welcome to "american cina."n "the man who shot liberty valae," john ford's great film a newspaperman says, "when the legend becomes fact, print the legend." that may n be good journalism but it mak a good western. the history of the western is often a history of legends, lly the kid, wyatt earp, e gunfht at the corral. nothe real west, but a mythical place full oimages that are uniquely american: the en frontier, the outlaw the solitary often reluant hero. the western is also landapes; a unique stage on which dramas fm the american experience get played out. a younman rebels against his stepfather in "red river." an uncle becomes obssed with finding hisiece in "the searchers." a reformed killer is caught up in a vengeance out of control in "unforgiven." since "the great train robbery" of 1903, hundreds of westerns have been made. it's the great american form our equivalent of classic greek tragedy where we repy and reinterpt stories of america as eli wallach recounts for us in "the western." (clint eastwood) he'