Classic Westerns

William S. Hart, Barbara Bedford, Lucien Littlefield, J. Gordon Russell, Richard R. Neill, Jack Murphy, Lillian Leighton, Gertrude Claire, T.E. Duncan..

Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.

first played at the Stanford Theatre April 4, 1926; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

Tom Mix, Beatrice Burnham, Arthur Morrison, Seesel Ann Johnson, Warner Oland, Fred Kohler, Charles Newton, Joe Rickson, Mabel Ballin, Charles Le Moyne.

Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 1, 1925; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

J. Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson, Alan Hale, Ernest Torrence, Tully Marshall, Ethel Wales, Charles Ogle, Guy Oliver, Johnny Fox.

Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.

In 1923, Paramount and James Cruze asked people to volunteer treasured family wagons that had made the great trek. They came in hundreds for this spectacular recreation of what the pioneer journey west had been like.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power, Sr., David Rollins, Ward Bond, Helen Parrish, Ian Keith, Frederick Burton, Russ Powell, Charles Stevens.

Shot originally in 70 mm, here is the stride and the voice of John Wayne, recommended by John Ford to Raoul Walsh. The public didn't take to Wayne at first, but he would hang around. With so few theaters able to play the epic, it was overlooked.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 16, 1930; last played Apr 2009

George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Cyril Chadwick, Fred Kohler, Gladys Hulette, James Marcus, J. Farrell MacDonald, James Welch.

Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.

A mythologized tale of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, starting with the signing of legislation by Abraham Lincoln and ending with the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah.

John Ford weaves together the major narrative and historical elements that have become popularly accepted as essential truths about the role of railroads and the settling of the West.

One of the most influential and enduring movies of the 1920s.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 22, 2015; last played Nov 2015

Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, George Bancroft, Andy Devine, Berton Churchill, Louise Platt, John Carradine, Donald Meek, Tim Holt, Chris-Pin Martin.

During an Apache uprising, a stagecoach full of mixed souls makes a perilous trip to Lordsburg, New Mexico. This film's high reputation comes from its complex plot, inspired by de Maupassant's short story Boule de Suif.

After years in B-Westerns, John Wayne became an overnight star as the Ringo Kid in Hollywood's greatest Western.

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 8, 1939; last played Nov 2019

Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett, Barton MacLane, Alfonso Bedoya, A. Soto Rangel, Manuel Donde, Jose Torvay, Margarito Luna, Jacqueline Dalya, Bobby Blake, John Huston, Jack Holt.

Three prospectors seek gold in Mexico (shot mostly on location) but are doomed by greed and distrust of each other.

At this stage in his career Bogart was an established romantic star, but he was eager to make this picture with no love story and no happy ending. It turned out to be one of his very best.

"One of the strongest of all American movies." Pauline Kael

first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 1, 1948; last played Feb 2019

Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, Harry Morgan, Jane Darwell, Matt Briggs, Harry Davenport, Frank Conroy.

Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan drift into a lynching scene, where three innocent men are going to swing.

first played at the Stanford Theatre July 8, 1943; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald.

The story of the Earps, the Clantons, and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, with impressive performances by Fonda and Mature as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 3, 1946; last played Nov 2006

Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Herbert Marshall, Charles Bickford, Harry Carey, Joan Tetzel, Tilly Losch, Butterfly McQueen, Scott McKay, Otto Kruger, Sidney Blackmer, Charles Dingle.

The Legion of Decency deplored this delirious, erotic, Technicolor western, in which Jennifer Jones drives various men to frenzy. Critics called it "Lust in the Dust."

Gregory Peck, in an atypical role, is the smoldering villain who can't stay away from her. Their final. deadly encounter is one of the most flamboyant and notorious finales to a classic Hollywood movie.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 15, 1954; last played Jan 2010

Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger, Alan Hale, Harry Carey, Jr., John Rodney, Clifton Young, Ernest Severn, Charles Bates.

