{"id":6975,"date":"2023-06-17T10:33:59","date_gmt":"2023-06-17T09:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/?p=6975"},"modified":"2024-02-17T09:30:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T09:30:10","slug":"top-10-cowboy-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/top-10-cowboy-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 10 Cowboy Stars Who Graced The Big Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I know this is probably going to be a contentious list but, starting with the presumption that John Wayne is to all intents and purposes considered by our readership to be numero uno best cowboy star ever (and if you don\u2019t agree with that then maybe you\u2019re looking for a one way trip to Boot Hill) then all other cowboys stars fall into place behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list is in descending order and I\u2019ll only be mentioning those Western the following actors appeared in that I think are worthy of note. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you\u2019re curious as to who in our humble opinion made it onto the list of the top ten most popular cowboy actors to ever grace the silver screen then read on<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Mitchum<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Mitchum\u2019s acquaintance with the cowboy genre was established right near the beginning of his career when he appeared in a series of Hopalong Cassidy Westerns<\/a>, all released in 1943 and featuring Mitchum more often than not in the role of \u201cHenchman\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing his association with low-budget Westerns the actor landed his first starring role in \u201cNevada\u201d in 1945 and followed that up in the same year as Pecos Smith in \u201cWest of the Pecos\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving successfully back and forth between war, gangster and cowboys films Mitchum scored a critical success in the 1947 Western noir movie \u201cPursued\u201d, directed by Raoul Walsh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He saw out the 1940s with two other Westerns, \u201cRachel and the Stranger\u201d in which he co-starred with another up-and-coming Hollywood actor by the name of William Holden, as well as taking the lead in \u201cBlood on the Moon\u201d, a so-called psychological Western directed by Robert Wise, a filmmaker not generally associated with the cowboy genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following years saw Mitchum favouring more appearances in gangster movies as opposed to the Western, although during the 1950s he also found time to ride the range with films such as the rodeo drama \u201cThe Lusty Men\u201d and \u201cRiver of No Return\u201d, a Cinemascope oater also featuring 20th<\/sup> Century Fox star Marilyn Monroe<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1954 the actor also signed up to play the lead in a John Wayne \/ Batjac production entitled \u201cTrack of the Cat\u201d, although it was his memorable performance a year later as the chilling serial killer Reverend Powell in the classic film noir \u201cNight of the Hunter\u201d that proved he was capable of playing against type when required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of the decade Mitchum tried producing himself in \u201cThe Wonderful Country<\/a>\u201d, a Western set on the border in Mexico and featuring the actor as a mercenary for hire involved in gun-running and other nefarious activities. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Whilst now considered to be a classic of its kind the film did not fare too well at the box-office, Mitchum not deigning to appear in another Western until 1967 in the wagon train saga \u201cThe Way West\u201d, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen<\/a>, in which he contended for screen time opposite Kirk Douglas and Richard Widmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making up for lost time Mitchum then proceeded to star in another three Westerns on the trot of which \u201cEl Dorado\u201d is definitely the best of the bunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A loose remake of the Howard Hawks Western \u201cRio Bravo\u201d, Mitchum, played Sheriff J.P. Harrah opposite John Wayne as gun-for-hire Cole Thornton, Mitchum in effect reprising Dean Martin\u2019s role as Dude from the earlier film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like Dude, Harrah also turns to the bottle after an unhappy affair with a woman. Also, just like Dean Martin, Mitchum was one of the few actors to match Wayne onscreen, the both of them displaying the same kind of chemistry that JW and Martin enjoyed in \u201cRio Bravo\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst remaining forever watchable on the big screen no matter what part he played Mitchum eventually eschewed the Western genre after his appearance in the Ralph Nelson directed Western \u201cThe Wrath of God\u201d, released in 1972. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be another twenty-one years before the actor was listed in the cast of a Western, delivering the narration in his instantly recognisable \u2018husky gravel-purr monotone\u2019 for the Wyatt Earp movie \u201dTombstone\u201d in 1993. His final screen role was most fittingly also a Western, Mitchum playing a cameo in the cult movie \u201cDead Man\u201d, released in 1996 and directed by Jim Jarmusch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Cowboy Films: \u201cEl Dorado\u201d (with \u201cThe Wonderful Country\u201d a close second).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Widmark<\/h2>\n\n\n
