Kevin Costner and Gary Cooper are among the stars who will shine in the Western movie marathon.
To get viewers in the mood for the return of the cable network’s Billy the Kid on Sunday, MGM+ has programmed a passel of shoot-‘em-ups for a “Western Roundup” this Saturday, June 1. Among the titles on tap:
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968) — Henry Fonda (pictured above) never struck us as the bad-ass type, but in Sergio Leone’s operatic follow-up to his Dollars trilogy, he plays one of the most frighteningly cold-blooded hired guns ever. But will he be any match for Charles Bronson’s harmonica-playing revenger? (12 noon ET)
HIGH NOON (1952) — Gary Cooper received a richly deserved Academy Award for his performance as resolute lawman Will Kane, who finds himself forsaken by other townspeople when vengeful bad guys appear, in director Fred Zinnemann’s suspenseful western. (2:50 pm ET)
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) — Based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), director John Sturges’ movie about seven hired guns who defend a Mexican village against bandit is, quite simply, one of the most entertaining and influential Westerns ever made. (4:15 pm ET)
DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) — Long before he saddled up for Horizon: An American Saga, actor Kevin Costner earned an Oscar for directing this epic Western, in which he plays John Dunbar, a suicidal Union Army officer befriended by the Lakota Sioux. (6:25 pm ET)
SURROUNDED (2023) — Five years following the Civil War, freedwoman and former Buffalo Soldier Moses “Mo” Washington (Letitia Wright) travels west, disguised as a man, to lay claim on a gold mine. During her journey, she’s forced to become allies with a notorious outlaw. (9:30 pm ET)
AMERICAN OUTLAWS (2001) — Jesse James (Colin Farrell) and Cole Younger (Scott Caan) lead their gang on a post-Civil War crime wave while Allen Pinkerton (former 007 Timothy Dalton) doggedly pursues them. (11:15 pm ET)
