Essential Female-Led Westerns
Taken from http://www.indiewire.com/2016/01/13-essential-female-led-westerns-86126/
List activity
531 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
30 titles
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyWalter HustonA firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon, but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsMichelle WilliamsBruce GreenwoodPaul DanoSettlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845 find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.
- DirectorBurt KennedyStarsRaquel WelchRobert CulpErnest BorgnineAfter she is raped and her husband murdered, a woman hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the use of a gun so she can get her revenge on the three outlaws responsible.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyBusby BerkeleyStarsBetty HuttonHoward KeelLouis CalhernThe story of the great sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who rose to fame while dealing with her love/professional rival, Frank Butler.
- DirectorPiero CristofaniLina WertmüllerStarsElsa MartinelliRobert WoodsGeorge EastmanAbused and dominated by men in her youth, Belle Starr now out-rides, out-smokes, out-shoots, and out-gambles them as she makes her way around the Old West, usually wearing male garb. One man who's her equal is Larry Blackie with whom she has an on-again/off-again relationship which is often argumentative and sometimes violent. Together they become involved in a robbery that goes awry. Belle must rescue Larry, and though he's grateful, he now wants to go his own way. However, he expresses the hope that someday they'll once more cross paths and then--who knows?
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsSharon StoneGene HackmanRussell CroweA female gunfighter returns to a frontier town where a dueling tournament is being held, which she enters in an effort to avenge her father's death.
- DirectorElliot SilversteinStarsJane FondaLee MarvinMichael CallanA young schoolteacher turns into an outlaw to avenge her murdered father.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsTommy Lee JonesCate BlanchettEvan Rachel WoodIn 1885 New Mexico, a frontier medicine woman forms an uneasy alliance with her estranged father when her daughter is kidnapped by an Apache brujo.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsDoris DayHoward KeelAllyn Ann McLerieThe story of Calamity Jane, her saloon, and her romance with Wild Bill Hickok.
- DirectorMaggie GreenwaldStarsSuzy AmisBo HopkinsIan McKellenAfter being thrown out of her home, a young woman decides to disguise herself as a man to survive the ruthless Wild West.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJoan CrawfordSterling HaydenMercedes McCambridgeAfter helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.
- DirectorTommy Lee JonesStarsTommy Lee JonesHilary SwankGrace GummerThree women who have been driven mad by pioneer life are to be transported across the country by covered wagon by the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy, who in turn employs low-life drifter George Briggs to assist her.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsAnne BancroftSue LyonMargaret LeightonIn 1935 China, seven dedicated missionary women try to protect themselves from the advances of a barbaric Mongolian warlord and his cut-throat gang of warriors.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsLoretta YoungDon AmecheKent TaylorHalf-Indian girl brought up in a wealthy household is loved by the son of the house against his family's wishes and loves another Indian employed by the household.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsMary PickfordHenry B. WalthallFrancis J. GrandonRamona is a little orphan of the great Spanish household of Moreno. Alessandro, the Indian, arrives at the Camulos ranch with his sheep-shearers, showing his first meeting with Ramona. There is at once a feeling of interest noticeable between them which ripens into love. This Senora Moreno, her foster mother, endeavors to crush, with poor success, until she forces a separation by exiling Alessandro from the ranch. He goes back to his native village to find the white men devastating the place and scattering his people. The Senora, meanwhile, has told Ramona that she herself has Indian blood, which induces her to renounce her present world and go to Alessandro. They are married and he finds still a little shelter left from the wreckage. Here they live until the whites again appear and drive them off, claiming the land. From place to place they journey, only to be driven further until finally death comes to Alessandro just as aid comes in the person of Felipe, the Senora's son, who takes Ramona back to Camulos.
- DirectorRoy RowlandStarsBarbara StanwyckFred MacMurrayWard BondA cattle herder turned rustler runs from a lynch mob and falls, again, for an ex-lover.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBob HopeRhonda FlemingWendell CoreyOutlaw T.J. "Jesse" James tries to kill insurance agent Milford Farnsworth, who has been mistaken for him in order to collect on a big policy.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsRobert TaylorRobert LoggiaJoan CaulfieldA rich landowner of Wyoming fights to prevent the Texas herds from trampling his rich meadows.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsGlenn FordShirley MacLaineLeslie NielsenA brash stranger and his sheep arrive in a small town, but not soon after, the townspeople decide they've seen enough of him.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsBurt LancasterAudrey HepburnAudie MurphyThe neighbors of a frontier family turn on them when it is suspected that their adopted daughter was stolen from the local Kiowa tribe.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsSophia LorenAnthony QuinnMargaret O'BrienStory of theatrical troupe that travels through the Old West.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsMarlene DietrichJames StewartMischa AuerDeputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsClark GableJane RussellRobert RyanTwo brothers discharged from the Confederate Army join a businessman for a cattle drive from Texas to Montana where they run into raiding Jayhawkers, angry Sioux, rough terrain and bad weather.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsDebbie ReynoldsSteve ForrestAndy GriffithIn 1911, a widow with two children leaves New York City for territorial Arizona and becomes a ranch hand and later gets herself elected sheriff. A gambler and a rancher become rivals for her affections.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsGene HackmanCandice BergenJames CoburnA pair of ex-Rough Riders, a former prostitute, a gunfighter, an aging cowboy and an English gentleman enter a 700-mile horse race through the Southwest desert in 1908.
- DirectorPaul MatthewsStarsAmanda DonohoeSteven BauerPaul JohanssonA gang of beautiful but deadly women unleashes vengeance upon the society that failed them, robbing banks and destroying everything in their path. A posse is sent after them, not knowing whom they are chasing nor the fate that will awaits.
- DirectorSeth MacFarlaneStarsSeth MacFarlaneCharlize TheronLiam NeesonAs a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his newly found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsBarbara StanwyckBarry SullivanDean JaggerShowdown in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S.Marshals, and Jessica Drummond, the iron-fist rancher who controls the territory.
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsMadeleine StoweMary Stuart MastersonAndie MacDowellFour prostitutes join together to travel the Old West.
- DirectorGavin O'ConnorStarsNatalie PortmanJoel EdgertonEwan McGregorA woman asks her ex-lover for help in order to save her outlaw husband from a gang out to kill him.