Guns. Horses. Saloons. Whiskey. More guns.Are cowboy movies really worth studying? Can movies starring John Wayne and Clint Eastwood be sublime works of art? The answer to both of these questions, I'm happy to say, is a resounding yes. Westerns are among the most visual of all film genres and some of the finest directors of the classical American cinema specialized in them. In this class, we will be examining films by John Ford, Anthony Mann, Howard Hawks, Sam Peckinpah and Clint Eastwood. None of these directors would have ever referred to himself as an artist. Each would have considered that pretentious and that may be perceived as a very American attitude toward the process of making art. One of the tasks in the class will be how to identify a Ford film from a Hawks film, for example. In this sense, this seminar will be an exploration of film visual style. Prerequisite: FILM 111.