On the Samuels Reads blog we've already given you many fine answers to the questions "What should I read?" and "What should I listen to?" Now we want to give our suggestions to the library user who asks "What should I watch?" This list contains a selection of the many fine Western movies available for checkout here at Samuels Library.
High Noon
(1952)
Marshall Will
Kane (Gary Cooper) is about to set off on his honeymoon with his new bride
(Grace Kelly) when word arrives that an outlaw he imprisoned years earlier is
returning to town in search of vengeance. Having already turned in his badge, Kane is under no obligation to stay
and yet he nobly decides to face this villain and begins seeking the aid of the
townsfolk. Taut and fraught with
suspense, High Noon is a classic film
that is often viewed as a criticism of the Red Scare of the 1950s.
Little Big
Man (1970)
Based on a
novel by Thomas Berger, Little Big Man
is an imaginative and poignant look at the American frontier as told through
the remembrances of a 121-year-old man. Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) has lived a long and eventful life: he’s
been kidnapped by Indians, earned a reputation as a gunslinger, worked with
Wild Bill Hickock, and ridden with General Custer. Initially quite humorous, the movie eventually
becomes a heartbreaking critique of our country’s treatment of Native Americans.
Lonely Are
the Brave (1962)
One of the
best Westerns set in the modern age, Lonely
Are the Brave features a magnificent performance by Kirk Douglas in the
role of Jack Burns. Very much a
throwback to another era, Burns becomes a wanted man when his rugged
individualism puts him in direct opposition of the law. The thrilling climax pits the lone cowboy
against a helicopter, a standoff which represents the collision of two very
different eras.
The
Magnificent Seven (1960)
One of the
coolest Westerns ever, The Magnificent
Seven stars Yul Brynner as Chris Larabee Adams, the leader of a group of
seven gunfighters hired by a poor Mexican village as protection against a group
of vicious bandits. With a cast that
includes Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, and Charles Bronson, this
movie has a collection of tough guys that puts The Expendables to shame.
Red River
(1948)
An immense cattle
drive and a family feud between a father and son take center stage in
genre-hopping director Howard Hawks’s Red
River. When Thomas Dunson (John
Wayne) and his adopted son Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift) butt heads in the
middle of moving their herd from Texas to Missouri, Garth and the hired hands wrest control from
Dunson and proceed without him. Knowing
that a John Wayne character will never go down without a fight, you can guess
what happens next...
Seven Men
from Now (1956)
Cult favorite
Budd Boetticher directed this lost classic that has been praised by film critic
Leonard Maltin as being “one of the best movies you’ve never seen.” Randolph Scott, in a role reminiscent of John
Wayne’s Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (also
from 1956), plays Ben Stride, a man plagued by guilt and anger. Joined by a scene stealing Lee Marvin, Stride
sets out to find the seven men responsible for his wife’s death.
Shane (1953)
Western
aficionados will always argue over their favorites in the genre—for me no
discussion about the best westerns of all time is complete without mentioning Shane, the story of a quiet stranger
(Alan Ladd) who comes to a small frontier town and reluctantly becomes involved
in a deadly feud between a group of peaceful settlers and the rich ranchers who
run the town.
Stagecoach
(1939)
The first
masterpiece from the legendary Western duo of John Ford and John Wayne, Stagecoach was Ford’s first film to
utilize picturesque Monument Valley and Wayne’s breakout role as a star. The film centers on the interactions of a
disparate group of stagecoach riders traveling together through dangerous
territory and contains an excellent cast, including Claire Trevor, Thomas
Mitchell, Donald Meek, Andy Devine, and John Carradine.
The Three
Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
Tommy Lee
Jones starred in and directed this critically acclaimed story about the murder
of an illegal Mexican immigrant in Texas and the great lengths an American
rancher goes to carry out his dead friend’s burial wishes. Jones, in a performance that earned him the
Best Actor award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, plays dutiful rancher Pete
Perkins, a man who still abides by the Old West’s code of honor in an era of
moral indifference.
True Grit (2010)
Fans of John
Wayne were skeptical when the Coen Brothers announced their intention to remake
his beloved western with Jeff Bridges in the role of Rooster Cogburn, the
ornery old U.S. Marshall who helps a young woman search for her father’s killer.
They need not have worried—the 2010 version proves every bit as enjoyable as
the original. Bridges puts his own stamp
on Cogburn, Hailee Steinfeld turns in a tough performance as Mattie Ross, and
Matt Damon is especially amusing as the dandyish LaBoeuf.
Unforgiven
(1992)
Clint
Eastwood plays with his own image as a Western icon in Unforgiven, a complex and thought-provoking movie that stands as
one of the high points in his long and illustrious career. Will Munny is not the laconic, confident
tough guy Eastwood usually plays; Munny is an old, tired, and
nearly broken ex-gunfighter who reluctantly returns to the profession in need
of money for his family.
The Wild
Bunch (1969)
A group of
outlaws attempt one last heist in The
Wild Bunch, a film often cited as the last great western from the genre’s
golden days. Fittingly enough, the
film’s main theme is the death of the Old West and the frontier culture that
spawned a million lawless gunfighters. Director Sam Peckinpaugh jam-packs the movie with every trick in the
book, from slow-motion photography and rapid editing to an over-the-top
violence that still feels indulgent today.
Winchester
’73 (1950)
Jimmy Stewart
kicked off a new, darker phase in his career by playing the revenge obsessed
Lin McAdam in Winchester ’73, the
first of the five westerns he would make with director Anthony Mann. While searching for the man who wronged him,
McAdam wins a rare and highly sought after Winchester rifle, only to have it
stolen. The gripping story follows
McAdam’s search and the journey of the prized rifle as it switches hands.
