Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut is a soulful Western about the terribly inhumane southern border in the 2000s. The film revolves around the crime against an undocumented worker by a border agent and the friend, rancher Pete Perkins who seeks justice.
The film makes an effort to condemn racism and xenophobia, but not in a preachy way. Tommy Lee wouldn’t do that.
The Homesman (Tommy Lee Jones, 2014)
Tommy Lee Jones (who also directs) and Hilary Swank give incredible performances in this underrated Western about a woman named Mary Bee Cuddy escaping farm life to move to Iowa. She hires a low-life drifter to assist her and her female companions on the difficult journey.
The film follows the troubled characters on their picturesque but harsh journey across the Nebraska terrain. It's a beautiful film filled with psychological hardships.
Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
This drama follows a saloon owner and gunslinger turned guitar player who defies the unruly townsfolk led by Emma Small. The film features one of the most epic showdowns in history.
It starred Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Ernest Borgnine, and Scott Brady and was adapted from the Roy Chanslor novel.
True Grit (The Coen Brothers, 2010)
After The Coen Brothers' Oscar-winning sensation “No Country for Old Men,” they feared nothing, not even the Western classic, True Grit from the year 1969.
The successful remake revisits the 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) and the drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), and there the man committed the crime against her father.
3:10 to Yuma (James Mangold, 2007)
Another incredible remake, this time by James Mangold. This film, according to Roger Egbert, "restores the wounded heart of the Western." Steering away from senseless violence, the film still sticks to the original story of the infamous outlaw Ben Wade (played by Russell Crowe.)
Mangold succeeds in combing the old-school foundations with contemporary style.