I’ve always thought the most daunting of all the film genres to appreciate were the Westerns. Bar none.

I got my first taste of westerns on TNT or TBS (one of the “T” stations) back when they had more than just Law and Order reruns. It was always hit or miss and I preemptive decided that I was not so much a fan of Westerns. This stayed with me for awhile, In fact it wasn’t until I ran across a copy of Red River that I really started to pay this American staple any interest.

What the western does best is deal with the thin lines between good and bad.  They search and explore what it means to face your fears and make a living in a harsh world that would sometimes just prefer to see you dead. The best way to think of any western is perhaps more like a “dudes” version of a soap opera. Of Course, it’s a better story and (mostly) better acting but it follows the same pattern, people each with their own dreams and shortcomings, talents and doubts. Take that and add guns, horses and the occasional romance and you have yourself a winning combination. So here’s a few films to fill up you Netflix cue and add a little more Cowboy to your evenings in front of the TV.

The Searchers (1956) The definitive Western.  A beautifully shot film directed by “one of the old masters,” John Ford and featuring an incarnation of John Wayne that is perhaps his best and most complex.  On it’s face The Searchers is a movie about a journey undertaken by two cowboys to both avenge fallen family members and “rescue” a kidnapped young girl but what makes it a classic is that which is under it’s surface. It is a picture of America, what drives it as well as it’s divisive and severe shortcomings; it has been called “the best American movie, or at least the most American movie.”  This was the last “real” cowboy movie and was the first to examine American Indians as more than a cliche’; A must see on any list.

High Noon (1956) One on the more “human” westerns it starts with a sheriff (Gary Cooper) who has gotten married (to none other than the beautiful Grace Kelly) and decided to leave his past behind him by resigning as sheriff.  The situation is complicated when he finds that a man he helped put into jail is free and returning to town bent on revenge. What sets this movie apart is the way it tugs simultaneously on our sense of duty and our sense of community, the hero stays around to help but resorts to asking for help from the public (which was unprecedented in the genre). Cooper is stellar as both the hero and the man who is cracking under the pressure, “I’m not trying to be the hero, if you think I like this you’re crazy.”

Rio Bravo (1959) Rio Bravo exists as a direct challenge to High Noon and because of this it’s heroes stand alone in handling their problems. The film’s director, Howard Hawks, felt that the “professional” should never ask for the help of the “amateur” and after publicly denouncing High Noon set about work on his own interpretation on the “laws of the west.”  What we’re left with is a wonderful story of grace under pressure as a trio of “do-gooders” must place their lives on the line for the sake of justice.  The movie is carried by it’s main cast both evenly and effortlessly.  John Wayne plays the strong and silent type, Dean Martin the troubled but like-able sheriff and Walter Brennan as the perfect character actor and comic relief. They just don’t make movies like this one anymore.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) Though this is more of a bromance than a western it makes the cut both for it’s reinventing of a genre and it’s ability to have a good time.  Redford and Newman, both quintessentially American, play two cool (or too cool) train robbers who are trying to find a place in an old west that is rapidly disappearing. The story is a bit loose but the sheer chemistry between the two main characters keeps this movie in the list of classics.  Add a great script, explosions and an iconic ending and you get the stuff that myths are made of. Highly Recommended.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) One of the most famous of westerns and definitely the most successful Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly quickly became a classic.  Though I’m no a huge Clint Eastwood fan this film is worth the mention as it was the first western to embrace the idea of the anti-hero in the form of a cowboy, turning the American icon on it’s head.  What’s most noticeable is the style of the director, every scene is larger than life. The camera is sporadic and ventures from extreme closeups to intense action sequences devoid of any dialog.  Even the sounds are highly stylized from complete silence to chaos, guns don’t go bang, they go boom. Though this sets the stage for Eastwood’s Dirty Harry character his two co-stars steal the show with their onscreen performances.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) Probably my favorite film in the list this was Ford’s last great masterpiece and perhaps the follow up to The Searchers. In like fashion the movie centers around two men who couldn’t be more different: the gunfighter (John Wayne) and the senator (Jimmy Stewart).  Wayne is the man who pacified the west with a gun and Stewart is his counterpart, the “civilized” man who can bring both law and order without the violence of Wayne’s character.  Ford seems to treat both of these characters as equals, unique and important pieces in the fading idea of the American west, one ushering in the past and the other the future.  It’s a fitting, if not sad, conclusion to his great westerns as it is the audience who must decide who really is Valance’s killer.  We are simply left with a line that I think sums up this entire post: “This is the West sir. When legend becomes fact, print the legend.”