Cowboy Imperialism and Hollywood Film explores how Hollywood has employed the frontier myth to
sanction imperial behavior. This cultural project integrates the myth America's secular
creation story with Manifest Destiny the sugar-coated impetus to conquer without compunction.
Through Hollywood - the history teacher who reaches the largest audiences - the imagery of
conquest has become effectively naturalized glorified and personified in the guise of the
mythical frontiersman such as John Wayne and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. This book
examines eighteen movies ranging from The Green Berets to Raiders of the Lost Ark from Red
River to Hidalgo. Others from Full Metal Jacket to The Big Lebowski The Ballad of Little Joe
to 25th Hour posit intriguing revisionist frontier tales.
