Over the years, a slew of great Westerns have had unmistakable influences on the direction of the genre. The medium has enjoyed a long – but admittedly not always thriving – livespan, having lasted for more than a hundred years. In the 1930s, the Western genre found life in the form of low-budget B-movies, and grew from there, evolving with each decade.
So many Western masterpieces owe their existences to previous entries in the genre, movies that inspired filmmakers and carved a path for others to follow. Such films deserve at least one viewing, if for no other reason than to gain an appreciation for what they meant to the genre’s development and future.
7
Stagecoach
Stagecoach was a transformative film for more reasons than one. Firstly, it put the iconic actor in the history of the Western genre on the map; after a decade of forgettable, low-budget Westerns, John Wayne earned a much-needed step up in his career by playing the hero of the story, the Ringo Kid, in Stagecoach.
Stagecoach charted a course for Wayne in Hollywood, laying the groundwork for him to become the face of the Western scene in the decades that followed. The higher production values, great cast, and spectacular action in the chase scene also demonstrated the genre’s potential, helping it become more than just a medium populated by B-movies.
6
High Noon
High Noon holds a remarkable legacy, and not because it’s one of the greatest Westerns ever made and the winner of four Academy Awards (including Best Actor). More than another action-packed Western story where good overcomes evil, the Gary Cooper-led Western
was a timely, controversial film that contained a strong message about McCarthyism.
In contrast to most Westerns at the time, High Noon wasn’t afraid to paint a bleak picture of society, showing Gary Cooper’s character and his wife have to stand up to a gang of criminals on their own when everyone else is too afraid to make a stand. It went against the more upbeat depictions of humanity in Western movies, and filmmakers paid heed to that.
After High Noon, there was an increased willingness to break with tradition. And in some ways, its impact was double-sided, as John Wayne’s Rio Bravo served as a form of pushback against the ideas expressed in High Noon.
5
Red River
Like Stagecoach, Red River was a landmark film both in terms of its impact on the Western genre as a whole and on John Wayne’s career, which at the time were intrinsically linked. Remembered as the movie that convinced John Ford of John Wayne’s prowess as an actor, the beloved Howard Hawks Western handed “the Duke” a nuanced character arc that underscored the notion that Wayne’s talents hadn’t always been put to good use.
For much of his career, John Wayne had been playing the same heroic protagonist, and The Searchers made it perfectly clear that he could really shine as deeper, morally complex heroes. This opened up new opportunities for Wayne, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and, of course, The Searchers.
4
Fistful of Dollars
Fistful of Dollars considerably altered the direction of the Western genre. Although less iconic than The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, the first installment in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy was arguably more impactful because it was what popularized “the Spaghetti Western” and American interest in that side of the genre.
Italian-made Westerns with darker themes and anti-heroes as lead characters nearly took over the genre in the late 1960s, and deep into the 1970s. Actors like Lee Van Cleef, Terence Hill, Franco Nero, and Charles Bronson enjoyed high degrees of prominence as a result of the Spaghetti Western craze.
3
Butch Cᴀssidy And The Sundance Kid
Released in 1969, Butch Cᴀssidy and the Sundance Kid famously teamed Robert Redford with Paul Newman for a entertaining Western adventure about two iconic outlaws ᴀssociated with the American Wild West. The buddy dynamic of the two lead characters and their respective performances earned widespread acclaim and four Academy Awards for the legendary 1969 Western.
Butch Cᴀssidy and the Sundance Kid pushed the envelope in terms of how Western heroes were perceived, with Newman’s Butch Cᴀssidy being depicted as someone who actively avoided conflict, which went against the “tough guy” archetype that typically went along with the Western genre.
Also, Butch Cᴀssidy and the Sundance Kid proved that Hollywood could have fun with Westerns, even when they involved the stories of real-life criminals. It further deviated from the expectations that come with a Western via its almost-jarring use of 1960s music.
2
Dances With Wolves
The Western genre appeared to be in its dying throes when Kevin Costner starred in Dances with Wolves, a 1990 Western about a military officer who forms bonds with members of a Native American tribe. Dances With Wolves’ sympathetic look at the lives of the Lakota furthered the positive changes in how Native Americans were portrayed in Western movies.
Not only that, but Dances With Wolves won the Academy Award for Best Picture, which a Western hadn’t done since 1931. It was such a resounding success that it contributed to a resurgence for Westerns in the early 1990s.
1
Unforgiven
One of the movies that piggybacked off Dances with Wolves’ success and continued the revival of the Western genre was Unforgiven. Clint Eastwood’s last true Western, Unforgiven saw the Hollywood legend step into the role of Will Munny, a retired gunslinger who had walked away from a life of bloodshed to become a family man and a rancher.
A sequence of events led Munny to resume his gunslinging ways, setting up an intense final act where – pushed to the edge – he embraces his worst impulses in a killing spree. Westerns had ventured into dark and violent territory many times before, but Unforgiven seemed to cross a whole new line.
