The 1940s were a decade that saw the rise of the Western movie genre, led by names like John Wayne and John Ford, who brought the American frontier and the Wild West to life on the big screen. The movies included settlers’ attempts to find their homes in the American West, tales from the various wars, and Wild West mythology.

Western movie stars included names like John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Ben Johnson, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart. Western directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks brought these stories to life and kickstarted a genre that was on top of the world for over three decades. The Westerns from the 1940s remain among the best in history.

Santa Fe Trail (1940)

Released in 1940 and directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), Santa Fe Trail is a Western movie starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan as cadets at West Point Military Academy who take roles as second lieutenants in the Kansas Territory, a dangerous ᴀssignment but one they relish. They both fall in love with the same woman.

That woman, Kit (Olivia de Havilland), is also the daughter of the man charged with building the railroad to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and this subplot aligns with the role of John Brown (Raymond Mᴀssey), who is on an anti-slavery crusade, leaving a trail of blood in his path.

The film suggests that the Civil War was the only means to end slavery. The movie took several real-life figures and put them into fictional situations, including Jeb Stuart, John Brown, George Custer, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. It remains highly popular as a Western movie, but it remains controversial because of inaccuracies.

Tall In The Saddle (1944)

Tall in the Saddle is a John Wayne movie that no one talks about, with the Duke playing Rocklin, a rugged cowboy hired to protect a ranch involved in a land dispute. However, once he is there, he ends up in conflict with Arly, the sister of a woman that local rustlers are trying to swindle out of her land.

The Western movie might not be as memorable as other John Wayne films of the era, thanks to its over-reliance on the romantic subplot and the more formulaic storyline. It was, however, a good role for Ward Bond, who stars as the crooked attorney who is trying to help in the underhanded schemes.

This was an interesting combination of the rising Western genre and the film noir genre that was also ongoing at the time. Ella Raines’ role was as much a femme fatale as she was a romantic interest for John Wayne, and this movie was as much a thriller as it was a Western movie.

3 Godfathers (1948)

3 Godfathers is based on the Peter B. Kyne novelette The Three Godfathers, which was previously adapted as Hell’s Heroes in 1929. The movie, directed by John Ford, is a loose retelling of the Three Wise Men from the Bible, but placed in a Western setting.

John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, and Harry Carey, Jr. play three cattle rustlers who come across a dying pregnant woman. She delivers the baby and asks them to get the baby to safety. While usually bad guys, they agree to this and set out to protect the baby with their lives.

This is a more sentimental film than what John Wayne usually starred in, but it was a great turn and one that had deeper meaning than many Westerns of its era. Also, with Wayne, Carey Jr., and Ward Bond, this film has three of the best Western actors of their era in one film.

Duel In The Sun (1946)

Due in part to its depiction of Sєxual violence against the main female character, Duel in the Sun remains one of the most controversial Western movies of its time. But though this may have seemed jarring for a 1940s film, it recieved significant attention regardless, with Jennifer Jones picking up an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her spirited performance.

A great trio of actors in Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, and Joseph Cotten helped deliver a pᴀssionate, love triangle story set in the Wild West. And despite taking a huge risk in subverting Gregory Pick’s heroic image with his villainous role, the King Vidor-directed epic brought in a box office haul of an impressive $640.0 million when adjusted for inflation.

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

The Ox-Bow Incident is one of the earliest examples of psychological Western movies. William A. Wellman, the director of the first-ever Oscar-winning movie, the war film Wings, directed this Western. In this movie, two cowboys arrive in a Western town, and a local rancher is murdered. The townspeople gather to find the killers.

Henry Fonda proved his status as a Western movie star as Gil, one of the cowboys who arrived in the town and joined the townspeople as part of the mob seeking violent revenge. The entire movie is a shocking look at mob justice and what happens when this all goes wrong.

The film received positive reviews and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, although it lost out to Casablanca. The Library of Congress added The Ox-Bow Incident to the National Film Registry in 1998.

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949)

In 1949, John Ford and John Wayne teamed up again for another Western film, this one the second film in Ford’s “Cavalry Trilogy.” Wayne stars as Nathan Cutting Brittles, a US Cavalry Captain, on the night of his retirement. However, he is sent on one last mission before he retires. It is the classic “one last job” trope.

The job is for him to stop a bloody war between the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. What makes this Western war movie different from other John Wayne movies is that he is more interested in stopping a war, and this is one of the movies where John Ford broke the trend of showing Native Americans as “savages.”

The movie was so good that former U.S. General Douglas MacArthur said that he watched She Wore a Yellow Ribbon once a month, every month.

Fort Apache (1948)

Fort Apache is the first movie in John Ford’s “Cavalry Trilogy,” this time with Henry Fonda in the lead as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday, a fictionalized version of George Custer. However, his arrogance puts him at odds with Captain York (John Wayne), the acting commander at Fort Apache, who is surprised when Thursday takes over.

Based on the Battle of Little Bighorn, Thursday leads his men into a mᴀssacre at the hands of Cochise (Miguel Inclán), the leader of an Apache tribe. The movie also stars former child star Shirley Temple as Philadelphia Thursday, the daughter of the new commander, and the love interest of York’s son.

Fort Apache earned critical praise and has been listed as one of the top Westerns of its era by the American Film Insтιтute.

My Darling Clementine (1946)

John Ford directed My Darling Clementine, a loose yet compelling retelling of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The movie’s timeframe is the same as the 1990s Western Tombstone, but the story itself is mostly fictionalized. The screenplay was based on the Wyatt Earp novel by Stuart N. Lake, released two years after Earp’s death, and is highly suspect as well.

The movie has the Earp brothers arriving in California, where they end up being attacked, with James murdered by cattle rustlers when the other three brothers were in town. It was the Clanton gang who pulled off the murder and theft, so Wyatt Earp takes on the role as town marshal and seeks revenge.

While not based on reality, Ford created a fun and adventurous film that was itself named after one of John Ford’s favorite songs. It remains known as one of Ford’s greatest Western movies, with a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It was entered in the National Film Registry in 1991.

The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)

One of the best movies of the 1940s, regardless of genre, is the Humphrey Bogart film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. While Casablanca is considered his 1940s masterpiece, Bogart’s role as drifter Fred C. Dobbs in this Western movie matches up with that earlier effort.

Bogart stars as an American drifter who meets an elderly prospector named Howard (Walter Huston) in a flophouse. He learns from Howard about the dangers of gold mining, but also of the slight chance at a jackpot if he strikes gold. This leads him, Howard, and one other drifter to the Sierra Madre, where they hope to make their riches.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was a mᴀssive success, earning four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and winning three, including Best Director (John Huston), Best Supporting Actor (Walter Huston), and Best Screenplay.

Red River (1948)

The Treasure of Sierra Madre might be the better movie, but when it comes to pure Westerns, there aren’t many better than Red River. Directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, this movie follows the legendary cattle driver along the Chisholm Trail.

In particular, it follows Thomas Dunson (Wayne) and his adopted adult son Matt (Clift), and their differences of opinion while on this journey. Specifically, Thomas becomes hostile and demanding, even going as far as to attack and kill people in his own group that he considers deserters.

This dark John Wayne turn was a change of pace for the actor, who usually plays good, moral men in his films. It ended up a mᴀssive success, earning two Oscars and being added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1990.