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There aren\u2019t that many actors who can claim to have hit the big time immediately upon their screen debut and also win an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor into the bargain but Richard Widmark definitely falls into that elite category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His striking performance as the vicious gangster Tommy Udo in \u201cKiss of Death\u201d, released in 1947, brought him instant stardom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy to occasionally play second lead when required, Widmark\u2019s first Western saw him co-starring with Gregory Peck in the 1948 Western \u201cYellow Sky\u201d, supposedly partly based upon the Shakespeare play \u201cThe Tempest\u201d with the actor playing a baddie by the name of Dude who doesn\u2019t make it to the end in one piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t grace the screen in another Western until six years later in 1954, appearing alongside Gary Cooper in \u201cGarden of Evil\u201d in which he unfortunately bites the dust yet again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same year he played the wayward son of Spencer Tracy in \u201cBroken Lance\u201d, another Western also partly based on a Shakespeare play, \u201cKing Lear\u201d to be exact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also appeared a couple of years later in a little-known Western directed by John Sturges called \u201cBacklash\u201d, a film with aspects of noir in which Widmark searches for the body of his father who, whilst digging for gold, has supposedly been killed by the Apache. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few twists and turns it transpires his father is still alive, both of them eventually facing each other down in a gunfight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same year Widmark took the lead role in \u201cThe Last Wagon\u201d as Comanche Todd, a white man who has thrown in his lot with the Indians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chained to a wagon by a seriously deranged sheriff, Todd murders him with an axe after which he and a bunch of settlers are attacked by Apache\u2019s, Todd unbelievably surviving being thrown over a cliff along with the wagon he\u2019s still chained to. Then it gets really exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1958 Widmark played bad guy bad guy Clint Hollister with shades of Tommy Udo from \u201cKiss of Death\u201d in another Sturges Western<\/a>, in the process stealing the film from the main lead played by Robert Taylor as Jake Wade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone is looking for buried gold again, a pastime that absolutely every single time in a movie causes trouble for all concerned, Hollister eventually getting his just deserts from the business end of Jake Wade\u2019s six-shooter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year the actor appeared in \u201cWarlock\u201d, a bit of a curates egg of a film directed by Edward Dmytryk in which Widmark, after being appointed town deputy, finds himself up against two gunfighters played by Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he was the star of the film the movie really belongs more to Fonda and Quinn whose characters, it has been said by certain critics, may or may not be involved in a homoerotic relationship. One for the film students there I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1960 Widmark stole the acting honours from the likes of John Wayne and Laurence Harvey with his portrayal of Jim Bowie in Wayne\u2019s epic \u201cThe Alamo\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n

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There was apparently some tension on the set between him and Wayne, but it all turned out fine in the end with Duke admitting afterwards that \u201c<\/em>United Artists insisted on Richard Widmark. I thought he was wrong for the part. I was wrong. He was magnificent<\/strong>\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 60s the actor found himself cast as a cavalry officer in two John Ford films, the first of which was \u201cTwo Rode Together\u201d, released in 1961 with Widmark teaming up with James Stewart to rescue a group of captives held prisoner by Comanche Chief Quanah Parker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film is very similar to \u201cThe Searchers\u201d at times and but that did not turn into success at the box-office. Widmark also played the lead role in Ford\u2019s last Western, \u201cCheyenne Autumn\u201d as Captain Thomas Archer, tasked with attempting to prevent a Cheyenne tribe looking to return to their home territory after illegally abandoning their reservation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between he played a cameo, reverting to type as hard-hearted railway boss Mike King in the star-studded epic \u201cHow The West Was Won\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from \u201cThe Way West\u201d, directed by Andrew V. Mclaglen and released in 1967, the last cowboy film of Widmark\u2019s worth mentioning is his turn as Red Dillon, an ageing rodeo star in \u201cWhen the Legends Die\u201d, a contemporary Western released in 1972. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Cowboy Film: \u201cThe Law and Jake Wade\u201d (with a special mention to \u201cThe Alamo\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glenn Ford<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Ford appeared in a couple of Westerns early on in his career ,\u201cTexas\u201d with William Holden and \u201cThe Desperadoes\u201d opposite Randolph Scott, released in in 1941 and 1943 respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until the early 1950s that Ford got into his stride in the cowboy genre with his role in the 1953 Western \u201cThe Man from the Alamo<\/a>\u201d, directed by Budd Boetticher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He plays Dave Stroud, a man fighting for justice after being accused of cowardice for leaving the besieged mission to warn of the impending arrival of the Mexican army, even though he was ordered to do so before the Alamo fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After playing opposite Edward G. Robinson in the 1955 land war Western \u201cThe Violent Men\u201d, Ford hit the ball out of the park in two other well received cowboy movies, both directed by Delmer Daves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first of these, \u201cJubal\u201d, released in 1956, yet another 1950s Western loosely based upon a Shakespeare play, \u201cOthello\u201d (I think there\u2019s an article to be written on the little known influence of Shakespeare on cinematic tales of the Old West), features a great supporting cast including Rod Steiger, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year Ford and Daves made what is considered to be one of the best Westerns of the 1950s, \u201c3:10 to Yuma\u201d, a suspense filled drama in which Ford, playing against type, stars as villain Ben Wade, taken prisoner and escorted to jail by an out of his depth farmer, Dan Evans, played by Van Heflin.