Favorite Western Films - A Photo Collection

Legends of Western Cinema Week is taking place right now and since we love westerns, it was very difficult to decide which film/actor to write about for the event. We'll be taking part by contributing western reviews of two favorites: Tribute to a Bad Man ( 1956 ) and Gun Glory ( 1956 ).....but, since these two films are only a tiny, tiny, tip of the wealth to be mined in the western genre, we wanted to cover a broader range of films. Hence, a photo collection! 

Below you will find some of our favorite classic western films which, if you are unfamiliar with the genre, will aid you in mapping your way around the terrain or at least introduce you to a few new titles. 

The Big Trail ( 1930 ) 

John Wayne, Tyrone Power Sr, Marguerite Churchill

Jesse James ( 1939 ) 

Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, Randolph Scott

Stagecoach ( 1939 ) 

John Wayne, Claire Trevor, John Carradine

Tall in the Saddle ( 1944 ) 

John Wayne, Ella Raines, Ward Bond

West of the Pecos ( 1945 )

Robert Mitchum, Barbara Hale, Thurston Hall

Canyon Passage ( 1946 )

Dana Andrews, Susan Hayward, Brian Donlevy

My Darling Clementine ( 1946 ) 

Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Walter Brennan

Angel and the Badman ( 1947 ) 

John Wayne, Gail Russell

Four Faces West ( 1948 )

Joel McCrea, Frances Dee, Charles Bickford

Broken Arrow ( 1950 )

James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget

The Outriders ( 1950 )

Joel McCrea, Arlene Dahl, Barry Sullivan

Rio Grande ( 1950 )

John Wayne, Victor MacLagen, Maureen O'Hara, Claude Jarmin Jr.

Rawhide ( 1951 ) 

Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Dean Jagger, Hugh Marlowe

Bend of the River ( 1952 )

James Stewart, Julie Adams, Rock Hudson, Arthur Kennedy

Hondo ( 1953 )

John Wayne, Geraldine Page, Ward Bond

The Man from the Alamo ( 1953 )

Glenn Ford, Julie Adams, Chill Wills

The Naked Spur ( 1953 )

James Stewart, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh

Shane ( 1953 )

Alan Ladd, Ven Heflin, Jean Arthur, Brandon deWilde

River of No Return ( 1954 ) 

Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Rory Calhoun

The Man from Laramie ( 1955 )

James Stewart, Cathy O'Donnell, Donald Crisp, Alex Nicol

The Tall Men ( 1955 ) 

Clark Gable, Robert Ryan, Jane Russell

Tribute to a Bad Man ( 1956 )

James Cagney, Don Dubbins, Irene Papas, Stephen McNally

Gun Glory ( 1957 ) 

Stewart Granger, Rhonda Fleming, Chill Wills

Cowboy ( 1958 )

Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, Dick York, Brian Donlevy

Fort Dobbs ( 1958 )

Clint Walker, Virginia Mayo, Richard Eyer

The Big Country ( 1958 ) 

Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Carroll Baker

How the West Was Won ( 1962 ) 

Debbie Reynolds, Gregory Peck, Robert Preston, Carroll Baker

Ride the High Country ( 1962 ) 

Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley

Lonely are the Brave ( 1962 )

Kirk Douglas, George Kennedy, Walter Matthau

Putting together this post made us realize that there are still hundreds of westerns for us yet to see ( and many more forgotten films from our past to revisit ), so it is certainly not complete! But that's the fun part about watching movies....there are so many films to explore. It's an endless form of entertainment! 

This post is our contribution to Legends of Western Cinema Week hosted by Along the Brandywine, Hamlette's Soliloquy and Meanwhile, in Rivendell. Be sure to stop by any of these blogs for a chance to win some western-themed prizes, participate in a tag, and read reviews of favorite westerns and western stars. 

The Magnificent Dope ( 1942 )

"There's fun to be had in Dope!"

This was not the original tagline for The Magnificent Dope ( the Hayes Code would have never approved of that one! ), but it could very well have worked for the film is indeed fraught with humor. 

Henry Fonda stars as Tad Page, a country yokel selected by Dwight Dawson ( Don Ameche ) and his marketing manager/fiancee ( Lynn Bari ) as the "Laziest Man in America" for their advertising campaign. Dawson heads up the Dwight Dawson Institute, a self-improvement school for success that is floundering for lack of new students and subscribers to their correspondence courses. Dawson and his fiancee hit upon the idea of holding a contest to find the most complete failure in the country with the purpose of demonstrating that if the laziest man in America can take the Dawson course and find success in life, you can too. Only the bumpkin they selected has no interest in taking the Dawson course.....but plenty of interest in Dawson's fiancee! 

The Magnificent Dope was a mild hit upon its release in July of 1942, but today it has been almost completely forgotten, in spite of its many amusing scenes. Had the film been under Frank Capra or George Steven's direction it may have become a memorable classic, but as it is, this Dope could have been made more magnificent. Namely, George Seaton's screenplay - from a story by Joseph Schrank - would have benefited from a subtler touch. 

Tad Page is a lazy country boy and his philosophy of enjoying life to its fullest should have been demonstrated rather than described. 

"I haven't any respect for a man who was born lazy; it took me a long time to get where I am"

In You Can't Take it With You ( 1938 ) the Sycamore family were good honest simple folk, living life the way they wanted and accepting others who lived life differently, but they never preached their lifestyle unto others. In The Magnificent Dope, Tad Page openly promotes his lazy way of living to every soul he meets, professing that it was a skill he spent years improving upon. At first, you assume that Tad and Dwight are two characters with opposite natures, but upon closer inspection they are very similar - they are both promoters. Dwight promotes hard work and a firm handshake as the ingredients to success, while Tad promotes plenty of rural inertia and fishing as the secrets to a happy life. However, the Green Mountain hayseed holds the upper hand when it comes to natural public speaking. In fact, the Dawson Institute could take a lesson or two from Tad on the power of persuasion!

"This dope," some one discovers, "isn't a failure. He's the happiest man in the world." 

However, he puts his happiness and his philosophy of life in jeopardy when he falls in love with Dawson's fiancee, proving that even the Laziest Man in America will work when the stakes are high enough. 

The premise of The Magnificent Dope is excellent and a strong leading and supporting cast ( Edward Everett Horton, George Barbier, Frank Orth ) make it an A-class picture, but its script and Walter Lang's direction reduce it to secondary fare. As Frank Capra once said, "If you want to send a message, try Western Union". For this film, subtlety would have been the key to success.