Top Western Films

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1

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 - Kevin Costner Cover Art

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

In the great tradition of Warner Bros. Pictures’ iconic Westerns, Horizon: An American Saga explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won— and lost—through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Kevin Costner’s ambitious cinematic adventure will take audiences on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.

© 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and © Horizon Series, Inc. All rights reserved.

2

Old Henry - Potsy Ponciroli Cover Art

Old Henry

Old Henry

A widowed farmer (Tim Blake Nelson) and his son take in a mysterious, injured man with a satchel of cash. When a posse of men claiming to be the law come for the money, the farmer must decide who to trust. Defending a siege of his homestead, the farmer reveals a talent for gunslinging that surprises everyone calling his true identity into question. “Old Henry is the best revisionist Western since Unforgiven.” (Kaveh Jalinous, Under The Radar)

© 2021 Hideout Fund 1, LLC under exclusive license to Shout! Factory LLC

3

Wyatt Earp - Lawrence Kasdan Cover Art

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp

Kevin Costner plays the most famous lawman ever to stride the Wild West. In a gritty, complex portrayal hailed as a "classic American performance" (Bob Campbell, Newhouse Newspapers), Academy Award winner Costner (Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard) plays the man who became a myth in acclaimed director Lawrence Kasdan's (The Big Chill, Silverado) epic, action-filled saga. Gene Hackman, an Oscar winner for Unforgiven, as Wyatt's iron-willed father, and Dennis Quaid (The Big Easy, The Right Stuff) as Earp's deadly best friend Doc Holliday add power to this mammoth, hard-hitting Western. From Wichita to Dodge City to the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt Earp is a thrilling journey of romance, adventure and desperate, heroic action.

© 1994 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.

4

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Sergio Leone Cover Art

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Set during the Civil War, three disparate drifters... (the poncho-clad, cigar-chewing, silent but supremely confident "Man With No Name"--The Good; the evil bounty hunter--The Bad; and a renegade Mexican bandit--The Ugly)... search for a Confederate cash box containing $200,000, which is hidden in a distant cemetery in an unmarked grave. Their journey will carry them through the ferocity of the Civil War landscape. Sometimes they masquerade as Confederates, and others as Yankees. When they arrive at the cemetery and find the treasure is when the REAL violence begins...

© 1966 Alberto Grimaldi Productions S.A. All Rights Reserved.

5

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - George Roy Hill Cover Art

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Paul Newman and Robert Redford set the standard for the buddy film with this western classic. Sundance (Redford) is a mighty quick draw, and his partner Butch (Newman) is a gifted get-rich-quick schemer. With the law on their trail, the two pack their guns, and, along with Sundance's girlfriend (Katharine Ross), head for Bolivia, away from the men trying to bring them to justice – and death.

© 1969 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Campanile Productions, Inc. Renewed 1997 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.

6

Tombstone - George P. Cosmatos Cover Art

Tombstone

Tombstone

In the western boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona, crime rules the streets. Violence is a way of life, and law and order have surrendered to the ruthless gunmen who wreak havoc and terror on the innocent. ...until Wyatt Earp rides into town. After retiring as marshall of dodge city, Wyatt has come to tombstone to settle down and run a business. However, he is soon compelled against his wishes to take a stand against the lawless, whose malevolent actions threaten to consume the entire town. Despite his longing for a peaceful life, Wyatt has no choice but to strap on his holster and pin the U.S. marshall's badge to his vest. Along with his friend, the lethal and unpredictable Doc Holliday, and brothers Morgan and Virgil, he sets out to wrest control of the city from the clutches of anarchy. On a stark, windswept day seething with tension, these four men stride toward a battle they neither wanted nor expected. All hell breaks looses as Earp and his men come face to face with the evil that grips tombstone, and they are drawn into one of the bloodiest feuds in the history of the old west.

© 1993 Hollywood Pictures

7

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon - John Ford Cover Art

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

The second chapter of Academy Award-winning director John Ford's acclaimed cavalry trilogy stars Oscar-winner John Wayne ("Stagecoach," "Rio Bravo," "True Grit," "The Searchers") as a cavalry captain who turns down retirement to help his badly outnumbered men defend their remote outpost against marauding Indians. Also starring Joanne Dru ("Red River"), John Agar ("Fort Apache"), Oscar-winners Ben Johnson ("The Last Picture Show") and Victor McLaglen ("The Quiet Man"). Features breathtaking Oscar-winning cinematography.

