There is no such thing as an "authentic western" movie. People wouldn't spend money to go see one.
Western life was tough, full of work and mostly uneventfull.
But I did like "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence".
That's true but we have to watch something and if an author or director can boil down the Ordinary into the Extrodinary then we watch that.
An ordinary cowboy attacked by a psychotic family on the prairies.
A 14 year old girl sets out to bring her fathers murderer to justice.
A country lawyer finds himself up against a murderous bully as the territory fights for statehood.
An aging gunman stays to help a homestead family up against a hired muderer.
The endless pursuit to find a young girl stolen by a Comanche tribe.
A bunch of misfit bandits, caught up in a Mexican revolution, decide to go out in a blaze of bullets and glory.
Is any of it true? Probably not but it is now, because someone immortalised it in celluloid. I think it's the context of The West that has given authors and directors the place to create wonderful stories and when they do it with authenticity.........it's magic.