Watched a fascinating documentary called THE WILD AND THE WEST comparing the Wild West presented by Hollywood in their western films- in particular RIO BRAVO- to the West that really existed. Learned the following things:
Tumbleweeds aren't American in origin. They were brought to the States by European immigrants in the 1870's.- Longhorn cattle would have died out if Hollywood hadn't taken a liking to having them in their westerns and started to breed them for use in the movies. The ranchers at the time weren't interested in breeding them so they stopped raising them altogether.
- Turkeys were almost extinct until Hollywood started using them in their westerns more and needed to start breeding them. There were only 30,000 left before Hollywood started raising their own.
- Most men that were conscripted into the Calvary had never seen a horse before, let alone ridden on one. And as the Army horses tended to be spoiled, the Calvary boys had a hard time getting on them to ride... so they actually spent A LOT of their time leading their horses around instead of riding them.
- Most westerns were shot in and around Monument Valley- however the Calvary didn't patrol there. Which also means that most of those boys started and ended their service without ever laying eyes on an Native American Indian.
- All those tall, impressive cactus seen all over Monument Valley as the Calvary rode by? They didn't grow there. Too dry an area, for that type of cactus.
- The Calvary boys always look covered in dirt in the movies- but that wouldn't have been the case. The dirt in that area is very dry and falls right off you- which means that the actors had to dirty up before each shot, otherwise they would have looked too clean.
