British Westerns

The British long had a fascination for Westerns - Westerns were popular in that part of the world, British filmmakers had their hand at the genre. The best known were "Empire Westerns" - films set in outposts of Empire/Commonwealth such as Diamond City, The Hellions, Where Vultures Fly, The Overlanders. There were also Westerns financed by British companies - something that was weirdly popular in the late 60s and 70s: Hannie Calder, Catlow, Eagle's Wing.

It remains a mystery though why British filmmakers never took the energy and passion of the Western to their own local stories.... Western treatment of stories set in Britain.

When this was done it could work wonders. The Wicked Lady, a story of a woman who becomes a highwayman, had the pace of a Western. Indeed you wonder why "highwayman movies" didn't become more of a genre - there are some films about Dick Turpin, Where's Jack?, Sinful Davey.... but they didn't seem to catch fire.

Also there were times of real lawlessness in Britain's past that would have gone well with Western treatment. Michael Reeves shot Witchfinder General like a Western - but most English Civil War stories are more stateley. The War of the Roses, the border raids of the Reivers, Rob Roy... this is natural Western treatment.

Maybe culturally they weren't that interested. Too expensive? Not enough books based on that era?

Still, seems a shame.