Revisionist Western
Encyclopedia
The Revisionist Western, Modern Western or Anti-Western traces to the mid 1960s
and early 1970s
as a sub-genre
of the Western
movie.
Some post-WWII
Western films began to question the ideals and style of the traditional Western. Elements include a darker, more cynical tone, with focus on the lawlessness of the time period, favoring realism over romanticism. Anti-heroes are common, as are stronger roles for women
and more-sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans
and Mexicans. Regarding power and authority, these depictions favor critical views of big business, the American government, masculine figures (including the military
and their policies), and a turn to greater historical authenticity.
, many filmmakers responsible for early revisionist Westerns were unaware they were part of a larger trend in filmmaking and, as such, did not necessarily consider their films "revisionist".
1953's Shane is such a film, with its handsome filmmaking and conservative values, but its ambiguous ending questions the viability of the traditional Western hero
.
into a new genre. The 1952 Supreme Court decision, Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, and the end of the Production Code
in 1968 broadened what westerns could portray and made the revisionist western a more viable genre. Films in this category include Sam Peckinpah's
Ride the High Country
(1962) and The Wild Bunch
(1969), Elliot Silverstein
's Cat Ballou
(1965), Arthur Penn
's Little Big Man (1970) and Robert Altman
's McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971).
Since the late 1960s, independent filmmakers have produced revisionist and hallucinogenic films, later identified as acid Western
s, that radically turn the usual trappings of the Western genre inside out to critique capitalism and the counterculture. Monte Hellman
's The Shooting
and Ride in the Whirlwind
(1966), Alejandro Jodorowsky
's El Topo (1970), Robert Downey Sr.
's Greaser's Palace
(1972), Alex Cox
's Walker
(1987), and Jim Jarmusch
's Dead Man
(1995) fall into this category.
Other films, such as those directed by Clint Eastwood
, were made by professionals familiar with the Western as a criticism and expansion against and beyond the genre. Eastwood's
film The Outlaw Josey Wales
(1976) made use of strong supporting roles for women and Native Americans. The films The Long Riders
(1980) and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(2007) are revisionist films dealing with the James gang. Jeffrey Wright's portrayal of "Black Confederate" Daniel Holt riding with the Missouri Bushwhackers in Ride with the Devil rewrites history. Unforgiven
(1992), which Eastwood directed from an original screenplay by David Webb Peoples, dramatically criticized the typical Western use of violence to promote false ideals of manhood and to subjugate women and minorities
.
in the 1960s as an offshoot of the Revisionist Western.
The spaghetti Western
became the nickname, originally disparagingly, for this broad sub-genre, so named because of their common Italian background, directing, producing and financing (with occasional Spanish involvement). Originally they had in common the Italian language
, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid, violent, minimalist cinematography
that helped eschew (some said "de-mythologize") many of the conventions of earlier Westerns. They were often made in Spain
, especially Andalusia
, the dry ruggedness of which resembled the American southwest's. Director Sergio Leone
played a seminal role in this movement, striving for greater realism in both characters and costuming. A subtle theme of the conflict between Anglo and Hispanic cultures plays through all these movies. Leone conceived of the Old West as a dirty place filled with morally ambivalent figures, and this aspect of the spaghetti Western came to be one of its universal attributes (as seen in a wide variety of these films, beginning with one of the first popular spaghetti Westerns, Gunfight at Red Sands (1964), and visible elsewhere in those starring John Philip Law (Death Rides a Horse
) or Franco Nero
, and in the Trinity
series. In this sense, the Spaghetti Westerns brought a stark refreshing realism to the Western genre, which had long since become boring and unbelievable, not the least for the pressed shirts and khaki trousers (which no one in the Old West wore, anyway). And it was for this reason, and the greater interest generated by the universally ambivalent heroes of the spaghetti Westerns, that this genre revived American public interest in the Western.
