evolution of the "western"-genre

[abulafia]

1992s "the last of the mohicans" was the first movie (i as a young man back then) that i noticed, "indians" were actually played by real descendants of original american people on a large scale. older western movies mostly had european people with funny hair doing that part. i wonder if TLOTM was really among the first productions that tried to emanate an authentic image of native americans or are there any other notable movies i missed?

edit
think about it, little big man might have been a first step. but i haven´t watched LBM in ages, while i recently watched TLOTM

anyway, what do you guys think are the most noteable genre entries after the golden western era?

[Jokerz79]

I think there are westerns that aren't called westerns anymore and just set in another environment. John Carpenter was fan of Howard Hawks and wanted to make westerns but never got the chance or did he? Assault on Precinct 13 is the Alamo and many other films like Escape from New York and Vampires have many traditional western themes.

[AndrewCrossett]

1992s "the last of the mohicans" was the first movie (i as a young man back then) that i noticed, "indians" were actually played by real descendants of original american people on a large scale. older western movies mostly had european people with funny hair doing that part. i wonder if TLOTM was really among the first productions that tried to emanate an authentic image of native americans or are there any other notable movies i missed?

There was Dances With Wolves as well... all of the main native American characters were played by real native Americans, and Graham Greene was one of three ever to get an acting Oscar nomination (after Dan George from Little Big Man and Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show.)