Ah, the humbleWestern. A genre that might seem formulaic or limiting at first, but can be so many different things, so long as you’ve got the right filmmaker tackling the Western-themed story at hand. Some directors might want to highlight the expansiveness of the Old West, while others might choose to focus on something more small-scale or personal, perhaps even just setting a story within one relatively tiny town.
Westerns can go big or small, and they can also be complex, straightforward, or somewhere in between. The following probably lean more towards straightforward,since all the Westerns below tell rather direct stories that have a clear beginning and end, or otherwise follow characters heading toward one inevitable point, be that an obvious journey or maybe even inevitable death. By no means are these classic Westerns all simplistic, necessarily, but they are linear in one way or another (and in ways that make them compelling, it should be stressed).
Directed by Kim Jee-woon
Like another Western with a similar title,The Good, the Bad, the Weirdis all about finding something, tracking three main characters who’ll stop at nothing when it comes to obtaining the same thing. They all know of a fortune buried somewhere in the desert, and they continually compete to find that fortune before any of the others can. Chaos ensues.
The story might be simple, but the blend of genres found inThe Good, the Bad, the Weirdkeeps itpretty thrilling and varied, given this is a comedy, an action movie, and an adventure flick,all alongside also being a Westernset in Manchuria during the 1930s. It’s one of the most entertaining Westerns ever made, and is a must-watch for anyone looking for something fast, fresh, and unapologetically wild.
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
9’Django Unchained' (2012)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
There arenumerousQuentin Tarantinomoviesthat play around with time and tell a narrative out of chronological order, butDjango Unchainedisn’t really one of them, outside a few brief flashbacks. Those flashbacks really are “flashes,” too, mostly being fleeting in nature, while the film at largecontinually moves toward an inevitable climax… and then the real climax gets postponed for a bit, and then eventually happens how you’d expect anyway.
ButDjango Unchainedgets away with this becausethe straightforward story is nonetheless compelling, andthe quality of acting throughout is superb. It might not be the greatest Tarantino movie, but it is still pretty great, for the most part, and works very well as a movie about rescuing someone and getting some well-earned revenge while you’re at it.
Django Unchained
8’Stagecoach' (1939)
Directed by John Ford
InStagecoach, there are a bunch of people on board a stagecoach, and they have to make a dangerous journey, and that’s about it. But that’s all that’s needed, since the characters are interesting, the pacing is strong considering how old the film is, and also,Stagecoachhelped makeJohn Waynea star, and he was kind of “the” leading man for the entire Western genre for decades following the release of this movie.
It generally lives up to the hype more than you might expect it to, as even those who approach older movies with trepidation will likely find things to like and appreciate inStagecoach. It’s one ofthe best movies of the 1930s, and alsoone of the most satisfying adventure/Western films that has a bunch of people going from point A to point B, and that’s about it.
Stagecoach
7’The Searchers' (1956)
AnotherJohn Ford-directed movie starring John Wayneworth mentioning for present purposes isThe Searchers, which came out almost two decades afterStagecoach, all the while proving similarly easy to summarize narratively. At its core,The Searchersis about a man going on a desperate search for his kidnapped niece, with the journey in question eventually taking years and costing him his sanity, even.
So,The Searchershas a good deal going on emotionally and thematically – more so thanStagecoach, admittedly – but that central story is one with a clear goal, and a central character relentlessly pursuing said goal. It’snot linear or straightforward in terms of what it wants to explore or comment on as far as themes go, but the basic premise is quite linear(it works, because it provides a strong foundation for things here to get complex in other ways).
The Searchers
6’The Revenant' (2015)
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
A film that’s bleak as hell, even by revenge movie standards,The Revenantunfolds over about two and a half hours while hitting all the beats you’d expect it to. One man is horrifically wronged and left for dead, and then he spends most of the movie undertaking a grueling personal journey to get well-deserved revenge on those who took pretty much everything from him.