, or red Western, was the Soviet Bloc's reply to the Western, and arose in the same period as the revisionist Western. While many red Westerns concentrated on aspects of Soviet/Eastern-European history, some others like the Czech Lemonade Joe
(1964) and the East German The Sons of the Great Mother Bear (1966) tried to demythologise the Western in different ways: Lemonade Joe by sending up the more ridiculous aspects of marketing, and The Sons of the Great Mother Bear by showing how American natives were exploited repeatedly, and is from the native rather than white settler viewpoint.
A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines (1987) was a reflexive satire on the Western film itself. It was also highly unusual in being one of the few examples in Soviet film of a) post-modernism, and b) a major film directed by a woman.
1960s in film
The decade of the 1960s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.Hundreds of full-length films were produced during the 1960s....
and early 1970s
1970s in film
The decade of the 1970s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 World cinema2 Hollywood3 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.4 Events-World cinema:...
as a sub-genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of the Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
movie.
Some post-WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Western films began to question the ideals and style of the traditional Western. Elements include a darker, more cynical tone, with focus on the lawlessness of the time period, favoring realism over romanticism. Anti-heroes are common, as are stronger roles for women
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
and more-sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans
Portrayal of Native Americans in film
The portrayal of Native Americans in film has been contentious, raising allegations of racism. Traditionally, the Native American archetype has been that of a violent, uncivilized villain, juxtaposed next to the archetypal hero: the virtuous, white Anglo-Saxon settler...
and Mexicans. Regarding power and authority, these depictions favor critical views of big business, the American government, masculine figures (including the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
and their policies), and a turn to greater historical authenticity.
Beginnings
As is the case with film noirFilm noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, many filmmakers responsible for early revisionist Westerns were unaware they were part of a larger trend in filmmaking and, as such, did not necessarily consider their films "revisionist".
1953's Shane is such a film, with its handsome filmmaking and conservative values, but its ambiguous ending questions the viability of the traditional Western hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
.
Hollywood revisionist Westerns
Most Westerns from the 1960s to the present have revisionist themes. Many were made by emerging major filmmakers who saw the Western as an opportunity to expand their criticism of American society and valuesCulture of the United States
The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...
into a new genre. The 1952 Supreme Court decision, Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, and the end of the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
in 1968 broadened what westerns could portray and made the revisionist western a more viable genre. Films in this category include Sam Peckinpah's
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
Ride the High Country
Ride the High Country
Ride the High Country is a noted 1962 American Western film. It stars Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Ron Starr, Edgar Buchanan and Mariette Hartley. It was written by N.B...
(1962) and The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...
(1969), Elliot Silverstein
Elliot Silverstein
Elliot Silverstein, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on August 3, 1927, is best known for being the director of the movie Cat Ballou.-Career:Elliot Silverstein was the director of six feature films in the mid-twentieth century...
's Cat Ballou
Cat Ballou
Cat Ballou is a 1965 comedy/Western film which tells the story of a woman who hires a famous gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, but finds that the man she hires is not what she expected...
(1965), Arthur Penn
Arthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
's Little Big Man (1970) and Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971).
Since the late 1960s, independent filmmakers have produced revisionist and hallucinogenic films, later identified as acid Western
Acid Western
Acid Western is a sub-genre of the Western film that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s that combined the metaphorical ambitions of top-shelf Westerns, like Shane and The Searchers, with the excesses of the Spaghetti Westerns and the outlook of the counter-culture...
s, that radically turn the usual trappings of the Western genre inside out to critique capitalism and the counterculture. Monte Hellman
Monte Hellman
Monte Hellman is an American film director, producer, and film editor.Hellman is among a group of directing talent mentored by Roger Corman, who produced several of the director's early films...
's The Shooting
The Shooting
The Shooting is a 1966 western film directed by Monte Hellman, with a screenplay by Carole Eastman . It stars Warren Oates, Millie Perkins, Will Hutchins, and Jack Nicholson, and was produced by Nicholson and Hellman. The story is about two men who are hired by a mysterious woman to accompany her...
and Ride in the Whirlwind
Ride in the Whirlwind
Ride in the Whirlwind is a 1965 western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Jack Nicholson, Millie Perkins, and Harry Dean Stanton. Nicholson also wrote and produced the film.- Plot :...
