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Bucking Broadway

Name: Bucking Broadway
Director: John Ford
Released: 1917
Duration: 54 min

Representation Score

1.1/10

Minimal

1917

Director

John Ford

Runtime

54 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Bucking Broadway serves as a foundational text for the Western genre, emphasizing traditional social hierarchies and moral structures. Rather than presenting a multi-layered approach, the film reinforces the norms of the era. It relies on a romanticized mythos of the frontier to propel its plot and character motivations. Ultimately, the film reinforces early 20th-century social expectations, focusing on rugged individualism and traditional gender roles.

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Category Breakdown

Does Bucking Broadway have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film adheres to a traditional romantic structure centered around heterosexual relationships. The central conflict revolves around two men competing for a woman's attention.

How does Bucking Broadway portray gender?

Limited

The female protagonist plays a minor role in driving the story and ends up needing rescue to return to a traditional rural setting.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Bucking Broadway?

Minimal

The setting and cast reflect a homogeneous Western archetype. There is no evidence of diverse representation or non-white characters.

How does Bucking Broadway represent religion and culture?

Limited

The story upholds traditional Western values and rural morality. It portrays the city as unstable compared to the idealized American frontier.

Does Bucking Broadway include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no evidence of characters with physical or neurodivergent disabilities in this work.

Present on Screen

Establishes foundational visual language for the Western genre.
Provides a clear, archetypal romantic conflict.

Limited or Absent

Female characters lack significant influence and remain passive subjects.
Homogeneous Western archetypes dominate the film.
Traditional gender hierarchies and domestic expectations are reinforced.

Official Synopsis

On a ranch in Wyoming, one of the cowboys, Cheyenne Harry (Harry Carey), falls in love with his boss's daughter. But she decides to elope to the city with Captain Thornton, a wealthy visitor to the ranch. She quickly discovers that life in the city is not what she expected. Cheyenne, devastated by the loss of his fiancée, decides to go to the city to find her, and in the end rescues her from the grips of Captain Thornton and from the extravagant and decadent way of life in the city.

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