Western Classics

The longest (26-1/2 hours), most expensive ($25 million) and most complicated (four directors, five producers, five cinematographers, almost 100 speaking parts, several hundred extras) project made for television up to that time, Centennial was shown in two- and three-hour installments over a period of four months. An adaptation of James Michener's best-selling novel, it told the story of the settling of the American West by looking at the founding of the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, from the settling of the area in the late 18th century to the present. Emmy-nominated for film editing and art direction, it boasts of sterling performances from Richard Chamberlain as frontiersman Alexander McKeag, Robert Conrad as the French-Canadian trapper Pasquinel, and a surprisingly powerful performance from former football star Alex Karras as compassionate but iron-willed immigrant farmer Hans Brumbaugh. ~ Brian Gusse, Rovi

The first season of the "thinking man's Western," Have Gun, Will Travel begins as erudite gun-for-hire Paladin (Richard Boone) accepts 1,000 dollars to rescue a rancher's daughter from her outlaw lover (played by Jack Lord) in "Three Bells to Perdido." Charles Bronson guest stars as the title character in the next episode "The Outlaw," which, like several first season installments, was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, the son of veteran character actor Victor McLaglen -- who himself shows up in a later episode, "The O'Hare Story." Also contributing to the series' overall excellence this season is future Star Trek maven Gene Roddenberry, who penned such Have Gun, Will Travels as "The Great Mojave Chase," "The Yuma Treasure" and "The Hanging Cross." Other noteworthy season one episodes include "A Matter of Ethics," in which Paladin is hired to protect a condemned murderer from being lynched before he can be legally hanged; "Helen of Abajinian," which brings Paladin to an Armenian wine-making community in Southern California; "The Teacher," wherein Paladin strikes a blow for academic freedom in a backwater village; and "Hey Boy's Revenge," in which we see the Hotel Carlton's best bellboy in an entirely new light. Finally, attention must be paid to a couple of remarkably prescient episodes: "High Wire," which features a supporting appearance by John Dehner, who'd later play Paladin in the radio version of Have Gun, Will Travel; and "The Return of Dr. Thackeray," featuring Johnny Western, one year away from his weekly Have Gun gig as the singer of the closing credits "The Ballad of Paladin"," as a quick-tempered young gunslinger. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmed in panoramic Cinerama, this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic. Three legendary directors (Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall) combine their skills to tell the story of three families and their travels from the Erie Canal to California between 1839 and 1889. Spencer Tracy narrates the film, which cost an estimated 15 million dollars to complete. In the first segment, "The Rivers," pioneer Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden) sets out to settle in the West with his wife (Agnes Moorehead) and their four children. Along with other settlers and river pirates, they run into mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), who sells animal hides. The Prescotts try to raft down the Ohio River in a raft, but only daughters Lilith (Debbie Reynolds) and Eve (Carroll Baker) survive. Eve and Linus get married, while Lilith continues on. In the second segment, "The Plains," Lilith ends up singing in a saloon in St. Louis, but she really wants to head west in a wagon train led by Roger Morgan (Robert Preston). Along the way, she's accompanied by the roguish gambler Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck), who claims he can protect her. After he saves her life during an Indian attack, they get married and move to San Francisco. In the third segment, "The Civil War," Eve and Linus' son, Zeb (George Peppard), fights for the Union. After he's forced to kill his Confederate friend, he returns home and gives the family farm to his brother. In the fourth segment, "The Railroads," Zeb fights with his railroad boss (Richard Widmark), who wants to cut straight through Indian territory. Zeb's co-worker Jethro (Henry Fonda) refuses to cut through the land, so he quits and moves to the mountains. After the railway camp is destroyed, Zeb heads for the mountains to visit him. In the fifth segment, "The Outlaws," Lilith is an old widow traveling from California to Arizona to stay with her nephew Zeb on his ranch. However, he has to fight a gang of desperadoes first. How the West Was Won garnered three Oscars, for screenplay, film editing, and sound production. