Oddball
Films and guest curator Hannah Airriess present Happy Trails: Imagining
the Western Frontier. The Western frontier has always been a
vital part of the American imaginary, and has been represented in a diverse
range of ways. With the recent resurgence in popularity of the western cinema,
this program will deal with the way in which the genre and frontier imagery was
imagined in earlier decades. Films include the historic short The Great Train Robbery (1903), trailers from the Hopalong
Cassidy series
(1938-1939), home movie from the San Francisco Horseman’s Association (1943), an
excerpt featuring Marlene Dietrich from the western classic Destry Rides
Again (1939), a
travel video titled Dudin’, the experimental short Red Ball Express, and the educational documentary
Ghost Towns of California (1973).
Date:
Friday, May 25th,
2012 at 8:00pm.
Venue: Oddball
Films, 275 Capp Street, San FranciscoAdmission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or 415-558.8117.
Featuring:
The Great Train
Robbery (1903, B&W)
This narrative film from
the earliest era of cinema is a groundbreaking work technically and
thematically, and also shocked audiences with its final scene of a gunshot
towards to the crowd. Although it
was filmed in New Jersey, The Great Train Robbery contributed to the birth of the western
genre.
Trailers from the Hopalong
Cassidy series (1938-1939, B&W)
The
Hopalong Cassidy series lasted for 66 films, and these trailers, we see
him save women, children, villages, and generally saving the day. Viewed in
succession, the trailers reveal the similarities and basic structure of the
series, in addition to pleasure one finds in these action westerns.
Home movie from the
San Francisco Horsemen’s Association (1943, Color)
Get
a glimpse of the San Francisco Horsemen’s Asssociation, dressed to the nines in
this home video for a ride on the beach and a picnic. Muybridge wasn’t the only
one who mastered equestrian cinema!
Excerpt from Destry
Rides Again (1939, B&W)
In one of Marlene
Dietrich’s few Western films, we see her sing, dance, fight, and finally, get a
barrel of water poured over her head by none other than a young Jimmy Stewart.
Dudin’ (1955, Color)
In
this commercial travel video from the mountains of Colorado, we see what life
during a dude ranch vacation looks like. In addition to sheep herding, horse
rides and rodeos, it turns out ping-pong is a major aspect of ranch life, too!
In addition to horses,
trains play an indispensable part of the Western mythos. This experimental
animated film features a train ride in bursting color, containing mechanisms at
once falling apart and coming together. A twangy soundtrack accompanies the
persistent and rhythmic motion.
Ghost Towns of
California (1973, Color)
While this program
focuses on the ideal of the frontier, Ghost Towns of California shows what remain of the towns celebrated in
films such as Destry Rides Again. This
educational film highlights both ruins and historical landmarks, illustrating
what was left after the gold rush.
Curator’s
Biography
Hannah
Airriess has been a programmer at Oddball Film+Media archive since 2011. A
graduate of the University of Chicago in Film and East Asian Studies, she has
previously programmed at Doc Films Theater in Chicago, and various art spaces
in the Midwest.