| From the birth of motion pictures up until the | | | | story of two Civil War veterans who build a cattle |
| 1970s, Westerns were the most prevalent theme | | | | empire. |
| in cinema. In spite of this fact, Western themed | | | | The Sundowners (1950) – Robert Preston |
| movies have won only three Academy Awards | | | | (One nomination Best Supporting Actor) and Chill |
| for Best Picture. But classic Western movies | | | | Wills (one nomination Best Supporting Actor) star |
| feature many noteworthy performances by | | | | in this Western about two brothers. |
| actors, directors and screenwriters. | | | | High Lonesome (1950) – Produced and shot |
| The Western movie Cimarron won the Best | | | | back to back with The Sundowners, this movie |
| Picture award in 1931 but has been called one of | | | | stars Chill Wills (see above) |
| the worst films to win the award. Dances With | | | | Only the Valiant (1951) – This exciting |
| Wolves, Kevin Costner’s epic that featured | | | | Western about a group of misfits sent to defend |
| reverse stereotyping, won Best Picture in 1990, | | | | a cavalry outpost against Indian attack stars |
| and The Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood’s | | | | Gregory Peck, Five time Academy Award |
| anti-Western, won the Best Picture award in 1992. | | | | nominee and one time winner for Best Actor (To |
| Given the huge number of westerns made over | | | | Kill a Mockingbird – 1962). The screenplay was |
| the years, the tiny number of awards won by | | | | co-written by Harry Brown (two nominations for |
| films in this genre (exactly one Academy Award | | | | Best Screenplay, 1 win for A place in the Sun - |
| for Best Picture prior to 1990), have led many to | | | | 1951). Brown also wrote the screen play for |
| speculate about a bias in the Academy against | | | | Ocean’s Eleven (written in 1960). |
| Westerns. But the list of Westerns nominated for | | | | Vengeance Valley (1952) stars Burt Lancaster (4 |
| the Academy Award for Best Picture is quite a | | | | nominations for Best Actor, one win in 1960 for |
| bit more representative of the genre; Western | | | | the movie Elmer Gantry). Based on a novel by |
| movies received a total of 32 nominations during | | | | Luke Short, it recounts the story of two brother's |
| the 20th century. The list includes classics like | | | | feud over an inheritance and a woman. |
| Shane, High Noon, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance | | | | The Big Trees (1952) – Stars Kirk Douglas (3 |
| Kid, the Wild Bunch, The Alamo, and Stagecoach. | | | | Academy Award nominations). |
| But many great Westerns, like Red River, Rio | | | | The Kentucky Rifle (1956) stars Chill Wills (see |
| Bravo and The Searchers, widely recognized as | | | | The Sundowners above). |
| some of the best westerns ever made, were | | | | Bonanza – Silent Thunder - Directed by |
| completely ignored. | | | | Robert Altman (nominated 7 times for the |
| Given the poor performance of Westerns in the | | | | Academy award for Best Director – Mash, |
| academy awards, we have a bigger selection of | | | | Nashville, The Player, Gosford Park - and 2 times |
| noteworthy films if we look for Western films | | | | for Best Picture, Altman only received the |
| featuring performances by Academy Award | | | | Lifetime achievement award in 2006). Although |
| winners. The following Western films have fallen | | | | Altman is known for his films, he also directed |
| into the public domain and can be watched or | | | | many TV shows, including this episode of Bonanza |
| downloaded for free online: | | | | McClintock (1963) – John Wayne (4 |
| Fighting Caravans (1931) - Gary Cooper, five time | | | | nominations, one award for Best Actor – True |
| Academy Award nominee and two time winner | | | | Grit, 1969) stars in this Western comedy about a |
| for Best Actor (once for the Western High Noon), | | | | cattle baron, which also features Chill Wills (one |
| stars in this big budget Western, about a California | | | | nomination for best Supporting Actor also |
| bound wagon train. The movie also features Lili | | | | alongside Wayne, in “The Alamo”) and |
| Damita, the French born wife of actor Errol Flynn. | | | | Maureen O’Hara |
| The Outlaw (1941) – Jules Furthman (one | | | | The American West of John Ford (1971) – A |
| academy award nomination for Best Screenplay | | | | documentary on the career of the great Director, |
| – Mutiny on the Bounty) wrote the screenplay | | | | whose majority of work was in the Western film |
| and the great film director Howard Hawks was an | | | | genres. Ford won four academy awards, but |
| uncredited co-writer and director on this Howard | | | | never for a Western. John Wayne (1 Best |
| Hughes film about Billy the Kid. Howard Hawks | | | | Actor award), Peter Fonda (2 nominations) and |
| received one academy award nomination for Best | | | | James Stewart (5 nominations, 1 best actor |
| Director (Sergeant York and one the Lifetime | | | | award) narrate this documentary. |
| Achievement Award) | | | | This quick list of a dozen Western films with |
| American Empire (1942) - Richard Dix was | | | | Academy Award winning performances is just a |
| nominated as best actor for his role in Cimarron. | | | | compilation of those that have fallen into the |
| He stars beside Van Heflin (won the Academy | | | | public domain, and as a result can be watched for |
| award for Best Supporting actor – 1943), | | | | free on the internet. Have fun watching these |
| Montgomery Clift (4 Academy Award | | | | classic films, I’ll see you around at the |
| nominations, no wins) and Ronald Reagan (0 | | | | hitchin’ post. |
| nominations) in this excellent film that tells the | | | | |