A story of family, vengeance and obscure memories that have to be settled. Robert Mitchum had his family shot down when he was a child. Then he was adopted. But now he can't stop wondering if all the fragments of his past fit together.

first played at the Stanford Theatre May 15, 1947; last played Aug 2017

Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Fred Stone, Doris Davenport, Forrest Tucker, Lillian Bond, Paul Hurst.

Judge Roy Bean rules the roost in a town named Langtry in Texas. He might hang Gary Cooper until Coop says he has a lock of hair cut from the sweet head of Lillie Langtry, the apple of Bean's eye. It's a battle of wits that ends in a theater.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 17, 1940; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond, Ben Cooper, Ernest Borgnine, John Carradine, Royal Dano.

One of the most celebrated and least explicable Westerns. It's a vehicle for Joan Crawford, by turns close to absurd and yet a camp original. But the hatred between Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge seems to come from life.

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 18, 1954; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Pedro Amendariz, Ward Bond, George O'Brien, Victor McLaglen, Dick Foran, Anna Lee, Irene Rich, Guy Kibbee.

In the time following the Civil War, an unbending martinet-like colonel (Henry Fonda) is sent to the outskirts of Arizona to command the cavalry at Fort Apache. His methods clash with those of his second-in-command (John Wayne).

The magnificence of Monument Valley is stunningly photographed in black and white. Shirley Temple is spunky and charming as the colonel's daughter.

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 27, 1948; last played May 2009

John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, George O'Brien, Arthur Shields.

John Wayne plays Captain Nathan Brittles, who has one last mission to perform before returning to civilian life: warfare with the Indians has begun again, and he must lead his troops on the trail. At the same time he has to escort the Major's wife (Mildred Natwick) and her daughter (Joanne Dru) out of the danger zone.

Winton C. Hoch won an Academy Award for his Technicolor photography on this film, which is considered by some to be the most beautiful Western ever made. In an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Ford said: "I like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. I tried to copy the Remington style there— you can't copy him one hundred percent— but at least I tried to get his color and movement." For many years this film was only available in inferior 16mm prints and videotapes that did not do justice to the subtle color effects that Ford and Hoch tried to achieve. We are showing a gorgeous color print from the UCLA Film Archive.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 18, 1949; last played Aug 2018

Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson, James Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, Rhys Williams, Spring Byington, James Millican, Bruce Cowling.

Robert Taylor is a Shoshone warrior who won the Congressional Medal of Honor. But when he comes home he finds that the rights of the Shoshone are being trampled on. A startling revisionist picture from MGM in 1950.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntyre, Charles Bronson, John Dehner, Monte Blue.

The story of an Apache warrior who refuses any state of surrender and insists on making his own solitary life.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan, Coleen Gray, Harry Carey, John Ireland, Noah Beery, Jr., Harry Carey, Jr.,Chief Yowlachie.

A stern cattleman and his adopted son clash during an epic cattle drive. Red River is not only a great Western, but a great film, and certainly one of Wayne's best performances. Not to be missed. This was Montgomery Clift's first film.

This classic Western has a marvelously evocative Western score by the Ukrainian composer Dimitri Tiomkin.

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 24, 1995; last played June 2012

John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell, Estelita Rodriguez, Harry Carey, Jr.. Claude Akins, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez.

Wonderful Howard Hawks film, about a sheriff charged with keeping a murderer in jail, while his prisoner's brother has other ideas. The only help the sheriff has are his two deputies: a drunk and a cranky old man. In the meantime, a young gunslinger and the arrival of a beautiful new girl (named Feathers) complicate things.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 20, 1959; last played June 2012

Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, Henry Hull, John Archer, James Mitchell, Morris Ankrum, Basil Ruysdael. Frank Puglia. Ian Wolfe.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 4, 1949; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

Rod Steiger, Sarita Montiel, Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker, Jay C. Flippen, Charles Bronson, Olive Carey, H.M. Wynant, Neyle Morrow, Frank De Kova.