© 1949 A Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

8

Ghost of Red Ridge - Stefan Colson Cover Art

Ghost of Red Ridge

Ghost of Red Ridge

After stopping a robbery, a sheriff jails a stranger linked to outlaws. As he hunts the gang, ghosts of murdered townspeople appear, leaving him to wonder if they're warning him or seeking revenge.

© 2024 Jackrabbit Media LLC. All rights reserved.

9

The Searchers - John Ford Cover Art

The Searchers

The Searchers

Working together for the 12th time, John Wayne and director John Ford forged The Searchers into an indelible image of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards, a believer more in bullets than in words. He's seeking his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive, five-year quest, Ethan encounters something he didn't expect to find: his own humanity.

© Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

10

The Magnificent Seven (2016) - Antoine Fuqua Cover Art

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ and Columbia Pictures’ The Magnificent Seven. With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the desperate townspeople, led by Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns – Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.

© 2016 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

11

Unforgiven - Unknown Cover Art

Unforgiven

Unforgiven

Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired, down-on-their-luck outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of the remote Wyoming town of Big Whiskey. Richard Harris is an ill-fated interloper, a colorful killer-for-hire called English Bob, and Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Gene Hackman is the sly and brutal local sheriff whose brand of law enforcement ranges from unconventional to ruthless.

© 1992 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.

12

True Grit (2010) - Joel Coen & Ethan Coen Cover Art

True Grit (2010)

True Grit (2010)

Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with "true grit," Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and surprises on the journey, and each has his or her "grit" tested.

© 2010 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

13

Pure Country - Christopher Cain Cover Art

Pure Country

Pure Country

After 25 chart-topping hits, the singing star becomes a movie star! George Strait makes his film debut in an entertaining look into the heart and soul of country music from Young Guns director Christopher Cain. Superstar Dusty Chandler (Strait) is tired of the smoke, the strobe lights and the overmiked sound of his arena spectaculars. One night, something snaps. "I'm just going to take a little walk," Dusty says as he walks out of the empty hall, ditching his beard, ponytail - and temporarily, his career - to reclaim his down-home country roots. But his manager (Leslie Ann Warren) retaliates: a stand-in (Kyle Chandler) lip-synchs his songs in concert. And a romance with a lovely rancher (Isabel Glasser) is on again, off again like a rodeo cowboy. The simple life can be complex, but it's nothing a revitalized country boy can't handle!

© 1992 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved.

14

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - John Ford Cover Art

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Ranking with Stagecoach as one of the greatest of its genre, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is the modern-day western to beat all westerns. John Ford, whose very name is synonymous with "westerns," directed the ideal cast. Jimmy Stewart plays the bungling but charming big-city lawyer determined to rid the fair village of Shinbone of its number one nuisance and bad man: Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). And as if all that weren't enough, the biggest star that ever aimed a six-shooter plays the Man of the title: John Wayne. Super sincere Stewart and rugged rancher Wayne also share the same love interest (Vera Miles). One gets the gunman, but the other gets the gal.

© 1962 by Paramount Pictures Corporation and John Ford Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

15

Pale Rider - Clint Eastwood Cover Art

Pale Rider

Pale Rider

Superstar boxoffice champ and Oscar-winner Clint Eastwood ("Unforgiven," "Million Dollar Baby") is back in the saddle again in one of the biggest hits of 1985. In the tradition of "The Outlaw Josey Wales," Eastwood stars as the nameless stranger who saves a California gold-rush community from a merciless mining tycoon. An action-packed adventure climaxing in one of the most exciting showdowns ever filmed. Co-starring Emmy Award-winners Michael Moriarty ("Law & Order") and Richard Dysart ("L.A. Law"), Christopher Penn ("Mulholland Falls") and Carrie Snodgress ("Diary of a Mad Housewife").

© 1985 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

16

Bone Tomahawk - S. Craig Zahler Cover Art

Bone Tomahawk

Bone Tomahawk

When a group of cannibal savages kidnaps settlers from the small town of Bright Hope, an unlikely team of gunslingers, led by Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell), sets out to bring them home.

