Why aren't Westerns popular anymore?

I don't see the "Shane" in it, at all.

From IMDb:

Shane rides into a conflict between cattleman Ryker and a bunch of settlers, like the Starretts, whose land Ryker wants. When Shane beats up Ryker's man Chris, Ryker tries to buy him. Then Shane and Joe take on the whole Ryker crew. Ryker sends to Cheyenne for truly evil gunslinger Wilson. We wonder about Shane's relation to Joe's wife Marian. Shane must clear out all the guns from the valley before he can ride off with Joey hollering "Shane ... Shane ... Come Back!"

Of course, 90% of Westerns are rearranged plot lines. It's like film noir, but if it's really good, it's enjoyable.

Those similarities, as you point out, are rearranged plotlines. In the actual telling of Jubal, there is not that much to compare, in my view.

Summary of plot from IMDb for Jubal:

Found injured by rancher Shep Horgan, Jubal Troop is offered a job as cowhand and soon gains Shep's trust. Mae Horgan, feeling she's been trapped into marriage with Shep, takes a shine to Jubal, although he is more interested in Naomi Hoktor who is travelling with a wagon train camped on Shep's land. Pinky, until now top hand and used to Mae's favours himself, doesn't think much of the new deal and trouble is inevitable.

Jubal Troop is a Shane-like character and several pivotal plot evolutions are very similar. Also, I believe the reviewer had found that they were striving for the poignancy of Shane but couldn't really get to second base. As he states, the performances can often make up for it and that's what I understand does save 310 to Yuma as Christian Bale and Russell Crowe put new energy and new profiles to their characters. Crowe plays a less sardonic, more comedic bad guy and attracts sympathy to his character. Of course, he isn't the nasty bad character -- we've got what appears to be a vintage Brokeback Mountain sort for that.

Well, they have their opinions, and I have mine. Jubal is not a retelling of Shane, in my never humble opinion.

There were enough years between my viewing of Shane and Hondo, I thought for a long time they used virtually the same script. It was not long ago I learned how wrong I was.

I do not believe the reviewer was stating that Jubal was a retelling of Shane, I think the major intent was that it inspired to be Shane and had enough borrowed elements of that much better movie, but the director and actors couldn't pull it off and came up with a second rate Western.

Here's another reviewers interpretation from TCM:

Othello on the Range - Jubal (The 1956 Western)


After trudging through the desert, Glenn Ford collapses and rolls down a hill, landing on a road. Rescued and given a job by kindly rancher Ernest Borgnine, he proves himself to be such an adept cowpoke that Borgnine soon elevates him to ranch foreman. This incurs the jealousy of chief ranchhand Rod Steiger, who cruelly plots his revenge by making Borgnine think Ford is fooling around with Borgnine's wife, Valerie French. The truth is that French has made advances toward Ford, but Ford has spurned them out of love and respect for Borgnine. Borgnine is driven into a jealous frenzy and tragedy follows.

If this all sounds strangely familiar, it's because Jubal (1956) is very loosely inspired by Othello. The detailed intricacies of Shakespeare's tragedy aren't in this western, but the broad strokes are certainly here. The result is an OK movie, if a bit overly talky for a western. What Jubal really has going for it are spectacular photography (in the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area) and a good cast.

As Jubal Troop, the film's version of Cassio, Glenn Ford turns in a typically solid, sympathetic performance in the kind of role in which he excelled - a decent, morally upright man caught up in circumstances beyond his control which drive him to anger and action. (Perhaps no one else ever seethed better onscreen.) Steiger makes a good, if at times overwrought, western Iago (here named Pinky!). He employs a southern accent similar to the one he would use the following year for Sam Fuller's underrated Run of the Arrow. Borgnine is a wonderful presence as the story's Othello character, and the frame comes alive whenever he enters, laughing uproariously. Valerie French and lovely Felicia Farr are given "introducing" credits, but French had already made a British film and Farr had previously appeared in two movies and on television. Farr, who here plays a young Mormon woman smitten with Glenn Ford, later married Jack Lemmon. Supporting parts by Jack Elam, Noah Beery Jr., and a young Charles Bronson (who had recently shed his real last name, Buchinsky) add nice western flavor.

Jubal is one of a handful of Glenn Ford westerns recently released on DVD by Sony. The print looks decent but is by no means spectacular, as it shows some signs of color fading and slight graininess. It is, however, presented in its full CinemaScope glory. There are no extras. Glenn Ford is now nearly 89 years old and one hopes that he is enjoying seeing his movies reach new audiences via DVD.



by Jeremy Arnold

That's a review much more in line with my own thought. I never claimed greatness for it in any case, just that I enjoyed it quite a lot. As for Shane, I always thought it was overly hyped. I have seen many westerns I enjoyed much more.

My bro sent me the first season of Cheyenne (Clint Walker), for my birthday. I hadn't recalled he was teamed up with L Q Jones (as Smitty), at first. Had forgotten that these WB TV westerns were at the time an hour and a half programs. Each episode a movie in its own right. Non- fans will not recall that one episode had Cheyenne teaming up with two guys to dig gold in the mountains. As it progressed, the storyline became Treasure of the Sierra Madre, complete with word for word (almost) script. The Fred C Dobbs knock-off was killed by Indians, who ripped the bags of gold dust and allowed it to be scattered by the wind.