The Absolute Best Historically Accurate Westerns

November 10, 2017
   Contrary to popular belief, when it comes to authenticity in Westerns, Hollywood gets it right more often than they get credit for. That is the premise of a big feature we are preparing for an upcoming issue of True West magazine.

   Here is a sneak peek at some of the contenders:

Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid) and Big Nose Kate (Isabella Rossellini  ) in "Wyatt Earp" 1994

   Quaid is fantastic as a lunger and although Val Kilmer gets all the raves for his work in "Tombstone," Quaid captured the look of the emaciated Doc perfectly. Here's another photo from the set of "Wyatt Earp."

Dennis Quaid as "The Man In Gray"

   A few Westerns we are celebrating were small at the box office but played really big, at least to those of us who like and appreciate the authentic, nitty gritty Old West

Culpepper Cattle Co. 1971

   There are sleepers in our coverage, films that were so authentic looking, stills from the movie often end up in history books.

"The Covered Wagon" 1923

   One of the advantages to the older films, like "The Covered Wagon," above, is that the clothing, props and wagons were still around mere decades after the passing of the Old West and in many cases, still being used! I have seen the above photo and this next one, below, being passed off as historic photos, that's how good the authenticity is in these scenes.

"Brigham Young" 1940

"It doesn't matter how accurate a story is if you can't keep awake through it."

—Henry Parke 

  Another early film pulled out all the stops to create a sprawling Old West town in what turned out to be the largest Western town set in American film history.

"Cimarron" 1931

   Of course, the Western that I absolutely love on many levels is, in many ways, considered to be an odd one.

"McCabe & Mrs. Miller" 1971

   The authenticity of the town being built as the movie opens and progresses is quite authentic, with walls and roofs unfinished, and boards hanging out. I love it we see McCabe (Warren Beatty) sewing his shirt. Sewing! When is the last time you saw Gene, or Hoppy, or the Duke for that matter, sewing?! Then, in the main saloon people are talking over each other and you can see their breath! It's that cold. In fact, what I really love about "McCabe" is the weather, the snow, the freezing conditions and heavy overcoats. I think, for my money, it's the most authentic weather in a Western, ever!

Some Westerns get dinged for having bad hats and incorrect weapons for the times they are portraying, but then the geography is dead on.

"Shane" 1951

Some of the early Westerns don't get credit for trying to be authentic, but here is another film that tried to get it right. Great look, at least in this still photo:

"The Gunfighter" Gregory Peck

   And then there are Westerns that failed on so many levels but the look of one of the main actors is just about perfect:

"Wild Bill" Jeff Bridges

   Of course, we haven't even mentioned the film that our readers considered the most authentic of all, and, well, it's not a secret, but I think you know which one that is going to be. Here's a hint:

"Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say 'This is my community, and it is my responsibility to make it better.'"

—Studs Terkel