"YEEHA!"

Author: Jeff Little

It was probably stated best in Howard Hawks' 1948 classic Red River (although it's been repeated many times over the years). "Yeeha!"

Yeeha! It's the Westerns! The rootin' tootin', six-gun shootin' king of TV and movies in the 50's.

Always a Hollywood favorite, the western genre permeated pop culture as never before in the decade of the 50's. Both the big and small screens were filled with cowboys, Indians, thrills, spills, chills, gunfighters and more historical inaccuracies than a school marm has corsets.

Thanks to the growing popularity of television, Westerns had become inescapable…and incredibly popular. Two of the longest running shows in the history of TV were born as Westerns in the 50's. Bonanza (1959-1973) and Gunsmoke (1955-1975) each ran during three decades as only two of the many highly rated programs of the Western persuasion.

Originally geared to a youth audience, programming like Roy Rogers (1951-1957) and Hopalong Cassidy (1949-1951) soon gave way to more adult Western fare such as Wagon Train (1957-1965), Have Gun Will Travel (1957-1963), and Maverick (1957-1962). But the popularity of television's seemingly endless cattle drive of pistol-totin', ridin' and ropin' hoe-down of hits in no way deterred West Coast filmmakers. When it came to producing Westerns, Hollywood was still rollin', rollin', rollin'.

John Ford, arguably one of the greatest directors of all time (in any genre), directed 4 features in the decade of the 50's, and another brilliant filmmaker, Howard Hawks, offered-up 2 in the same 10-year span. And directors weren't the only ones hitching their wagons to the Western genre gold rush. Actors were plying their craft in Westerns faster than an outlaw running from a posse.

In the 1950's, John Wayne (a favorite of both John Ford and Howard Hawks) appeared in 5 Westerns. Fellow workaholic Kirk Douglas was seen in 6. Oft time cowpoke James Stewart could be spotted in 7. Real life hero (the most decorated combat soldier of World War II) Audie Murphy seemed to be behind every cactus and saloon as he logged-in 20 cowboy flicks in the decade. And in just 10 years, the inimitable Randolph Scott did 26 Westerns.

And those were just some of the big stars seen in boots and spurs during the 50's. The public's demand for Westerns had studios putting out A, B, and C-list pictures to fill drive-ins and serve as opening features in conventional theaters. Needless to say, they weren't all cinematic gems. But the trend did provide a lengthy list of classics such as Shane, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, and many others that are still viewed by millions today.

Gone but not forgotten, the heyday of the Western in the 1950's can still be relived in videos, reruns, and the occasional flash of brilliance as seen in Clint Eastwood's multiple Oscar-winning Unforgiven (1992) and Kevin Costner's more recent Open Range (2003).

Even if Hollywood stops making them, nothing can stop us from watching them.

So saddle-up your sofas, pardners. We'll all share some red eye and ignore the stares when we all yell, "YEEHA!"