James Garner, Sidney Poitier, Kevin Costner, and Robert Duvall are among the stars shining on Free Ad-Supported Television.
The name of the game is FAST — Fast Ad-Supported Television — if you don’t want to pay extra fees to watch fine westerns on TV. Here are five gems you can stream for free this weekend (or any time, really) on Tubi and Fawesome.
Duel at Diablo (1966)
Eager to avoid typecasting, James Garner avoided roles in westerns for years after he checked out of Maverick. When he finally did get back in the saddle, he was dead-serious as Jess Remsberg, a former Army scout in grim pursuit of the varmint who killed his Indian wife. Capably directed by Ralph Nelson (Lilies of the Field), Duel at Diablo costars Bill Travers (Born Free) as an ambitious cavalry lieutenant, Bibi
Andersson as a frontier woman who’s not entirely grateful for being freed from captivity by an Apache tribe, and Dennis Weaver (Gunsmoke, McCloud) as the woman’s less-than-supportive husband. But the real scene-stealer is Sidney Poitier, who comes off as the epitome of self-assured cool as a high-stakes gambler and seasoned horse-breaker who doesn’t aim to please. (Tubi)
Navajo Joe (1966)
Just a few months after unleashing his classic Django on the world, director Sergio Corbucci served up another enduringly popular Spaghetti Western, this one starring Burt Reynolds as a Navajo avenger on the trail of the outlaw gang that massacred his village. A personal favorite of Quentin Tarantino — who recycled part of the movie’s Ennio Morricore score for his own Kill Bill Vol. 2 — Navajo Joe often has been described as the most physically challenging role Reynolds ever played. Indeed, during one particularly exciting action sequence, Reynolds bulldogs a guy right off his horse, then rolls down the hill with him. “And the horse rolled with us, too,” Reynolds told C&I in 2016. “Yeah, that was a pretty amazing sequence, wasn’t it?” Laughing, Reynolds added: “But, you know, they never were very big on using stunt doubles in those Spaghetti Westerns.” (Fawesome)
Open Range (2003)
As grizzled cattle drivers who ride into danger while resting their herd near a small frontier town, Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall are a match made in western movie lovers’ heaven. Duvall is effortlessly authoritative as Boss Spearman, the peaceable senior partner in the enterprise, while Costner (who also served as director) shines as Charley Waite, a man with a history of violence. When they go up against a tyrannical rancher whose goons attacked two members of their small outfit, Waite warns his friend: “Once it starts, it’s gonna be messy like nothing you ever seen.” Not to worry, though: When the chips are down, Spearman’s aim is true. Like a boss. (Tubi)
Sabata (1970)
A violent Spaghetti Western spiced with dollops of dark comedy, Sabata showcases Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) in the title role as a gunfighter whose tricky weaponry and unfailing accuracy serve him well when he rides into a small Texas town. He’s the right man in the right place when he foils a bank robbery in Daugherty and dispatches the bandits. As it turns out, however, the robbery was masterminded by three seemingly upright citizens who want the cash to buy land that will greatly increase in value when the railroad comes through. When Sabata attempts to blackmail the conspirators, they in turn hire gunslingers to rid themselves of “the man with gunsight eyes” (as Van Cleef’s character was described in the movie’s original ad campaign). Chief among the newly employed: Banjo (William Berger), a formidable varmint who hides a modified Winchester in his ... well, his banjo. Fun fact: Sabata was popular enough to spawn several sequels, authorized and otherwise. (Tubi)
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
Originally conceived as a project for John Wayne and director John Ford, this Burt Kennedy-scripted, Gordon Douglas-directed western is a fanciful drama based loosely — very loosely, actually — on the real-life exploits of hunter-adventurer Luther “Yellowstone” Kelly. In this version of the mythos, Kelly (Clint Walker) is a reclusive trapper who just wants to be left alone to forage for quarry on Sioux land. But a bothersome young buck named Harper (Edward Byrnes) insists on becoming his apprentice. And a beautiful Arapaho woman named Wahleeah (Andrea Martin) captures his heart — greatly complicating Kelly’s relationship with a Sioux chief (John Russell of TV’s Lawman) who wants her for his own. At the time of the movie’s release, costar Byrnes was enormously popular as hip valet parking attendant “Kookie” Kookson in the Warner Bros. TV series 77 Sunset Strip. Thus, the advertising tagline read: “Clint’s back! And ‘Kookie’ is with him!” (Fawesome)