© 2015 Twilight Riders, LLC

17

Open Range - Kevin Costner Cover Art

Open Range

Open Range

Packed with epic action, Open Range is a powerfully gripping story that's never been told until now, and stars Academy Award winners Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies) and Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves), and Academy Award nominee Annette Bening (American Beauty, Being Julia). A group of free grazers, four men trying to escape their past, are driving cattle and living off the land on the open range -- a place where nature makes the only laws. When a ruthless, evil rancher tries to run them out of town, the men's peaceful existence takes a tumultuous turn and ends in the grittiest, most explosive gunfight on film as two men battle a town for honor, justice, and a way of life that's quickly disappearing.

© Open Range Productions USA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

18

The Thicket - Elliot Lester Cover Art

The Thicket

The Thicket

When fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis), he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire. Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly “no-man’s-land” know as… The Thicket.

© 2023 Thicket Alberta Productions Inc. / The Thicket US Inc.

19

Once Upon a Time in the West - Sergio Leone Cover Art

Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West

One of the most iconic, and influential, movies ever made, Sergio Leone's monumental epic looks better than ever, remastered in 4K Ultra HD. Set in the dying days of the Old West, a struggle to control water in a dusty desert town embroils three hard-bitten gunmen in an epic clash of greed, honor, and revenge. This definitive version has been restored from the original camera negative by Paramount’s archive team, L'immagine Ritrovata and The Film Foundation.

© 1968 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

20

Wild Wild West - Barry Sonnenfeld Cover Art

Wild Wild West

Wild Wild West

Wild, wild laughs, adventure and special-effects wizardry abound when megastar Will Smith reteams with the director of "Men in Black." Smith is agent James West, leading sidekick Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) and a sexy adventuress (Salma Hayek) on a perilous assignment: stop Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh) and his contraption-driven plot to establish a Disunited States of America.

© 1999 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

21

Broken Trail - Walter Hill Cover Art

Broken Trail

Broken Trail

Top-rated miniseries! Academy Award winner Robert Duvall (1983 Best Actor in a Leading Role, Tender Mercies) and Academy Award nominee Thomas Hayden Church (2004 Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Sideways) star in this moving Western drama. Set in 1897, Print Ritter (Duvall) and his estranged nephew Tom Harte (Hayden Church) become the reluctant guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls. Ritter and Harte's attempts to care for the girls are complicated by their responsibility to deliver a herd of horses while avoiding a group of bitter rivals, intent on kidnapping the girls for their own purposes. Classic Western action takes center stage in this dramatic miniseries!

© 2006 SLR Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

22

Appaloosa - Ed Harris Cover Art

Appaloosa

Appaloosa

Academy Award-nominee Viggo Mortensen ("A History of Violence," "The Lord of the Rings" franchise) stars as Everett Hitch and Academy Award-nominee and Golden Globe-winner Ed Harris ("A Beautiful Mind," "The Truman Show") stars as Virgil Cole in this Western directed by Harris himself. The paths of two gunmen tracking an escaped murderer and that of a beautiful, dangerous widow with an agenda of her own collide in the lawless western town of Appaloosa. In Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of a renegade rancher with so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horse and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch, itinerant lawmen, are used to cleaning up after opportunistic thieves, but this time they find an unusually wily adversary--one who raises the stakes not by playing with the rules, but with emotions.

© 2008 Axon Film Finance I, LLC and New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

23

Crossfire Trail - Simon Wincer Cover Art

Crossfire Trail

Crossfire Trail

A restless wanderer makes a promise to a dying friend to help the man's widow and daughter hold onto their ranch in the lush but lawless Wyoming Territory. But when oil is discovered on the land, the unsuspecting hero must contend not only with the two women who are suspicious of his motives, but also with ruthless men plotting to seize the ranch. Based on the novel by Louis L'Amour.

© 2001 TNT Originals, Inc.

24

A Fistful of Dollars - Sergio Leone Cover Art

A Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars

A pancho-clad, cigar-chewing, mysterious 'Man with No Name' rides into a small frontier town which is embroiled in a struggle for power between two families. He hires himself out as a mercenary, first to one faction and then to the other, with no regard for honor or morality. He plays both sides against the middle, collecting his money, until he eventually destroys both, leaving the town to the bartender, coffin-maker and bell ringer as he rides off into the desert from whence he came. Based on Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo.

