ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses moving on from real to fictional outlaws. It also focuses on some of the great outlaw films of the 1950s. Not only were the 1950s a Golden Age of Westerns in both quality and quantity, the films of this period were distinguished by their adult themes, which included a strong emphasis on law-breaking and its consequences. As a result, the outlaws seeking a new start became a major part of the Western myth. Shane begins with a small boy watching a lone horseman riding towards his home. The rider is a small, insignificant speck in the midst of a vast landscape fringed by the Grand Tetons of Wyoming, seemingly innocuous when juxtaposed with the grandeur of nature. Like many Westerns, 3:10 to Yuma is a morality tale and resembles Shane, in that it suggests that some men are beyond redemption, and are fated to remain outside the law, never able to integrate into a community.
