America, with its countless corporations and wealthy magnates, was a nation destined for frenzied growth, no matter how much Europe tried to deliberately ignore it.
Across the Atlantic, Britain, which should have been its counterbalance, was firmly bogged down by the increasingly uncontrollable and rapidly expanding German Empire.
Thus, America swelled almost unimpeded.
It first struck hard at the former maritime hegemon, Spain, in the Caribbean and the Pacific, brutally yanking it from its throne as a colonial empire.
Riding the momentum of victory, it continued its outward expansion.
Since the war at the end of the 19th century, America had truly embarked on the path of a great power.
Skyscrapers sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, and the nation’s strength climbed steadily.
It could even be said that, even taking the “present” as the starting point, America was still a young nation with wings not yet fully spread and bottomless potential.
And in such an America, a worker named Richard was spending his weekend with his family.
“Son, what do you want to do?!”
The burly Richard roared at his son.
He always believed he was one of the rare true heads of the household in this era.
Even when drunk and occasionally overturning the dining table, he never laid a finger on his wife or child.
He was a responsible father and a qualified husband.
“Darling, but you can’t keep not touching me like this.”
Avoiding his wife’s scorching gaze, Richard cleared his throat with a dry cough.
It’s just that work is too tiring.
Yes, that’s it.
Anyway, how many fathers are willing to spend their day off with family?
The guys next door, downstairs, and upstairs were probably already somewhere guzzling booze by now.
But he was different.
He was a true father of this era, so he decided to spend the weekend having a good time with his son.
“Dad, I want to see a movie!”
“A movie?
Hmm…
really?”
Hearing his son’s request, Richard frowned.
He had heard colleagues at the factory talk about it—a newfangled thing from Europe, hyped up to be miraculous.
But movies weren’t something you could just watch on a whim.
For an ordinary worker, movie tickets were more expensive than imagined.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford it, but with cheaper and more thrilling ways to have fun, sitting properly to watch some images might not be worth it.
Yet Richard decided to give his son a memory.
If not now, when else could he spend time with him?
In a few years, the boy would grow up, learn to talk back, and throw tantrums.
Of course, if he really dared to defy him, Richard’s arms, thicker than a woman’s waist, would immediately deliver the most direct education, so that likely wouldn’t happen anyway.
In short, Richard decided to take his son and wife to the theater.
“Popcorn for sale!
Popcorn for the movies!”
“Dad, I want popcorn!”
Adding the not-cheap ticket price, Richard’s wallet visibly shrank a bit.
But facing his son’s sparkling eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to pretend he didn’t see.
He shoved the popcorn into his son’s arms and, on a whim, bought a soda with a blue label, taking it all into the screening room.
“Don’t drink so much!”
Richard drank heartily, nearly downing his son’s soda in one gulp, earning an immediate slap from his wife that left his arm tingling.
The lights went out, plunging the surroundings into darkness. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
On the giant silver screen appeared the dry, desolate wilderness of the American West—a land belonging to pioneers, cowboys, and gunfire, the very source of American myth.
The scene zoomed in, filling the entire screen with a handsome blond white man.
The scar on his cheek made it clear at a glance he had an unusual past.
With a melancholic gaze, he looked toward a distant village, then spurred his horse forward.
It was a tiny pioneer settlement, and this man of extraordinary origin chose to settle there.
He built a cabin outside the village, deeply hiding his weapons and rugged old attire inside, living like an ordinary man.
At first, the villagers were wary of him, but as time passed, they gradually accepted him, and he truly integrated into the place.
He even fell in love with a girl from the village.
“Not bad.”
Richard watched and smiled.
The lively score and smooth acting had him thoroughly enjoying himself.
But peace didn’t last long.
A nearby gang of bandits began running rampant, and chaos quickly spread.
Their atrocities crept closer, eventually invading this small village.
While the man was out working, the gang’s leader kidnapped the woman he loved.
“Those bastards deserve to be chewed up!”
Someone in the screening room cursed aloud, yet no one batted an eye.
Because that’s exactly what everyone was thinking.
The man made up his mind, unearthing the past he had buried deep.
A revolver, a double-barreled shotgun, and that old attire.
Fully armed, he mounted his beloved horse and took to the night road.
On a night with a high-hanging moon, he quietly headed for the mansion where the gang was entrenched.
Moonlight bathed him, the muzzle of the double-barreled shotgun on his back gleaming coldly.
Boom—!
Boom—!
The heavy score from the phonograph intertwined with the stunning visuals, completely igniting the atmosphere.
“That’s it!”
“Kill them all!”
“Kill!
Kill!
Kill!”
With dazzling and sharp movements, the man took down the gang members one by one.
The intense scenes had people in the screening room standing up and cheering.
Richard was no exception, and his young son was screaming at the top of his lungs to kill all the bad guys.
The man swept through the gang but was also seriously wounded.
And the gang leader did not flee.
After ensuring his lover’s safety, he holstered his revolver and walked straight toward the other man.
The The stirring melody seemed to climb up the spine.,The tension made everyone hold their breath..
As the Passionate melody seemed to climb up their spines, the tension had everyone holding their breath.
The moment the music Abruptly stopped.
The moment the music Abruptly stopped.
Both men drew and fired at each other simultaneously.
Then—
“This isn’t right!”
“Don’t—!”
The one to lose balance first was actually the man.
Gasps of disbelief rose from the audience.
Yet the next moment.
“That’s it—!”
“Fantastic—!”
He immediately steadied himself; it was the gang leader who fell.
Finally, the man ran to his lover, sharing a passionate kiss against the setting sun as the screen slowly faded to black.
The entire audience rose in applause, tears and clapping intermingling.
Richard was among them.
How could such a movie not make a man shed tears?
It made a man’s heart race wildly; even his son was utterly captivated.
“Son, how was it?!”
“Fantastic!”
Father and son walked out of the screening room, grinning from ear to ear.
But it wasn’t over yet.
“If you liked the movie, come take a look!”
“Huh?”
Approaching, they saw various souvenirs from the movie displayed there: the protagonist’s costume, firearms, and more.
It was hard for anyone who had seen the movie to remain unmoved.
If you weren’t captivated, you weren’t much of a man.
“Dad…”
His son looked at Richard with sparkling eyes.
To be honest, Richard himself wanted that silver-glinting revolver.
“Chances like this don’t come every day; they might sell out in a blink!”
Richard looked at his wife.
He always discussed major expenses with her.
Because he was the best husband and the most qualified head of the household.
“Having a gun isn’t such a bad thing, right?”
In this era, not having a gun at home made a man seem less of a man.
The frontier wasn’t fully pacified; public order and firearms went hand in hand—a reality America had carried since its founding.
Finally, Richard arduously obtained his wife’s permission.
“Son, Dad will keep it for you until you’re older.”
“Huh?
Dad?”
He carefully slid the revolver into the holster he’d bought along with it.
His son’s face showed a look of betrayal.
This was probably what most American families were like.
The first American Western film, produced by Karl and Otto Film Company and distributed by the Edison Company.
As for Britain fighting the Second Boer War in South Africa, or America suppressing the Philippine uprising across the Pacific—what did those things have to do with ordinary people?
All of America was already boiling for Westerns.