Westerns Films (and their Music) An American Entertainment Staple for More Than 75 Years in the U.S.

 July 7, 2026

#458

Gentle reader,

I will be turning 70 in a matter of weeks. I've lived in eight decades and grew up first listening to radio shows then television ones. The kind of staple back in the early days was wholly wholesome. The Good Guys always Won and the Bad Guys always lost: Either in the ground, or in jail waiting to be hung. My heroes were Roy Rogers, John Wayne and just about everyone associated with The West. 

(A note to the readers: No matter what I do, every time I upload a photograph, Blogger CHANGES the size and type of FONT! For which I apologize.) 

(A second note for the readers: Music for a program, film or show is called the SCORE. ALL of the sounds, including the music in a program, film or show is called the Soundtrack.)

The very first Western radio show in the US was "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok," which featured the legendary lawman and gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok and his sidekick, Jingles P. Jones. This show aired in the 1950s and became a popular staple of the Western genre on radio. That quote is from this website:

Old Time Radio Westerns – First of its kind to bring you Old Time Radio Westerns. Westerns that include The Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid, Challenge of the Yukon, Have Gun Will Travel, The Six Shooter, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Gunsmoke, Hopalong Cassidy, and many many more.

I just learned this: 'Dark Command' is the Only Film Starring John Wayne & Roy Rogers Together. Prior to sitting down to write this, I did not know the two had EVER worked together. Roy Rogers was the ultimate "Singing Cowboy" while "The Duke" was the ultimate Good Tough Guy in seemingly countless roles on the Silver Screen and the small screen when his films made it onto television.

And like millions of other little boys (and some girls too) I wanted to grow up and be a Good Guy just like my heroes. I was five years old when this photo was made. I was SO proud of my new Twin Six Guns! I was so proud, I disobeyed Mom and Dad by crossing the street to show how I looked to the girl across the street. It was SO worth it!

But, that is not what this article is about, it's about one of THE most important part of every Radio, Television and Film ever made: The MUSIC. If there is a way to turn off the musical SCORE while watching (or listening to) any type of dramatic program, they would not be nearly as interesting and dramatic without said music. Music sets the stage for every scene. Right now, I am listening to the Score of two of the best recent Western Films, both scored by Bruce Broughton Silverado and Tombstone. Were it possible to time travel Hollywood filmmakers of yore into a 1990's theater as either of these epic Westerns were about to start, they would be blown away by the: Drama, realism, violence, action, special effects and the music. SO, I decided to go through all of my SCORE/Soundtrack recordings, pick out the Westerns, photograph them and tell you about their music. Since Long Playing Records came well before Digital ANYTHING, I will start with the Records I have.

The BIG Country was truly an epic Western! I have seen it, even though it came out when I was two years old. Jerome Moross composed the music for the film. The music too, is BIG. 

Bonanza was one of the MANY Western television shows the US viewer could enjoy. I repeat, it was always wholesome. It was about a widowed father and his three sons working the family ranch somewhere out WEST. The son not shown was killed by Indians when he took a job as a Pony Express Rider. A very early form of Express Mail. The actor later played Trapper John in the film M*A*S*H. Reprising his role later on in Trapper John, MD. 

The High Chaparral which comprises the second LP I don't recall, Wikipedia has this: The High Chaparral is an American Western action-adventure drama television series that aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971, starring Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell. The series was made by Xanadu Productions in association with NBC Productions, and was created by David Dortort, who had previously created Bonanza for the network. The theme song was written and conducted by Bonanza scorer David Rose, who also scored the two-hour pilot.

I've had this double LP for a while, I'm still hesitant to actually listen to it. Why? Because the music was performed by: Xanadu Pleasure Dome! Go ahead, see if you can find ANYTHING on the Internet about that name! I couldn't! Based upon what Wikipedia, I now know where the Xanadu part of the name came from.

TRUE GRIT and THE COMANCHEROS two of the more famous of John Wayne's films. Elmer Bernstein is a name that one often finds on film and TV scores. The Official Site of Elmer Bernstein  Both scores are excellent and this LP would be a good place to start for someone who decides to collect Western Film Scores. It is from 1985.

Varese Sarabande is a name any collector of Film and TV scores should be familiar with. SO very many of the Scores in my collections were produced, recorded and sold by that label. Wikipedia has this about it: Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract. The label's name was derived from combining French-born composer Edgard Varèse's last name with the musical term sarabande, a slow Spanish dance.

