List of films based on western fiction explained

A list of films that are based on western fiction.

Geographically, this page encompasses the frontiers of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as Australia and South America.
At present, South Africa and Siberia are not included.

17th and 18th centuries

Settlers

19th century

(and the Edwardian age)

Unclassified

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
n	Monte Walsh	1970	William A. Fraker	USA	Monte Walsh		1963	Novel
n	Monte Walsh *	2003	Simon Wincer	USA	Monte Walsh		1963	Novel
n	Shane^[1]	1953	George Stevens	USA	Shane		1949	Novel
n	The Searchers^[2]	1956	John Ford	USA	The Searchers		1954	Novel
n					The Avenging Texans		1954	Serial
n	Warlock	1959	Edward Dmytryk	USA	Warlock		1958	Novel
n	Valdez Is Coming	1971	Edwin Sherin	USA	Valdez Is Coming		1970	Novel
n	The Shootist	1976	Don Siegel	USA	The Shootist		1975	Novel
n	Stagecoach^[3]	1939	John Ford	USA	"The Stage to Lordsburg"		1937	Story
n	Red River^[4]	1948	Howard Hawks	USA	"Chisholm Trail"		193?	Story
n	The Cowboys	1972	Mark Rydell	USA	The Cowboys		1971	Novel
n	Shalako	1968		USA	Shalako		1962	Novel
n	The Jack Bull *	1999		USA	Michael Kohlhaas		1811	Novella
n	Broken Lance	1954	Edward Dmytryk	USA	I'll Never Go There Any More		1941	Novel
n	The Bravados	1958	Henry King	USA	The Bravados		1957	Novel
n	Breakheart Pass	1975	Tom Gries	USA	Breakheart Pass		1974	Novel

• * television film.

Frequently filmed: Riders of the Purple Sage

Entertainers and mythmakers

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type	TV	Date	Country
1	Annie Get Your Gun	1950	George Sidney	USA	Annie Get Your Gun	Herbert Fields & Dorothy Fields (book), Irving Berlin (lyrics)	1946	Musical	-	-	-
2	Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson	1976	Robert Altman	USA	Indians		1969	Play	-	-	-

Explorers

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	The Far Horizons	1955	Rudolph Maté	USA	Sacajawea of the Shoshones		1943	Novel
2	Passage †	2008		Canada	Fatal Passage		2001	Non-fiction

• † Dramatized documentary.

Forty-niners and goldseekers

California Gold Rush

1848–1855

Gauchos, charros y vaqueros

Frequently filmed: Martín Fierro

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	Nobleza gaucha	1915			Martín Fierro		1872–1879	Poem
1					Santos Vega		188?	Poem
2	Martín Fierro	1968			Martín Fierro		1872–1879	Poem

Indians

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	Broken Arrow	1950	Delmer Daves	USA	Blood Brother		1947	Novel
2	*	1978	Robert Ellis Miller	USA	Ishi in Two Worlds: a Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America		1961	Biography
3	The Last of His Tribe *	1992		USA	Ishi in Two Worlds: a Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America		1961^[5]	Biography

• * television film.

Frequently filmed: "A Man Called Horse"

Lawmen

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	High Noon	1952	Fred Zinnemann	USA	"The Tin Star"		1947	Story
2	Wild Bill	1995	Walter Hill	USA	Deadwood		1986	Novel
2					Fathers and Sons		1978	Play

Frequently filmed: Destry Rides Again

Mountain men

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	Jeremiah Johnson	1972	Sydney Pollack	USA	(uncredited)	Raymond Thorp &<br />Robert Bunker	1969^[7] ^¤	Non-fiction
1					Mountain Man (uncredited)		1965	Novel

Mounties

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	Clancy of the Mounted	1933	Ray Taylor	USA	"Clancy of the Mounted Police" from Ballads of a Cheechako		1909	Poem
2	Fighting Trooper	1934	Ray Taylor	USA	?		19??	Novel
3	Susannah of the Mounties	1939	William A. Seiter	USA	Susannah of the Mounties		1936	Novel
n	Jesuit Joe	1991	Olivier Austen	France	Jesuit Joe Jésuite Joe		1980	Bande dessinée

Twice filmed: Tiger Rose

Outlaws

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	The Great Train Robbery	1903	Edwin S. Porter	USA	The Great Train Robbery		1896	Play
2	3:10 to Yuma	1957	Delmer Daves	USA	"Three-Ten to Yuma"		1953	Story
3	Catlow	1971	Sam Wanamaker	USA	Catlow		1963	Novel

Railroaders and railwaymen

(The USA has railroads. Canada has railways, as did the rest of the British Empire.)

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	Union Pacific	1939	Cecil B. DeMille	USA	Trouble Shooter		1936	Novel
2	The National Dream *	1974	Eric Till & James Murray	Canada	The National Dream		1970	Non-fiction
2					The Last Spike		1971	Non-fiction

• * TV miniseries.

Schoolmarms

Frequently filmed: The Rainmaker

• ♠ A spinster smart enough to be a schoolmarm falls for a con man.

Settlers and sodbusters

Outback

("The Never-Never", "the back of beyond", "the back of Bourke")

Sourdoughs and cheechakos

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	The Shooting of Dan McGrew	1924	Clarence G. Badger	USA	"The Shooting of Dan McGrew" from The Songs of a Sourdough		1907	Poem
2	The Trail of '98	1928	Clarence Brown	USA	The Trail of Ninety-Eight, A Northland Romance		1910	Novel
3	Klondike Annie	1936	Raoul Walsh	USA	Frisco Kate		1930	Play (unproduced)
4	Jack London	1943	Alfred Santell	USA	The Book of Jack London		1921	Biography
5	North to Alaska	1960	Henry Hathaway	USA	Birthday Gift		195?	Play

Whalers

20th century

Indians

• * television film.

Individualists

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	The Mosquito Coast	1986		USA	The Mosquito Coast^[11]		1982	Novel
2	At Play in the Fields of the Lord	1991		USA	At Play in the Fields of the Lord		1965	Novel

Missionaries

	Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
1	At Play in the Fields of the Lord	1991		USA	At Play in the Fields of the Lord		1965	Novel
2	The Other Side of Heaven	2001		USA	In the Eye of the Storm		19??	Memoir

Prospectors

References

Notes

See also

Pages with the same format

• List of films based on arts books
• List of films based on civics books
• List of films based on crime books
• List of films based on film books
• List of films based on sports books
• List of films based on spy books
• List of films based on war books

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Notes and References

1. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1993.
2. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1989.
3. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1995.
4. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1990.
5. Web site: The Last of his Tribe. ahafilm. 11 December 2011. 1 March 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070301025117/http://www.ahafilm.info/movies/moviereviews.phtml?fid=6335. dead.
6. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1996.
7. Publication details for this title have been confirmed by the catalogue of the US Library of Congress.
   Source: Library of Congress Online Catalog.
8. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1998.
9. Recipient of the Governor General's Award in 1956.
10. Recipient of the CLA Book of the Year Award in 1958.
11. Recipient of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981.