The good hero is the strong, silent type. The evil he confronts is unrelenting and without compromise. It threatens the universe. If necessary, the hero will sacrifice everything, even his own life, to redeem the world. Finally, good and evil meet in a predetermined arena and the battle is enjoined. The outcome appears in doubt, but in the end the good hero carries the day -- even if his own life was forfeit in the cause. This all sounds tremendously religious, doesn't it? It is these religious underpinnings that explain the appeal of the Western, and why they represent an outstanding opportunity to discuss and illustrate the apocalyptic coming of the Kingdom -- and sometimes a little more.

Hollywood doesn't make many Westerns, and fewer good ones, but when they hit the mark, it is hard to ignore their appeal. Westerns call upon universal archetypes to do battle before our eyes. The good hero may be reluctant, flawed, or a little complicated, but the evil villain is simply, thoroughly, and completely bad. The hero may represent fallen humanity in its struggle, but the bad guy is inevitably the devil incarnate. The working out of the conflict is the Apocalypse in microcosm.

Clint Eastwood has made a career out of playing apocalyptic heroes in Westerns. The two most compelling examples are Pale Rider and Unforgiven. In Pale Rider, Eastwood plays the Preacher, who rides into an oppressed mining town seemingly as the answer to a little girl's prayer for deliverance. She and the townspeople are suffering under the scourge of the owner of a strip mining company who wants to obliterate the town. The Preacher appears to be modeled after one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse -- one who brings death, but also liberation, in his wake. Ultimately, the smoke clears, the town is free, and the Preacher mysteriously rides off.

In Unforgiven, Eastwood plays William Munny, a retired killer who has been civilized by marriage. His wife now dead and gone, he is trying to eke out a respectable living for his children as a pig farmer. His farming is an utter failure. Munny is contacted by a young gunslinger to ride to a town and kill some men who beat and mutilated a prostitute. While Munny keeps repeating that he "ain't like that no more" he continually falls back into old habits, and it is not long before he is killing men again. When his longtime friend and partner is savagely beaten and killed by the town's evil sheriff, Munny becomes a force of nature, slaughtering every man who draws against him. All of the elements of the apocalypse are present, including the judgment of sin. But even though Munny is the agent that brings justice, he does not exclude himself. Responding to the cocky young gunslinger trying to console himself after his first killing by saying that the bad guy "had it comin'," Munny replies, "We all got it comin' kid."

In both of these films, there is an external battle leading to a town's liberation from evil. In Unforgiven, there is the additional theme of personal redemption -- though it is only hinted at -- we assume that when the postscript tells us that Munny leaves and opens a dry goods store, that he is through with his former life. True apocalyptic films should show us the battle, but also the outcome -- for the town (representing the universe) as well as for individuals (for Christ came to save individual people).

On the surface, Open Range has all of the trappings of the apocalyptic western. Thoroughly evil bad guys, who terrorize the good hearted local populace, harass and kill some of the fairly good guys who were just passin' through. The remaining good guys come back, wipe out the evil imperiling the town -- mostly by their own efforts, but partly by rousing the townsfolk to participate in their own liberation. The good guy gets the good girl and they are on track to live happily ever after.
 
That's on the surface. At a deeper level, Open Range is a story of personal apocalypse. Charley Waite, identified early as one of the good guys, is not what he appears to be. After committing a vengeance killing in his youth, Waite went into the army where he was recruited to join a special company of thugs. Their mission was to demoralize the enemy. Waite tells his partner, Boss Spearman, that after awhile they were shooting men even if they weren't in uniform. After the war was over, Waite becomes a hired gun, protecting the interests of evil men. It wasn't until Boss came along and gave Waite a second chance, that Waite discovers a merciful side to life.

When two of the hired men in Waite's company are shot in an ambush by a greedy rancher, one fatally, the other near dead, all of Waite's old instincts come back to life. It is as if the ten years of riding with Boss have been obliterated in a single moment. Waite has to discover the fine line between justice and revenge to see if he can make that distinction, or be lost forever to his former way of living.

The entire film comes down to a single moment. Waite has wounded one of the men sent to take his life. Out of bullets, Waite reloads his gun, but the man lying on the ground begins to beg for mercy. Waite is in no mood to grant his request, and moves to finish him off. Boss steps forward, between Waite and the man on the ground and tells his longtime friend that if he kills this man, he will be no better than the men who are trying to kill them. Waite clearly struggles. He says he doesn't want to "look over his shoulder" for the rest of his life. What he means is that he fears this man will come back to kill him, but by engaging in an act of mercy he actually accomplishes his goal. For the last ten years he has been looking over his shoulder at his former self, wondering if he could ever escape the man he was. By walking away and showing mercy, when it would be easy to kill, he validates his transformed life.

Even when people recognize that they are lawbreakers, they long for true justice, an end to evil, and the rule of righteousness -- in general at least. Westerns speak to that desire. Open Range takes the apocalyptic model and makes it personal. There is a war without, and a war within. Good and evil are constantly battling for ascendancy in both arenas. And as long as people are willing to cheer the good guys in the white hats, opportunities will be there to share the greatest apocalypse story of all time -- the mystery of Christ, and the inevitable triumph of His return.

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