(thomas schatz) the western dragged the past with it about 50 years ahead. as the western evolves, it's looking at civilization that becomes more and more sophisticated. the hero can no longer exercise his code in a way that's acceptable to himself or to society. he becomes an outlaw or a gun for hire. (narrator) in 1960, john sturges made the "magnificent seven," one of the first films dealing with the west's end. (john sturges) what does a gunfighter do after his prime is past? what do you do when you're a gunfighter? how do you retire? you're forced to change. you're forced to be somebody else. you're forced to cope. that's good story material. your gun has got you everything you have, isn't that true? hmmm? well isn't it true? yeah, sure, everything. after a while you can call bartenders and faro dealers by their first name, maybe 200 of them. rented rooms you live in, 500. meals you eat in hash houses, a thousand. home, none. wife, none. kids, none. prospects, zero. (music playing) ♪ mamma, take ♪ this badge offa me ♪ i can't use it anymore ♪ it's getti

(thomas schatz) you can't maintain and run the factory. when you own theatres, you knew that you had a seller. that a picture would go in and do so much money and you could depend on that. now without the theatres, you didn't have that insurance. so there was a tendency to cut back on production. when you cut back on production then you cut back on your list of stars, writers, directors and producers. the separation of the theatres, from the studios took place at the luckiest time for hollywood that ever could have happened, because it happened when television was coming in and ruining theatre business. in the mid-40's, the movie theatres in america played to 90 million people per week. in the late 50's, it was down to 16 million per week. that's what forced the studios to cut back on production. kinda like the railroad business thinking they were in the railroad business, not the transportation business and stayed out of the airlines. the studios thought they were in the movie business, not the entertainment business. so when television c

(thomas schatz) you can't maintain and run the factory. when you own theatres, you knew that you had a seller. that a picture would go in and do so much money and you could depend on that. now without the theatres, you didn't have that insurance. so there was a tendency to cut back on production. when you cut back on production then you cut back on your list of stars, writers, directors and producers. the separation of the theatres, from the studios took place at the luckiest time for hollywood that ever could have happened, because it happened when television was coming in and ruining theatre business. in the mid-40's, the movie theatres in america played to 90 million people per week. in the late 50's, it was down to 16 million per week. that's what forced the studios to cut back on production. kinda like the railroad business thinking they were in the railroad business, not the transportation business and stayed out of the airlines. the studios thought they were in the movie business, not the entertainment business. so when television c