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ford also took on the role of trail boss Tom Reece in \u201cCowboy\u201d, released in 1958 and (I believe) the only Western to also feature Jack Lemmon, here playing real-life author Frank Harris. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet another Glenn Ford oater directed by Delmer Daves, \u201cCowboy\u201d, although an interesting take on the genre of \u2018An Eastern Dude Goes West\u2019 didn\u2019t quite garner the kind of attention bestowed on the other two Ford \/ Daves Westerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any Western directed by Anthony Mann<\/a> is always worth a look but it was Glenn Ford\u2019s misfortune to take the lead role in Mann\u2019s 1960 epic remake of \u201cCimarron\u201d, which died at the box office when released, due to, among other things, a lengthy two-and-a-half hour running time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the 1960s onwards Ford still split his screen roles across comedies (\u201cLove is a Ball\u201d), melodramas (\u201cFate is the Hunter\u201d) and Westerns (\u201cDay of the Evil Gun\u201d). In the 1970s he turned his attention to TV, his most notable role that of Sheriff Sam Cade in the modern-day Western series \u201cCade\u2019s County\u201d which aired in 1971 and ran for twenty-four episodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Westerns: \u201c3:10 to Yuma\u201d and \u201cJubal\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5 More Western Stars – Part II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audie Murphy<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Enlisting in the army at the age of 17 in 1942 but falsifying his birth certificate to make him one year older, baby-faced Audie Murphy is considered to be the most decorated American soldier of WWII, Murphy ending up with a very impressive tally of medals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He won the Medal of Honor at the age of 19, and went on to receive the French Legion of Honor and various versions of the Croix de Guerre as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encouraged by none other than James Cagney after the war to try his luck in Hollywood, Murphy signed to Universal Studios in 1950, starring as Billy the Kid in \u201cThe Kid from Texas\u201d, a title that also referenced his own birthplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year he played \u201cThe Youth\u201d in director John Huston\u2019s adaptation of \u201cThe Red Badge of Courage\u201d, his character almost the complete opposite of Murphy himself, a young Union soldier struggling to conquer the fear of battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to appear in over thirty Westerns of varying quality, the better examples being \u201cNight Passage\u201d, opposite James Stewart, \u201cNo Name on the Bullet\u201d, in which he was very impressive as a gunslinger for hire, and another John Huston title, \u201cThe Unforgiven\u201d which also starred Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Murphy also uniquely played himself in the wartime biopic \u201cTo Hell and Back\u201d, based upon his own autobiography of the same name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He appeared mainly in cowboy films for most of his career with an occasional diversion into non-Westerns such as the film noir \u201cWorld in My Corner\u201d and the comedy \u201cJoe Butterfly\u201d, released respectively in  1956 and 1957. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also took the lead in the romantic thriller \u201cThe Quiet American\u201d in 1958, an adaptation of the Graham Greene novel of the same name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t very well received and from then on, apart from the two non-Westerns \u201dBattle At Bloody Beach\u201d and \u201cTrunk from Cairo\u201d it was cowboy movies all the way for the rest of his career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his last film, \u201cA Time for Dying\u201d, Murphy took on the role of another famous outlaw, Jesse James, the movie also the swansong of veteran Western director Budd Boetticher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the right script and director, Audie Murphy showed enough screen potential to indicate he could have competed in the same league as other cowboy stars such as Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea but his untimely death in a plane crash in May 1971 at the age of 45 put paid to the realisation of that potential. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, and it is said his gravesite is the second-most visited after that of John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Western: \u201cNo Name on the Bullet\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry Fonda<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Fonda\u2019s screen career kicked off in 1935 with the comedy \u201cThe Farmers Takes a Wife\u201d and the following year he appeared in his first Western \u201cThe Trail of the Lonesome Pine\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the following year, Fonda could usually be found first or second in the cast list, mainly in comedies and melodramas, so it wasn\u2019t until 1938 that he appeared in another Western, the hugely successful \u201cJesse James\u201d with Tyrone Power in the title role with Fonda as his brother Frank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fonda\u2019s screen persona epitomised integrity, moral rectitude and all-round good citizenship in equal measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This came to the fore at the end of the 1930s when he took the lead role in three John Ford movies, \u201cYoung Mr. Lincoln\u201d, \u201cDrums Along the Mohawk\u201d and \u201cThe Grapes of Wrath\u201d, the last of which garnered him a Best Actor Nomination, the first of many accolades to come his way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1940 he reprised the role of the brother of Jesse James in \u201cThe Return of Frank James\u201d and then forsook the genre for a few more years before returning in the classic Western \u201cThe Ox-Bow Incident\u201d in 1943. