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Classic Western Movies – They enjoyed a resurgence in more recent days with great success

The western movie genre evokes cowboys and Indians in most people’s minds. However, the classic western movies are, simply put, much more than that, and there are many actors and actresses who have been involved in this wonderful and sometimes historic portrayal of the life and times of the American West.

Normally these types of movies would show dusty towns that would be inhabited by townspeople who are afraid of gunmen who would strike fear into them. There was almost always a scene being shot in the town hall and there was always at least one gunfight and usually more than that. It is a time of cattle and horseback riding and mountains and sagebrush.

Many of these movies were shot in real locations or at least in the real areas that would allow for the background of the Western cliché. Places like Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado were used especially for their western feel, and eastern California was popular for the types of desert filming that were needed. The entire front board, buildings that would just represent the facade, the cities would be built in the middle of nowhere for a lot of these movies and then torn down when they were finished. And, this was the standard norm.

And it wasn’t just movies that were shot in these places. For example, F-Troop was filmed entirely in New Mexico.

One location was the main backdrop for the movie “Stagecoach” and was in the four corners region that included Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico and is called Monument Valley. Coincidentally, “Cheyenne Autumn” was also filmed there.

The first western movie ever made is called “The Great Train Robbery” and it was a silent movie, but it’s still considered a classic considering it put the word western into the Hollywood vocabulary.
Then there are those westerns that were directed by Sergio Leone and would feature the relatively new Clint Eastwood. These were movies like “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, “Outlaw Josie Wales” and “A Fist Few of Dollars”. These are now considered the new classics.

John Wayne was considered one of the most prolific Western actors. “Rooster Cogburn” and “The Alamo” are just a few of the many westerns he’s done in his lifetime and he won an Oscar for Best Actor for “True Grit.”

These are just some of the actors who have starred or participated in the western film genre. There are many more who have also had their start in this wonderful type of movies.