James Baquet

    When I was a kid, Westerns were all the rage on TV. Some were based on larger-than-life real characters, like Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. Others were what they call “horse operas,” more or less formulaic stories of the average working cowpoke. One of the more successful of these, along with “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza,” “The Virginian,” and “Wagon Train,” was the story of men on a cattle drive, solving the problems of the folks they met along the way. This was “Rawhide,” and one of its leads was a handsome young actor playing “Rowdy Yates.”

    I’m speaking, of course, of Clint Eastwood.

    He went on to star as “the Man with No Name” in three “spaghetti Westerns” by Italian director Sergio Leone; in a number of adventure comedies; in the “Dirty Harry” series about a tough cop, and, of course, in more Westerns.

    But these days, he is best known as a filmmaker, having helmed such hits as “Unforgiven” and “Million Dollar Baby,” both of which won Oscars for both Best Director and Best Picture. Other nominees include “Mystic River,” a mystery drama, “Letters from Iwo Jima,” with “Flags of Our Fathers,” half of a duology about the Second World War, and “American Sniper,” another film about war.

    Since he started as a cowboy, though, let’s take a closer look at some of his Westerns.

    The afore-mentioned “Unforgiven” is unusual in that it presents the aging Eastwood (he was 62 when it was made) as a has-been gunfighter, called out of retirement to defend the honor of some ladies of dubious morals. A similar theme is presented in “Two Mules for Sister Sarah,” in which Eastwood’s character protects a traveling nun — with a surprise twist at the end.

    “Pale Rider” is one of his most evocative works. Again, he is a gunfighter, this time protecting miners. But it his highly symbolic. The title references the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” in the Bible, one of whom — the pale one — is Death.

    Finally, one of the most delightful of his works is “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” in which he escorts a band of pioneers to a sort of “promised land.”

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. cowboy movies made by Italians

    2. very impressive

    3. slang for “cowboy”

    4. talked about previously

    5. bringing forth a lot of emotions

    6. guided, directed

    7. very popular

    8. following a set way of doing things

    9. set of two, as a trilogy is three

    10. one who is no longer effective