The old Hollywood westerns always followed a formula. The plots were always the same. There were good guys and bad guys. Every town had a saloon. Every saloon had swinging doors on it. And every swinging door had someone, at some point in the movie, come flying out of it. Every western had a hero with a sidekick, and a villain with a black hat. There was a beleaguered sheriff, a damsel in distress, and at the end, a gunfight. That was the plot of every western.

The dialogue in westerns also followed a formula. At some point in the drama, the hero, having tolerated the bumbling of lesser mortals for most of the movie, would finally say, "Now listen, and listen real good." And everyone in the theater would know, this is it. He's taking charge now. I always liked the way John Wayne said that…