Jump to content

List of films based on western fiction

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A list of films that are based on western fiction.

Geographically, this page encompasses the frontiers of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as Australia and South America.
At present, South Africa and Siberia are not included.

17th and 18th centuries

[edit]

Missionaries

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Black Robe 1991 Bruce Beresford Canada & Australia Black Robe Brian Moore 1985 Novel

Settlers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Penn of Pennsylvania 1942 Lance Comfort UK William Penn C. E. Vulliamy 1933[1] Biography

19th century

[edit]

(and the Edwardian age)

Unclassified

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
n Monte Walsh 1970 William A. Fraker USA Monte Walsh Jack Schaefer 1963 Novel
n Monte Walsh * 2003 Simon Wincer USA Monte Walsh Jack Schaefer 1963 Novel
n Shane[2] 1953 George Stevens USA Shane Jack Schaefer 1949 Novel
n The Searchers[3] 1956 John Ford USA The Searchers Alan Le May 1954 Novel
n The Avenging Texans Alan Le May 1954 Serial
n Warlock 1959 Edward Dmytryk USA Warlock Oakley Hall 1958 Novel
n Valdez Is Coming 1971 Edwin Sherin USA Valdez Is Coming Elmore Leonard 1970 Novel
n The Shootist 1976 Don Siegel USA The Shootist Glendon Swarthout 1975 Novel
n Stagecoach[4] 1939 John Ford USA "The Stage to Lordsburg" Ernest Haycox 1937 Story
n Red River[5] 1948 Howard Hawks USA "Chisholm Trail" Borden Chase 193? Story
n The Cowboys 1972 Mark Rydell USA The Cowboys William Dale Jennings 1971[1] Novel
n Shalako 1968 Edward Dmytryk USA Shalako Louis L'Amour 1962 Novel
n The Jack Bull * 1999 John Badham USA Michael Kohlhaas Heinrich von Kleist 1811 Novella
n Broken Lance 1954 Edward Dmytryk USA I'll Never Go There Any More Jerome Weidman 1941[1] Novel
n The Bravados 1958 Henry King USA The Bravados Frank O'Rourke 1957 Novel
n Breakheart Pass 1975 Tom Gries USA Breakheart Pass Alistair MacLean 1974 Novel
  • * television film.

Frequently filmed: Riders of the Purple Sage

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Riders of the Purple Sage 1931 Hamilton MacFadden USA Riders of the Purple Sage Zane Grey 1912 Novel

Bushrangers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Ned Kelly 2003 Gregor Jordan Australia Our Sunshine Robert Drewe 1991 Novel

Cavalrymen

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Hallelujah Trail 1965 John Sturges USA Hallelujah Train William Gulick 1963[1] Novel

Cowboys

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Four Faces West 1948 Alfred E. Green USA Pasó por aquí (?) Eugene Manlove Rhodes 193? Novel

Entertainers and mythmakers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type TV Date Country
1 Annie Get Your Gun 1950 George Sidney USA Annie Get Your Gun Herbert Fields & Dorothy Fields (book),
Irving Berlin (lyrics)		 1946 Musical - - -
2 Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson 1976 Robert Altman USA Indians Arthur Kopit 1969 Play - - -

Explorers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Far Horizons 1955 Rudolph Maté USA Sacajawea of the Shoshones Della Gould Emmons 1943[1] Novel
2 Passage † 2008 John Walker Canada Fatal Passage Ken McGoogan 2001 Non-fiction
  • † Dramatized documentary.

Forty-niners and goldseekers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Hanging Tree 1959 Delmer Daves & Karl Malden (uncredited) USA The Hanging Tree Dorothy M. Johnson 1957 Stories (?)

California Gold Rush

[edit]

1848–1855

Gauchos, charros y vaqueros

[edit]

Frequently filmed: Martín Fierro

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Nobleza gaucha 1915 Humberto Cairo, Ernesto Gunche,
Eduardo Martinez de la Pera		 Argentina Martín Fierro José Hernández 1872–1879 Poem
1 Santos Vega Rafael Obligado 188? Poem
2 Martín Fierro 1968 Leopoldo Torre Nilsson Argentina Martín Fierro José Hernández 1872–1879 Poem

Gunfighters

[edit]
Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
Open Range 2003 Kevin Costner USA The Open Range Men Lauran Paine 1990 Novel

Hunters

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Last Hunt 1956 Richard Brooks USA The Last Hunt Milton Lott 1954 Novel

Indians

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Broken Arrow 1950 Delmer Daves USA Blood Brother Elliott Arnold 1947[1] Novel
2 Ishi: The Last of His Tribe * 1978 Robert Ellis Miller USA Ishi in Two Worlds: a Biography
of the Last Wild Indian in North America		 Theodora Kroeber 1961[1] Biography
3 The Last of His Tribe * 1992 Harry Hook USA Ishi in Two Worlds: a Biography
of the Last Wild Indian in North America		 Theodora Kroeber 1961[6] Biography
  • * television film.