(1966), Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
's El Topo (1970), Robert Downey Sr.
Robert Downey Sr.
Robert John Downey, Sr. is an American actor, writer, and film director, and the father of actor Robert Downey, Jr...
's Greaser's Palace
Greaser's Palace
Greaser's Palace is a 1972 American cult film directed by underground filmmaker Robert Downey, Sr. A parable based on the life of Christ, it is full of references about the destruction of the world.-Plot:...
(1972), Alex Cox
Alex Cox
Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...
's Walker
Walker (film)
Walker is a 1987 Acid Western film directed by Alex Cox. The film based on the life story of William Walker , the American filibuster who invaded Mexico in the 1850s and made himself President of Nicaragua shortly thereafter. It was written by Rudy Wurlitzer and scored by Joe Strummer, who also...
(1987), and Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
's Dead Man
Dead Man
Dead Man is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum . The film, dubbed an "Acid Western" by its director, includes twisted...
(1995) fall into this category.
Other films, such as those directed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, were made by professionals familiar with the Western as a criticism and expansion against and beyond the genre. Eastwood's
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
film The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman...
(1976) made use of strong supporting roles for women and Native Americans. The films The Long Riders
The Long Riders
The Long Riders is a 1980 western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the Best Music award in 1980 from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for this soundtrack...
(1980) and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 2007 American Western drama film. The film is directed by Andrew Dominik, with Brad Pitt portraying Jesse James and Casey Affleck as his killer, Robert Ford.Filming took place in rural Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba...
(2007) are revisionist films dealing with the James gang. Jeffrey Wright's portrayal of "Black Confederate" Daniel Holt riding with the Missouri Bushwhackers in Ride with the Devil rewrites history. Unforgiven
Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
(1992), which Eastwood directed from an original screenplay by David Webb Peoples, dramatically criticized the typical Western use of violence to promote false ideals of manhood and to subjugate women and minorities
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
.
Spaghetti Westerns
Foreign markets, which had imported the Western since their silent-film inception, began creating their own Westerns early on. However, a unique brand of Western emerged in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the 1960s as an offshoot of the Revisionist Western.
The spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
became the nickname, originally disparagingly, for this broad sub-genre, so named because of their common Italian background, directing, producing and financing (with occasional Spanish involvement). Originally they had in common the Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid, violent, minimalist cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
that helped eschew (some said "de-mythologize") many of the conventions of earlier Westerns. They were often made in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, especially Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, the dry ruggedness of which resembled the American southwest's. Director Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
played a seminal role in this movement, striving for greater realism in both characters and costuming. A subtle theme of the conflict between Anglo and Hispanic cultures plays through all these movies. Leone conceived of the Old West as a dirty place filled with morally ambivalent figures, and this aspect of the spaghetti Western came to be one of its universal attributes (as seen in a wide variety of these films, beginning with one of the first popular spaghetti Westerns, Gunfight at Red Sands (1964), and visible elsewhere in those starring John Philip Law (Death Rides a Horse
Death Rides a Horse
Death Rides a Horse is a 1967 spaghetti western directed by Giulio Petroni, written by Luciano Vincenzoni, and starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law. Bill Meceita, a boy whose family was murdered in front of him by a gang, sets out 15 years later to exact revenge...
) or Franco Nero
Franco Nero
Franco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
, and in the Trinity
They Call Me Trinity
They Call Me Trinity also known as My Name is Trinity, is a 1970 Italian spaghetti western film starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.-Plot summary:...
series. In this sense, the Spaghetti Westerns brought a stark refreshing realism to the Western genre, which had long since become boring and unbelievable, not the least for the pressed shirts and khaki trousers (which no one in the Old West wore, anyway). And it was for this reason, and the greater interest generated by the universally ambivalent heroes of the spaghetti Westerns, that this genre revived American public interest in the Western.
Red Western
The OsternOstern
The Ostern or Red Western was the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries' take on the Western.It generally took two forms:...
