Sorry, Hugh Jackman … I don’t think its musicals that are back. I think it’s the clink of spurs, and the fast draw that’s enjoying a renaissance. I know, they say William Munny killed it along with Little Bill Daggett (and if so, it certainly went out with one hell of a last line), but then came The Missing, The Proposition, Open Range, 3:10 to Yuma, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Appaloosa. There’s also been a few that stretched the definition beyond the classic, pistols-at-sunset sort and tackled a more modern definition and locale, such as All the Pretty Horses, Brokeback Mountain, No Country for Old Men, and Australia. Asia has gotten in on the fun with Sukiyaki Western Django and the upcoming The Warrior’s Way.

Of course I’m leaving a few of them out (apologies to the Texas Rangers fans out there), and it’s also worth noting that not all of them were successful or popular. Some of them were downright disastrous. But they were made when Unforgiven supposedly shot them down, and they were clearly popular or interesting enough to warrant a few more remakes and revivals. The Lone Ranger is set to call on Silver, the Coen Bros are re-hiring Rooster Cogburn, and Gerard Butler will reportedly try to duck the noose in The Hanging Tale. On the graphic novel end, you’ll have Jonah Hex wrecking bloody havoc, and Preacher may finally go to Texas. Today, Variety is reporting that Roy Rogers may rise from the dead for a new film trilogy. It won’t be a biopic, nor a traditional Western, but be some kind of “family-fantasy adventure” that will use the characters of Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger, capitalizing (their words, not mine) on their iconic status, and introducing them to a new generation.