. Broderick Crawford rides again . . Broderick Crawford was always unsuited to Westerns, I think. He liked them, and made a lot (this was

. Desperado . . One of the outlaws of the old West with an especially good name was Black Jack Ketchum. Those Ks roll off

. Not much like John Wayne . . Another in the occasional series on the cattle barons of the old West . . If you

. Quantrill rides again . . William Clarke Quantrill, sometimes written as Quantrell (1837 – 1865) often appeared in Hollywood Westerns. Studios liked the subject of

. Tough and gritty . . Ambush at Tomahawk Gap is an early-50s John Hodiak Western for Columbia. It’s actually quite good. . . Nice

. The early 21st century’s answer to 1950s B-Westerns . . Before his death in 2012 Ernest Borgnine acted in a number of made-for-TV Westerns

. 1950s male chauvinism in Wyoming . . You might think of The Taming of the Shrew as a 1590s rom-com. Transpose the dates a little

. A fine Western novel . . My edition of Bugles in the Afternoon (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003) has a foreword by Richard Etulain

. Junk, of course, but ever so slightly better than most spaghettis . . While still very bad and onot really worth watching, Captain Apache

. Standard central casting Indians . . The story of the Seminoles is a very interesting one. Related to the Creek, they became increasingly independent

. Another in an occasional series on the cattle barons of the old West . Just plain ornery . . The story of the old

. Rod ‘n’ Rory ride again . . Despite Allied Artists’ wish to move on from its modest-budget days and produce classy A-films in color,

. Black and white . . By 1972 revisionist Hollywood Westerns were in full flow. Former heroes were being debunked all over the place. And

. A lesser Audie oater . . In 1959 Audie Murphy signed up for a Walter Mirisch production released by United Artists, Cast a Long

. A great Western director . . If I described to you a noted film director who was born in the first decade of the

. Semi-Western . . When the opening scene is of a Jeep bowling along, the Westernista’s heart does sink a bit. I remember, when I

. Marshal Jim Crown is boss of Indian Territory . . That badge   . Cimarron Strip was one of the best of the many

. Death and passion in New Mexico . . Niven Busch was an interesting fellow. Editor of Time magazine (co-founded by his cousin Briton Hadden),

. The TV Western comes of age . . In the early 1980s, when the Titanic-like Heaven’s Gate had almost sunk the Western movie single-handed

. Not the best Audie oater . . As Audie Murphy’s contract with Universal came to an end in 1963, and before he started making

. Trashy   I think Forty Guns is pretty well junk.     But so many people have praised the movie and esteemed Samuel Fuller

. Somber, visually impressive, not at all bad . . ‘A man alone’ is a concept that in many ways distills the very essence of

. John Clum in fact and fiction . . John P Clum (1851 – 1932) was a most interesting figure of the old West and

. Rory rides again . . Rory Calhoun first appeared in a Western, Massacre River, in 1949, got his first starring role in the saddle in

. The series winds down . . Regular readers will know that I have something of a penchant for Tim Holt oaters. They were so

. Tim & Chito ride again . . I always thought hatred was the noun, not hate, but ‘Guns of Hatred’ doesn’t seem to work

. A superior Audie oater . . Tumbleweed, though not a Western to rival some of the great productions of 1953 such as Shane, Hondo or The Naked

. Quite a few massacres, actually . . Allied Artists grew out of the Poverty Row studio Monogram. Monogram producer Walter Mirisch had great ambitions

. Derringer in a cake . . The TV schedules announced Rustlers as the 1919 short and I was delighted, not having seen it –

. Hanging day in Wolf City, Wyoming . . Comedy Westerns can be unfunny parodies (and to the serious Westernista, faintly sacrilegious) or affectionate, smiling

. Only just a Western but still quite fun . . The late 1940s were a golden age for John Wayne. The endless Poverty Row

. A gringo adventurer in the Mexican revolution? Where I have seen that before? . . I admit to having a soft spot for Westerns

. Pretty trashy . . Columbia’s late-60s The Desperados, not to be confused with their enjoyable 1943 Randolph Scott/Claire Trevor oater The Desperadoes, is a pretty

. Remember this Alamo . . The Last Command, no relation to Josef von Sternberg’s 1928 Russian Revolution silent movie, was Republic’s mid-1950s take on

. Small black & white movie of some quality . . Not so much a Western as a nineteenth century prison drama, Hellgate tells the

. Tim and Chito ride again . . By the early 1950s Tim Holt was very well established as a RKO Western star. He appeared

. Preachy . . The Wild and the Innocent is a big Universal color Western of the late 50s with Audie Murphy in the lead.

. Excruciating . . The Carry On films were a series of British comedies which started in 1958. Pretty well everyone carried on: there was

. Van (not quite) the man . . The Siege at Red River, aka Siege at Red River and also ka Gatling Gun, was a Panoramic

. Tough guy Rod . . In a year which produced mighty Westerns such as Fort Apache, Red River and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, towering

. Actually rather good . . I’ll be brief about The Colt because it’s a Civil War story, and those aren’t really Westerns, and because

. Unjustly honored as one of the 100 most enjoyable bad movies ever made . . I often wonder, when I watch a late-60s/early 70s

. It’s a Western. Kinda. . . When is a Western not a Western? Oft have we on this blog, oft I say, addressed this

. Worthy . . Son of the Morning Star was a two-part television drama and an early 90s expedition into the field of Custerology. Every

. Predictable but just about watchable . . Lone Rider is another of those made-for-TV Western movies that have become popular. I am glad they

. The names have been changed to protect the guilty . . The 2002 two-part TV movie Johnson County War was based on a novel

. I can’t find it in my atlas . . The exact geographic location of God’s country is open to debate. Often, it’s where you

. You thought Tim Holt set up the Arizona Rangers? No, it was Buster Crabbe. . . Audie Murphy made 23 Westerns for Universal, a

. Well directed, taut Western, definitely worth a watch . . On one level Red Sundown is just another mid-1950s Rory Calhoun Western from Universal

. Longmire rides again . . “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” King Lear, Act I Scene 4.

. Nice little Western . . Rory Calhoun Westerns are rarely  great classics of the genre, though some are durn good, but they are all

. The last of a long series . . By the early 1950s Tim Holt was very well established as RKO Western star. He appeared

. Tim Holt sets up the Arizona Rangers . . Oft have I waxed lyrical about the Western wonders of the annus mirabilis 1948. It

. An early Tim Holt oater from RKO . . Along the Rio Grande is a classic black & white Tim Holt Western of the

. How many outlaws can you crowd into one picture? . . There’s no getting away from it: Badman’s Territory is hardly one of the

. Vin ordinaire . . The Gundown (aka True Gun) could appear in the DVD racks of your local store or in your TV schedules.

. Stacy rides again . . Desolation Canyon is a made-for-TV movie of 2006 starring Bobby Ewing and Frank James. Well, I can’t help thinking

. The doc’s the villain! . . You will perhaps forgive me, Tex Ritter fans out there, if I announce to you that I am

. . Deeply silly but a whole lot of fun . . While Hollywood was experimenting with darker or more adult Westerns in 1950, like Broken

. One of the better Audie Westerns . . Bullet for a Badman was the 22nd and penultimate of the many Westerns Audie Murphy made