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- Clint Eastwood. Few actors have names as synonymous with a character archetype as Clint Eastwood. Eastwood's entire identity is so closely tied to his iconic western characters that he's a permanent fixation within the genre; it's even the name that Marty McFly takes as his own when he travels back in time to the Old West in "Back to the Future: Part III."
- John Wayne. John Wayne's decades-spanning career encapsulated the evolution of the Western genre, and Wayne's signature persona is tied to some of the most iconic western heroes in history.
- Gary Cooper. Gary Cooper was one of the most beloved stars of Old Hollywood, renowned for his warm presence and dramatic grace in bringing heroic characters to life.
- James Stewart. James Stewart is one of the greatest actors of all-time, and his screen roles aren't only defined by his work in Westerns. Stewart frequently appeared in romantic comedies, holiday favorites, and the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, but he delivered some of his most interesting and dynamic performances in classic westerns.
Oct 1, 2024 · From the iconic Clint Eastwood, whose name is practically synonymous with the genre, to the rebellious allure of Steve McQueen, these actors brought an authenticity and presence that defined their cowboy characters.
- Doc Holliday
- Sheriff Bullock
- The Man with No Name
- Django
- The Lady
- The Gunslinger
- Ethan Edwards
- Frank
- Hannie Caulder
- Woody
While the focus of the wildly popular Tombstone is certainly the Earp brothers and their participation in the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, it's Wyatt's closest friend that steals the spotlight in his silk paisley waistcoat, with his mother of pearl pistols and his rakish laissez-faire approach to frontier violence. He presents a specific s...
Luckily, the good people at HBO saw fit to bless Western fans with a Deadwood movie so that the quiet fury of Sheriff Bullock could rumble like a thunderstorm rolling across a prairie. As the sheriff-turned-carpenter-turned sheriff again, Bullock struggles to balance his yearning for a quiet life with his insatiable quest for justice in a boomtown ...
In Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, one of the most celebrated collections of Western movies ever made, the Man with No Name emerged as an almost mythical figure in Western cinema, a monosyllabic mercenary making his way on the frontier by taking the bloodiest jobs he could and using his wits to achieve the biggest payouts. Clint Eastwood made a nam...
From being a slave separated from his wife to becoming a formidable gunman striking fear in the hearts of slave owners all across the South, Django's trajectory as a tragic and heroic figure is both poignant and operatic. The scale of his quest is only rivaled by legends like Perseus and Odysseus, which gives his trials a mythological quality perfe...
Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead is full of swaggering cowboys looking to make a name for themselves, but one of them in particular fills out a duster and a gunbelt a little differently. Known simply as Ellen or "The Lady", she enters into a quick-draw competition in the hopes of getting close enough to kill the man who murdered her father. RELAT...
Westworld is a fascinating amalgamation of futurism, science fiction, horror, and Western nostalgia all focused on one man's desperate fight for survival in a theme park gone wild. Based on Michael Crichton's book of the same name (and the inspiration for both Jurassic Park and a later Westworld television series), the movie explores what happens w...
When his family gets attacked and his niece kidnapped, Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards mounts of a rescue mission to get her back. Filled with explosive gunfights, staggering scenery, and commanding performances, The Searchers is one of John Ford's Western masterpieces and a sterling example of the genre. The movie is propelled by John Wayne in one...
Few cinematic villains have had an introduction like Frank, the pale-eyed devil who emerges from the dust after blowing a boy's entire family away. Like Darth Vader striding through a smoke-filled corridor in Star Wars, he is the enigmatic Man in Black rising from the rubble of combat, callous to the chaos he has caused. RELATED: 10 Western Masterp...
In the movie that inspired Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Raquel Welch plays the title heroine Hannie Caulder who, after being raped and left for dead by her husband's murderers, seeks the help of a bounty hunter to teach her the skills necessary to get her revenge. Caulder isn't particularly gutsy to start, but her timid and awkward personality hi...
Over the last two decades, one cowboy in particular has stuck in the minds of adults and children alike: that lovable, flop-jointed cattle-rustler Woody. The hero of the endearing Toy Story franchise, Woody has been a part of the childhood of two generations at this point, proving that the pursuit of justice can go hand in hand with honoring friend...
- Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
- Stagecoach – John Wayne. There is arguably no western movie star more iconic than John Wayne. Wayne starred in conventional westerns like Red River, Rio Bravo, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, as well as darker, more subversive westerns like True Grit, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and The Searchers.
- A Fistful Of Dollars – Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood was already starring in the hit TV show Rawhide when Sergio Leone cast him as the gunslinging “Man with No Name” in his seminal 1964 spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars.
- The Ox-Bow Incident – Henry Fonda. Henry Fonda had played supporting roles in westerns like Jesse James and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine before his service in World War II, but he didn’t become a leading man until he returned from the war and starred as cowboy Gil Carter in William A. Wellman’s 1943 western The Ox-Bow Incident.
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – Lee Marvin. Before he started playing redeemable antiheroes like Walker in Point Blank and the Sergeant in The Big Red One, Lee Marvin was renowned for playing the heavy in crime films like The Big Heat and The Wild One early in his career.
- John Wayne. His name is almost synonymous to cowboy. You can even say that for some, his name is synonymous to America itself. For a lot of people from other countries, when they think of America, they think also of John Wayne.
- Clint Eastwood. The actor turned director, producer, and composer is probably the most successful Western actor of our generation. Eastwood has defied so many grounds; he’s a well-respected contributor to the film arts, and he’s also given us some of the best movies of all time.
- Gary Cooper. Cooper was there during the silent film era. He was also there during the golden age of classical Hollywood. But perhaps, Cooper was best during the high Western era.
- James Stewart. Most honored and most popular in film history–these are just some of the ways Hollywood describes James Stewart. A lot of Stewart’s films have gone on to become classics, and some of these include his Western works.
Jun 27, 2023 · John Wayne and Clint Eastwood weren't the only Hollywood stars who made the Western genre better, including Kevin Costner, Sidney Poiter, and others.
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After more than 70 low-budget westerns and adventures, mostly routine, Wayne's career was stuck in a rut until Ford cast him in Stagecoach (1939), the movie that made him a star. He appeared in nearly 250 movies, many of epic proportions.
