The revisionist western was very much an inversion of these themes. The hero in these films was not always honorable and was not always fighting for good. The violence was not always glorified, and honorable. Women began to take on stronger roles.
In 1969, the Vietnam War was being fought, and many anti-war, anti-violence demonstrations were being performed across the United States. In Hollywood, an anti-violence demonstration was being made in the making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In terms of violence, this western had taken a new stance. It featured a hero (Paul Newman) who was an outlaw. Not too different from the classic western, but in this film, the hero was a non-violent outlaw, who used his head to negotiate and out-talk his enemies. This was far different from the classic westerns, who's hero was a gun slinger.
Etta Place (Katherine Ross), the films leading female character, plays a new type of woman character. While she was still portraying the "stand by your man" style female character that takes care of her man, she does so in a stronger way. In the end, she tells Cassidy and Sundance that she will not go and watch them die. This shows her strength, which is something that the female characters of the classic westerns had not possessed. She is also a school teacher, which is much different from the housewife character of the classic westerns.
In the end of the film, Cassidy and Sundance's outlaw past catches up with them. The hero dies, skewing the classic portrait of the western hero, who was immortal, in essence.
In McCabe and Mrs. Miller, another of the revisionist westerns, these inversions are even more apparent. Robert Altman, Director of the film, took ideas that were present in the classic westerns and put a more realistic spin on them. The hero of the film, John McCabe, is a business man with a fabled past of being a gun slinger. We learn that he is not talented with a gun at all, and society is not on his side by the end of the film.