, or red Western, was the Soviet Bloc's reply to the Western, and arose in the same period as the revisionist Western. While many red Westerns concentrated on aspects of Soviet/Eastern-European history, some others like the Czech Lemonade Joe
Lemonade Joe
Lemonade Joe , is a 1964 Czechoslovak comedy film, directed by Oldřich Lipský and written by Jiří Brdečka, based on his own novel and theatre play. The film, a parody of old-time westerns, became a cult classic in Czechoslovakia, and apparently Henry Fonda was amongst its foreign admirers...
(1964) and the East German The Sons of the Great Mother Bear (1966) tried to demythologise the Western in different ways: Lemonade Joe by sending up the more ridiculous aspects of marketing, and The Sons of the Great Mother Bear by showing how American natives were exploited repeatedly, and is from the native rather than white settler viewpoint.
A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines (1987) was a reflexive satire on the Western film itself. It was also highly unusual in being one of the few examples in Soviet film of a) post-modernism, and b) a major film directed by a woman.
1950s
- Broken ArrowBroken Arrow (1950 film)Broken Arrow is a western Technicolor film released in 1950. It was directed by Delmer Daves and starred James Stewart and Jeff Chandler. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won a Golden Globe award for Best Film Promoting International Understanding. It made history as the first...
(1950) - High NoonHigh NoonHigh Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
(1952) - The Naked SpurThe Naked SpurThe Naked Spur is a 1953 American western movie directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their third collaboration. The screenplay was written by Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay - a rare honor for a Western. The...
(1953) - Shane (1953)
- The Man From LaramieThe Man from LaramieThe Man from Laramie is an American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in the fifth and final of their Western collaborations, and their seventh collaboration overall. It was adapted from a story of the same title by Thomas T...
(1955) - 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
- Run of the ArrowRun of the ArrowRun of the Arrow is a 1957 western film starring Rod Steiger, Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker, Jay C. Flippen and a young Charles Bronson. Set at the end of the American Civil War, the movie was directed by Samuel Fuller and filmed in Technicolor.-Plot:...
(1957) - Forty GunsForty GunsForty Guns is a 1957 CinemaScope western film written and directed by Samuel Fuller and released by the 20th Century Fox studio. The film stars Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan and Gene Barry.-Plot:...
(1957)
1960s
- The Magnificent SevenThe Magnificent SevenThe Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...
(1960) - Sergeant RutledgeSergeant RutledgeSergeant Rutledge is a 1960 Western and military courtroom drama starring Woody Strode and Jeffrey Hunter. It was directed by John Ford and shot on location in Monument Valley, Utah....
(1960) - One-Eyed JacksOne-Eyed JacksOne-Eyed Jacks, a 1961 Western, is the only film directed by actor Marlon Brando, who also played its lead character, Rio.The film was originally to be directed by Stanley Kubrick and Sam Peckinpah...
(1961) - The MisfitsThe Misfits (film)The Misfits is a 1961 American drama film written by Arthur Miller, directed by John Huston, and starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Thelma Ritter, and Eli Wallach. It was the final film appearance for both Gable and Monroe...
(1961) - The Man Who Shot Liberty ValanceThe Man Who Shot Liberty ValanceThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart and John Wayne. The black-and-white film was released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M...
(1962) - Lonely Are the BraveLonely are the BraveLonely are the Brave is a 1962 film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel The Brave Cowboy. It stars Kirk Douglas as cowboy Jack Burns, Gena Rowlands as his best friend's wife, and Walter Matthau as a sheriff who sympathizes with Burns but must do his job and chase him down...
(1962) - Ride the High CountryRide the High CountryRide the High Country is a noted 1962 American Western film. It stars Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Ron Starr, Edgar Buchanan and Mariette Hartley. It was written by N.B...
(1962) - Lemonade JoeLemonade JoeLemonade Joe , is a 1964 Czechoslovak comedy film, directed by Oldřich Lipský and written by Jiří Brdečka, based on his own novel and theatre play. The film, a parody of old-time westerns, became a cult classic in Czechoslovakia, and apparently Henry Fonda was amongst its foreign admirers...
