Rich goes wild about the West
New BBC4 film from Rich Hall
Perrier-winning stand-up Rich Hall is making a 90-minute film about movie Westerns for BBC Four.His programme, How The West Was Lost, will go out in June, although the exact date and time has not yet been scheduled.
The show will feature scenes from movies from the 1894 silent Buffalo Bill to Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Oscar-winner Unforgiven – although producers insist: ‘This is no predictable “best of” programme with plethora of brainless celebrity talking heads.’
Hall argues that the controversial birth of the Wild West was one of the earliest examples of spin-doctoring, and will explore how movie depictions of the time have progressed from idealism to cynicism, reflecting the way society has changed.
Publicity blurb for the programme says: ‘Historical context, social commentary, cinematography and some of the most iconic, beautiful and violent moments in film history are effortlessly combined with Hall’s characteristically dry and cutting humour to create 90 minutes of outstanding television.’
The show is being made by Open Mike Productions and was commissioned by BBC Four controller Janice Hadlow and the corporation’s independent executive, Elaine Bedell.
Published: 2 May 2008