So, it’s technically/narratively simple, butThe Revenantis extremely compelling and dynamic on a technical front, and it’s the way it looks and feels – plus the committed central performance ofLeonardo DiCaprio– that make it work as well as it does. The level of violence and emotional intensitydon’t necessarily makeThe Revenantan easy watch, butit is at least easy to follow, purely on a storytelling front.
The Revenant
5'3:10 to Yuma' (1957)
Directed by Delmer Daves
Without a doubt,3:10 to Yumais one ofthe best Western movies of the 1950s, and it doesn’t waste much time setting up its premise, nor telling the story at hand, given the whole movie’s only 92 minutes long. The hero here is tasked with escorting a dangerous criminal to a train station so he can be transported to a town where he’ll be put on trial.
Time is of the essence, as the title implies, and also, the criminal’s associates are on his tail, and are understandably willing to do whatever they can to stop him from being held accountable for his crimes.3:10 to Yumais pure and satisfying in the best of ways, and the fact it holds up wellandstill got a rock-solid remake 50 years lateris pretty impressive, it has to be said.
3:10 to Yuma
4’Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' (1969)
Directed by George Roy Hill
Just so there’s no beating around the bush here, how about this:Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidisone of the best damn movies ever made. It’s hard to imagine anyone hating this, and it’s the sort of film that might well be able to convert Western haters and/or skeptics to approach the genre with a little more enthusiasm, given it’s also something of a buddy/adventure movie that just happens to be set in Old West times.
Also,Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidis really just about the two titular characterstrying to escape various people who want them dead, going to great lengths to flee and ultimately dooming themselves in the process. It’s all a bit bittersweet, but emphasis on the sweet (well, for the most part), just because the movie is so entertaining and pleasing in a simple way, and becausePaul NewmanandRobert Redfordhave immense chemistry.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
3’The Wild Bunch' (1969)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
In contrast toButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,The Wild Bunchwas a 1969 Western about doomed central characters that wasn’t bittersweet… more just bitter, really. The gang of outlaws here islargely made up of aging men who are all out of time, and they endeavor to pull off one last big score or,failing that, go out in a blaze of glory.
Maybe that eventual blaze of glorystopsThe Wild Bunchfrom being entirely miserable, seeing as people go out on their own terms here, but the sense of nihilism – and the inevitability of it – is undeniable. Still,The Wild Bunchbuilds to an ending that’s beyond iconic, and the blunt simplicity of the narrative, coupled withthe shocking violence and immense style… it all works to make this one incredible Western.
The Wild Bunch
2’High Noon' (1952)
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Ofall the great revisionist Westernsout there,High Noonstands as both one of the very best and one of the earliest. It’s remarkable how powerful it is for something that’s more than 70 years old, and even more impressive is the fact that it’s so tight from a storytelling and pacing perspective. There’s a sheriff who is facing his potential doom, thanks to an outlaw from his past making an inevitable return, and he tries to rally others to help him.
When it becomes clear they won’t, he figures he has to enter into the whole ordeal alone, no matter the outcome or his overall chances.High Noonplays out almost in real-time, andworks just as well as a thrilleras it does a Western, as a result. It’s continually tense and always building tension, all the while never wavering from its no-nonsense storyline, and also never being anything but direct with the telling of that narrative.
Directed by Sergio Leone
So, a while back,The Good, the Bad, the Weirdwas mentioned, and it has basically the same premise as a movie made nearly 40 years earlier:The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which is an all-timer, to put it mildly. This one is also all about three people ceaselessly pursuing one goal, working occasionally with – but mostly against – one another to find some hidden fortune.
All the while,increasingly wild and dangerous things happenaround them, withThe Good, the Bad and the Uglybeing action-packed and also oddly funny (in a dark way) because of how much its main characters ignore all the stuff going on around them.Sergio Leonemadeother great large-scale films, but this was probablythe closest he came tomaking a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, all the while keeping the scope epic and crafting it all in a way that feels timeless.