O'Meara is Irish first, then a Confederate, and then a Sioux. Rod Steiger plays the emotional outcast in this harsh story of survival

first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 29, 1957; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Millard Mitchell, Charles Drake, John McIntire, Will Geer, Jay C. Flippen, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, John Alexander, Steve Brodie.

A man on a quest for vengeance wins a prize Winchester rifle in a shooting contest. In a series of episodes, the rifle passes through various hands.

The first western directed by Anthony Mann introduced a new, intense, complex, even ferocious Stewart. The Stewart-Mann partnership produced eight films, including five classic westerns.

first played at the Stanford Theatre July 23, 1950; last played June 2019

James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael, Will Geer, Arthur Hunnicutt, Jay Silverheels.

A former Civil War officer (Stewart) makes a sincere effort to understand the Indian point of view. He befriends an Apache chief and marries an Apache woman. When personal tragedy strikes, he learns from the wisdom and humanity of the chief.

The nearest thing to a "politically correct" western, which manages to succeed also in traditional terms.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 27, 1950; last played Aug 2008

Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon de Wilde, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson, Edgar Buchanan, Elisha Cook Jr.

The appeal of Shane as the magical stranger who comes riding by is seen and felt by the boy Joey. All beneath the splendor of the Grand Teton mountains.

first played at the Stanford Theatre July 29, 1953; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Karl Malden, Skip Homeier, Anthony Rosa, Verna Felton, Ellen Corby, Richard Jaeckel.

Jimmy Ringo never wanted to be a gunslinger, but he had this talent with a gun, and now he is a marked man who has come home to a wife and a son who does not know him.

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 16, 1950; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney, Henry Morgan.

Gary Cooper, the retired marshal scheduled to leave town with his new Quaker bride, does his lonely duty at high noon for the ungrateful town.

Tiomkin wrote the music for the title song High Noon (lyrics by Ned Washington), and his entire score is a musical development on this single theme.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 2, 1953; last played Aug 2022

Gary Cooper, Lee J. Cobb, Julie London, Arthur O'Connell, Jack Lord, John Dehner, Royal Dano, Robert Wilke.

Gary Cooper plays a reformed outlaw who has been living a peaceful life but is robbed and left miles from civilization, along with a dancehall girl and a gambler.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep. 19, 2007; last played Sep 2007

Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Charles Lane, Paul McAllister, E.J. Ratcliffe, Gary Cooper.

Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.

An eastern engineer (Colman) goes west to work on a desert irrigation project and falls in love with the daughter of one of the backers. His rival is a young cowboy, Abe Lee (Gary Cooper).

This is the (silent) film in which Gary Cooper was "discovered." It was made on location in Nevada and has impressive photography, complete with sandstorms and floods.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 6, 1991; last played Feb. 1991

Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cummings.

Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.

A woman kills her would-be rapist and must dispose of his body before her husband returns. She slowly goes mad as a howling sandstorm continues to uncover the body she has buried.

This is an extraordinary silent film, with an astonishingly compelling performance by Lillian Gish.

first played at the Stanford Theatre July 27, 1994; last played Aug 2012 4/09 7/94

Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Chester Conklin.

Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.

Only two hours (it might have been ten), yet Erich Von Stroheim's realistic adaptation of the Frank Norris novel McTeague is the definitive portrait of people in the West being driven mad by gold,with a unique climax in Death Valley.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 17, 1994; last played Aug. 1994

James Stewart, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Millard Mitchell.

Stewart relentlessly pursues a fugitive for the reward money.

Beautifully photographed in the Colorado Rockies, the film is noteworthy for the subtlety of the interaction between the characters, and especially the emotional drama of Stewart's inner struggle. Leonard Maltin calls this "one of the best westerns ever made."

first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 15, 1994; last played June 2019

James Stewart, Walter Brennan, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, John McIntire.

