The Noir Western - 1946 - 1962
David Meuel has written an excellent book on the Noir Western, a sub genre that I particular enjoy. I highly recommend this book for any serious noir fan. Here are Meuel's 50 noir western classics as listed in the appendix.
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50 titles
- DirectorKing VidorOtto BrowerWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenGregory PeckBeautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaLinda DarnellVictor MatureAfter their cattle are stolen and their brother murdered, the Earp brothers have a score to settle with the Clanton family.I saw this classic John Ford western on TCM last week. My takeaway was how dark it was visually. I was surprised by this, never having to notice it before. The cast is very good as usual with a Ford vehicle. I especially enjoyed Walter Brennan and Linda Darnell in their roles. This is a film that I will watch again.
- DirectorHoward HawksArthur RossonStarsJohn WayneMontgomery CliftJoanne DruDunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.One of my all-time classic westerns from John Ford. The fight scene between Wayne and Clift is awesome.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsGlenn FordWilliam HoldenEllen DrewAt the end of the Civil War, two friends return home to Colorado and one of them has changed and is violent and erratic.Watched this movie on Monday 9/26/16. It tells the story of two close friends who return to Colorado as Conferate soliders. Glenn Ford, whom I have never seen perform as a crazed homicidal maniac is one friend while steady eddy William Holden is his close friend. Conflict abounds because of love interest and Ford's pentance for violence. Well worth a viewing.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsDick PowellJane GreerAgnes MooreheadAfter two U.S. cavalrymen transporting a gold shipment get killed, U.S. Army Intelligence investigator John Haven goes undercover to a mining and logging town to find the killers.I have a copy of this movie on DVD and watched it on 11/1/16. I love the cast of this western. Starring Dick Powell, it has classic noir actors such as Raymond Burr, Jane Geer and Agnes Moorehead. The plot involves undercover agents attempting to solve gold theft.
- DirectorS. Sylvan SimonGeorge MarshallStarsIda LupinoGlenn FordGig YoungFortune seeker Barry Storm stumbles onto some clues that may lead him to the fabulous Lost Dutchman Mine, but others have tried and been murdered.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsJames MillicanMary Beth HughesReed HadleyAn undercover army officer investigating the theft of army gold shipments takes a job as deputy in a small town that's being terrorized by what they believe is the ghost of a gambler who was wrongly convicted and hanged for those robberies.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsRobert SterlingGloria GrahameClaude Jarman Jr.Three escaped convicts, planning revenge, search for rancher Clay Phillips who, on the way to Sonora with a few horses, stops to help four saloon girls stranded by the roadside.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsRandolph ScottElla RainesWilliam BishopA group of treasure hunters search for a wagon load of gold, buried years before in Death Valley.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartShelley WintersDan DuryeaA cowboy's obsession with a stolen rifle leads to a bullet-ridden odyssey through the American West.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyWalter HustonA firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon, but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.I actually own this film and watched it on October 5th, 2016. This western is directed by Anthony Mann, one of my favorite directors, if not my favorite. It has an outstanding cast including Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston and Wendell Corey. I especially enjoy Corey and Stanwyck when they team up together in film noir movies.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerSusan HaywardHugh MarloweA stagecoach stop employee and a stranded woman traveller find themselves at the mercy of four desperate outlaws intent on robbing the next day's gold shipment.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsGlenn FordGene TierneyEthel BarrymoreIn 1871 a convict escapes, with other prisoners, to kill the man that framed him, but has second thoughts after meeting the man's beautiful future wife.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsMarlene DietrichArthur KennedyMel FerrerAfter the murder of his fiancée, a Wyoming ranch hand sets out to find her killer.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGary CooperGrace KellyThomas MitchellA town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsRock HudsonJulie AdamsMary CastleAfter being released from prison, former gun-fighter John Wesley Hardin hopes to have his autobiography published in order to rehabilitate his tarnished reputation.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartRock HudsonArthur KennedyWhen a town boss confiscates homesteaders' supplies after gold is discovered nearby, a tough cowboy risks his life to try and get it to them.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsBroderick CrawfordBarbara HaleJohnny StewartThe remnants of a massacred cavalry troop and ragtag group of stagecoach passengers fight for survival against fierce Comanches at a desert ruin.
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsAudie MurphySusan CabotDan DuryeaAfter his father and brother are murdered by a corrupt lawyer and sheriff duo, railroad surveyor Clay O'Mara plans his revenge, and is aided by former outlaw Whitey Kincade.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsGary CooperSusan HaywardRichard WidmarkA trio of American adventurers marooned in rural Mexico are recruited by a beautiful woman to rescue her husband trapped in a cave in Apache territory.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsRandolph ScottDolores DornMarie WindsorA bounty hunter, hired by Pinkerton, trails 3 unknown murderous train robbers to a town and finds a host of suspects.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJoan CrawfordSterling HaydenMercedes McCambridgeAfter helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartRuth RomanCorinne CalvetA self-minded adventurer locks horns with a crooked lawman while driving cattle to Dawson.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartArthur KennedyDonald CrispNewcomer Will Lockhart defies the local cattle baron and his sadistic son by working for one of his oldest rivals.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsRandolph ScottAngela LansburyWarner AndersonMarshal Calem Ware (Randolph Scott) must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town.