I was certain that I had written about this NEW double LP with GOLD records which came out in 2018 and is STILL available new at The Cowboys (Gold 2-LP) – Varèse Sarabande.

But, I had not. 

I probably paid too much for this set. Frankly, it's not the first gold LP I own, the first one is a 1977 Disco LP called TUXEDO JUNCTION of Big Band music set to a Disco beat. But, it is transparent and these are solid gold vinyl LPs. The music is superb, of course, it's by John Williams. Having listened to it, I immediately ordered a Blu-ray of the film. I won't tell you the plot or what happens in it. Bruce Dern plays an evil character SO well! Check it out, it's a great film.

Wikipedia states: The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success.^[1] The term was used by foreign critics because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians.^[2]

The majority of the films in the spaghetti Western genre were international co-productions by Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, West Germany, Britain, Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia, and the United States. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978,^[3] including nearly five hundred in Italy, which dominated the market.^[4] Most spaghetti Westerns filmed between 1964 and 1978 were made on low budgets, and shot at Cinecittà Studios and various locations around southern Italy and Spain.^[5]

Leone's films and other core spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticized or even "demythologized"^[6] many of the conventions of traditional U.S. Westerns. This was partly intentional, and partly the context of a different cultural background.^[7] In 1968, the wave of spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. Spaghetti Westerns have left their mark on popular culture, strongly influencing numerous works produced in and outside of Italy.

Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer, was often THE preferred choice for Score writing for many of these films. Clint Eastwood gained experience and followers as a result of the many spaghetti Westerns he performed in. This particular LP has music from three of the films.

This is one of the more famous of these films. I have this score on CD as well. My copy is in exceptional condition, especially for it's age.

I don't recall that I have seen this film. This was composed by Alfred Newman. NOT the Alfred E. Newman of MAD magazine fame, however. According to the back of the cover, he was nominated "half a hundred" times for Academy Awards for his numerous scores over his long career. Fourteen of Hollywood's greats starred in this film. 

I have not seen this one, at least I don't think I did. Wikipedia has this to say about it:

Mackenna's Gold is a 1969 American Western film directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring an ensemble cast featuring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Ted Cassidy, Camilla Sparv and Julie Newmar in lead roles. It was photographed in Super Panavision 70 and Technicolor by Joseph MacDonald, with original music by Quincy Jones.

Mackenna's Gold is based on the novel of the same name by Heck Allen using the pen name Will Henry, telling the story of how the lure of gold corrupts a diverse group of people. The novel was loosely based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings, crediting the Frank Dobie account of the legend (Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver) in the author's note. The film was a box-office failure in North America, but went on to become a major success in the Soviet Union and the Indian subcontinent.

Well, that last bit explains why I did not see it. Still, someone bought this record after seeing the film, back in 1969. Interesting to me is that Jazz star, Quincy Jones composed and conducted the Score. And Jose Feliciano, a guitarist extraordinaire plays in it as well.

Richard Harris, an Irishman, was a multi-talented man back in his day. An excellent actor as well as singer. I recall him playing King Richard the Lionheart alongside Sean Connery as an aging Robin Hood and Audrey Hepburn as Lady Marian in the 1976 film, Robin and Marian. Harris played Lord John Morgan in this film who is curious about Indians in North America. I have a couple of his LPs. For example, he is famous for his rendition of the song, MacArthur Park.

Another 1976 film, The Missouri Breaks" starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. I have this on CD as well. I read a story long ago which referred to "breaks". I had to look up what it referred to. When I found this record, I thought, "Ah! I know what those are!" 

Wikipedia wrote, The Missouri Breaks is a 1976 American Western film starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. The film was directed by Arthur Penn, with supporting performances by Randy Quaid, Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest, John McLiam, and Kathleen Lloyd in her film debut. The score was composed by John Williams.

The title of the film refers to a forlorn and very rugged area of north-central Montana, where over eons, the Missouri River has made countless deep cuts or "breaks" in the land.

The film explores themes including the American frontier myth, economic exploitation and law and order. Like some other films directed by Penn, it has been read as an allegory of capitalism and the American counterculture. The album is pristine.

Prior to the Internet being available for everyone, to "look up something" often meant a trip to the local public library. I have the 5th Edition of Goldmine® Record Album Price Guide. An actual book made of paper! It's from 2007. It states that this LP is from 1957, it is in pristine condition and was "worth" $60US in 2007, almost $100US, today. It's actually a Civil War movie, so is an Eastern. 

