Our Flag Means Death’s creator says these 5 Westerns are key to his big gay pirate show

When Polygonus spoke next showrunner David Jenkins about his big gay pirate show Our flag stands for deathit was part of the report where season 2 of the series seems to end. While season 1 was about the miserable crew of the pirate ship Avenged finding their feet and finding unexpected emotional connections they often don’t know how to navigate, season 2 brings a new sense of extra pressure against the central characters into the format. the attack of the armed robbers.

“I think the story of this life is coming to an end,” Polygon told Jenkins. “There are strong forces that bounce into everything, and will the family survive? Is the thing I’ve built enough to survive?”

That Our flag stands for deathThe central story about the “noble pirate” Stede Bonnet and the notorious killer Edward “Blackbeard” Doc is drawn from a true story, Jenkins explains that season 2’s extra threats are also part of history, marked by the end of the age. The golden age of piracy. But there’s another connection there that overwhelms viewers: this time, Jenkins says, it has a lot in common with the classic Western arc.

“Every good Western is a story,” says Jenkins. This way of life that we have made is coming to an end. It cannot last. It’s been a long time. He created us because we need to exist. We are outcasts, and we need a culture that suits us, but time is running out.”

Jenkins cited five different westerns that follow this theme, from classic movies to neo-western crime thrillers. All five are his favorites that he sees as having common themes Our flag stands for deaththe second time, as he contemplates tightening the snare with his necks. Here is what you are, and where they flow.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Image: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation/Onset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Where is it to look; Max

George Roy Hill’s revisionist classic Western has a lot more to do with it Our flag stands for death than only the theme of change and the end of the age. It’s also a bromance about outlaws who bond more with each other than with anyone else and the like Our flagit is inspired by real historical figures, but takes a very loose approach to portraying them in the film.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford star as a pair of old Western outlaws, old friends who get into trouble when they pursue their hobbies too long and their gang begins to question their leadership. (A diverse crowd that burns under the limits of the leaders is another thing the movie has in common with Our flag.) Eventually, the group pushes the authorities (and the limits of their own skills) too far when a double heist leads them where the historical Blackbeard and Stede end up, in one of the all-time classic tragic Western endings. . hopefully Our flagSteda’s and Blackbeard’s version will have a more successful outcome than the historical or western ones. –Tasha Robinson

Yellowstone

Image: Paramount

Where is it to look; Peacock

Taylor Sheridan’s neo-western television show was so big on the franchise that it spawned a franchise of spinoffs and a host of imitators. The show follows the family that owns the largest farm in Montana – it’s easy to see the parallels Jenkins draws here to the decadent way of life – and the conflicts they are drawn into with other families, business owners, and relatives on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. –Pete Volk

Silverado

Image: Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection

Where is it to look; VOD

Lawrence Kasdan’s 1985 western follows a mixed group of horsemen who commandeer a corrupt sheriff and a greedy rancher who prey on the troubled townspeople of Silverado. Aside from Kevin Costner delivering his first breakout role as a flirtatious, wise-cracking, gunslinger; Silverado it epitomizes the flourishing of heroic heroism and the waning of the Wild West, with a disbanded group soon after a captured town and going on separate journeys to build a new life. -Toussaint Egan

inextinguishable

Image: Warner Bros

Where is it to look; AMC Plus

Clint Eastwood’s late-season Westerns have perfected many of the tropes of the genre that helped establish his stardom, and he pulls off a fitting ending to Jenkins’ “age” connection. Our flag stands for death. In inextinguishableEstwood, an outcast former farmer, returns to his old life for one last job. A harrowing meditation on what it means to be a superhero and the place of the West in our popular culture, it earned Eastwood a Best Picture and Best Director win as well as nominations for Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and three other Oscar nominations. . –PV

Heat

Image: Warner Bros.

Where is it to look; Netflix

You may not consider it a Western, but Michael Mann’s symphonic heist drama is one of the greatest crime dramas ever produced, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as Neil McCauley and Vincent Hanna, two men from opposite sides of the law who sacrifice love and affection. in his own simple studies of life. The film’s harsh climax certainly signifies the end of an era, as Neil McCauley’s infamous career is ironically abandoned by his inability to choose between an outspoken code of ethics and what matters most to his heart. – YOU