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed by William Wellman, the film is a harrowing indictment of mob rule and vigilante justice that stays with the audience long after the film has finished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fonda plays Gil Carter who attempts to convince an out-of-control posse not to summarily hang three men accused of rustling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His reading of a last letter from one of the doomed men, all of whom turn out to be innocent, is one of Fonda\u2019s finest moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking time out from his acting career to enlist in the US Navy in 1943, Fonda returned to the screen in 1946 in what is probably his best Western role, that of Wyatt Earp in John Ford\u2019s masterful \u201cMy Darling Clementine\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fonda\u2019s understated study of a man forced to take up his guns against the men who murdered his brother shows the actor at his best and the fact that Sam Peckinpah considered it to be his favourite Western says it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fonda and Ford returned to the West in 1947 when the director cast him as the martinet Lt. Col. Own Thursday in \u201cFort Apache\u201d, the first of Ford\u2019s unofficial cavalry trilogy. This is also the film in which Fonda effectively handed over the baton of leading man in Ford movies to John Wayne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He retired from Hollywood between 1949 to 1955, returning to the screen after this period in yet another Ford movie, \u201cMr. Roberts\u201d, the actor reprising a role he had played successfully on Broadway for two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1957 Fonda played bounty hunter Morgan Hickman in \u201cThe Tin Star\u201d, directed by Anthony Mann, in which Hickman comes to the aid of a young inexperienced sheriff played by Anthony Perkins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He followed this up with a role that began to push the boundaries of his much-revered screen personality as a man of the people in \u201cWarlock\u201d, portraying a marshal of ill-repute up against a small-town sheriff, played by Richard Widmark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1958 he shattered the idea that major Hollywood stars ought not to appear on TV by taking on the role of Marshal Simon Fry in the television Western series \u201cThe Deputy\u201d. Most of the acting duties fell to his co-star Alan Case who actually played the deputy of the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fonda confined himself to the occasional narration at the beginning and end of each program, appearing in approximately only nineteen of the episodes throughout the two-year run of the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1960s found the actor appearing in big-budget epics including the star-studded \u201cHow the West Was Won\u201d, Fonda taking on one of the main roles in the film as grizzled buffalo hunter Jethro Stuart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then took on two roles in succession that challenged the audience’s perception of him as the perennial good guy by playing the villain in two back-to-back Westerns, \u201cFirecreek\u201d and \u201cOnce Upon A Time in the West\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n

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His portrayal of evil gunfighter Frank in the latter title caught filmgoers at the time by surprise, especially near the beginning of the film when he callously wipes out a family of three children and their father with nary a blink of an eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fonda said that he didn\u2019t realise what Sergio Leone was looking for until he saw the finished movie and realised the director had cast him because \u201che could imagine the audience saying \u2018Jesus Christ! It\u2019s Henry Fonda!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning a couple of late career Fonda cowboy movies including the 1970 release of \u201cThere Was A Crooked Man\u201d in which the actor, portraying a sheriff in pursuit of villain Paris Pitman, played by Kirk Douglas, turns out to be just as corrupt as the bad guys he\u2019s required to track down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s \u201cMy Name Is Nobody\u201d, a comedy spaghetti film released in 1973 in which the actor was reunited with Sergio Leone, who apparently co-directed some of the scenes. In 1979 Fonda played a cameo role as an old prospector in \u201cWanda Nevada\u201d, a modern-day Western directed by his son Peter and the only movie they both worked on together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fonda went out with a bang in his final movie \u201cOn Golden Pond\u201d, released in 1981. His performance as an ageing man coping with a fading memory finally won him a much-deserved Best Actor Oscar, his co-star Katherine Hepburn also winning for Best Actress.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Westerns: \u201cMy Darling Clementine\u201d, \u201cThe Ox-Bow Incident\u201d and \u201cOnce Upon A Time in the West\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Stewart<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Stewart starred in only one Western during the pre-war years, \u201cDestry Rides Again\u201d, released in 1939. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stewart was second in the cast to Marlene Dietrich who performed \u201cSee What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have\u201d in the film, a song that would be associated with for the rest of her life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1941 he put his career on hold to enlist in the US Air Corps and, after a distinguished record in WWII Stewart returned to the screen in the classic Frank Capra fantasy \u201cIt\u2019s A Wonderful Life\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1951 the actor teamed up with director Anthony Mann for a series of five Westerns<\/a>, the first of which was \u201cWinchester \u201873\u201d, a film that saw Stewart beginning to leave his pre-war stuttering \u201caw shucks ma,am\u201d persona behind and take on more psychologically complex characters, of which his role as the vengeful wanderer Lin MacAdams established a template for his screen performances over the next few years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stewart took on another cowboy role in the same year in the Delmer Daves Western \u201cBroken Arrow\u201d, generally considered to be one of the first major Hollywood Westerns to feature a more sympathetic attitude towards Native Americans, although the casting of Jewish actor Jeff Chandler as Apache chief Cochise diluted the message somewhat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1952 Stewart and Mann teamed up for a second time on \u201cBend in the River\u201d, in which the actor plays a man with a past who redeems himself whilst helping a wagon train of settlers navigate their way across hostile country to start ranching and farming in Oregon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both he and Mann then ramped up the hysteria to eleven with their next outing \u201cThe Naked Spur\u201d, Stewart portraying Howard Kemp, a lawman on the trail of an outlaw by the name of Ben Vandergroat, here played by Robert Ryan in laughing psycho killer mode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out, however, that Kemp is in fact a bounty hunter, out to capture Vandergroat dead or alive for a reward of $5000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the film progresses Stewart starts to come unhinged, in the process playing the closest he ever got in a major starring role as a villain. The screenplay, by Sam Rolfe and Harold Bloom, was deemed to be so good that it was nominated for an Academy Award, a very rare honour for a Western at that point in time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Far Country\u201d, released in In 1954, is probably the cheeriest of the Stewart \/ Mann Westerns and certainly the most spectacular in terms of location, shot in the mountain regions of Alberta, Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as in \u201cBend of the River\u201d, Stewart’s character finds acceptance and peace of mind by embracing community and domesticity. It\u2019s a worthy entry in this series of films but there\u2019s definitely a bit of soft peddling of Stewart\u2019s onscreen persona that on occasion makes this one of the more lightweight efforts so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stewart \/ Mann partnership definitely saved their best for last in terms of the Westerns they made together with \u201cThe Man from Laramie\u201d, a truly classic cowboy movie released in 1955 that rubs shoulders with other great Westerns such as \u201cShane\u201d, \u201dThe Searchers\u201d and \u201cThe Wild Bunch\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Stewart plays Will Lockhart, who Is ostensibly delivering goods and materials to the town of Coronado, but who is actually on an undercover mission to find out who has been selling weapons to the local Apache tribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, he encounters the resident psycho Dave Waggoman, played with evil relish by Alex Nicol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brutality being a constant theme throughout these five Westerns it\u2019s no surprise that the two best sequences revolve around the animosity between Lockhart and Waggoman, the first being when they punch it out after Lockhart\u2019s wagons have been set on fire and their second encounter when Waggoman has Lockhart shot through his gun hand at close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of movie scholars have suggested that the film has echoes of Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear which may or may not be true but there are definitely elements of tragedy, whether Greek or Shakespearean, underscoring the storyline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Westerns Stewart appeared in from then on were intermittent to say the least, the best of them being his turn as mild-mannered Eastern lawyer in John Ford\u2019s last classic oater \u201cThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance\u201d, released in 1962. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time the hard and darker edge that Stewart had honed in his initial post-war movies eventually faded away to be replaced by the folksy idealistic persona of his pre-war movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special mention should be given to his role as the God fearing patriarch in Andrew V. McLaglen\u2019s Civil War drama \u201cShenandoah\u201d, released in 1965 and \u201cFirecreek\u201d with Stewart as a part-time sheriff taking on a villainous outlaw played by his off-screen friend Henry Fonda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stewart\u2019s final appearance in a Western was in 1976 with a cameo role as the straight talking Doc Hosteler in John Wayne\u2019s last film \u201cThe Shootist\u2019, informing ageing gunfighter J.B. Books that his cancer is terminal. It was a fitting end to both Wayne and Stewart\u2019s cowboy film careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Westerns: \u201cThe Man from Laramie\u201d, \u201cWinchester \u201873\u201d and \u201cThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Top Ten Cowboy Stars Part 3 – Part III<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joel McCrea<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Beginning his film career in the silent era as a stuntman Joel McCrea didn\u2019t actually land a part in a Western until just over ten years later in 1937 with a starring role in \u201cWells Fargo\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCrea\u2019s star shone bright in the 1940s when he teamed up with director Preston Sturges in three movies, two of them outright classic comedies, \u201cSullivan\u2019s Travels\u201d and \u201cThe Palm Beach Story\u201d, but the Westerns still called from those faraway hills with the actor taking on the title role in \u201cBuffalo Bill\u201d in 1944. