In 1903, THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY was released, the first film from the genre that would later be referred to as the Western. One of the main roles, that of Bronco Billy, was played by Gilbert M. Anderson, also known as Maxwell Aronson. In Amanda Kinsey's thoroughly entertaining documentary, the biography of the Jewish-American silent-film actor is one of many stories and anecdotes she uses to reflect on Jewishness in the 'Wild West.' What role did Jews play in the westward expansion, both in reality and in film? Which archival materials and documents have survived, and how was this chapter of Jewish history later told; for example in Frank Gallop's country satire "The Ballad of Irving" from 1966 in which he, in “You don't have to be Jewish Players”, speaks of the “one hundred and forty-second best marksman in the West”. Or later, in Mel Brooks' western parody BLAZING SADDLES (1974) and Robert Aldrich's THE FRISCO KID (1979). In the course of her research, Kinsey stumbles upon livestock traders and whiskey distillers, gunmen and fortune seekers, a Prussian immigrant who went on to become a tribal leader in New Mexico, and a Sephardic painter and photographer who painted landscapes in Kansas, Colorado, and Utah in the 1800s. Tales of Jewish life from the Wild West.
Text: Bernd Buder
Supporting film: THE LAST COWBOY IN SALFORD (Jakob Lancaster, UK 2023, 15 min)