(1964) - Ride in the WhirlwindRide in the WhirlwindRide in the Whirlwind is a 1965 western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Jack Nicholson, Millie Perkins, and Harry Dean Stanton. Nicholson also wrote and produced the film.- Plot :...
(1965) - The Sons of the Great Bear (1966)
- The Professionals (1966)
- HombreHombre (film)Hombre is a 1967 revisionist western film directed by Martin Ritt, based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. It stars Paul Newman, Richard Boone, Martin Balsam, Diane Cilento and Fredric March....
(1967) - The ShootingThe ShootingThe Shooting is a 1966 western film directed by Monte Hellman, with a screenplay by Carole Eastman . It stars Warren Oates, Millie Perkins, Will Hutchins, and Jack Nicholson, and was produced by Nicholson and Hellman. The story is about two men who are hired by a mysterious woman to accompany her...
(1967) - Hang 'Em HighHang 'Em HighHang 'Em High is a 1968 American Western film directed by Ted Post and produced and co-written by Leonard Freeman. It stars Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a lynching, Inger Stevens as a widow who helps him, Ed Begley as the leader of the gang that lynched him, and Pat...
(1968) - The Wild BunchThe Wild BunchThe Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...
(1969) - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidButch Cassidy and the Sundance KidButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...
(1969) - Tell Them Willie Boy Is HereTell Them Willie Boy Is HereTell Them Willie Boy Is Here is a Technicolor movie released in 1969, based on the true story of a Paiute Indian named Willie Boy and his run-in with the law in 1909 in Banning, California, United States....
(1969)
1970s
- Little Big Man (1970)
- Two Mules for Sister SaraTwo Mules for Sister SaraTwo Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film starring Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel. It was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between Universal...
(1970) - Dirty Dingus MageeDirty Dingus MageeDirty Dingus Magee is a comic 1970 anti-western film starring Frank Sinatra as the title outlaw and George Kennedy as a sheriff out to capture him...
(1970) - Soldier BlueSoldier BlueSoldier Blue is a 1970 American Revisionist Western movie directed by Ralph Nelson and inspired by events of the 1864 Sand Creek massacre in the Colorado Territory....
(1970) - A Man Called HorseA Man Called Horse (1970 film)A Man Called Horse is a 1970 American Western film starring Richard Harris and directed by Elliot Silverstein.-Plot:The film is based on a short story, "A Man Called Horse", published in 1968 in the book Indian Country by Dorothy M. Johnson...
(1970) - El Topo (The Mole) (1970)
- McCabe & Mrs. MillerMcCabe & Mrs. MillerMcCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay is by Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by...
(1971) - The Hired HandThe Hired HandThe Hired Hand is a 1971 American western film directed by Peter Fonda, with a screenplay by Alan Sharp. The film stars Fonda, Warren Oates, and Verna Bloom. The cinematography was by Vilmos Zsigmond, and Bruce Langhorne provided the moody film score. The story is about a man who returns to his...
(1971) - Ulzana's RaidUlzana's RaidUlzana's Raid is a 1972 revisionist Western starring Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel and Bruce Davison. The film, which was filmed on location in Arizona, was directed by Robert Aldrich based on a script by Alan Sharp....
(1972) - Chato's LandChato's LandChato's Land is a 1972 American western film directed by Michael Winner, starring Charles Bronson and Jack Palance. It falls more closely into the revisionist Western genre, which was at its height at the time...
(1972) - Dirty Little BillyDirty Little BillyDirty Little Billy is a western film released in 1972 and was the directorial debut of Stan Dragoti. It stars Michael J. Pollard as Billy the Kid....
(1972) - The Culpepper Cattle Co.The Culpepper Cattle Co.The Culpepper Cattle Co. is a 1972 Revisionist Western film produced by Twentieth Century Fox. It was directed by Dick Richards and starred Billy Green Bush as Frank Culpepper and Gary Grimes as Ben Mockridge...
