The golden age of Hollywood produced one classic after another, from Western gems like The Searchers to thrillers like The Maltese Falcon. When it comes to that era’s take on the great American frontier, directors like John Ford, John Sturges, and George Stevens invented everything great about the genre today. From character studies of gunslingers to epics that cover the settlement of the plains,
At a time when the Western is struggling for box office relevance, golden age movies offer an insight into the genre’s heyday, when they were the main source of adventure and action. As essential to American culture, history, and mythology as the Revolutionary War, these stories continue to be relevant explorations of everything from masculinity to social commentary. While there are plenty of enduring masterpieces, some of these classics have been forgotten by time.
3 Godfathers Is A Western Christmas Fairytale
3 Godfathers begins when a trio of bandits rides into a small desert town, only to flee from a posse when they rob its only bank. Along the way, they encounter a dying mother as she gives birth to her son, agreeing to adopt him and take him to safety. However, with an unstoppable lawman bearing down on them and a barren desert ahead, they gradually come to realize they may have to give up their lives for the boy.
An adaptation of Peter B. Kyne’s novel of the same name, John Ford’s 3 Godfathers is a Christmas adventure that turns the Nativity story into a Western fairytale. Ironically, the Fox animated retelling of the story, Ice Age, became the most famous version of the novel, leaving the ’48 film buried in history. Even many fans of classic cinema continue to overlook it, despite it having aged as well as other golden age festive stories like It’s A Wonderful Life.
Broken Arrow Shows the Horrors of Prejudice In the West
Broken Arrow centers around Tom Jeffords after his kindness towards an Apache child wins favor with the chief, Cochise. Fascinated by their culture, he learns their language, making him a valuable asset to those hoping to negotiate peace with the Indians. Despite his best intentions, he soon realizes just how fragile a compromise between both sides would be, facing hatred and violence from his own people for his new interest.
Anyone looking to discuss Broken Arrow today will be met with confusion from people eager to reminisce on the John Travolta action movie, rather than the Western. Despite being one of the best-written and most emotional stories of the ’50s, it would soon be overshadowed by a decade that produced one classic after another. More than that, some viewers at the time were reluctant to embrace as nuanced and revisionist a story as this, only compounding its future obscurity.
The Gunfighter Was the Predecessor to Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven
The Gunfighter follows the final days of an aged but legendary gunslinger, Jimmy Ringo, as a self-defense shooting forces him on the run. He makes his way to his old town, where he means to make peace with his estranged wife and son. However, with a price on his head and a notoriously violent past, he has to prove that he’s changed his ways before he can be accepted.
Four decades before Unforgiven, The Gunfighter was the perfect meditation on violence and the curse of the gunslinger, men doomed to wander the frontier looking over their shoulder. Just three years after its release, George Stevens’ Shane managed to overshadow it as the ultimate antihero character study, finding more appeal than Gregory Peck’s darker character.
Day of the Outlaw Is An Overlooked Redemption Story
Day of the Outlaw brings its audience to the small town of Bitters, Wyoming, where its founder, a violent cattleman named Blaise Starrett, is set against the locals. Resentful of just about everyone, his time as a menace to his neighbors comes to an end when a band of rogue soldiers ride into town. Taking the residents as prisoners, they inspire Blaise to find the little good left in his heart to do right by the townspeople.
Day of the Outlaw is a movie that sets out to redeem an otherwise hateful character, showing that even the most embittered people can find some good within them. A film perfect for fans of the likes of The Great Silence, it was ahead of its time in some ways, something that held it back from the same classic status as stories like Shane.
Bad Day at Black Rock Defined the Neo-Western Thriller
The 1950s saw the birth of the contemporary modern Western, a brand defined by translating the themes of the Old West into a more developed America. Chief among these was Bad Day At Black Rock, a thriller that follows the arrival of a mysterious one-armed man, Macreedy, to an isolated desert hamlet. When he begins asking about a man named Komoko, the locals become hostile, going so far as to try and murder him.
From the outset, John Sturges’ film created the genre mash-up’s blueprint, using the backdrop of a fading West to tell a story about xenophobia, purpose and conscience. Made for post-World War II Cold War-era America, it was as relevant a critique of past prejudices as it was a warning against the perpetual threat of mob rule and paranoia. Seven decades after its release, Bad Day At Black Rock is still one of the greatest Western crime stories ever made, even if most people under 50 have never heard of it.