By now, you've probably had the chance to sink your spurs into Rockstar's phenomenal open-world Western, Red Dead Redemption. And while the prevailing trend in video games still seems to be angry, bald men stomping through futuristic dystopias, gamers the world over are finally seeing the appeal in a genre once thought to be the exclusive territory of The Greatest Generation. So, now that you've realized the charm of ruthless, cold-blooded prairie justice, one question remains: "Where do I go from here?" Well, with our new "Outside the Box" feature, we've put together a little list for the sole purpose of recommending media thematically related to a specific game; think of it as our way to help broaden horizons beyond your preferred form of entertainment. Of course, this collection of Red Dead-related media is by no means meant to be comprehensive, but it should give a good starting point for those interested in the world of gun-slinging, whiskey-swigging outlaws.
Film:
The Dollars Trilogy [A Fistful of Dollars (1964), A Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly(1966)]
"Spaghetti Western" isn't the name for Chef Boyardee's newest Tex-Mex pasta in a can; rather, this term refers to the variety of Old West films produced by Italians throughout the 1960s and 70s, made popular by director Sergio Leone's famous Clint Eastwood-helmed trilogy. While a great number of Westerns at the time were family-friendly affairs -- TV series Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, and Bonanza (amongst others) all existed alongside Leone's work -- The Dollars Trilogy took advantage of the lessening of censorship in 60s cinema to deliver a series of gritty, sweaty stories about desperate men doing desperate things. Not to mention that Leone's amazing eye for cinematography makes for a contradictorily beautiful series of movies that portray such an ugly part of American history.
High Noon (1952)
High Noon could have one of the many forgettable 50s Westerns, but its approach to storytelling makes for a unique and unforgettable experience; nearly half a century before Fox's 24, this Gary Cooper classic features a narrative told entirely in real-time. The film begins at 10:35, with the main character, former sheriff Will Kane, anticipating a 12:00 showdown with a criminal he once sentenced to death. Along with this unconventional structure, High Noon forgoes the typical stirring excitement of the genre for an extremely-tense character study focused the inward struggle of fear and duty. A must-watch.
Deadwood might be known best for the sheer amount of curse words that flow from the mouths of its late 19th Century cast of South Dakotans, but this fact speaks to the HBO series' (slightly-exaggerated) depiction of a brutal, lawless territory caught up in the throes of an ever-changing culture. It's hard to find a TV Western quite as rough and raw as this one, mainly because reinventing such a niche genre for a modern audience can be kind of risky. But HBO's investment more than paid off, with three amazing seasons documenting the slow death of the Wild West. Just don't watch it in front of any elderly, churchgoing relatives.
Books
Fans of classic pulp crime novels are more than familiar with Jim Thompson; he wrote both The Getaway and The Grifters, and his 1952 novel The Killer Inside Me saw a film adaptation this year. But Thompson wasn't a slouch when it came to Westerns, with Pop. 1280 being one of the most cynical takes on a very familiar setting. This black comic novel features a dull sheriff in a sleepy desert town who may be smarter then he seems; each of his adventures in this episodic tale reveal the darkness of human nature in ways that are grimly funny and often chilling. The French film version of Pop. 1280, Coup de Torchon (1981), is also not to be missed; despite a minor change in setting (Colonial French West Africa in lieu of the Old West), this adaptation captures the tone of Thompson perfectly.
Blood Meridian (1985)Grim, hopeless stories are undoubtedly author Cormac McCarthy's forte -- go check out The Road or No Country for Old Men, but make sure you aren't feeling suicidal first. So it shouldn't come as a shock that a fantastic writer with a penchant for certain setting penned one of the darkest, bloodiest Westerns ever set to paper. Blood Meridian follows a teenage runaway and his misadventures with a gang of state-sponsored scalp hunters, with McCarthy's realistic sensibilities providing numerous scenes of intense violence and gore. This novel's unconventional prose may turn off readers used to the straightforward storytelling approach of bestsellers, but those willing to wade through Meridian's denseness will be rewarded with one of the best -- and most brutal -- takes on the Old West.