© 1967 UNIDIS, S.A.R.L.

25

High Plains Drifter - Clint Eastwood Cover Art

High Plains Drifter

High Plains Drifter

Clint Eastwood's second film as a director finds the celebrated action star returning to his familiar Old West stomping grounds and his internationally acclaimed role of "The Man With No Name." This time, The Stranger (Eastwood) mysteriously appears out of the heat waves of the desert and rides into the lawless, sin-ridden town of Lago. After making a name for himself with a string of blazing gun battles, The Stranger is hired by the townspeople to provide protection from three ruthless gunmen just out of jail. The Stranger quickly proceeds to paint the entire town bright red, rename it "Hell," and supply divine retribution in the fiery, pulse-pounding climax of this acclaimed western shoot-em-up.

© 1973 Universal Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

26

LaRoy, Texas - Shane Atkinson Cover Art

LaRoy, Texas

LaRoy, Texas

Broke and depressed, Ray (John Magaro) is mistaken for a dangerous hitman and given an envelope of cash. Along with his P.I. friend Skip (Steve Zahn), he must escape the actual hitman to make it out of LaRoy alive.

© 2023 LAROY PRODUCTIONS LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

27

El Dorado - Unknown Cover Art

El Dorado

El Dorado

Legendary producer-director Howard Hawks teams with two equally legendary stars, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, in this classic Western drama. Mitchum plays to perfection an alcoholic but gutsy sheriff who relentlessly battles the dark side of the wild West, ruthless cattle barons and crooked "businessmen." The Duke gives an equally adept performance as the sheriff's old friend who knows his way around a gunfight. Filled with brawling action and humour, El Dorado delivers the goods. James Caan and Ed Asner co-star.

© 1966 by Paramount Pictures Corporation and Laurel Productions. All Rights Reserved.

28

Rio Lobo - Howard Hawks Cover Art

Rio Lobo

Rio Lobo

This fifth and final collaboration between John Wayne and director Howard Hawks is an action-filled Western starting with a spectacular train robbery. The train's colonel jails the enemy leaders but the three men later become friends when the Civil War ends. Together, they seek the Union traitors responsible for a string of Confederate train robberies. It's a mission that culminates in a rousing shoot-'em-up finale.

© 1970 Malabar Productions / CBS, Inc.

29

Support Your Local Sheriff - Burt Kennedy Cover Art

Support Your Local Sheriff

Support Your Local Sheriff

James Garner is a nothing short of a delight in this western spoof. The film takes place in the small western town of Calender, a town that experiences a gold rush when gold is discovered in an open grave by Prudy Perkins (Joan Hackett). As gold prospectors flood in and out of town, the Danby clan, anxious to take advantage of the situation dispatch three sheriffs and they control the town. Into this situation, on his way to Australia, rides Jason McCullough (Garner). McCullough is an easy-going sort who just happens to be a crack shot. The town rapidly makes him sheriff. His first line of business is to break up a fight and to arrest Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) for murder.

© 1969 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All rights reserved

30

The Cowboys - Mark Rydell Cover Art

The Cowboys

The Cowboys

John Wayne stars as a rancher who will lose his livestock after his ranch hands desert him to follow a gold strike unless he can transform a ragtag bunch of schoolboys into cowboys. Based on the novel by William Dale Jennings.

© 1972 Warner Bros. Entertainment.

31

The Dead Don't Hurt - Viggo Mortensen Cover Art

The Dead Don't Hurt

The Dead Don't Hurt

From the producers of Old Henry, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s. Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) is a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees to travel with him to his home near the quiet town of Elk Flats, Nevada, where they start a life together. The outbreak of the civil war separates them when Olsen makes a fateful decision to fight for the Union. This leaves Vivienne to fend for herself in a place controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and his unscrupulous business partner, powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt). Alfred’s violent, wayward son Weston (Solly McLeod) aggressively pursues Vivienne, who is determined to resist his unwanted advances. When Olsen returns from the war, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with the person each has become. Both a tragic love story and a nuanced depiction of the conflict between revenge and forgiveness, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a portrait of a passionate woman determined to stand up for herself in an unforgiving world dominated by ruthless men.