(1972) - The Great Northfield Minnesota RaidThe Great Northfield Minnesota RaidThe Great Northfield Minnesota Raid is a 1972 Technicolor Western film about the James-Younger Gang distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Philip Kaufman in a cinéma vérité style and starred Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger, Robert Duvall as Jesse James, Luke Askew as Jim Younger, R....
(1972) - The Life and Times of Judge Roy BeanThe Life and Times of Judge Roy BeanThe Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is a 1972 western film written by John Milius, directed by John Huston, and starring Paul Newman...
(1972) - Buck and the PreacherBuck and the PreacherBuck and the Preacher is a 1972 American Western film starring Sidney Poitier as Buck and Harry Belafonte as the Preacher. Buck is a trail guide leading groups of former slaves trying to homestead in the West, immediately after the American Civil War. The Preacher is a swindling minister of the...
(1972) - Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
- High Plains DrifterHigh Plains DrifterHigh Plains Drifter is a 1973 American Western film, with a hint of the supernatural, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and produced by Robert Daley for The Malpaso Company and Universal Pictures. Eastwood plays a mysterious gunfighter hired by the residents of a corrupt frontier mining town...
(1973) - Pat Garrett and Billy the KidPat Garrett and Billy the KidPat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a 1973 Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson. Co-star Bob Dylan composed multiple songs for the movie's score and the album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid was released the same year.The film was noted for...
(1973) - The Master GunfighterThe Master GunfighterThe Master Gunfighter is a film released in 1975, written and produced by Tom Laughlin, who also played the lead as Finley. It is commonly believed Laughlin also directed the film, using the name of his son, Frank Laughlin, as a pseudonym. He had used his children's names in various forms as...
(1975) - The Missouri BreaksThe Missouri BreaksThe Missouri Breaks is a 1976 American western film starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. The film was directed by Arthur Penn, with supporting performances by Randy Quaid, Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest, John McLiam and Kathleen Lloyd...
(1976) - Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History LessonBuffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History LessonBuffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson is a 1976 revisionist Western directed by Robert Altman and based on the play Indians by Arthur Kopit. It stars Paul Newman as William F...
(1976) - The Outlaw Josey WalesThe Outlaw Josey WalesThe Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman...
(1976)
1980s
- Fire on the MountainFire on the Mountain (film)Fire on the Mountain is a 1981 made-for-television movie adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel, Fire on the Mountain starring Buddy Ebsen as John Vogelin, Ron Howard as Lee Mackie and Michael Conrad as Col...
(1980) - Heaven's GateHeaven's Gate (film)Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
(1980) - Pale RiderPale RiderPale Rider is a 1985 American western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars in the lead role. This movie has plot similarities to the classic Western Shane , including in its final scene, as well as previous Eastwood films featuring his Man with No Name character and his 1973...
(1985) - WalkerWalker (film)Walker is a 1987 Acid Western film directed by Alex Cox. The film based on the life story of William Walker , the American filibuster who invaded Mexico in the 1850s and made himself President of Nicaragua shortly thereafter. It was written by Rudy Wurlitzer and scored by Joe Strummer, who also...
(1987) - Young GunsYoung GunsYoung Guns is a 1988 action/western film, directed by Christopher Cain and written by John Fusco. The film was the first to be produced by Morgan Creek Productions...
(1988)
1990s
- Dances with WolvesDances with WolvesDances with Wolves is a 1990 epic western film directed by and starring Kevin Costner. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 book of the same name by Michael Blake and tells the story of a Union Army Lieutenant who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, and his dealings with a...
(1990) - Young Guns IIYoung Guns IIYoung Guns II is a 1990 western film, and the sequel to Young Guns . It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, and features William Petersen as Pat Garrett. It was written and produced by John Fusco and directed by Geoff Murphy.It follows the life of...
(1990) - Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)
- UnforgivenUnforgivenUnforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
(1992) - TombstoneTombstone (film)Tombstone is a 1993 American action film set in the Old West directed by George P. Cosmatos, along with uncredited directorial efforts by actor Kurt Russell and writer Kevin Jarre. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jarre....
