In classic Westerns the 'good' guys were very trustworthy, as depicted in the opening scene of Shane (1953) (Alfieri, 2013, p. 255). The character of Shane arrives on screen while a boy is hunting. The boy takes him to his home, and the father welcomes this stranger, with a gun, into his home. It this new cynical view, which is in direct contradiction to the friendly, more trustworthy characters we became familiar with in films such as, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance (1962), Rio Bravo (1959), and How the West Was Won (1962). This is an important difference between modern and classic Westerns; even the bad guys seem to be cleaner, and more honorable than some of the so called good guys we see in these films. One of the best examples of this honorable outlaw is seen in the film, The Magnificent Seven (1960) when seven gunfighters agree to save a small village from banditos for $20 dollars for six weeks of work. As if that were not enough, when the seven gunfighters are eventually at the mercy of the leader, instead of killing them, Calvera shows them mercy and allows them to leave unharmed; after the seven disrespected Calvera and killed many of his posse, he allows them to leave, only to have them return and finish the job they were hired to do. Now imagine this playing out in, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The reason you are unable to is that the characters in modern Westerns are on the look-out for themselves. Somehow I do not see a member of the Wild Bunch working for six weeks for $20. Neither would I imagine Frank from, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) to allow anyone who stood up against him to be allowed to live under any circumstance, for the logical reason that he may stand up against him again. Frank even kills a man's son when he overhears Franks name, to prevent the child from hunting him down one day. Try as I might, I am unable to imagine a character like Frank in a John Ford Western.