美文选刊｜十大经典西部片（上）

10 Classic Western Movies (I)

文/劳丽·伯德 

译/孟洁冰

By Laurie Boeder

No film genre is more distinctly American than the western. Over the years, classic western movies have romanticized the Old West, vilified na­tive Americans, idealized settlers and then switched all the stereotypes around again. Westerns come in all forms, from silent movies to full-on spoofs[1]. Here are ten classic westerns that are worth a look.  

没有哪类影片比西部片更能体现美国特色。多年以来，经典西部片渲染了旧日西部的浪漫色彩，贬低丑化美洲原住民，美化定居者形象，此后又颠覆了所有传统的故事模式。从无声电影到夸张恶搞，西部片出现了各种各样的类型。下面推荐的十大经典西部片值得一看。

[1] spoof 戏仿。

01

High Noon, 1952

《正午》，1952 年

With Gary Cooper and a radi­ant Grace Kelly, High Noon is the tale of a dutiful sheriff deserted by the cowardly townspeople he has served as a gang of desperadoes descends on the town. Spare, tense, and told almost in real time, the film pares the conven­tional western to its bones as the sheriff stays to fight over the protests of his friends and his pacifist Quaker wife. In­terpreted variously as a preachy liberal fable, an allegory of the McCarthy era and as a commentary on U.S. involve­ment in both Korea and WWII, it stands first and foremost as a fine, classic west­ern movie.

《正午》由加里·库珀和光彩照人的格蕾丝·凯利主演，讲述匪帮来到小镇寻仇、现任警长尽忠职守却被懦弱居民抛弃的故事。本片情节简单，节奏紧张，近乎实时叙事。警长不顾朋友和热爱和平的贵格会教徒妻子的反对，决定留下来战斗的场景，浓缩了传统西部片的精华。虽然有各种各样的解读，比如宣扬自由主义的寓言、麦卡锡时代的隐喻，以及对美国卷入朝鲜战争和第二次世界大战的评价，不过本片首先是部出色的经典西部片。

02

Destry Rides Again, 1939

《碧血烟花》，1939 年

One of the great movies of 1939, Destry Rides Again is the story of a sheriff who doesn’t like to carry a gun. One of the first movies to spoof the western genre, it has the requisite law­less town, cheating gamblers, upright townsfolk, and rowdy cowpokes, along with the best dancehall hostess/fallen angel ever, Marlene Dietrich. (She gets three musical numbers, including “See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have.”) Lanky, likable Jimmy Stewart is irresistible as Destry, the peaceable, slow-talking sheriff who tames the town.

这部1939年的电影佳作讲述了不爱带枪的警长的故事。作为最先恶搞西部片的电影之一，《碧血烟花》具备了各种经典元素：无法无天的小镇、出千骗人的赌徒、品行正直的民众和举止粗野的牛仔，还有风情万种的舞厅老板娘、“堕落天使”玛琳·黛德丽。（她在片中唱了三首歌曲，包括《看看幕后英雄会怎样》。）身材修长、讨人喜欢的吉米·斯图尔特饰演充满魅力的戴斯屈，这位性格温顺、讲话慢条斯理的警长给小镇带来了安宁。

03

The Searchers, 1956

《日落狂沙》，1956 年

Shot by director John Ford against the spectacular vistas of Utah’s Monu­ment Valley, The Searchers is a bleak tale of the violent struggle between settlers and Indians. John Wayne, who more often played genial cowboys and dashing soldiers, plays a darker, more complex role here as a vigilante who spends years in a single-minded, relent­less search for the Indians who killed his brother’s family and kidnapped his niece. While not all of it holds up to­day, it remains a compelling, layered story. Wayne was never better.

导演约翰·福特拍摄的《日落狂沙》以犹他州纪念碑谷的壮丽景色为背景，讲述了定居者与印第安人激烈战斗的悲壮故事。约翰·韦恩往往饰演亲切友好的牛仔和英气勃勃的军人，在本片中塑造的角色却更阴暗复杂。这位复仇勇士多年来单枪匹马，对杀害哥嫂、掳走侄女的印第安人穷追不舍。虽然本片放在今天未必成功，不过故事情节依然引人入胜、层次分明。约翰·韦恩在本片中的表演达到了巅峰。

04

Blazing Saddles, 1974

《灼热的马鞍》，1974 年

Mel Brooks’ beloved, laugh-out-loud western spoof Blazing Saddles was mar­keted with the tagline: “Never give a saga an even break.” Silly, crude and so politically incorrect no one would dare film it today, it features a noble black sheriff trying to win over the locals with the help of a laid-back drunken gun­fighter, a dancehall floozy (Madeleine Kahn in a hilarious take on Marlene Dietrich) and former NFL great Alex Karas as a simple-minded frontier thug. It’s famous for the beans-around-the-campfire flatulence scene alone. (Watch it anyway.)

《灼热的马鞍》由梅尔·布鲁克斯执导，这部深受观众喜爱、令人捧腹的西部恶搞片还有句宣传口号：“永远不要给传奇机会。”本片荒唐可笑，情节粗俗，毫无政治正确性可言，放在今天没人敢拍这样的电影。该片讲述品格高尚的黑人警长在懒散的醉鬼枪手、舞厅妖姬（马德琳·卡恩的滑稽表演借鉴了玛琳·黛德丽的形象）和头脑简单的边野莽汉（前橄榄球联盟明星亚历克斯·卡拉斯饰演）的帮助下，努力赢得了当地民众的拥护。仅凭人们围着篝火吃豆子放屁的场景，这部电影就足以名留影史。（推荐观看。）

05

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969

《虎豹小霸王》，1969 年

Something of a counterculture west­ern, this beguiling film pairs two of Hollywood’s most watchable stars—Paul Newman and Robert Redford—as peaceable, old-school bandits trying to make it on the increasingly civilized frontier. With a warm, clever script by William Goldman, the movies fol­lows Butch and Sundance as they seek adventure farther and farther south. Loosely based on the lives of real out­laws, the movie also features a stand­out[2] performance by Strother Martin.

这部反传统的西部片拍得引人入胜，由好莱坞最英俊迷人的两位电影明星——保罗·纽曼和罗伯特·雷德福——饰演性情温和的旧式匪徒，讲述他们设法在日益文明的边疆谋生的故事。影片根据威廉·戈德曼活泼俏皮的剧本，拍摄了布奇和圣丹斯一路向南闯荡的传奇经历。本片大致参照真实强盗的生活改编而成。斯特罗瑟·马丁在片中也有出色的表演。

[2] stand­out 突出的。