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Having ended its third season as America's top-rated TV series, Gunsmoke managed to retain that title throughout Season Four, not only because of its own innate excellence but also because of its unusually strong lead-in show on CBS' Saturday-night schedule, Have Gun: Will Travel. Even though the series' "adult western" trappings which had been regarded as daring and innovative back when it first aired in 1955 were now considered commonplace and even cliché-ridden, the show remained a viewer favorite even among non-western fans. Inevitably, however, a bit of friction had developed internally on Gunsmoke. Whereas during the series' first three seasons the leading actors were more than willing to follow the scripts as written, by the fall of 1958 those same actors--James Arness (Matt Dillon), Dennis Weaver (Chester), Milburn Stone (Doc), Amanda Blake)--were now full-fledged stars, and acted accordingly. Without going into further detail, we offer this rueful observation from series coproducer Charles Marquis Warren, as originally published in TV Guide: "It reached the point when I'd arrive on the set in the morning only to have Arness tell me that 'Matt Dillon wouldn't say a thing like that!' Everybody suddenly got to be a self-appointed authority." Small wonder that Warren was no longer associated with the series come Season Four, relinquishing the producing chores to his partners Norman McDonnell and John Meston. Having pretty much exhausted the scripts from the radio version of Gunsmoke (which was still running as of 1958), the series began featuring more and more "originals" during its fourth season, many of them penned by producer John Meston. Among the noteworthy actors making guest appearance this season are Martin Landau, Dan Blocker, Charles Bronson, Ross Martin, Warren Oates, Jack Elam and James Drury. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The made-for-television western The Sacketts combines the plotlines from two seperate Louis L'Amour novels, The Daybreakers and The Sacketts. In this film, the three Tennessee-raised Sackett brothers migrate to the West following the conclusion of the Civil War. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Although the TV Western craze of the late '50s was running out of gas by the early '60s, several of the best Westerns remained firmly entrenched on network television. One of these was the "thinking man's Western," Have Gun, Will Travel, which launched its fifth season on CBS in the fall of 1961. Back in the saddle is Richard Boone as mysterious, erudite gun-for-hire Paladin, whose fees were almost as high as his ethics. Also returning for occasional appearances is Kam Tong as Paladin's erstwhile valet Hey Boy, after a year's absence (necessitated when Kam Tong accepted a regular role on the short-lived adventure series The Garland Touch). The fifth season opener "The Vigil" offers a full-blooded villainous performance by a pre-stardom George Kennedy. Other noteworthy guest stars this season include Harry Carey Jr. (in the episode "The Revenger"), Charles Bronson (in "Ben Jalisco"), Hans Conried (playing a Don Quixote wannabe in "A Knight to Remember"), and William Conrad (portraying a lovable boozer in "The Man Who Struck Moonshine"). While Have Gun, Will Travel had dropped from the higher ratings rungs during its fifth season, the series still had a strong following, encouraging CBS to give it one final go-round during 1962-1963. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first "epic" western of the talkie era, The Big Trail is motivated by a hero's search for the murderer of his father. Twenty-three-year-old John Wayne, hitherto limited to bit parts, was thrust into the difficult leading role, a young mountaineer put in charge of a huge California-bound wagon train. Over the next several months, Wayne and his fellow pioneers face every imaginable hazard and disaster, from blistering desert heat to blinding snowstorms, negotiating steep cliffs, treacherous rivers, uncharted forests and other such natural obstacles. Meanwhile, Wayne's tentative romance with heroine Ruth Cameron (Marguerite Churchill) is continually thwarted by a charming but duplicitous gambler (Ian Keith), and all-around villain Red Flack (Tyrone Power Sr.) and his henchman Lopez (Charlie Stevens) ceaselessly plot to double-cross the other wagon-trainers for their own financial gain. The Big Trail was a box-office disappointment, a fact which some have attributed its expensive production methods. Each scene was lensed twice, once in 35-millimeter and then in the 65-mm "Fox Grandeur" wide-screen process. And then, each dialogue scene was filmed in French and German, with totally different casts. Even if Big Trail has been a big hit, it would have lost money thanks to the time-consuming shooting and reshooting of virtually every scene. Whatever the case, it was John Wayne who suffered most from the film's failure; instantly demoted to "B"-westerns, it took him nearly a decade to rebuild his stardom. Long believed lost, The Big Trail was made available for exhibition again in the early 1970s -- and in the 1990s the original widescreen version was at last restored for public view. