1950s Movies To Watch
by Movie_Collector_Maniac | created - 27 Mar 2023 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicList of 1950s movies I have enjoyed
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Rear Window (1954)
PG | 112 min | Mystery, Thriller
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter
Votes: 522,242 | Gross: $36.76M
2. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Passed | 121 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft
Votes: 283,610 | Gross: $25.00M
3. Ben-Hur (1959)
G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama
After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet
Votes: 253,724 | Gross: $74.70M
4. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 233,366 | Gross: $44.91M
5. Rio Bravo (1959)
Passed | 141 min | Western
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson
Votes: 68,089 | Gross: $12.54M
6. Strangers on a Train (1951)
PG | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll
Votes: 141,053 | Gross: $7.63M
7. The Big Country (1958)
Passed | 166 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston
Votes: 21,132
8. East of Eden (1955)
PG | 118 min | Drama
Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives
Votes: 48,828
9. The Searchers (1956)
Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
An American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond
Votes: 96,328
10. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama
A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus
Votes: 97,983
11. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
Broke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr, Leora Dana
Votes: 21,656
12. Giant (1956)
G | 201 min | Drama, Western
Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker
Votes: 42,258
13. Winchester '73 (1950)
Passed | 92 min | Action, Drama, Western
A cowboy's obsession with a stolen rifle leads to a bullet-ridden odyssey through the American West.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally
Votes: 21,987
14. Bend of the River (1952)
Approved | 91 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
When a town boss confiscates homesteaders' supplies after gold is discovered nearby, a tough cowboy risks his life to try and get it to them.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams
Votes: 9,904
15. The Man from Laramie (1955)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Western
Newcomer Will Lockhart defies the local cattle baron and his sadistic son by working for one of his oldest rivals.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp, Cathy O'Donnell
Votes: 12,012
16. The Naked Spur (1953)
Passed | 91 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker
Votes: 12,666
17. The Tall T (1957)
Approved | 78 min | Western
An independent former ranch foreman is kidnapped along with an heiress, who is being held for ransom by trio of ruthless outlaws.
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Arthur Hunnicutt
Votes: 6,157
18. Broken Arrow (1950)
Approved | 93 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Tom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches in Arizona territory.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael
Votes: 9,685
19. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Approved | 91 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Showgirls Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw travel to Paris, pursued by a private detective hired by the suspicious father of Lorelei's fiancé, as well as a rich, enamored old man and many other doting admirers.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid
Votes: 43,036 | Gross: $12.00M
20. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Passed | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Western
Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet
Votes: 17,447 | Gross: $11.75M
21. Hondo (1953)
PG | 83 min | Drama, Romance, War
Army dispatch rider Hondo Lane discovers a woman and young son living in the midst of warring Apaches and becomes their protector.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: John Wayne, Geraldine Page, Ward Bond, Michael Pate
Votes: 12,421
22. The Horse Soldiers (1959)
Approved | 120 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1863, a Union outfit is sent behind Confederate lines in Mississippi to destroy enemy railroads but a captive southern belle and the unit's doctor cause frictions within ranks.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Judson Pratt
Votes: 11,656 | Gross: $1.75M
23. Jubal (1956)
Passed | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A new foreman rejects the sexual advances of a frustrated rancher's wife, which leads to conflicts that could get him killed.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger, Valerie French
Votes: 4,397
24. Rio Grande (1950)
Passed | 105 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A cavalry officer posted on the Rio Grande is confronted with murderous raiding Apaches, a son who's a risk-taking recruit and his wife from whom he has been separated for many years.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman Jr.
Votes: 17,676
25. The Bravados (1958)
Approved | 98 min | Drama, Western
A man is chasing four outlaws who killed his wife and finds them in a small town's jail, but they escape to Mexico.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi
Votes: 6,403
26. The Violent Men (1955)
Approved | 96 min | Western
A bitter land dispute causes a Civil War veteran to take extreme action.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Dianne Foster
Votes: 3,344
27. Broken Lance (1954)
Approved | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
The saga of the Devereaux rancher family, set in 1880's Arizona.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark
Votes: 4,308 | Gross: $8.28M
28. Rocky Mountain (1950)
Passed | 83 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In California during the Civil War, a Confederate patrol and a Union troop must set their differences aside in order to survive a Shoshone attack.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: Errol Flynn, Patrice Wymore, Scott Forbes, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams
Votes: 1,317
29. Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
Passed | 99 min | Drama, Romance, Western
During the Civil War, a group of Confederates escapes from the Union POW camp at Fort Bravo but has to contend with the desert, the Mescalero Apaches and the pursuing Union troops.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: William Holden, Eleanor Parker, John Forsythe, William Demarest
Votes: 3,141 | Gross: $1.45M
30. Hangman's Knot (1952)
Approved | 81 min | Western
A Confederate Major and his troops are falsely led to believe the Civil War is not over, and become wanted men after they attack a Union Army wagon train in Nevada.
Director: Roy Huggins | Stars: Randolph Scott, Donna Reed, Claude Jarman Jr., Frank Faylen
Votes: 1,757
31. The Hangman (1959)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Western
U.S. Marshal Bovard comes to a small border town to identify and arrest a fugitive, but the whole town seems determined to prevent the Marshal from doing his job.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Robert Taylor, Tina Louise, Fess Parker, Jack Lord
Votes: 1,170
32. The Left Handed Gun (1958)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Western
After his employer is murdered by rival cattlemen, a troubled and uneducated young cowboy vows revenge on the murderers.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Paul Newman, Lita Milan, John Dehner, Hurd Hatfield
Votes: 4,647
33. There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
Approved | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Molly and Terry Donahue, plus their three children, are The Five Donahues. Son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act begins to fall apart.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, Dan Dailey
Votes: 6,702
34. Gun the Man Down (1956)
Passed | 76 min | Western
Two bank robbers abandon their wounded partner to the posse and run with the loot but their partner, after serving time in prison, seeks revenge.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen | Stars: James Arness, Angie Dickinson, Robert J. Wilke, Emile Meyer
Votes: 783
35. Good Day for a Hanging (1959)
Passed | 85 min | Western
After claiming his daughter's childhood-sweetheart killed the marshal, one man finds himself in conflict with his daughter, his fiancée and many of the townsfolk.
Director: Nathan Juran | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Margaret Hayes, Robert Vaughn, Joan Blackman
Votes: 945
36. Love Me Tender (1956)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
At the end of the Civil War, a Confederate team is ordered to rob a Union payroll train but the war ends leaving these men with their Union loot, until the Feds come looking for it.
Director: Robert D. Webb | Stars: Richard Egan, Debra Paget, Elvis Presley, Robert Middleton
Votes: 4,713 | Gross: $4.50M
37. Apache Territory (1958)
Approved | 71 min | Action, Western
A no-nonsense drifter leads a ragtag collective surrounded by a deadly tribe of Apaches.
Director: Ray Nazarro | Stars: Rory Calhoun, Barbara Bates, John Dehner, Carolyn Craig
Votes: 634
Tell Your Friends