horse opera

Noun

horse opera (plural horse operas)

1. (idiomatic) A theatrical production, film, or program on radio or television depicting adventures of characters in the American Old West; a western.
   • Three new examples of Hollywood's staple commodity, the horse opera, all filmed in color, contain the full quota of galloping and gunplay.1952 November 3, “Way Out West”, in Time
   • It's in this horse-opera mode that War For The Planet Of The Apes finds its most rewarding rhythms: in the parallels between Caesar's woodland stronghold and the archetypal frontier settlements of Western fiction; […]2017 July 7, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The Ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes Ends Up Surrendering to Formula”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 27 Nov 2017

   Synonyms:

   hoss opera, oater, oat opera

2. (archaic, idiomatic) An equestrian show, as in a circus.
   • The Ravels, after having played a successful engagement at the Metropolitan, closed last evening, and sail to-day for New-Orleans, and now we have no amusement but nigger minstrels and the horse opera—i.e., circus.1856 March 31, “Affairs in California: San Francisco”, in New York Times, retrieved 30 Mar 2009
   • Nor is it much easier to give the analysis of this extraordinary odyssey, which relates the trials, sufferings, and adventures of an ex-Sous-Prefêt, who has married a circus rider, and has abandoned home, friends, and position, to become the manager of an itinerant horse-opera.1879 January 29, “On the Parisian Boards: Another of Jules Verne's Stories on the Stage”, in New York Times, retrieved 30 Mar 2009

   Synonyms:

   hoss opera, oat opera