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1946 he appeared in \u201cThe Virginian\u201d a remake of two earlier versions of the film, one of which starred Gary Cooper in 1929. From then on, apart from two exceptions, it was cowboy films all the way for McCrea right up until the end of his career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actor went on to work with a number of notable directors including Raoul Walsh with whom he collaborated on a Western remake of the earlier Walsh gangster movie \u201cHigh Sierra\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original version starred Humphrey Bogart and McCrea, going against type, took on Bogart\u2019s role as the bad guy, playing outlaw Wes McQueen and dying in a hail of bullets at the end of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pious man in real life McCrea was at home playing a gun toting preacher in \u201cStars In My Crown\u201d, released in 1950 and the first of three Westerns he appeared in for director Jacques Tourneur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1955 he teamed up with Tourneur for the other two films, the first being \u201cStranger on Horseback\u201d based on a story by Louis L\u2019Amour with McCrea playing Judge Richard \u2018Rick\u2019 Thorne, a voiceover informing the audience that a \u201cUnited States circuit judge needed three things to bring justice to this country \u2013 a law book, a horse and a gun\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWichita\u201d, the third and final McCrea \/ Tourneur film has the actor taking on the role of Wyatt Earp, the story chronicling the famous lawman\u2019s efforts to tame the rowdy town of the title by enforcing a no guns policy on locals and outlaws alike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a lot of 1950s Westerns<\/a>, there\u2019s quite a nice little supporting cast to luxuriate in, including Jack Elam, Robert J. Wilke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a blink-and-miss cameo from a certain Sam Peckinpah as a bank teller. Other McCrea cowboy films of the late 1950s worth mentioning include \u201cThe Tall Stranger\u201d, another adaptation of a Louis L\u2019Amour story, and \u201cThe Gunfight at Dodge City\u201d with McCrea playing another real-life lawman, Bat Masterson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1959 McCrea took on the role of Marshal Mike Dunbar in the short-lived TV Western \u201cWichita Town\u201d which in turn had evolved from the \u201cWichita\u201d movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCrea co-produced the series which featured his son Jody as deputy Ben Matheson, the show running for only twenty-six half-hour episode\u2019s before being cancelled in April 1960. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1962 the actor appeared in what was to become one of his most memorable Westerns, starring alongside Randolph Scott in \u201cRide the High Country\u201d (aka \u201cGuns in the Afternoon\u201d), directed by Sam Peckinpah. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Set in the early 190ss and packed with Peckinpah stock actors including Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones and R.G. Armstrong, McCrea plays ex-lawman Steve Judd who reconnects with his old acquaintance Gil Westrum, played by Randolph Scott, and together they take on the job of transferring a large shipment of gold from a mining camp to the nearest town bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally things don\u2019t work out quite as planned causing the two men to find themselves on opposing sides when Westrum decides to keep the gold for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview he gave a few years before he passed away McCrea revealed he was originally slated to play Scott\u2019s role and vice versa. In the end they swapped parts, McCrea  taking on the role of Steve Judd, a man of conscience whilst Scott got to play the badddie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott\u2019s character was supposed to die at the end but according to McCrea it was Peckinpah\u2019s idea to have Steve Judd die instead, suggesting it would make a more powerful ending. No matter the outcome, \u201cRide the High Country\u201d is a wonderful tribute to both actors and a great swansong for Scott whose last film this was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCrea effectively retired at the same time although he played a few cameo roles in his later years, most notably in an extremely brutal revenge Western called \u201cCry Apache Death\u201d, in which his co-stars included son Jody as well as drummer and singer Don Henley of the Eagles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCrea\u2019s last film role was as a rancher by the name of Dan who befriends a runaway Native American boy in \u201cMustang Country\u201d, released in 1976 and co-starring Patrick Wayne and Robert Fuller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Westerns: \u201cStranger On Horseback\u201d and \u201cRide the High Country\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randolph Scott<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Hero to many including the residents of Rock Ridge in \u201cBlazing Saddles\u201d, Randolph Scott started his film career in 1928 just as silent movies were transitioning to sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His first part in a Western was as an uncredited extra in \u201cThe Virginian\u201d featuring Gary Cooper in the lead role. By 1932 Scott was top of the bill in the Western \u201cHeritage of the Desert\u201d which also happened to be the directorial debut of Henry Hathaway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott and Hathaway made a further six Westerns together, all based upon stories by Zane Grey, culminating in 1934 in \u201cThe Last Roundup\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although from this point on Scott occasionally took on non-cowboy roles in musicals (\u201cFollow the Fleet\u201d), dramas (\u201cShe\u201d) and Shirley Temple movies (\u201cRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm\u201d and \u201cSusannah of the Mounties\u201d), the actor was now firmly associated with the Western genre which he rode all the way through to the end of his career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually the nominal good guy he wasn\u2019t above portraying a bad\u2019un every