movie that has an extremely low budget and would typically be seen after a feature length picture (something like, say, Grand Hotel) as a sort of added bonus at the movies.
Today, this genre-within-a-genre is rarely given any thought. The Western is practically dead, and B-pictures in general are seldom produced. As a result, the B-Westerns of the 30’s and 40’s are generally shrugged off as bad movies with equally bad actors. This, however, is a mistake.
During the 1930’s, for instance, B-Westerns got more mainstream attention than the big Oscar winners. This is primarily due to the fact that B-Westerns did something the larger pictures did not: They spoke to the Everyman in a simplified manner. For example, Frederic March won the 1931 Best Actor Oscar for playing the title role in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This was a well-made picture to be sure, but the average person in 1931 was probably not too worried about transforming into a mad monster. But after watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a moviegoer would probably see something like Riders of Destiny, starring John Wayne. This B-Western is about a cowboy (Wayne) protecting a settlement’s water supply. Given the drought that was sweeping America around this time, the typical Mid-Western viewer would have understood the value of water and the importance of protecting it.
This is really the component that set B-Westerns aside from all of the other B-movies. The B-Western featured a clear and up-front morality tale coupled with a story that directly related to the life of the average man. Other B-movies were more like soap operas, in which a love triangle was revealed in, say, an office setting. Such films were more plot-driven, whereas B-Westerns were supported more by their righteousness and ability to communicate with their audiences. As a result, B-Westerns became among the most successful of the B-movie genres.
And B-Westerns didn’t hurt their producers, either. Unlike mainstream movies, B-Westerns did not depend on the number of people who went to see the picture (though this number was rather high). B-movies were rented to theatres for a fixed rate. Producers, therefore, usually made a small profit by making B-movies for slightly less than their standard rental fees. For instance, a producer would lay down $11,000 for a B-Western (which was about the norm). In three weeks, the studio would have a finished movie. Movie theatres would then pay the producer around $15,000 in pre-arranged rental fees, therefore earning the studio a $4,000 profit. This amount, of course, was pocket change compared to normal movie profits, but the risk of a movie doing terribly and not making any money was nonexistent. Plus, the short production time of B-Westerns allowed the moviemaking and selling processes to go much faster.
The B-Western met its end when a talking picture was no longer enough to get people into theatres. Come the 1940’s, those who weren’t fighting World War II (which was a huge part of the movie industry-not just the audience, but actors and personnel also) wanted more sophisticated audio and visual effects in their movies. A $10,000 budget just couldn’t provide that. Some B-actors were able to move up in the motion picture industry. John Wayne became an enormous star after successfully doing about 60 B-Westerns. Unfortunately, however, most of the elements involved with B-Westerns disappeared for good. Studios fell, actors vanished, and directors were out of work. Worse still, it is doubtful that society will ever see a return of the B-Western. The craving for movies that actually speak to the viewer is gone (at least in Hollywood).
Special effects are now the pinnacle of most fictional movies. Those who do want films that address current issues usually turn to documentaries. In addition, the age of the hour-long movie is gone due to television. But can one really put the final nail in the coffin of B-Westerns? Well, in the words of John Wayne, “That’ll be the day.”
