Subject: gambler as shootist/gunslinger
Culture: Western Anglo-American
Setting: American West late 19th-early 20thc
* Sid Richardson Museum > The Cinematic West: The Art that Made the Movies
"A Misdeal Frederic Remington 1861-1909 Oil on canvas ca.1897 ...
This pre-cinematic scene served as a prototype for so many bar room brawls featured in Western movies throughout the twentieth century and into the present day. It was not made as an illustration for a specific story, but as a simple way of conjuring an open-ended narrative of a card game gone wrong. What exactly has happened is not clear. One might assume that the man standing at center is the one who was cheated and has taken retribution, but he doesn't seem to be holding a weapon, leaving any clear storyline in question."
