Western 101: An essential list
Best representative westerns of all film history
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- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
- DirectorJames CruzeStarsJ. Warren KerriganLois WilsonAlan HaleTwo wagon caravans converge at what is now Kansas City, and combine for the westward push to Oregon. On their quest the pilgrims will experience desert heat, mountain snow, hunger, and Indian attacks. To complicate matters further, a love triangle develops, as pretty Molly must chose between Sam, a brute, and Will, the dashing captain of the other caravan. Can Will overcome the skeleton in his closet and win Molly's heart?
- DirectorJohn FordStarsGeorge O'BrienMadge BellamyCharles Edward BullAfter witnessing the murder of his father by a renegade as a boy, the grown-up Brandon helps to realize his father's dream of a transcontinental railway.
- DirectorKing BaggotWilliam S. HartStarsWilliam S. HartBarbara BedfordLucien LittlefieldThe government will grant a fringe of terrain for the settlers who want to live and work there. The starting sign will be a gunshot which will iniciate the run for the best fields and claims.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsGeorge O'BrienOlive BordenLou TellegenThree outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneClaire TrevorAndy DevineA group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGary CooperWalter BrennanDoris DavenportJudge Roy Bean, a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegarroon, Texas, befriends saddle tramp Cole Harden, who opposes Bean's policy against homesteaders.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandArthur KennedyA highly fictionalized account of the life of George Armstrong Custer from his arrival at West Point in 1857 to his death at the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsHenry FondaDana AndrewsMary Beth HughesWhen a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaLinda DarnellVictor MatureAfter their cattle are stolen and their brother murdered, the Earp brothers have a score to settle with the Clanton family.
- DirectorKing VidorOtto BrowerWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenGregory PeckBeautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsTeresa WrightRobert MitchumJudith AndersonA boy haunted by nightmares about the night his entire family was murdered is brought up by a neighboring family in the 1880s. He falls for his lovely adoptive sister but his nasty adoptive brother and mysterious uncle want him dead.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneHenry FondaShirley TempleAt Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartWalter HustonTim HoltTwo down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJoanne DruJohn AgarCaptain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneMaureen O'HaraBen JohnsonA cavalry officer posted on the Rio Grande is confronted with murderous raiding Apaches, a son who's a risk-taking recruit and his wife from whom he has been separated for many years.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsRobert TaylorLouis CalhernPaula RaymondAfter the Civil War, a highly decorated Shoshone Indian veteran plans to raise cattle in Wyoming but white farmers plan to grab fertile tribal lands by pitting the whites against the Indians.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartShelley WintersDan DuryeaA cowboy's obsession with a stolen rifle leads to a bullet-ridden odyssey through the American West.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsRobert TaylorDenise DarcelHope EmersonA trail guide escorts a group of women from Chicago to California to marry men that have recently begun settling there.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGary CooperGrace KellyThomas MitchellA town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsKirk DouglasDewey MartinElizabeth ThreattThe success of the journey focuses on keeping the Indian girl alive as well as themselves to complete trade with the Blackfeet.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartJanet LeighRobert RyanA bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsAlan LaddJean ArthurVan HeflinAn ex-gunfighter defends homesteaders in 1889 Wyoming.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJoan CrawfordSterling HaydenMercedes McCambridgeAfter helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsJohn PayneLizabeth ScottDan DuryeaIn the western town of Silver Lode, Dan Ballard is arrested for murder and theft by marshals, but he denies the charges and searches for the real culprit as the townsfolk gradually turn against him.