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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Film Genres
  5. Westerns

Film Genres

This guide highlights library resources for some of the more popular film genres.
  • Introduction
  • Streaming services
  • Action films
  • Amateur films
  • Animation
    • Stop-motion animation
  • Animé
  • B movies
  • Biographical films
  • Blaxploitation films
  • Children's films
  • Comedies
  • Cult films
  • Crime films
    • Gangster films
  • Detective & mystery films
  • Documentary films
  • Ethnographic films
  • Experimental films
  • Exploitation films
  • Film noir
  • Historical films
  • Horror films
    • Slasher films
  • Independent films
  • Indigenous films
  • James Bond films
  • LGBTQIA+
  • Mockumentary films
  • Musicals
  • Newsreels This link opens in a new window
  • Police films
  • Religious films
    • Bible films
  • Road films
  • Science fiction
    • Star Trek films
    • Star Wars films
  • Science films
  • Shakespeare on film
  • Short films
  • Silent films
  • Sports films
  • Superhero films
  • War films
    • Anti-war films
  • Vampire films
  • Westerns
  • Zombie films

Film Studies Librarian

Profile Photo
Lucinda M. Hall
Email Me
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Social: LinkedIn Page LibraryThing Page
Subjects: Film and Media Studies, Geography, Polar Studies

Other library resource(s)

  • Resource logoJohn Ford from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Ross Schnioffsky, Richard Thompson
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    John Ford’s film career began with the earliest days of Hollywood silent filmmaking c. 1914 and continued until 1968, spanning the rise of the studio system, the coming of sound and color, the postwar restructuring of the studio system in the face of the antitrust decision, television, and rapid expansion of independent production. ...
  • John Wayne from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Ross Schnioffsky, Richard Thompson
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    John Wayne’s film career began in Hollywood silent films in the late 1920s and, in one sense, ended in 1976—a half-century later—with his last film, Don Siegel’s The Shootist (1976). Wayne died three years later, having become not only an actor, but also a film director and the head of his own production company. By then he had also become a major cultural figure, a carrier of myth, an icon of a certain Americanness, and this iconic status continues today; he and his work continue to be cited, commented upon, analyzed, and evaluated, as this article documents. He acted in different genres but became identified mainly with two: the Western (he spent the 1930s making quickie B Westerns) and, with the advent of World War II, military and quasi-military films.
  • Resource logoThe Searchers from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Gaylyn Studlar
    • On Campus or VPN
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    Since the 1970s, 'The Searchers,' directed by John Ford, has become one of the most discussed films of 1950s US cinema. A story of captivity and revenge set in post–Civil War Texas, 'The Searchers' is now regarded as one of the best films ever made, although it received mixed reviews upon its original release. The film’s artistic reputation did not rise until the early 1970s, buoyed by auteur critics like Andrew Sarris and Peter Bogdanovich and by film school–trained directors like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, who paid homage to 'The Searchers' in their own movies.

Western Film Societies

  • Western Film Fair
    • Link
    The Western Film Preservation Society is a nonprofit organization established for the purpose of preserving and promoting the memories and ideals of western movies and classic television.
  • Western Film Preservation Society, Raleigh, NC
    • Link
    “Keeping Western Movies Alive For Future Generations To Enjoy”

Find new books in the library's collections

Find new books on western films. Starting from 2022 to the present.

Defining the western

An enduring film genre with worldwide popularity whose classic setting is the period of the winning and settling of the US western frontier between around 1865 and 1890. Mixing history and archetype, stories are typically told from the standpoint of the settlers, with key themes including cattle drives and cowboys, the building of railroads, farmsteading, Indian wars, and the rule of the settlers’ law. The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, US, 1903) is widely, though not without dispute, credited as the earliest western. By the 1910s the cowboy picture was recognized by both exhibitors and audiences as a distinctive type of film, and in the US hundreds of ‘horse operas’ (among them Cecil B. DeMille’s The Squaw Man (1913)) were made during the silent cinema years. ...

Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). western. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 18 Aug. 2021

Finding library resources for westerns

To find westerns in the Library's collections, you can click on one of the subject headings below:

  • western films
    The call number range for Westerns is PN 1995.9 .W4 on Baker Level 4.
  • spaghetti westerns
  • west (u. s.) in motion pictures

Introductory reading(s)

  • Cover artHistorical dictionary of westerns in cinema by Paul Varner
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W4 V37 2008
    ISBN: 9780810855892
    When the earliest filmgoers watched The Great Train Robbery in 1903, many of them shrieked in terror at the very last clip when one of the outlaws turns directly toward the camera and fires a gun, seemingly, directly at the audience. The puff of smoke was sudden and it was hand colored so that it looked real. Today, we can look back at that primitive movie and see all the elements of what would evolve into the Western genre. Perhaps it is the Western's early origins--The Great Train Robbery was the first narrative, commercial movie--or its formulaic yet entertaining structure that has made the Western so popular. Whatever the case may be, with the recent success of films like 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the Western appears to be in no danger of disappearing. ...
  • Cover artStagecoach to Tombstone: the filmgoers' guide to the great westerns by Howard Hughes
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W4 H685 2008
    ISBN: 9781845115715
    This is the true story of the American West on film, through its shooting stars and the directors who shot them. Howard Hughes explores the Western, running from John Ford's Stagecoach to the revisionary Tombstone. Writing with panache and fresh insight, he explores 27 key films, and draws on production notes, cast and crew biographies, and the films' box-office success, to reveal their place in western history. He shows how through reinvention and resurrection, this genre continually postpones the big adios and avoids ending up in Boot Hill...permanently. ...
  • Cover artThe Old West in fact and film: history versus Hollywood by Jeremy Agnew
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W4 A52 2012
    ISBN: 9780786468881
    For many years, movie audiences have carried on a love affair with the American West, believing Westerns are escapist entertainment of the best kind, harkening back to the days of the frontier. This work compares the reality of the Old West to its portrayal in movies, taking an historical approach to its consideration of the cowboys, Indians, gunmen, lawmen and others who populated the Old West in real life and on the silver screen. ...
  • Cover artWesterns: aspects of a movie genre; and, Westerns revisited by Philip French
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W4 F7 2005
    ISBN: 9781857547474
    Publication Date: Expanded ed.
    The political, historical, and cultural forces that shaped the development of the Western film genre--especially the 30 years after World War II--are explored in this book. Addressing the treatment of Native Americans, African Americans, women, and children, the role of violence, the landscape, and poker playing, this cultural analysis advances the theory that most Westerns of those years can be put into four principal categories that reflect the styles and ideologies of the four leading politicians of that era: John F. Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Lyndon Johnson, and William F. Buckley. ...

Selected book titles

  • Cover artGunfight at the eco-corral: western cinema and the environment by Robin L. Murray; Joseph K. Heumann
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W4 M87 2012
    ISBN: 9780806142463
    Most film critics point to classic conflicts--good versus evil, right versus wrong, civilization versus savagery--as defining themes of the American Western. In this provocative examination of Westerns from Tumbleweeds (1925) to Rango (2011), Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann argue for a more expansive view that moves beyond traditional conflicts to encompass environmental themes and struggles. ...
  • Cover artImagined frontiers: contemporary America and beyond by Carl Abbott
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PS 169 .W4 A23 2015
    ISBN: 9780806148366
    We live near the edge--whether in a settlement at the core of the Rockies, a gated community tucked into the wilds of the Santa Monica Mountains, a silicon culture emerging in the suburbs, or, in the future, homesteading on a terraformed Mars.
  • Cover ArtNative recognition: Indigenous cinema and the western by Joanna Hearne
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781438443997
    Offers a new interpretation of the century-long relationship between the Western film genre and Native American filmmaking. In Native Recognition, Joanna Hearne persuasively argues for the central role of Indigenous image-making in the history of American cinema. Across the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries, Indigenous peoples have been involved in cinema as performers, directors, writers, consultants, crews, and audiences, yet both the specificity and range of this Native participation have often been obscured by the on-screen, larger-than-life images of Indians in the Western. ...
  • Cover artThe philosophy of the western by Jennifer L. McMahon; ; B. Steve Csaki, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W4 P485 2010
    ISBN: 9780813125916
    The western is arguably the most iconic and influential genre in American cinema. The solitude of the lone rider, the loyalty of his horse, and the unspoken code of the West render the genre popular yet lead it to offer a view of America's history that is sometimes inaccurate. For many, the western embodies America and its values. In recent years, scholars had declared the western genre dead, but a steady resurgence of western themes in literature, film, and television has reestablished the genre as one of the most important. In The Philosophy of the Western, editors Jennifer L. McMahon and B. Steve Csaki examine philosophical themes in the western genre. Investigating subjects of nature, ethics, identity, gender, environmentalism, and animal rights, the essays draw from a wide range of westerns including the recent popular and critical successes Unforgiven (1992), All the Pretty Horses (2000), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), and No Country for Old Men (2007), as well as literature and television serials such as Deadwood. ...
  • Cover artWesterns and the trail of tradition: a year-by-year history, 1929-1962 by Barrie Hanfling
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W4 H355 2001
    ISBN: 9780786411252
    "Over the past century, the western has fluctuated in popularity. It stands today, to the dismay of many, at one of its lower points. If you want to know what glorious contributions the western made to mid-century American culture, this is the year-by-year book for you. Beginning in 1929 with the advent of talkies (In Old Arizona fascinated its audiences), the author discusses the cultural and industry trends, the directors, producers, studios and especially the stars, and how their personalities (and financial ups and downs) affected the way westerns were shot. ...