© 2023 TDDH, LLC All Rights Reserved

32

High Noon - Fred Zinnemann Cover Art

High Noon

High Noon

Gary Cooper won the Oscar® for the Best Actor in this classic tale of a lawman who stands alone to defend a town of cowardly citizens against a gang of revenge-seeking criminals. In the greatest showdown in the history of cinema, Cooper stands to lose not only the town but his new wife, Grace Kelly. The film also stars one of Hollywood’s most beloved and prolific actors, Lloyd Bridges, and marks the first starring role for a beautiful young actress and internationally adored screen legend Grace Kelly. High Noon garnered a total of four Academy Awards® including Best Film Editing, Score and Original Song.

© TM & Copyright 2007 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

33

Red River - Howard Hawks Cover Art

Red River

Red River

In this epic tale, a ruthless Texas rancher is determined to get his huge herd of cattle to the market…and to have his revenge on his liberal minded son who, rebelling against his father's growing authoritarianism, takes the cattle to Abeline just over the newly opened Chishom Trail. From a magazine story "The Chisholm Trail" by Borden Chase.

© 1996 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

34

Fort Apache - John Ford Cover Art

Fort Apache

Fort Apache

Academy Award-winner Henry Fonda is a fanatical cavalry commander of a remote outpost bent on leading his men to slaughter. The first segment of Academy Award-winning director/producer John Ford's ("She Wore A Yellow Ribbon," "Rio Bravo," "The Grapes of Wrath") cavalry trilogy features an all-star cast that includes Fonda ("On Golden Pond," "The Grapes of Wrath"), Oscar-winners John Wayne ("Stagecoach," "True Grit," "The Searchers"), Shirley Temple ("The Little Princess") and Victor McLaglen ("She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"). Features outstanding outdoor photography and nail-biting action.

© 1948 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

35

For a Few Dollars More - Sergio Leone Cover Art

For a Few Dollars More

For a Few Dollars More

If A Fistful of Dollars began the Eastwood legend, then its sequel, For a Few Dollars More, cemented it. Clint Eastwood makes his return as “The Man With No Name,” this time teaming up with a rival bounty hunter (Lee Van Cleef as “The Man In Black”) to take down a ruthless outlaw and his band of renegades. This gritty, “hard hitting” (Variety) western masterpiece would be followed one year later by The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to complete director Sergio Leone’s brilliant Spaghetti Western Trilogy.

© 1966 Alberto Grimaldi Productions S.A. All Rights Reserved.

36

Last Stand at Saber River - Dick Lowry Cover Art

Last Stand at Saber River

Last Stand at Saber River

Tom Selleck rides into Western adventure in grand, gritty style as Paul Cable in Last Stand at Saber River, from the novel Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Out of Sight). With his strong-willed pioneer wife (Suzy Amis) and two children (Haley Joel Osment and Rachel Duncan), ex-Confederate cavalryman Cable returns to his Arizona home to resume a quiet life. Instead, he finds Union sympathizers (David and Keith Carradine) have taken possession of the small spread. The war should be over. But Cable faces one more battle before the healing can begin.

© 1997 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

37

The Long Riders - Walter Hill Cover Art

The Long Riders

The Long Riders

The Keachs, the Carradines, the Quaids and the Guests take on the roles of the James, Young, Miller, and Ford brothers in Walter Hill's mythic retelling of the James-Younger outlaw legend. The film begins as outlaws are robbing a bank. After the robbery Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) finds himself kicked out of the gang when his brothers Clell (Randy Quaid) and Jesse James (James Keach) mutually agree to hand over his share of the money and tell him to leave because of his unnecessary killing during the robbery. The rest of the gang decides to split up for awhile. Cole Younger (David Carradine) travels to Texas with his prostitute girlfriend Belle Starr (Pamela Reed) while the James boys return to their wives and farms. The gang reunites after the brief respite to rob a well-stocked bank in Northfield, Minnesota. The robbery is a disaster and most of the gang ends up either wounded or dying. The James boys are the only ones not seriously hurt, and escaping while they can, they leave the rest of the gang behind. After the James boys leave, the remnants of the gang are captured. But trailing the Jameses is a relentless posse. Frank and Jesse manage to keep one step ahead until the Ford brothers (Christopher Guest and Nicholas Guest) make a deal with the Pinkerton detectives trailing the outlaws.

