should not be classified as a western
1925 is too late.
shareThe Wikipedia entry says "American dramatic adventurous neo-western" Rotten Tomatoes says "treasure-hunt classic" and lists genres as "Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama, Western" IMDB lists Adventure|Drama|Western
Clearly Western is down the line even for those listing it as such. (I'm not talking about every critic who ever lived.)
I've never thought of it as a Western.
Among other things, it's a rural adventure set in the North American west.
Western.
It's a crime drama set in 1925 Mexico.
shareThere's guns and bandits and Americans prospecting for gold and a strong moral theme. It's set a little later than the usual Hollywood Western - but it's a Western.
shareWesterns ended with the vehicle.
sharePerhaps. But vehicles arrived at different times in different places and where they were very late you could argue that the western genre lived on - possibly still does in a few places.
shareIt´s believable that Mexico was 20 years behind the USA in 1925. There were still bandits on horseback, supposedly in 1920´s Tampico. It´s a Western.
shareYep, it's a crime drama (which is why I said "among other things"). Many westerns are crime dramas. And yes, it's set in Mexico (which is part of the North American west). One of the things it is, is a western. There is no rule stating that a western must be in the 19th century, or that it must be in the U.S. or a U.S. territory. "The Rounders" and "Comes a Horseman" are westerns set in the 20th century. "The Magnificent Seven" is a western set in Mexico. "Quigley Down Under" is a western set in Australia.
shareI don't think of it as a Western either, but with the scenery and the gun battle it does resemble one, at times. I'm not sure there is a single horse in it, but there are a lot of burros. Maybe the Mexicans rode horses, I didn't think about it at that itme.
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