Shooting Scripts: From Pulp Western to Film

In their heyday, pulp westerns were one of America’s most popular forms of entertainment. Often selling for less than 50 cents, the paperback books introduced generations to the "exploits" of Billy the Kid and Jesse James, brought to life numerous villains (usually named "Black" something, e.g., Black Bart and Black Pete), and created a West that existed only in the minds of several talented writers. It was only natural that filmmakers would look to the pulps for stories, adapting many of the works for the big screen and shaping the Western film genre.

The adaptations of seven of the pulps’ best writers—Ernest Haycox, Luke Short, Frank Gruber, Norman A. Fox, Louis L’Amour, Marvin H. Albert, and Clair Huffaker—are analyzed here. Insightful and humorous, the work looks at how the pulp novels and the movie adaptations reflected the times in which they were produced. It examines the clichés that became a part of the story: the rescue of the heroine, the gunfights, the evil banker or rancher ready to steal the land of the good, law-abiding citizens, and the harlot with a heart of gold. A critical examination of how the books were interpreted—or frequently misinterpreted—by filmmakers is included, along with commentary on the actors and directors who put the pulps on screen.