© 1980 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC.

38

Stagecoach - John Ford Cover Art

Stagecoach

Stagecoach

This is where it all started. John Ford’s smash hit and enduring masterpiece Stagecoach revolutionized the western, elevating it from B movie to the A-list and establishing the genre as we know it today. The quintessential tale of a group of strangers thrown together into extraordinary circumstances, Stagecoach features outstanding performances from Hollywood stalwarts Claire Trevor, John Carradine, and Thomas Mitchell, and, of course, John Wayne, in his first starring role for Ford, as the daredevil outlaw the Ringo Kid. Superbly shot and tightly edited, Stagecoach (Ford’s first trip to Monument Valley) is Hollywood storytelling at its finest.

© MCMXXXIX by Walter Wagner Productions, Incorporated

39

Big Jake - George Sherman Cover Art

Big Jake

Big Jake

In this final film from legendary Western director George Sherman (THE COMANCHEROS), John Wayne is an aging Texas cattle man who's outlived his time. He must quickly swing into action and reconnect with his estranged family after outlaws kidnap his grandson "Little Jake"and wound his son. Featuring Richard Boone, Bobby Vinton and Maureen O'Hara.

© 1971 Batjac Productions, Inc. / CBS, Inc.

40

Cahill: U.S. Marshall - Andrew V. McLaglen Cover Art

Cahill: U.S. Marshall

Cahill: U.S. Marshall

John Wayne is a U.S. Marshal beset by family problems in this dramatic western from the creators of "Dirty Harry." Compulsively dedicated to upholding the law, Wayne has neglected his family and now his sons (Gary Grimes of the "Summer of '42" and Clay O'Brien) have taken to a life of crime.

1973 © Warner Bros. Entertainment. All Rights Reserved

41

Joe Kidd - John Sturges Cover Art

Joe Kidd

Joe Kidd

Clint Eastwood stars as former bounty hunter turned hired gunslinger, Joe Kidd, who finds himself in the middle of a range war in rough and rugged New Mexico. Following an armed uprising by local Mexican revolutionaries who claim they've been cheated out of their land, Kidd is hired to quell the rebellion by a wealthy land baron (Robert Duvall) with interests in the disputed territory. But Kidd's and his employer's interests are soon at odds when he falls for a beautiful Hispanic rebel in this top-notch action-adventure from acclaimed veteran western director John Sturges.

© 1972 Universal Pictures and The Malpaso Company. All Rights Reserved.

42

How the West Was Won - George Marshall, Henry Hathaway & John Ford Cover Art

How the West Was Won

How the West Was Won

Academy Award-winning epic follows the trials and tribulations of three generations of a frontier family as they embark to tame the wild American West. Narrated by the great Spencer Tracy, it features an Oscar-laden cast that includes John Wayne, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Debbie Reynolds, Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, George Peppard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach & Carrol Baker. Helmed by three acclaimed directors, including Oscar-winner John Ford ("Stagecoach," "Mogambo," "The Grapes of Wrath"). Inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

1962 © A Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

43

McCabe & Mrs. Miller - Robert Altman Cover Art

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Academy Award winners Warren Beatty and Julie Christie star in director Robert Altman's enduring vision of the American Western. A gambler and a prostitute go into business together in a grimy Western mining town as they cater to the vices of the morally bankrupt residents. But their success attracts notice by corporate interests that are too big and too ruthless for the pair to fight in this gritty romantic drama.

© 1971 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved.

44

The Settlers - Felipe Gálvez Cover Art

The Settlers

The Settlers

Debut writer-director Felipe Gálvez asserts himself as a revelatory new cinematic voice with The Settlers, a searing and indelible take on the Western. Blending historical specificity with vivid visual style, this Cannes Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize winner creates a singular immersive vision, arresting in both content and form. At the turn of the 20th century, three horsemen embark on an expedition across the Tierra del Fuego archipelago at the behest of a wealthy landowner, tasked with securing his vast state-appointed property. Accompanying a reckless British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize, amidst rising tensions within the group, their true mission is to murderously "remove" the indigenous population. Set against stunning mountain landscapes, Chile's Best International Feature Film entry to the 96th Academy Awards is a visceral reckoning with national myth and the attendant violence. Painterly yet piercing, this acclaimed frontier epic turns a bold eye to the past, daring to reimagine its depiction in the present and for the future.