now and then, playing a crooked gold commissioner in the 1942 version of \u201cThe Spoilers\u201d opposite John Wayne, he and Duke participating in a nearly three-and-a-half minute fistfight at the end of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notable directors that Scott worked with from the late 1940s \/ early 1950s onwards include John Sturges in the modern-day 1949 Western \u201cThe Walking Hills\u201d and director Andre DeToth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The director and Scott produced a series of six movies from 1951 to  1954 including \u201cMan in the Saddle\u201d, \u201cThe Stranger Wore A Gun\u201d, featuring Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine in supporting roles, as well as \u201cThe Bounty Hunter\u201d, also featuring Borgnine and Fess Parker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pinnacle of Scott\u2019s career began in 1956 when he appeared in the first of seven movies that came to be known as the Ranown cycle. According to film writer Richard Jameson \u201cThe <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Ranown cycle\u2019 is the designation critics have awarded a remarkable series of low-budget Westerns from the late Fifties, starring Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher: \u201cSeven Men from Now\u201d (1956), \u201cThe Tall T\u201d (1957), \u201dDecision at Sundown\u201d (1957), \u201cBuchanan Rides Alone\u201d (1958), \u201cRide  Lonesome\u201d (1959), \u201cWestbound\u201d (1959) and \u201cComanche Station\u201d (1960).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my money the standout film in the cycle has to be \u201cThe Tall T\u201d. In this one Scott, as rancher Pat Brennan, finds himself embroiled in the kidnapping of a wealthy woman, Doretta Mims (Maureen O\u2019Sullivan), and her husband. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The villain of the piece, Frank Usher, is played with evil relish by a pre-Paladin Richard Boone. Frank takes a liking to Brennan before Brennan finishes off his two cohorts, Billy Jack (Skip Homeier) and Chink (Henry Silva) before finishing Frank off as well, after which he walks off into the wilderness with the now widowed Doretta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The different characters Scott plays throughout the Ranown films is on occasion interchangeable from one film to the next yet there\u2019s an understated measured tone to Scott\u2019s performance in the series, as if he is the constant around which the action and the other characters revolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s as much an observer as he is a participant, ready with a pithy remark or a quick burst of action just to let the other protagonists know he\u2019s still in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to some sources Scott retired after appearing in the last Ranown film, \u201cComanche Station\u201d, but he wisely decided to hit the trail one last time alongside Joel McCrea in the early Sam Peckinpah classic \u201cRide the High Country\u201d, released in 1962. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As already mentioned previously Scott played against type in the role of villain Gil Westrum who spends most of his time throughout the film attempting to stab his old fried Steve Judd, played by McCrea, in the back and relieve him of a wagonload of gold. In the end they unite to finish off the bad guys, but it\u2019s Steve and not Westrum who expires at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a fitting full stop to Scott\u2019s film career, the actor most definitely going out on a high in what Peckinpah himself considered to be his first \u2018real\u2019 Western.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Westerns: \u201cThe Tall T\u201d and \u201cRide the High Country\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clint Eastwood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of all the cowboy stars mentioned so far Clint Eastwood appeared in the least number of Westerns<\/a> but the popularity of his cowboy films, as well as his TV stint as Rowdy Yates in \u201cRawhide\u201d still resonate with audiences to this day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to landing his breakthrough role in 1959 as ramrod Rowdy Yates Eastwood first appeared in a big screen Western as a cavalry lieutenant in \u201cThe First Travelling Saleslady\u201d, a comedy Western released in 1956 and starring Ginger Rogers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His screen career remained in the doldrums for a couple of more years before he won third billing in \u201cAmbush at Cimarron  Pass\u201d as a hot-headed Yankee hating ex-Confederate soldier by the name of Keith Williams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low-budget film didn\u2019t make much noise at the box-office with Eastwood himself later saying it was a \u2018lousy Western\u2019. Salvation arrived when \u201cRawhide\u201d propelled the still relatively unknown Eastwood to TV superstardom in a show that ran for a total of two-hundred and seventeen one hour episodes until its cancellation in December 1965. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point Eastwood was the lead character in the series after Eric Fleming was let go in a bid to halt a decline in the ratings. Unfortunately, Fleming\u2019s departure set the seal on the series and Eastwood only got to play trail boss for about thirteen episodes before \u201cRawhide\u201d was cancelled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time, however, Eastwood had already appeared in a little known Italian Western by the name of \u201cA Fistful of Dollars\u201d, which was filmed in Italy and Spain in 1964. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was back in the saddle for Sergio Leone as the Man With No Name in the sequel \u201cFor A Few Dollars More\u201d and in the following year he appeared in the final chapter of the Dollar trilogy, \u201cThe Good the Bad and the Ugly\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to a legal tangle between Leone and Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, who maintained that Leone had appropriated the story of Kurosawa\u2019s earlier Samurai movie \u201cYojimbo\u201d for \u201cA Fistful of Dollars\u201d, there was a delay in release dates for the Dollar films the two of them settled their differences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meant that \u201cA Fistful of Dollars\u201d was not released worldwide until 1967 with the sequel following hot on its heels later that same year. \u201cThe Good the Bad and the Ugly\u201d was then released to worldwide acclaim in 1968 by which time Eastwood was well on his way to becoming very famous indeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastwood\u2019s next Western was as Marshal Jedediah Cooper in \u201cHang \u2019Em High\u201d, charged by hanging judge Adam Fenton to bring in the men who tried to lynch Cooper at the beginning of the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing as on occasion Clint had expressed his admiration for \u201cThe Ox-Bow Incident\u201d, a 1940s Western dealing with the lynching of three innocent men accused of rustling, it comes as no surprise  to find himself playing a man who almost suffers the same fate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year the actor ill-advisedly appeared in the Western music \u201cPaint Your Wagon\u201d, opposite Lee Marvin, and the less said about it the better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having already established a partnership with director Don Siegel in 1968 when Eastwood appeared in the modern-day Western \u201cCoogan\u2019s Bluff\u201d, the two teamed up again a couple of years later for the Western \u201cTwo Mules for Sister Sarah\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heavily influenced by Clint\u2019s work with Sergio Leone, the movie even boasts a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, apparently this being the maestro\u2019s first complete score for a Hollywood film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things picked up in 1972 when Eastwood appeared in the John Sturges Western \u201cJoe Kidd\u201d, the actor playing an out-of-work bounty hunter turned town drunk who finds himself embroiled in a dispute between land-grabbing Frank Harlan, played by Robert Duvall, and a Mexican revolutionary, Luis Chama, played by John Saxon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harlan puts together a posse to hunt Chama down and offers Kidd a job, which he first declines before subsequently throwing his lot with the bad guys, the fuse is then set for a showdown between all parties concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same year Eastwood finally did what he had been hankering to do for a long time, taking up the directing reins on a Western of his own, \u201cHigh Plains Drifter\u201d. Playing a character known only as The Stranger, within a few minutes of riding into the town of Lago he off\u2019s three gunmen a la \u201cA Fistful of Dollars\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film then takes on a hint of the supernatural, the suggestion being that the Stranger has come to avenge the dead sheriff, who was whipped to death by the outlaws whilst the townspeople looked on. Or maybe the Stranger is the ghost of the dead sheriff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed by Eastwood and released in 1976, \u201cThe Outlaw Josey Wales\u201d is a post-Civil War Western and, in my humble opinion, his finest Western to date. As Wales, Clint is the complete opposite of the character he played in the Dollar trilogy.<\/p>\n\n\n

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He\u2019s a farmer, he\u2019s a family man, he loves, he loses, he cries, then before you know it he reverts to type by spitting chewing tobacco juice in all directions, killing, maiming and generally causing all kinds of trouble and mayhem, so you get the best of both worlds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be another nine years before Clint saddled up again with \u201cPale Rider\u201d in 1985. There\u2019s a slightly spooky air to the whole thing, what with Clint seemingly able to disappear into thin air as The Preacher whenever the mood takes him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film is highly reminiscent of \u201cShane\u201d with Clint and co-star Michal Moriarty as miner Hull Barret engaging in an Alan Ladd \/ Van Heflin tree-stump bonding exercise, only this time it\u2019s a boulder instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If \u201cUnforgiven\u201d, released in 1992, is Clint Eastwood\u2019s acting and directorial swansong to the Western, then he\u2019s going out with a real masterpiece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastwood surrounds himself with a whole raft of excellent character actors, most notably Gene Hackman as the no-nonsense sheriff \u201cLittle Bill\u201d Dagget, Richard Harris as notorious gunfighter English Bob and Morgan Freeman as doomed ex-gunfighter Ned Logan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaded gunfighter William Munny, played by Eastwood, teams up with Ned and a young upstarts by the name of the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvet) and ride off to the town of Big Whiskey in order to kill two men who have assaulted and mutilated a prostitute and, in the process, get themselves some much-needed cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things don\u2019t exactly go to plan, Munny and Daggett shooting it out after Daggett kills Ned and displays his corpse in the window of the local saloon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a brief exchange about seeing each other in hell, Munny blows Daggett\u2019s head off. With an ending like that there\u2019s no denying that this is a dark movie both in content and visual style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munny, Daggett, English Bob, Ned \u2013 they\u2019re all killers, and Munny, haunted by nightmares of the people he\u2019s murdered over the years, is the worst of the lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Westerns: \u201cThe Outlaw Josey Wales\u201d and \u201cThe Good the Bad and the Ugly\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS Check out the Mostly Westerns website if you\u2019re interested in our two-part article on Clint\u2019s Westerns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Western Movies of Clint Eastwood<\/a><\/blockquote>