A cowboy brings his herd to sell in Alaska. After demonstrating his skill at looking after his own interests in a hostile world, he finally decides to take a stand for civilization.

The Canadian Rockies provide a striking background, overshadowing the human struggles.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 22, 1994; last played June 2019

John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, John Qualen, Henry Brandon, Antonio Moreno.

When a young girl is kidnapped by Indians, her uncle (Wayne) and adopted brother are determined to find her, no matter how long it takes. As the search stretches into years, it becomes apparent to her brother that Wayne intends to kill the girl when he finds her because she has become a squaw.

"A deeply emotional experience that is also grand entertainment" Baseline Movie Guide

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 6, 1956; last played Sep 2017

Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy, Lillian Gish, Charles Bickford, Doug McClure, John Saxon, Joseph Wiseman, Albert Salmi.

A white family has adopted or taken a Kiowa girl — but then the nation wants her back. And what does she feel? The least likely role for Audrey Hepburn. Until you see her.

first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 12, 1993; last played Mar. 1993

Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal, Venetia Stevenson, David Nelson, Nehemiah Persoff.

Winter on the prairie in a town called Bitters. There is a war shaping up between a rancher and a homesteader — a steady grievance on the frontier. The town is invaded by a band of renegade soldiers. Then it starts to snow.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Lloyd Nolan, Debra Paget, Russ Tamblyn, Constance Ford, Joe De Santis, Ainslie Pryor, Ralph Moody.

The most drastic massacre in the West was not of indigenous nations, it was the buffalo slaughter. Robert Taylor is a natural killer of the great animals, Stewart Granger is weary of the devastation. There were fifty million once.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Anne Francis, John Ericson, Russell Collins.

Highly praised, tense thriller with one-armed Spencer Tracy uncovering secrets in a deceptively quiet desert town. The climax, when it comes, is explosive amd unsettling.

"A very superior example of motion picture craftsmanship." Pauline Kael

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 15, 1991; last played Apr 2007

Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr, Leora Dana, Henry Jones, Richard Jaekel.

For payment, an impoverished rancher (Van Heflin) offers to put an outlaw on the train that will take him to Yuma prison. But it's touch and go, and it's hard not to have some admiration for Glenn Ford's cool prisoner.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva, Kathleen Gallant, Lee Van Cleef.

Gregory Peck has been wronged, his wife raped and killed. There are men in jail already who must have done it. But does he have the right guys in view, or can revenge lead anger astray?

first played at the Stanford Theatre July 18, 1958; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation

Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr, Edgar Buchanan, R.G. Armstrong, Jenie Jackson, James Drury, L.Q. Jones, John Anderson.

Just the second film by a newcomer, Sam Peckinpah, about two aging operators on what may be their last job. They are Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, put to the test of being successful and honest. And staying alive — always a tough act.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Pina Pellicer, Katy Jurado, Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson, Timothy Carey, Elisha Cook, Jr.

After robbing a bank, two bandits agree to part ways to avoid the law. One escapes with the loot, the other serves five years in prison. He eventually breaks out with plans to rob another bank — in the same town where his partner is now the sheriff.

Brando took over direction (his only directorial effort) from Stanley Kubrick when they disagreed over character interpretation.

first played at the Stanford Theatre June 14, 1961; last played Nov 2004

James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, Jeanette Nolan, John Qualen, Ken Murray, Woody Strode, Lee Van Cleef, Strother Martin, John Carradine.

The outlaw Liberty Valance fears only one man (John Wayne). A peaceful lawyer (Stewart) becomes a hero (and eventually a senator) as a result of killing the outlaw in a showdown in a dark street. But who really shot Liberty Valance? "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 25, 1962; last played June 2019

Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, James Best, Lee Van Cleef, James Coburn.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre

Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Arthur Hunnicutt, Skip Homeier, Henry Silva, John Hubbard, Robert Burton.

first showing at the Stanford Theatre