The Naked Spur Director (1952, Anthony Mann)
Director Anthony Mann steers away from the typical Western terrain of arid deserts and tumbleweeds and sets up this tale in the foresty mountains of California. Here, Howard Kemp (Jimmy Stewart) plays a gloomy bounty hunter in desperate need of the reward on the head of an outlaw.
We can begin to see the seeds of the dark, brooding personality that cemented his career in Vertigo.
The Wild Bunch ( Sam Peckinpah,1969)
The film, which stars William Holden, Robert Ryan, and Ernest Borgnine, is known for being controversial for its time. These days, graphic violence is pretty much expected in certain types of films. But in the late ’60s, it was just starting to emerge.
Sam Peckinpah directed and co-wrote the revisionist movie, which was deemed as “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant,” by the U.S National Film Registry in 1999. Now, it’ll be forever preserved in the Library of Congress as such.
The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
Of all of the Western films that Wayne starred in, this one is known for being one of, if not his absolute best. It’s both influenced and made an appearance in several other films and television shows, including Martin Scorsese’s 1967 film, Who’s That Knocking at My Door, in which two of the characters have a conversation about it.
The film has high ratings on nearly every movie critic website, including Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert, and IMDb. Directed by John Ford, it follows Wayne, playing a Civil War veteran on the hunt for his abducted niece. Of course, he’s actually hunting her, not trying to rescue her, as one may assume.
My Name is Nobody (Tonino Valerii, 1973)
This Western comedy stars the brilliant Henry Fonda back in Leoneland. Trading in his villainous scowl for some respectable spectacles, the actor plays an aging gunfighter who just wants peace.
Unfortunately, he finds that he is cornered at just about every turn by young up-and-comers trying to prove themselves. There's one young upstart in particular named Nobody (Terrence Hill), and he is hell-bent on seeing the legendary gunfighter finally meet his demise.
The Hanging Tree (Delmer Daves, 1959)
The Hanging Tree features Gary Cooper as a righteous gunslinger and a bunch of morally questionable townsfolk. Similar to High Noon, the story at its core is about the indescribable bonds between people in a wretched world.
Maria Schnell, who plays a stagecoach victim of a robbery, is totally as captivating.