Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

The 1940s

Westerns 

    I might have mentioned that I’m not a big fan of Westerns (see blog post of 6/12/16) and I think probably the best of the genre were made in the 1950s. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t iconic ones from the 40s. So here are my twenty picks in no particular order.

First, some Henry Fonda films:

My Darling Clementine (1946, John Ford)

Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, Victor Mature as Doc Holliday in the best film realization of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.

Ox-Bow Incident (1943, William A. Wellman)

With Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan.  Is this really a Western?  Haunting, tragic morality tale with moving performances especially from Dana Andrews.

Some John Wayne films:

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949, John Ford)

John Wayne  plays an aging cavalry captain in what is many people's favorite John Ford film. Winton C. Hoch won an Oscar for his Technicolor photography around Ford's favorite Monument Valley location.

Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward

Grant)

John Wayne is the badman. Gail Russell is the good woman and nurses his wounds. Guess what happens?

Red River (1948, Howard Hawks)

With John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, and Joanne Dru. I've written about this film before, that I admire Hawks' work, but that I find the generational conflict here contrived and Wayne's character unpleasant, but what do I know?

Tall in the Saddle (1944, Edward L. Marin)

With John Wayne, Ella Raines, Audrey Long.

More interesting than the usual Western plot, enlivened by good chemistry between Wayne and Raines as a tough rancher.  Audrey Long plays a rival love interest.

Three Godfathers (1948, John Ford)

With John Wayne, Pedro Armendarez, Harry Carey, Jr.

The Christmas parable in New Jerusalem, Arizona, as the three men devote themselves to a baby's survival.

And a Henry Fonda and John Wayne film:

Fort Apache (1948, John Ford)

Fonda playing against type as a glory seeking commander and John Wayne as the honorable veteran who opposes his betrayal of an agreement with an Indian tribe.

Two Gary Cooper films:

Unconquered (1947, Cecil B. DeMille)

With Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, Howard Da Silva, in technicolor.

She is a bondservant. He rescues her from Da Silva while fighting Indians in pre-Revolutionary America.

The Westerner (1940, William Wyler)

With Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Forrest Tucker.

Top-notch Western with Brennan as Judge Roy Bean, and one of Cooper's best performances.

Two Gregory Pecks:

Duel in the Sun (1946, King Vidor)

With Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones.

David O. Selznick tried to make a Western as big as Gone With the Wind.  So this is big -- visually, musically, and dramatically, way over the top.

Yellow Sky (1948, William Wellman)

With Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark.

Greed for gold divides a gang of outlaws in a tale elevated by strong performances by all.

One with Robert Mitchum:

Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh)

Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, and Dean Jagger.

The hero deals with childhood trauma and real enemies in a beautifully photographed, noir Western.

One with William Holden:

The Streets of Laredo (1949, Leslie Fenton)

William Holden, William Bendix, MacDonald Carey.

The lives of three bandits evolve onto different paths when one goes straight.

One with Robert Mitchum and William Holden:

Rachel and the Stranger (1948, Norman Foster)

William Holden, Robert Mitchum, and Loretta Young.

Widower, Holden, buys Young, a  bondservant, to help on his farm.  Then old friend, Mitchum, turns up.

The Mark of Zorro (1940,  Rouben Mamoulian)

With Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone.

Young aristocrat in 19th century Spanish California fights injustice behind a mask and the sign of the "Z". Good swashbuckler.

Northwest Passage  (1940, King Vidor)

With Spencer Tracy, Robert Young.

Rogers' Rangers fighting Indians in the French and Indian War.  Based on the novel by Kenneth Roberts, good-looking production filmed on location in actual forests.

  

They Died with Their Boots On (1941,  Raoul Walsh)

With Errol Flynn, Olivia deHaviland.

There was a General George Custer and there was a Battle of the Little Big Horn.  Otherwise almost everything else in this account of the General's career is wildly inaccurate, but entertaining.

Colorado Territory  (1949, Raoul Walsh)

With Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo.

A loose reworking of Walsh's earlier High Sierra.  The result being a kind of noir western with good performances by McCrea and Mayo.

The Outlaw (1943, Howard Hughes)

With Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell. Jack Buetel, and John Huston.

Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Doc Holliday are in the story that is an excuse for Howard Hughes to show off Jane Russell. A film made to be mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Jane Russell's poses make this awfully (and I do mean awfully) iconic.