The film SILVERADO is from 1985, and in my opinion, is excellent. Aside from the stars you see on the cover, John Cleese, of Monty Python and Faulty Towers fame also appears in this as a local lawman. I also have this on CD. It and TOMBSTONE's score were composed by Bruce Broughton. 

And finally, the last LP Western I own, besides some compilation albums, is John Wayne's epic tale, TRUE GRIT. In my previous article, 6J1 Tube Buffer vs AIYIMA T2 6K4 Tube Preamplifier. Can They Drive Headphones? I refer to the wonderful animated film, RANGO starring Johnny Depp as the Chameleon who suddenly finds himself lost in the desert and stumbles upon a Western town. Please, find it and watch it. SO much goes on in this film, lots of references to classic Western films. Below, a scene in the bar. Rango has just snatched the hat and matchstick/toothpick from the, you know, I don't know what kind of animal that fellow is. Anyway, Rango is making it us as he goes along. "Where 'ere you from, stranger?" asked the rodent. "I'm from the WEST. The FAR WEST!" shouts our hero as he snatches his hat and toothpick.

I have a number of WESTERN CDs as well. As mentioned, some of these LPs are in digital form too. I made these images the original size so that you can better see each CD. 

These five are all standard (Redbook) CDs. I'm listening to "THE MISSOURI BREAKS" right now. It's nice music. Americans tend to romanticize eras in our past. Especially ones LONG before we trod this Earth and therefore have no real knowledge about it. Which is why so many books and films are about the past. Many about a potential future as well, think STAR WARS and it's ilk too.

By the way, HDCDs play just fine on ANY CD player. 

All three of these are HDCDs. Wikipedia has this to say about them: High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) is a proprietary audio encode-decode process that claims to provide increased dynamic range over that of standard Compact Disc Digital Audio, while retaining backward compatibility with existing compact disc players.

Originally developed by Pacific Microsonics, the first HDCD-enabled CD was released in 1995. In 2000, the technology was purchased by Microsoft, and the following year, there were over 5,000 HDCD titles available. Microsoft's HDCD official website was discontinued in 2005; by 2008, the number of available titles had declined to around 4,000.

A number of CD and DVD players include HDCD decoding, and versions 9 and above of Microsoft's Windows Media Player on personal computers are capable of decoding HDCD.

HDCD is a favorite among artists who have a preference for high quality sound, such as Neil Young, the Beach Boys and the Grateful Dead—all of whom have multiple CD titles (new and archival) in their catalogs mastered in this process.

IF you are interested in having a variety of WESTERN  music to listen to, some of it obscure and hard to find, then THE WILD WEST and WAY OUT WEST are two you should seek out. Each has TWO CDs and they are chock full of wonderful snippets of Western film and TV music. 

These are all compilation CDs of Westerns music from many films and TV, which I have come across over the years. Having pulled all these LPs and CDs, I am going to be listening to each and every one of them. I told myself, "When I retire, I'm going to listen to every recording I own." I have been doing that, but 3,000 recordings take a while to listen to!

I prefer my CDs to be placed horizontally which is a pain in the butt when adding new CDs since I have to MOVE so many CDs. But, I can see/read the spines easier than tilting my head which vertical placement requires. Thus, when looking through other CD towers I found these two last discs. 

This solid Oak one was a lucky find at the local Salvation army. It holds 300 CDs by their lower right corner. It contains all Classical CDs.

This plastic one holds 400 CDs. They are: Smooth Jazz and film and TV Scores. Soundtrack CDs (not Scores, bunch of band music) are elsewhere.

These two each hold 200 and are a variety of genres, including traditional Jazz, Rock (1970's, 1980's and newer), HDCDs and more. I like variety.

Whew! Assembling all this took several hours. But, I love writing this blog and these two: Pictures of Nancy. The Love of My Life. and People Say I'm Special. But I Don't Know Why too. Feel free to take a look! Also, feel free to leave a Comment below, or via Facebook. 

Scott Robb

July 7, 2026

#458

A Bag of Old Cameras. Join me as We See What's Inside!

 July 2, 2026

#547

Gentle reader,

It's been almost a year since I last wrote anything about cameras, lenses or photography. Yet, for YEARS that was all I "focused" on in this blog. 

Photo from long ago, when I had more hair and well, more of me. Note the kitten, I named Monkey because he loved to climb me, perched in my hood. Every camera and all of those practice and toy rifles have all gone to new homes. Monkey's long gone as well.

There is, or was, they have since moved to another county north of here, a delightful couple in our church's congregation named Peter and Elizabeth. Their story of meeting exceeds Nancy's and mine, as far as how far and long God planned for them to meet and marry. Elizabeth is British and Peter American. They met in Germany. He was stationed there in the U.S. Army, she was a teacher at the school on base. This bag of cameras is the second one Peter gathered before they moved which he brought to the church to give to Chris, one of the many public school teachers who are members at fupcdc. Peter asked Chris if he would pass them on to the Photography teacher at the High School where Chris teaches. Which he did with the first bag...

Unfortunately, Chris and his lovely and wonderful wife, Carla, left the church suddenly. No need to go into that, it does not concern you nor this story. I will send Chris the link to this article to let him see the bag's contents and decide if he wants to pass them on or not. If not, I will donate them all.

Quite an interesting little lot I have here. Anything really interesting not yet seen? Let's explore further.

Well, well, well. Within that "Diamond Custom-Fitted Camera Case" box was not a Diamond Custom-Fitted Camera Case, instead was this Minolta SRT 101 35mm SLR film camera within it's Minolta brand leather case. Sadly, no lens was with the body. To learn a whole lot more about this camera, go here: Minolta SR-T 101 - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

Between all of the cameras I have found and purchased since the 1990's as well as the THOUSANDS of them which the late Colonel Bill Arps (USA Retired) (image of him below) tasked me with selling before and after his passing, I have handled, tested, photographed, listed and sold via eBay countless multiple hundreds of them of all shapes and sizes. This was a nice camera in 1966. Now, it's nothing special.

Especially since the light meter does not work.

Since it is sixty years old, this is not surprising. See that round thing with two little holes in it? One presses their finger on that and twists to the left. Beneath fits a Mercury 1.35 volt battery. While I have several 1.5 volt alkaline batteries which fit, and will make the meter work, due to the excess voltage, the reading will be off and thus the photos exposed incorrectly. Since the meter does not respond to said battery, as my ex-wife used to say, "The point is mute." 

The camera does work otherwise, so with a handheld light meter and choosing the aperture and shutter speed digitally (with your fingers) one can produce accurately exposed photos.

Nice little dial on the film door. One rotates it until the pointer faces the film speed number as a reminder what speed film the user loaded. No film window on this camera.

With the back open one can see that the camera was serviced in 1983.

Like most 35mm SLR and rangefinder cameras, this one has a fabric shutter which opens right to left to expose the film. It works fine.

"SLR" stands for Single Lens Reflex. One looks though the taking lens rather than a a separate window on the front of the camera.

Silver lever on the left is the self-timer for taking group photos the photographer wants to be in. The silver button beneath it momentarily closes the aperture so that the photographer can see what the image will look like (depth of field) with the lens "stopped down" to the setting they are thinking about using. 

The first mystery bag appears to be quite old...

What could it contain?

"Mr. J. Purcell" I'll let you see if you can figure out the rest of the address, "on" makes me think it is in England...

"The Kodak Brownie 127 is a plastic box camera for eight 4x6 cm pictures on 127 film, made in England by Kodak Ltd. It was an extremely popular snapshot camera in Britain. From its introduction in 1952, over a million had been made by August 1954, and the series continued to sell many more millions. A few (~263,000) of the first model were exported to the US in 1953-4, where they were badged Brownie Starlet, not to be confused with the more common Brownie Starlet." Camera-Wiki

"Roll Film" is film which is not in any form of cartridge or light-tight container such as 35mm or APS is. There is a paper backing protecting the film from light, which has spaced numbers printed on it. The little window you see used to be darker red than it is now. One winds the white know on the top of the camera until seeing 1 in that window, takes the photo. Winds to see 2, etc.

This camera is about as basic as they came... White knob to wind the film, white button to operate the shutter.

Prior to looking this up and snagging the quote for you, I spied the "MADE IN ENGLAND". I suspect that Purcell was Elizabeth's maiden name. This was likely her mother or father's camera. Twist the lever/knob to the left and....

one can separate the top from the bottom. At this time, the last roll of film's empty reel is still in place.

A look inside the two halves. Note the curvature of the body and path of the film. That curve compensates for the simple meniscus single element lens' distortion.

