. Not the world’s greatest Western but Fred superb . . Not everyone thought Fred MacMurray the greatest Western star but, you know, in Quantez,

. OK if you like spaghetti . . Day of Anger (original title I giorni dell’ira) was a classic spaghetti western with Lee Van Cleef.

. Fred’s last and worst Western . . . Wagon trains are a staple of the Western book, movie and TV show, and pretty well

. Fred does what a man’s gotta do . . Fred MacMurray (left) never really liked Westerns. He once said, “The horse and I were

. Richard Boone awaits the rope . . John Agar (left) first appeared in Westerns for John Ford in Fort Apache in 1948, with his

. Bronson gets his first lead role . . Charles Bronson appeared in big-screen Westerns from 1954, getting small-to-middling parts in pictures such as Vera

. A good George Sherman Western . . Commenting recently on a post about Guy Madison’s first Western, Massacre River, reader Bart recommended The Hard Man,

  Second rate   Chuck Connors (left) was better known for his TV work, most notably of course The Rifleman, which ran for five seasons

  The Silver Fox     Jeff Arnold’s West has looked at the Western careers of some of the greatest film directors, artists such as

. Fred as tough marshal . . People of my generation, when they see Fred MacMurray, can’t help thinking of flubber. But in fact he

. Outstanding . . Dawn at Socorro, a Rory Calhoun Western of 1954, is a real corker, absolutely outstanding. . . If you like 50s

. The first Western of Calhoun and Madison . . You, dear e-reader, and indeed theater audiences in 1949 too, might have expected a cavalry

. No starring role for Trigger . . Roy Rogers usually appeared in his movies as the character Roy Rogers. But occasionally he impersonated famed

. Jack Nicholson rides again . . By the late 1970s the Western movie was in sharp decline. The biggest box-office hits of ’78 were

  The big one       Jeff Arnold’s West has reviewed hundreds of Westerns and done overviews of the Western careers of numerous actors.

. ‘Doing nothing well’ is my definition of a good actor . Glenn Ford was one of the greatest of all Western actors. He appeared

. Possibly the best of ’em . . OK, yes. I agree. I know I said that was enough John Wayne B-Westerns for a while.

. Burt blows his own horn . . That’s enough 1930s John Wayne B-Westerns for a bit. Like General MacArthur, though, I shall return. But

. Duke’s second Lone Star Western . Sagebrush Trail was the second of the series of sixteen oaters John Wayne made in the mid-1930s, coming

  Duke’s first Lone Star Western . On one level Riders of Destiny is just another John Wayne B-Western of the 1930s with little extra

  Duke’s first oater for Republic   Oh, I know I bang on endlessly about exclamation points. Both regular readers will know of the ALEPH,

  Duke’s first year at Republic   Lawless Range was the third Western John Wayne made for Republic in the first year of a long

  Duke goes through the motions . . During the 1930s John Wayne made a long series of B-Westerns: three pretty bad ones for Columbia

  Judge Goodnight rides again   The other day, when reviewing Angel and the Badman, the TV remake of the old John Wayne oater, I talked

  Sad, really   It is a truth universally to be recognized that James Garner was likeable. Everyone loves James Garner. Even your granny was

  OK, I guess   This TV movie is a remake of John Wayne’s Republic picture of 1947, of the same title. And it’s actually

  Another in the occasional series on the cattle barons of the old West     They called him Shanghai . .   “I am

  Robert Taylor did it right   Spangler Arlington Brugh, renamed Robert Taylor by MGM on his signing for them in 1934, was one of

  Routine   Only by stretching the definition of our noble genre almost to breaking point can we call this a Western. It was the

. Seriously classy . . My late lamented Pa always told me that Tom Mix was the greatest screen cowboy of them all, and you

  The best screen Tom Horn – and the best Al Sieber   Alan Bridger, a follower of this blog, read my plea about the

  The not quite so magnificent seven . . Now, before reviewing the new Magnificent Seven, I must declare an interest. You see the original

  Yawn   Forget it.  .   This Western features bad acting and bad writing. They match because the slurred modern urban diction of the

  The Westerns of John Ford   What follows is more of a personal essay on John Ford than a biography. If you want a

. Cheap . . By the end of the Second World War John Wayne’s star had risen, and he was well known, especially of course

  Ford only made it for the money (he said) . .   James Stewart is a corrupt and cynical but sympathetic Tascosa, Texas marshal in

  Low on credibility but a lot of fun   Charlie Siringo was a colorful character of the old West. I mentioned him  recently when

  Destry rides the first time   Western novelist and short-story writer Max Brand (1844 – 1922), pictured left, whose real name was the infinitely

. Bob Taylor’s last Western   Robert Taylor’s last big-screen Western was a very far cry from his first, nearly thirty years before, Stand Up and

  Arly’s first Western . . Robert Taylor’s first Western movie is generally thought to be Billy the Kid in 1941 but there is an earlier

. Lumbering ‘comedy’ . . Coming so soon after the studio’s splendid Westward the Women (1951), this labored frontier comedy with the same star, Robert Taylor,

. A great Western   Amusing, very skillfully directed, thoughtful, exciting, artfully photographed and with a strong cast, Westward the Women is a fine movie.

. Pretty weak . . The Raiders, no relation to Universal’s 1952 color outing of the same name set against the 1849 gold rush in

. The origin story . . Right after the Second World War we got the Ur-Trigger story. Republic showed us how the smartest horse in

. You’ll find it in the Clunker rack in DVD stores . OK, yes. In the 1950s all film stars had to climb into the

  For once, Jeff is neither an Indian nor an Army man   Regular readers of Jeff Arnold’s West, both of them, will be aware

  Low budget and it shows . . Chuka (pronounced with a short u, like the polo boot) is a man, one of those brave,

  Hank   That rangy walk, those steely blue eyes, that quiet drawl: Henry Fonda (left) was ideally suited to Westerns. Whether as Frank James,

  Funny if you find it funny . Comedy Westerns are OK if you get the joke. Some are hilarious to me (Blazing Saddles, Three

  Not the real Charlie Siringo . . The career of Charlie Siringo (left, c. 1890) is a very interesting one for Westernistas, and we

  Last and least. . . Cheyenne Autumn was John Ford’s swansong, his last Western, made when he was past his prime, had lost his

. Reb sergeant Joel does the decent thing   Three Joel McCrea oaters came out in 1950, four if you count Stars in My Crown

  Robert Taylor’s first post-MGM Western . . With the studio/star system breaking down in the late 50s, Robert Taylor’s contract with MGM expired and

. Robert Taylor rules the range . . I know Robert Taylor is probably more usually thought of as an MGM leading man in wartime

. Sibling rivalry . . Made in 1957, released in 1958, Saddle the Wind is a late-ish Robert Taylor Western in CinemaScope and Metrocolor, with

  Not Ford at his best . . The success of Henry Fonda in Fox’s Young Mr. Lincoln, directed by John Ford, meant that he

. Bad guy Joel? . . The title is redolent of the Western mystique. The other day we were reviewing The Lonely Man and so many

. Not what you’d expect . . It comes as something of a surprise to see a black & white psycho-western from Paramount as late

. A Mae Western . . The Destry story was popular at Universal. Most famously, James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich had been Tom Destry and

. A fine film . . The Invaders dates from the time when Francis Ford (left), John’s elder and at that time far more famous