Analyzing the setting of six recent "blockbuster" films, this study outlines numerous instances of the Western's influence on several contemporary science fiction films, "Star Wars,""Battlestar Galactica,""Star Trek: The Motion Picture,""The Black Hole,""The Empire Strikes Back," and "Battle beyond the Stars." The correspondence of this phenomenon to cultural models of reality is also explored. Teenagers, according to 1979 survey findings, account for almost 50 percent of total yearly box office admissions. This age group may be primarily responsible for the record-breaking success of science fiction films and the virtual disappearance of the conventional Western in the last four years. Perhaps this is because the young movie audience did not find the Western culturally"vraisemblable," i.e., meaningful in terms of cultural reality. The study concludes that the classic Western visual motifs like the saloon, the devastated homestead, the campfire, the horse, and the wilderness persist in the artificial setting of the science fiction film. (Thirty notes are included.) (RS)