What was the western Inspiration for The Dark Tower

[Deschain1982]

I'm a big fan of the dark tower series, I've read through them once and listened to the audio books right through at least three times. An interesting side effect from my love of the series has been my interest in westerns and specifically my hunt for a Roland-esque character. Clint Eastwoods the nameless stranger is an obvious choice but I feel he lacks much of Roland's personality. So to get to the point I'd love to know the westerns Sk watched as a kid and his inspirations for the western aspect of the series, hopefully I can track some down

[Moderator]

It was the Sergio Leone "spaghetti westerns" that influenced that aspect of The Dark Tower.

[GNTLGNT]

...and Clint just so happens to be an alum of same o'coss....

[FlakeNoir]

Didn't he find inspiration from The Seven Samurai for Wolves?

[Walter Oobleck]

I wonder if...D/Lakota stories about the creation of Devil's Tower influenced Shardik? Yeah, there's Richard Adam's, Shardik, but a few years back...at the time I happened to pick up a copy of The Gunslinger at a bookstore in Rapid City, we'd visited Devil's Tower just before. The gouges in the side of the hill are from a bear trying to get at children, the land rising to keep them out of reach. And there's an actor in some of the westerns I'd seen that would be a great coffin-hunter...don't know the actor's name...long stringy hair...I think he often wore an eye-patch.

[Moderator]

Didn't he find inspiration from The Seven Samurai for Wolves?

That's correct. Forgot about that one.

[FlakeNoir]

That's correct. Forgot about that one.

Me too until I read your earlier post, something you said reminded me that I'd seen that movie before I read the DT books... so when I got to Wolves it was actually really pretty neat. There is something special about the old movies.

[Deschain1982]

Yeah the Sergio leone ones have been my first choice, Henry Fonda in once upon a time in the west is closer than clint I feel. I'm wondering if there's some more obscure titles though. If I remember right susannah mentions an old western show she used to listen to on the radio. Roland has a very romantic and intelligent nature where almost all western characters I've seen seem to be more casual and cold.

I think wolves is more closely related to the magnificent seven which is in turn based on seven samurai. I watched magnificent seven but was a little disappointed, it's simpler and has more one dimensional characters than I expected. Seven samurai is much better. If you liked seven samurai check out the modern film 13 assassins.