Frequently filmed: "A Man Called Horse"

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 A Man Called Horse 1970 Elliot Silverstein USA "A Man Called Horse (short story)"
from Indian Country		 Dorothy M. Johnson 1950–1968 Story

Lawmen

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 High Noon[3] 1952 Fred Zinnemann USA "The Tin Star" John W. Cunningham 1947 Story
2 Wild Bill 1995 Walter Hill USA Deadwood Peter Dexter 1986 Novel
2 Fathers and Sons Thomas Babe 1978 Play

Frequently filmed: Destry Rides Again

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Destry Rides Again[7] 1939 George Marshall USA Destry Rides Again "Max Brand" 1930[1] Novel

Lumberjacks

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954 Stanley Donen USA "The Sobbin' Women" Stephen Vincent Benét 195? Story

Missionaries

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Hawaii 1966 George Roy Hill USA Hawaii James Michener 1959 Novel

Mountain men

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Jeremiah Johnson 1972 Sydney Pollack USA Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson (uncredited) Raymond Thorp &
Robert Bunker		 1969[1]¤ Non-fiction
1 Mountain Man (uncredited) Vardis Fisher 1965 Novel

Mounties

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Clancy of the Mounted 1933 Ray Taylor USA "Clancy of the Mounted Police"
from Ballads of a Cheechako		 Robert W. Service 1909 Poem
2 Fighting Trooper 1934 Ray Taylor USA ? James Oliver Curwood 19?? Novel
3 Susannah of the Mounties 1939 William A. Seiter USA Susannah of the Mounties Muriel Denison 1936 Novel
n Jesuit Joe 1991 Olivier Austen France Jesuit Joe
Jésuite Joe		 Hugo Pratt 1980 Bande dessinée

Twice filmed: Tiger Rose

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Tiger Rose 1923 Sidney Franklin USA Tiger Rose Willard Mack & David Belasco 191? Play

Outlaws

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Great Train Robbery[5] 1903 Edwin S. Porter USA The Great Train Robbery Scott Marble 1896 Play
2 3:10 to Yuma 1957 Delmer Daves USA "Three-Ten to Yuma" Elmore Leonard 1953 Story
3 Catlow 1971 Sam Wanamaker USA Catlow Louis L'Amour 1963 Novel

Railroaders and railwaymen

[edit]

(The USA has railroads. Canada has railways, as did the rest of the British Empire.)

# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Union Pacific 1939 Cecil B. DeMille USA Trouble Shooter Ernest Haycox 1936 Novel
2 The National Dream * 1974 Eric Till & James Murray Canada The National Dream Pierre Berton 1970 Non-fiction
2 The Last Spike Pierre Berton 1971 Non-fiction
  • * TV miniseries.

Schoolmarms

[edit]

Frequently filmed: The Rainmaker

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Rainmaker ♠ 1956 Joseph Anthony USA The Rainmaker N. Richard Nash 1954 Play
  • ♠ A spinster smart enough to be a schoolmarm falls for a con man.

Sertanejos, cangaceiros e jagunços

[edit]

Settlers and sodbusters

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Cimarron 1931 Wesley Ruggles USA Cimarron Edna Ferber 1929 Novel

Outback

[edit]

("The Never-Never", "the back of beyond", "the back of Bourke")

# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 We of the Never Never 1982 Igor Auzins Australia We of the Never Never Mrs Aeneas Gunn 1908 Novel/Memoir

Sourdoughs and cheechakos

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Shooting of Dan McGrew 1924 Clarence G. Badger USA "The Shooting of Dan McGrew"
from The Songs of a Sourdough		 Robert W. Service 1907 Poem
2 The Trail of '98 1928 Clarence Brown USA The Trail of Ninety-Eight, A Northland Romance Robert W. Service 1910 Novel
3 Klondike Annie 1936 Raoul Walsh USA Frisco Kate Mae West 1930 Play (unproduced)
4 Jack London 1943 Alfred Santell USA The Book of Jack London Charmian London 1921 Biography
5 North to Alaska 1960 Henry Hathaway USA Birthday Gift Ladislas Fodor 195? Play

Stage drivers

[edit]

Teamsters and muleskinners

[edit]

Telegraphers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Western Union 1941 Fritz Lang USA Western Union Zane Grey 1939 Novel

Temperance crusaders and teetotallers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Hallelujah Trail 1965 John Sturges USA Hallelujah Train William Gulick 1963[1] Novel

Vigilantes

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Ox-Bow Incident[8] 1943 William A. Wellman USA The Ox-Bow Incident Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1940 Novel

Whalers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The White Dawn 1974 Philip Kaufman USA The White Dawn: An Eskimo Saga James Houston 1971 Novel

20th century

[edit]

Explorers

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Journals of Knud Rasmussen 2006 Zacharias Kunuk Canada & Denmark Across Arctic America: Narrative of the Fifth Thule Expedition Knud Rasmussen 1927 Memoir

Indians

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 Lost in the Barrens * 1990 Michael Scott Canada Lost in the Barrens[9][10] Farley Mowat 1956 Children's novel
  • * television film.

Individualists

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Mosquito Coast 1986 Peter Weir USA The Mosquito Coast[11] Paul Theroux 1982 Novel
2 At Play in the Fields of the Lord 1991 Hector Babenco USA At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen 1965 Novel

Missionaries

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 At Play in the Fields of the Lord 1991 Hector Babenco USA At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen 1965 Novel
2 The Other Side of Heaven 2001 Mitch Davis USA In the Eye of the Storm John H. Groberg 19?? Memoir

Prospectors

[edit]
# Film Date Director Country Source
work		 Author Date Type
1 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre[5] 1948 John Huston USA Der Schatz der Sierra Madre "B. Traven" 1927 Novel

References

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Publication details for this title have been confirmed by the catalogue of the US Library of Congress.
    Source: Library of Congress Online Catalog.
  2. ^ Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1993.
  3. ^ a b Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1989.
  4. ^ Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1995.
  5. ^ a b c Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1990.
  6. ^ "The Last of his Tribe". ahafilm. Archived from the original on 1 March 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  7. ^ Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1996.
  8. ^ Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1998.
  9. ^ Recipient of the Governor General's Award in 1956.
  10. ^ Recipient of the CLA Book of the Year Award in 1958.
  11. ^ Recipient of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981.

See also

[edit]
Pages with the same format


   Return to top of page.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_films_based_on_western_fiction&oldid=1238121618"