There never was an icon of American manhood to compare with the cowboy

National Review, March 13, 2006

There never was an icon of American manhood to compare with the cowboy. For decades, from Tex Ritter and Hopalong Cassidy, through Gary Cooper and John Wayne, down to the spaghetti westerns of the 1960s, these rugged, self-reliant heroes rode and swaggered across our movie and TV screens, teaching us the elements of justice, honor, chivalry, and manliness.

Alas, when we lost our national innocence, around 1968, we lost the cowboy too. Nowadays these slow-talkin', fast-drawin' legends of the old West are remembered, if at all, as pathetic symbols of a vanquished patriarchy, probably addled with insecurity, neurosis, and shameful secret longings. At least, that was the image presented in Brokeback Mountain--and now, too, in the latest production by aging Texas country singer Willie Nelson: "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)." The song has lines like: "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out." John Wayne, thou shouldst be living at this hour. America has need of thee.