The entire single speed shutter mechanism. The white button presses down on the "D" shaped piece of metal. Simple yet elegant too.

Mystery bag number two. What could be hidden inside?

Ah! It seems to be something fairly modern. Could this have been Mr. Purcell's last camera, perhaps?

"The Pentax Espio 115(M) is a 35mm compact zoom camera with autofocus made by Pentax, introduced in 1996^[1]. In the US it was called the IQZoom 115(M). It was part of the Espio/IQZoom series." Camera Wiki

What's this? A number? Can it still have a viable battery and film within?

"Arggh!" You may be thinking! Patience, my friend, I'm getting there.

Why, yes, there IS still film in it! "HD4" that's a new one to me. Remember when I said that the Minolta SLR camera did not have a "film window"? Well, this little Pentax does have one. See it on the door, far left?

And here is the battery. A true wonder that it has not gone dead. Don't worry about me opening the door. The film's lost it's viability by now.

I suspect that Kodak adding the words High Definition to this film's name was a hopeful lure to those thinking of going to the "Dark Side", which to film companies is the dreaded Digital cameras. The CR2 3 volt battery is still good.

The inside of the capable little Pentax camera. See those four sets of three pins above in the film chamber? That is to read the film cases "DX" encoding. So that it knows what speed film it has inside of it. See below:

Each film speed has different shaped metal patterns on their cases. The camera "reads" the shapes and sets the camera to the correct shutter and aperture setting for that film's speed. 

Ah! The lens' protector blades have opened once I switched it on.

The film counter reset to Zero once I opened that back of it. Note the lens is now protruding.

And now, zoomed all the way out from 38mm wide angle to it's 115mm magnificence!

I have handled and used all kinds of external camera flashes, but this SUNPAK Auto 322S is the most interesting I've seen in a very long time. 

Laying on it's back, you can see the many choices of settings it offers. What really made me think was, "Why the heck is there a gap between the foot and the body?"

Turns out that the whole body of the flash can be rotated 180 degrees while still being electrically and physically attached to the flash shoe. The "U" shaped wire is the PC connector. The Minolta SRT 101 does not have a "hot" shoe. Thus, one has to pull the PC connector out of it's little garage and attach it to the camera's PC socket.

The flash mounted on the camera's "cold" shoe. There are two PC sockets to the right of the lens mount. That's it for the SUNPAK in this story. Let's move on...

The last mystery from the bag is this 1950's (I think, not much information out there on ancient 8mm home movie cameras) Kodak Brownie Automatic Movie Camera f/2.3.

Having slid the outer box up and off, this is what I saw inside.

Name plate has seen some wear. Who knows how many feet of 16mm film were shot with it? What? 16mm??? Yes, the film is put through the camera twice, by removing the film reels and flipping and switching them. The film is developed, then slit lengthwise and spliced into one fifty foot film from the two 25 foot pieces.

The camera and valuable manual seeing the light of day for the first time in... Note the optical viewers flipped up on the top of the body. The silver thing is for winding the internal  clock spring which runs the film through the camera for exposure.

A view of the other side of the camera. I'm glad that the manual was here, otherwise, I could not have gotten inside of the film housing.

The camera has no batteries. The clear plastic with bubbles on it near the top hides a likely now-dead Selenium light meter. According to the manual, without film ready to be shot, the camera will not run.

Like the other Brownie (it's actually dark brown, too) 127 still film camera, the last reel which held unexposed film is still in place inside the movie Brownie.

See? It needs to be moved to this empty "take up reel" position. Each side of the film reels has a differently shaped opening to coincide with the different shaped film spindles.

There! Now it's ready for new film to be loaded. The different shapes were important because the film has to be loaded and unloaded/flipped in total darkness. Thus, the reel will only go on the correct holder. 

Speaking of film! Here is a still factory sealed roll of 16mm movie film from Kodak! Note the bottom line of text on the box.

Detailed instructions....

Note the date it was printed, almost 60 years ago!

And, the final image is of the film box and the last date it could be processed. Not only is the now-long-dead film still sealed in it's tiny can, but the AIR from the Kodak factory is still there too!

Thank you for joining me on the tiny quest of exploring the contents of the bag of old cameras. I enjoyed it did you too? Feel free to comment below or via Facebook.

I write two other blogs: Pictures of Nancy. The Love of My Life. And People Say I'm Special. But I Don't Know Why Feel free to take a look at them, if you like.

Scott Robb

July 2, 2026

#547