Finding scholarly articles & journals

Articles and other writings about westerns can be found in many publications. We don't have journals that look exclusively at westerns. However, you can use Film & Television Literature Index to find relevant articles.

  • Resource logoFilm & television literature index
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    This index covers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television. About half the journals and magazines are film periodicals and the other half cover film and television with some regularity. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
  • Resource logoThe web of science citation databases by ISI (Institute for Scientific Information)
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    The online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.

A Selected list of westerns

Find more westerns in the Library's collections.

  • Movie poster art3:10 to Yuma by James Mangold
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #6750
    Arizona in the late 1800s. Infamous outlaw Ben Wade and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans, struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the train that will take the killer to trial. On the trail, Evans and Wade, each from very different worlds, begin to earn each other's respect. But with Wade's outfit on their trail, and dangers at every turn, the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey toward each man's destiny.
  • Cover artAin't them bodies saints by David Lowery
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #16812
    ISBN: 9780788617423
    A traveling magician bringing his potions and mystical items with him is challenged by the Minister of Health, who believes the magician to be a charlatan.
  • Cover artChingachgook: die grosse Schlange = The great snake by Richard Groschopp
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #7699
    The film takes place in 1740. While the French colonists are using the Hurons to fulfill their war purposes, the Delaware are fighting on the side of the English troops. Only Chingachgook, a young Delaware, and his fair-skinned friend Deerslayer realize that the whites intend to expel and exterminate Indians altogether.
  • Movie poster artCity slickers by Ron Underwood
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #8995
    ISBN: 0783240953
    Three friends go on a cattle drive in order to quench their mid-life crises.
  • Movie poster artJubal by Delmer Daves
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #16457
    In this Shakespearean tale of jealousy and betrayal, a man who is an honorable itinerant cattleman, befriended and hired by a bighearted ranch owner despite his unwillingness to talk about his past. When the new hand becomes the target of the flirtatious attentions of the owner's bored wife and is entrusted by the boss with a foreman's responsibilities, his presence at the ranch starts to rankle his shifty fellow cowhand.
  • Cover artRango by Gore Verbinski
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #13988
    ISBN: 9781415758946
    Rango is a lizard who imagines himself an actor who literally breaks the fourth wall of his terrarium when the hatchback car in which he is riding swerves and sends him careening. Abandoned in the desert amid the shards of his former home, Rango makes his way to the nearby town of Dirt, which is experiencing a mysterious water shortage. The actor in Rango seizes the opportunity to invent a grandiloquent new image for himself, and as in many a Western, the stranger in town is suddenly promoted to the rank of sheriff. Along the way to solving the mystery of the vanishing water supply, he must survive highway crossings, giant hawks, an army of bat-riding prairie dogs, and a gun slinging rattlesnake.
  • Movie poster artTell them Willie Boy is here by Abraham Polonsky
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #10417
    A modern western classic based on the true story of a Pauite Indian named Willie Boy and his bride who become the objects of the last great Western manhunt after he kills her father in a "marriage by capture." As the pressure builds, the events explode in the tragic deaths of Lola and Willie and a turning point for Sheriff Cooper.
  • Cover artThe left handed gun by Arthur Penn
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #5351
    ISBN: 9781419842740
    His name: William Bonney. His legend: Billy the Kid, the fabled gunslinger. The West had never before seen the likes of this Brooklyn-born desperado, a troubled teen who wrote his name in blood on history's pages.
  • Cover artThe Rainmaker by Joseph Anthony
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #6697
    ISBN: 9781415712511
    Under the spell of a wandering charlatan named Starbuck, a lonely ranch girl blossoms into full womanhood.

Internet resource(s)

  • Best western short films from Short of the Week
    • Database
    • Link
  • Criterion
    The Shock of the Old: Seven Men from Now and the Ranown Cycle from Current
    • Link
    In the summer of 1956, when a taut, swift little B western called Seven Men from Now snuck into American movie houses, the long-lived film genre had begun to show its age, and its most popular stars were looking none too spry themselves. {Rafferty; 08/06/21} ...
  • Western films from filmsite
    • Link

Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

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