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A historical drama about the relationship between a Civil War soldier and a band of Sioux Indians, Kevin Costner's directorial debut was also a surprisingly popular hit, considering its length, period setting, and often somber tone. The film opens on a particularly dark note, as melancholy Union lieutenant John W. Dunbar attempts to kill himself on a suicide mission, but instead becomes an unintentional hero. His actions lead to his reassignment to a remote post in remote South Dakota, where he encounters the Sioux. Attracted by the natural simplicity of their lifestyle, he chooses to leave his former life behind to join them, taking on the name Dances with Wolves. Soon, Dances with Wolves has become a welcome member of the tribe and fallen in love with a white woman who has been raised amongst the tribe. His peaceful existence is threatened, however, when Union soldiers arrive with designs on the Sioux land. Some detractors have criticized the film's depiction of the tribes as simplistic; such objections did not dissuade audiences or the Hollywood establishment, however, which awarded the film seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

A former friend betrays a legendary outlaw in Sam Peckinpah's final Western. Holed up in Fort Sumner with his gang between cattle rustlings, Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) ignores the advice of comrade-turned-lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) to escape to Mexico, and he winds up in jail in Lincoln, New Mexico. After Billy theatrically escapes, inspiring enigmatic Lincoln resident Alias (Bob Dylan) to join him, the governor (Jason Robards Jr.) and cattle baron Chisum (Barry Sullivan) requisition Garrett to form a posse and hunt him down. Rather than flee to Mexico when he can, Billy heads back to Fort Sumner, meeting his final destiny at the hands of his friend Pat, who, two decades later, is forced to face the consequences of his own Faustian pact with progress. With a script by Rudolph Wurlitzer, Peckinpah uses the historical basis of Billy's death to eulogize the West dreamily yet violently as it is desecrated by corrupt capitalists. Both Pat and Billy know that their time is passing, as surely as Garrett's posse knows that they are participating in a legend. Using familiar Western players like Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado, Peckinpah underscores the West's existence as a media myth, and he even appears himself as a coffin maker. Just as the bloodletting of Peckinpah's earlier The Wild Bunch (1969) invoked the Vietnam War, the casting of Kristofferson and Dylan alluded to the chaotic late '60s/early '70s present; the counterculture has little place in a corporate future. Also like The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett was truncated by its studio; the cuts did nothing to help its box office. Key scenes, particularly the framing story of Garrett's fate, have since been restored to the home-video version. In this director's cut, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid stands as one of Peckinpah's most beautiful and complex films, killing the Western myth even as he salutes it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Set in Texas during the late 1860s, Rio Bravo is a story of men (and women) and a town under siege. Presidio County Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) is holding Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), a worthless, drunken thug, for the murder of an unarmed man in a fight in a saloon -- the problem is that Joe is the brother of wealthy land baron Nathan Burdette (John Russell), who owns a big chunk of the county and can buy all the hired guns he doesn't already have working for him. Burdette's men cut the town off to prevent Chance from getting Joe into more secure surroundings, and then the hired guns come in, waiting around for their chance to break him out of jail. Chance has to wait for the United States marshal to show up, in six days, his only help from Stumpy (Walter Brennan), a toothless, cantankerous old deputy with a bad leg who guards the jail, and Dude (Dean Martin), his former deputy, who's spent the last two years stumbling around in a drunken stupor over a woman that left him. Chance's friend, trail boss Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond), arrives at the outset of the siege and tries to help, offering the services of himself and his drovers as deputies, which Chance turns down, saying they're not professionals and would be too worried about their families to be good at anything except being targets for Burdette's men; but Chance does try to enlist the services of Wheeler's newest employee, a callow-looking young gunman named Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), who politely turns him down, saying he prefers to mind his own business. In the midst of all of this tension, Feathers (Angie Dickinson), a dance hall entertainer, arrives in town and nearly gets locked up by Chance for cheating at cards, until he finds out that he was wrong and that she's not guilty -- this starts a verbal duel between the two of them that grows more sexually intense as the movie progresses and she finds herself in the middle of Chance's fight. Wheeler is murdered by one of Burgette's hired guns who is, in turn, killed by Dude in an intense confrontation in a saloon. Colorado throws in with Chance after his boss is killed and picks up some of the slack left by Dude, who isn't quite over his need for a drink or the shakes that come with trying to stop. Chance and Burdette keep raising the ante on each other, Chance, Dude, and Colorado killing enough of the rancher's men that he's got to double what he's paying to make it worth the risk, and the undertaker (Joseph Shimada) gets plenty of business from Burdette before the two sides arrive at a stalemate -- Burdette is holding Dude and will release him in exchange for Joe. This leads to the final, bloody confrontation between Chance and Burdette, where the wagons brought to town by the murdered Wheeler play an unexpected and essential role in tipping the balance. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In Sergio Leone's epic Western, shot partly in Monument Valley, a revenge story becomes an epic contemplation of the Western past. To get his hands on prime railroad land in Sweetwater, crippled railroad baron Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) hires killers, led by blue-eyed sadist Frank (Henry Fonda), who wipe out property owner Brett McBain (Frank Wolff) and his family. McBain's newly arrived bride, Jill (Claudia Cardinale), however, inherits it instead. Both outlaw Cheyenne (Jason Robards) and lethally mysterious Harmonica (Charles Bronson) take it upon themselves to look after Jill and thwart Frank's plans to seize her land. As alliances and betrayals mutate, it soon becomes clear that Harmonica wants to get Frank for another reason -- it has "something to do with death." As in his "Dollars" trilogy, Leone transforms the standard Western plot through the visual impact of widescreen landscapes and the figures therein. At its full length, Once Upon a Time in the West is Leone's operatic masterwork, worthy of its legend-making title. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

A high-energy action adventure based on legend rather than historical fact finds Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) desiring to retire from law enforcement. With brothers Virgil (Sam Elliot) and Morgan (Bill Paxton), he arrives in Tombstone, Arizona intending to build his fortune. He discovers that long-time friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) is there and that the town is run by a group of brutal outlaws called the Cowboys. Earp, frustrated with his laudanum-addicted wife, begins a romance with traveling stage actress Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany). Meanwhile, the Cowboys terrorize the citizens of Tombstone unchecked.

When the town marshal is killed by a Cowboy, Earp steps in to prevent a lynching by an angry mob. He also refuses to hand the killer over to his fellows, beginning the enmity between the Cowboys and the Earp brothers. Virgil, overcome with guilt at doing nothing to help the Tombstone citizens, accepts the position of town marshal. With Wyatt and Morgan as his deputies, and the help of Doc, Virgil attempts to arrest several Cowboys, resulting in the famous OK Corral shoot-out. The Cowboys take revenge by ambushing two of the brothers and injuring Virgil and killing Morgan. The Earps leave town, apparently cowed. Wyatt returns, wearing the badge of a U.S. marshal, vowing to destroy every last Cowboy. He hunts them mercilessly, until the leader, Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) challenges Wyatt to a duel. While not regarded as an artistic masterpiece, "Tombstone" is considered the best of director George P. Cosmatos' prolific films. The all-star cast (including Thomas Haden Church and Billy Bob Thornton in small roles) delivers solid performances. Both William A. Fraker's cinematography and Bruce Broughton's stirring musical score are expertly designed for dramatic effect. Blood is shown liberally in several key scenes, but seems intended to show that there is nothing glorious in Wyatt Earp's actions, only necessity. He and his deputies take on the symbolism of the horsemen of the apocalypse -- dispensing judgement, and the Biblical references form a symmetry at the beginning and end of the film.
~ Lucinda Ramsey, Rovi

The assistant to a railroad president battles an evil empire builder in this 13 chapter adventure serial produced by Henry MacRae for Universal. The Hartford Transcontinental Railroad is advancing the line through Hell's Gate Pass when the project is stalled by an attack of marauding Indians. The raid is organized by King Carter (Harry Woods), who considers the land to be his, and a renegade half-breed known as Snakeye (Charles Stevens). During the skirmish, the railroad president's daughter, Claire Hartford (Anne Nagel), is kidnapped, and it is up to Jeff Ramsay (Dick Foran), Hartford's assistant, and his friend Tex Houston (Tom Fadden) to recover the girl. The war over the railroad line continues for 12 additional chapters until Ramsay and Carter meet face to face at the battle of Black Hawk. The Carter gang is wiped out by Ramsay and his new friend, Jim Jackson (James Craig) and a peace treaty is signed with Chief War Eagle (Chief Yowlachie). A star of Warner Bros. music Westerns in the mid '30s, Dick Foran, whose uncanny resemblance to Howdy-Doody was apparently never a handicap, is perhaps best remembered for playing Bette Davis' young suitor in The Petrified Forest (1936) and for starring opposite Abbott & Costello in Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi