The Noir Western - 1946 - 1962
David Meuel has written an excellent book on the Noir Western, a sub genre that I particular enjoy. I highly recommend this book for any serious noir fan. Here are Meuel's 50 noir western classics as listed in the appendix.
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50 titles
- 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.
- 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.I saw this classic John Ford western on TCM last week. My takeaway was how dark it was visually. I was surprised by this, never having to notice it before. The cast is very good as usual with a Ford vehicle. I especially enjoyed Walter Brennan and Linda Darnell in their roles. This is a film that I will watch again.
- DirectorHoward HawksArthur RossonStarsJohn WayneMontgomery CliftJoanne DruDunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.One of my all-time classic westerns from John Ford. The fight scene between Wayne and Clift is awesome.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsGlenn FordWilliam HoldenEllen DrewAt the end of the Civil War, two friends return home to Colorado and one of them has changed and is violent and erratic.Watched this movie on Monday 9/26/16. It tells the story of two close friends who return to Colorado as Conferate soliders. Glenn Ford, whom I have never seen perform as a crazed homicidal maniac is one friend while steady eddy William Holden is his close friend. Conflict abounds because of love interest and Ford's pentance for violence. Well worth a viewing.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsDick PowellJane GreerAgnes MooreheadAfter two U.S. cavalrymen transporting a gold shipment get killed, U.S. Army Intelligence investigator John Haven goes undercover to a mining and logging town to find the killers.I have a copy of this movie on DVD and watched it on 11/1/16. I love the cast of this western. Starring Dick Powell, it has classic noir actors such as Raymond Burr, Jane Geer and Agnes Moorehead. The plot involves undercover agents attempting to solve gold theft.
- DirectorS. Sylvan SimonGeorge MarshallStarsIda LupinoGlenn FordGig YoungFortune seeker Barry Storm stumbles onto some clues that may lead him to the fabulous Lost Dutchman Mine, but others have tried and been murdered.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsJames MillicanMary Beth HughesReed HadleyAn undercover army officer investigating the theft of army gold shipments takes a job as deputy in a small town that's being terrorized by what they believe is the ghost of a gambler who was wrongly convicted and hanged for those robberies.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsRobert SterlingGloria GrahameClaude Jarman Jr.Three escaped convicts, planning revenge, search for rancher Clay Phillips who, on the way to Sonora with a few horses, stops to help four saloon girls stranded by the roadside.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsRandolph ScottElla RainesWilliam BishopA group of treasure hunters search for a wagon load of gold, buried years before in Death Valley.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartShelley WintersDan DuryeaA cowboy's obsession with a stolen rifle leads to a bullet-ridden odyssey through the American West.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyWalter HustonA firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon, but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.I actually own this film and watched it on October 5th, 2016. This western is directed by Anthony Mann, one of my favorite directors, if not my favorite. It has an outstanding cast including Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston and Wendell Corey. I especially enjoy Corey and Stanwyck when they team up together in film noir movies.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerSusan HaywardHugh MarloweA stagecoach stop employee and a stranded woman traveller find themselves at the mercy of four desperate outlaws intent on robbing the next day's gold shipment.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsGlenn FordGene TierneyEthel BarrymoreIn 1871 a convict escapes, with other prisoners, to kill the man that framed him, but has second thoughts after meeting the man's beautiful future wife.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsMarlene DietrichArthur KennedyMel FerrerAfter the murder of his fiancée, a Wyoming ranch hand sets out to find her killer.
- 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.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsRock HudsonJulie AdamsMary CastleAfter being released from prison, former gun-fighter John Wesley Hardin hopes to have his autobiography published in order to rehabilitate his tarnished reputation.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartRock HudsonArthur KennedyWhen a town boss confiscates homesteaders' supplies after gold is discovered nearby, a tough cowboy risks his life to try and get it to them.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsBroderick CrawfordBarbara HaleJohnny StewartThe remnants of a massacred cavalry troop and ragtag group of stagecoach passengers fight for survival against fierce Comanches at a desert ruin.
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsAudie MurphySusan CabotDan DuryeaAfter his father and brother are murdered by a corrupt lawyer and sheriff duo, railroad surveyor Clay O'Mara plans his revenge, and is aided by former outlaw Whitey Kincade.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsGary CooperSusan HaywardRichard WidmarkA trio of American adventurers marooned in rural Mexico are recruited by a beautiful woman to rescue her husband trapped in a cave in Apache territory.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsRandolph ScottDolores DornMarie WindsorA bounty hunter, hired by Pinkerton, trails 3 unknown murderous train robbers to a town and finds a host of suspects.
- 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.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartRuth RomanCorinne CalvetA self-minded adventurer locks horns with a crooked lawman while driving cattle to Dawson.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartArthur KennedyDonald CrispNewcomer Will Lockhart defies the local cattle baron and his sadistic son by working for one of his oldest rivals.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsRandolph ScottAngela LansburyWarner AndersonMarshal Calem Ware (Randolph Scott) must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsGlenn FordBarbara StanwyckEdward G. RobinsonA bitter land dispute causes a Civil War veteran to take extreme action.
