Instead of a dozen roses and a box of chocolates, how about a dozen romantic westerns and a bowl of popcorn?
We always enjoy a good western where love plays a central part. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here are a dozen screen stories where relationships rule the range. Be sure to watch for our April “Romancing the West” cover story with plenty more loved-up oaters, hitting newsstands February 27.
Angel and the Badman (1947). “When a famous gunfighter is saved by a beautiful woman …” So goes the original trailer to the movie in which rough character John Wayne plays the “badman,” to Gail Russell’s “angel.” When Quirt Evans falls in love with the peaceable Quaker woman, he renounces his old violent life but has to go for the gun when an old enemy reappears.
Image: Courtesy of Republic Pictures
>> Check out our 100 Best Westerns Ever Made.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). In Oregon Territory in 1850, a backwoodsman (Howard Keel) brings his new wife (Jane Powell) home to six unmarried brothers who will require a lot of socialization before they, too, can get hitched. Named by the American Film Institute as one of the best American musical films ever made, it features distinctive choreography (see especially the rousing barn-raising) and Keel and Powell doing their own singing.
Image: Courtesy of Loew’s Incorporated
McLintock! (1963). Loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, this western comedy sees cattle baron G.W. McLintock (John Wayne) trying to keep peace in the territory and eventually reconciling with the socialite wife who had left him (Maureen O’Hara) — but only after a very public (and poster-promoted) spanking.
Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970). Post Civil War, American mercenary Hogan (Clint Eastwood) saves supposed nun Sara (Shirley MacLaine) from bandits then teams up with her to help the Mexicans in their war against the French — to an Ennio Morricone score.
>> Check out our Clint Eastwood cover story.
Another Man, Another Chance (1977). In this French western shot mostly in English, separate tragedies befall both Jeanne (Genevieve Bujold) and animal doc David (James Caan), ultimately setting them up for a second chance at love with each other in small-town Wild West.
Days of Heaven (1978). On the occasion of the recent rerelease and restoration of Terrence Malick’s 1978 film after a 20-year disappearance, The Guardian gave Days of Heaven five stars and proclaimed it the director’s “early masterwork.” Young and gorgeous Sam Shepard and Richard Gere, everything seemingly shot during the golden hour, expansive landscapes meant to be the Texas Panhandle (but actually filmed in southern Alberta) — it’s all what one critic declared “transcendentally beautiful.” Set in 1916, the film follows a man, his girlfriend, and his sister fleeing Chicago for Texas to look for seasonal farmwork — and plot for ill-gotten wealth. As the logline sums it up, “A hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.” What could go wrong with such a plan? Plenty. A doomed-love melodrama presented in such visual splendor that it won the Oscar for cinematography, it’s a tragedy worth watching for much more than its beauty.
>> Check out our 2006 conversation with Sam Shepard.
The Man From Snowy River (1982). This Aussie western based on the Banjo Paterson poem of the same name stars Tom Burlinson as young cowboy Jim, who inherits his father’s ranch, meets skepticism about his ability to run it, falls in love with the daughter (Sigrid Thornton) of the rich local (Kirk Douglas, playing brothers in two roles), breaks horses, clears his name, and plans to return for what’s his — the horses, and, we are to understand, Jessica.
>> Check out our celebration of Kirk Douglas’ life and top westerns.
Tender Mercies (1983). This poignant story of redemptive love won Robert Duvall an Oscar for his performance as country singer Mac Sledge, a middle-aged alcoholic wreck who gets a new wife (Tess Harper) and a new lease on life after finally drying out, finding faith, getting over his “poison” ex, and reconciling with his estranged daughter (Ellen Barkin).
Images: Courtesy of Universal Pictures
>> Check out our seven favorite Robert Duvall westerns.
Far and Away (1992). Desperate Irish immigrants Joseph (Tom Cruise) and Shannon (Nicole Kidman) pose as brother and sister as they make their way to the New World and a hoped-for new life as a couple in Land Rush Oklahoma Territory.
Brokeback Mountain (2005). While herding sheep together in rugged Wyoming, rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) give in to their mutual desire on Brokeback Mountain and fall into what will become a long-lasting tortured relationship that will see them both married to women but desperately in love with each other.
Australia (2008). With World War II about to break out, Englishwoman Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) first travels to Australia to inspect a cattle ranch she inherited then embarks on an arduous and dangerous cattle drive with rough local “The Drover” (Hugh Jackman), falling for both him and Down Under in the process. And then there’s Faraway Downs (2023). Not exactly a director’s cut of Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, this six-part streamer is more of a remix and reimagining. Same stars, more stuff.
>> Check out our Hugh Jackman cover story.
Angel and the Badman (2009). Hallmark’s TV-movie remake of the 1947 film with John Wayne casts Lou Diamond Phillips, Luke Perry, and Deborah Kerr Ungar on the small screen.
>> Check out our Lou Diamond Phillips cover story.
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