© 2024 MUBI

45

Homestead - Ehrland Hollingsworth Cover Art

Homestead

Homestead

A family of homesteaders is taken captive by a gang of outlaws. Their survival comes to rest in the hands of Irene, a loud-mouthed 12-year-old girl who's got an uncanny knack for shooting guns.

© 2022 Oak Street Productions

46

Chisum - Andrew V. McLaglen Cover Art

Chisum

Chisum

John Wayne heads a colorful cast in the epic tale of a legendary rancher who built an empire and has to face off with a civilized, smooth-talking land grabber to protect his spread. A solid gold Western free-for-all!

© 1970 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

47

Last Train from Gun Hill - John Sturges Cover Art

Last Train from Gun Hill

Last Train from Gun Hill

The wife of marshal Matt Morgan is raped and murdered. The killers leave behind a distinctive saddle, that Morgan recognizes as belonging to his old friend Craig Belden, now cattle baron in the town of Gun Hill. Belden is sympathetic, until it transpires that one of the murderers is his own son Rick, whom he refuses to hand over. Morgan is determined to capture Rick and take him away by the 9:00 train; but he is trapped in the town alone, with Belden and all his men now looking to kill him.

© 1959 Paramount Pictures

48

Hang 'Em High - Ted Post Cover Art

Hang 'Em High

Hang 'Em High

Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood), an ex-lawman turned rancher, is moving a small herd of cattle when a group of nine men on horseback, led by Captain Wilson (Ed Begley Sr.), ride up and accuse him of having stolen the cattle and killed their owner. They refuse to believe his account, stringing him up by the neck and leaving him for dead. Lucky for him, they don't do the job right, and as Cooper dangles there, barely alive, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bliss (Ben Johnson) spots him and cuts him down. After surviving the next few days in Bliss' tumbleweed wagon with the other prisoners, he is cleared of all accusations and released by Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle). Although Cooper witnesses the hanging of the man who really murdered the owner of the cattle and took Cooper's money, he still wants revenge on the nine men who tried to hang him. Fenton insists that he leave the bringing of them to justice to his deputy marshals. Cooper and Fenton, realizing that they need each other, strike an uneasy bargain, Cooper agrees to wear a badge and bring in the men he's looking for to be tried. This task proves easier said than done as Cooper experiences a number of difficulties in capturing all nine members and bringing them to justice. In the course of his quest, Cooper also makes the acquaintance of a young woman Rachel (Inger Stevens), with her own search for justice. The two of them are drawn together, no more so than when Wilson and two of the others try to gun Cooper down in cold blood. The final confrontation between Cooper and Wilson escalates in violence to its savage, irony-laced conclusion.

© 1968 Rose Freeman Revocable Trust and Leonard Freeman Trust. All rights reserved.

49

Rio Grande - John Ford Cover Art

Rio Grande

Rio Grande

In this John Ford classic, John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara are embroiled in an epic battle with the Apaches and each other. Lt. Col. Yorke (John Wayne) leads his cavalry troops to the Rio Grande to fight a warring tribe. Yorke’s toughest battle lies ahead when his unorthodox plan to outwit the elusive Apaches leads to possible court-martial. Locked in a bloody war, he must fight not only to save his family, but also to redeem his honor.

© 1950 Paramount Pictures Corp. All Rights Reserved.

50

The Big Country - William Wyler Cover Art

The Big Country

The Big Country

Dazzling photography, an intelligent script, remarkable performances, superb direction and compelling music animate this large-scale Western. An ex-sea captain (Gregory Peck) comes West to marry Carroll Baker and settle down on the ranch of her father (Charles Bickford). A mutual dislike develops between Peck and the ranch foreman (Charlton Heston). Baker shares many of the "macho" sensibilities represented by Heston, which drives Peck away from her and into the arms of a schoolteacher (Jean Simmons)--who happens to own the only water for miles around. Bickford and Burl Ives have been competing for rights to Simmons' water and are willing to use any means to get it. The intertwining tensions between Peck & Heston and Bickford & Ives inevitably will lead to a climactic and violent confrontation.

© 1958 Estate of Gregory Peck and the Estate of William Wyler. All rights reserved