- DirectorRay MillandStarsRay MillandMary MurphyWard BondA gunfighter's main hope lies in the trust of a beautiful woman who hides him out when he is wrongly suspected of a stagecoach massacre.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsKirk DouglasElsa MartinelliWalter MatthauA scout leading a wagon train through hostile Indian country unwittingly gets involved with a Sioux chief's daughter.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJeffrey HunterVera MilesAn American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsRichard WidmarkFelicia FarrSusan KohnerWagon train survivors of an Apache attack entrust the sheriff's prisoner, scout Comanche Todd, with their lives despite his wanted-for-murder status.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJames CagneyDon DubbinsStephen McNallyWith no law within 200 miles horse rancher Jeremy Rodak runs his spread with an iron hand and deals with rustlers even more ruthlessly.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsGlenn FordErnest BorgnineRod SteigerA new foreman rejects the sexual advances of a frustrated rancher's wife, which leads to conflicts that could get him killed.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsRandolph ScottGail RussellLee MarvinA former sheriff blames himself for his wife's death during a Wells Fargo robbery and vows to track down and kill the seven men responsible.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsRichard WidmarkDonna ReedWilliam CampbellJim Slater seeks a survivor of the Apache ambush his father died in.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsRod SteigerSara MontielBrian KeithAfter the South loses the war, Confederate veteran O'Meara goes West, joins the Sioux, takes a wife and refuses to be an American but he must choose a side when the Sioux go to war against the U.S. Army.
- DirectorGerd OswaldStarsSterling HaydenAnita EkbergAnthony SteelAfter the American Civil War, former Union Major John Garth marries pretty settler Valerie but tragedy strikes and the two spouses end up in court where they give two different conflicting accounts of their marriage.
- DirectorAllen H. MinerStarsGeorge MontgomeryDiane BrewsterTom PittmanIn a New Mexico town, two former pals from the Civil War meet again but one is the town marshal and the other is a wanted bank robber.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsJoseph CottenViveca LindforsBetsy BlairSheriff Halliday doesn't approve of his children dating or marrying half-breeds and his blind hate threatens to alienate his whole family.Saw this film on the Starz western channel on November 25, 2017. Originally seen in 2009 while living in Boston. Classic father-son conflict that has been replicated in several westerns. Good cast, especially Ward Bond as the patriarch. Joseph Cotton is good but doesn't wear well as a cowboy. Enjoyable
- DirectorArthur PennStarsPaul NewmanLita MilanJohn DehnerAfter his employer is murdered by rival cattlemen, a troubled and uneducated young cowboy vows revenge on the murderers.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsAlan LaddErnest BorgnineKaty JuradoReleased from the Yuma Prison in 1898, ex-killer John McBain wants to go straight while ex-robber Peter Van Hoek seeks revenge but their destinies eventually converge in the mining town of Prescott.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsHugh O'BrianRobert EvansDolores MichaelsIn this western remake of Kiss of Death (1947), a convicted bank robber serving his sentence, and wishing nothing more than to finish his time and get back to his family, gets involved with a psychotic, homicidal inmate who turns on him and winds up terrorizing his wife and murdering his friends.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsAudie MurphyCharles DrakeJoan EvansWhen hired killer John Gant rides into Lordsburg, the town's folk become paranoid as each leading citizen has enemies capable of using the services of a professional killer for personal revenge.
- DirectorPhil KarlsonStarsVan HeflinTab HunterKathryn GrantA powerful rancher always protects his wild adult son by paying for damages and bribing witnesses, until his crimes become too serious to rectify.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGregory PeckJean SimmonsCarroll BakerA New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsSterling HaydenSebastian CabotCarol KellyA Swedish whaler is out for revenge when he finds out that a greedy oil man murdered his father for their land.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsFred MacMurrayLin McCarthyDorothy GreenA robber who is falsely accused of murdering a deputy sheriff tries to start a new life in a border town near Mexico, but his past catches up with him.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsKirk DouglasAnthony QuinnCarolyn JonesA marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for his role in the rape and murder of the marshal's Native American wife.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJeffrey HunterWoody StrodeConstance TowersRespected Black cavalry Sergeant Brax Rutledge stands court-martial for raping and killing a white woman and murdering her father, his superior officer.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsRandolph ScottNancy GatesClaude AkinsA man saves a woman who had been kidnapped by Comanches, then struggles to get both of them home alive.This movie is part of a five film collection of Budd Boetticher's westerns. I highly recommend this box DVD set. This is a wonderful film starring Randolph Scott and Claude Akin. It is an intriguing storyline with one of the best endings that I have ever seen in a western. Highly recommended!!!
- DirectorMarlon BrandoStarsMarlon BrandoKarl MaldenPina PellicerAfter robbing a bank in Mexico, Dad Longworth absconds with the loot leaving his partner Rio to be captured by the Rurales. Rio escapes prison but struggles with his conflicting desires to love Dad's stepdaughter Louise and to get revenge.