This book analyses American Western films of the 1945-65 period in light of French existentialist ideas about the outsider figure. It begins by examining processes of cultural exchange between the United States and France before going on to compare outsider-ness as configured by both western and existentialist outsider figures. While individualism emerges as their main commonality, the book goes further, by applying key existentialist concepts to the western hero: autonomy, alienation, absurdity. This enables the creative interpretation of western representations and narratives. Meanwhile,...