(1993) - Geronimo: An American LegendGeronimo: An American LegendGeronimo: An American Legend is a 1993 film, starring Wes Studi as Geronimo, Jason Patric as 1st Lt. Charles B. Gatewood, Gene Hackman as Brig. Gen. George Crook, Robert Duvall as Chief of Scouts Al Sieber, and Matt Damon as 2nd Lt. Britton Davis. The film was directed by Walter Hill from a...
(1993) - Dead ManDead ManDead Man is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum . The film, dubbed an "Acid Western" by its director, includes twisted...
(1995) - The Quick and the Dead (1995)
- RavenousRavenousRavenous is a 1999 horror film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and Jeffrey Jones. The film revolves around cannibalism in 1840s California and some elements bear similarities to the story of the Donner Party and that of Alferd Packer...
(1999) - Ride with the Devil (1999)
2000s
- Tears of the Black TigerTears of the Black TigerTears of the Black Tiger is a 2000 Thai western film written and directed by Wisit Sasanatieng. The story of a tragic romance between Dum, a fatalistic, working-class hero, who has become an outlaw, and Rumpoey, the upper-class daughter of a provincial governor, it is equal parts homage to and...
(2000) - The MissingThe MissingThe Missing is a 2003 Western thriller film directed by Ron Howard, based on Thomas Eidson's 1996 novel The Last Ride.This Western thriller set in 1885 New Mexico Territory is notable for the authentic use of the Apache language by various actors, some of whom spent long hours studying it...
(2003) - Open RangeOpen RangeOpen Range is a 2003 American Western film co-starring, co-produced, and directed by Kevin Costner, based on the novel The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. Starring alongside Costner are Robert Duvall, Annette Bening, and Michael Gambon....
(2003) - BlueberryBlueberry (film)Blueberry is a 2004 French film directed by Jan Kounen. It is an adaptation of the Franco-Belgian comic book series Blueberry, illustrated by Jean Giraud and scripted by Jean-Michel Charlier. The film starred Vincent Cassel as the title character along with Michael Madsen and Juliette Lewis...
(2004) - The Three Burials of Melquiades EstradaThe Three Burials of Melquiades EstradaThe Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is a 2005 American drama film directed by Tommy Lee Jones and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio Cedillo, and Dwight Yoakam....
(2005) - The PropositionThe PropositionThe Proposition is a 2005 western film directed by John Hillcoat and written by screenwriter and musician Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, Danny Huston and David Wenham. The film's production completed in 2004 and was followed by a wide 2005 release in...
(2005) - Down in the Valley (2006)
- Broken TrailBroken TrailBroken Trail is a 2006 Western miniseries that originally aired on American Movie Classics as their first original movie. It stars Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, and was directed by Walter Hill....
(2006) - Seraphim FallsSeraphim FallsSeraphim Falls is a 2007 American Revisionist Western film directed by television producer and director David Von Ancken in his first feature film. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Von Ancken and Abby Everett Jaques. The fictional story focuses on a bounty hunt for a Union...
(2007) - 3:10 To Yuma3:10 to Yuma (2007 film)3:10 to Yuma is the 2007 remake of the 1957 film of the same name, making it the second adaptation of Elmore Leonard's short story Three-Ten to Yuma. It is directed by James Mangold and produced by Cathy Konrad, and stars Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the lead roles. ...
(2007) - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 2007 American Western drama film. The film is directed by Andrew Dominik, with Brad Pitt portraying Jesse James and Casey Affleck as his killer, Robert Ford.Filming took place in rural Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba...
(2007) - There Will Be BloodThere Will Be BloodThere Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and...
(2007) - Bury My Heart at Wounded KneeBury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a 2007 television film adapted from the book of the same name by Dee Brown. The film was written by Daniel Giat, directed by Yves Simoneau and produced by HBO Films. The book on which the movie is based is a history of Native Americans in the American West in the...
(2007) - AppaloosaAppaloosa (film)Appaloosa is a 2008 American Western film based on the 2005 novel of the same name by crime writer Robert B. Parker. The film was directed by Ed Harris and co-written by Harris and Robert Knott. Appaloosa stars Harris alongside Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger and Jeremy Irons...
(2008)