Best movies like The American West of John Ford

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The American West of John Ford Starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Andy Devine, and more. If you liked The American West of John Ford then you may also like: Young Guns, Warpath, The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, Once Upon a Texas Train, Once Upon a Time in China and America and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

A documentary encapsulating the career and Western films of director 'John Ford' , including clips from his work and interviews with his colleagues.

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Young Guns

A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.

Warpath

John Vickers has spent eight years hunting for the three men who murdered the woman he loved. He finds one, Woodson, and kills him in a gunfight, but not before learning that the other two men have joined the U.S. Cavalry.

The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl

This documentary recounts the life and work of one of most famous, and yet reviled, German film directors in history, Leni Riefenstahl. The film recounts the rise of her career from a dancer, to a movie actor to the most important film director in Nazi Germany who directed such famous propaganda films as Triumph of the Will and Olympiad. The film also explores her later activities after Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945 and her disgrace for being so associated with it which includes her amazingly active life over the age of 90.

Once Upon a Texas Train

Captain Hayes of the mighty law enforcement squad named the Texas Rangers reached the pinnacle of his career when he captured the notorious John Henry, an outlaw cowboy, and put him behind bars. Twenty years later, upon his release, Henry is older but unrepentant. Within six hours after leaving his jail cell, he evens the score with Hayes by holding up the Bank of Texas for $20,000 in gold. Hayes, in his fury, gets himself out of retirement to take up the chase once more.

Once Upon a Time in China and America

So goes to the U.S. to open a martial arts school. Around this time, many Chinese people were sold off to U.S. railroad companies, and were brutally treated by the Americans under the harsh working conditions. Thus, the American workers' hatred towards the Chinese immigrants is high. As a result, So gets into trouble with the Americans and the mob, and calls Master Wong for help.

Room 237

A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.

Rough Night in Jericho

The only business in the Wild West town of Jericho that corrupt sheriff Alex Flood doesn't control behind the scenes is the stagecoach owned by tough-willed widow Molly Lang and her right-hand man, Hickman. Former marshal Dolan, recently hired by Lang and Hickman as a driver, wants to stay out of the mess, but when he sees Flood's henchman Yarbrough assault Lang, he steps up to fight the corruption.

Joshua

A black soldier returns from fighting for the Union in the Civil War only to find out that his mother has been murdered by a gang of white thugs. He becomes a bounty hunter, determined to track down and kill the men who killed his mother.

Altman

Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.

Carry On Cowboy

Stodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a 'sanitary engineer' named Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal. Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids—revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise.

De Palma

An intimate conversation between filmmakers, chronicling De Palma’s 55-year career, his life, and his filmmaking process, with revealing anecdotes and, of course, a wealth of film clips.

Shalako

Sean Connery is Shalako, a guide in the old West who has to rescue an aristocratic British hunting party from Indians and bandits.

Stagecoach

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

The War Wagon

An ex-con seeks revenge on the man who put him in prison by planning a robbery of the latter's stagecoach, which is transporting gold. He enlists the help of a partner, who could be working for his nemesis.

Draw!

In the final days of the Old West, a former desperado faces down a now drunken ex-sheriff, who was his long time nemesis.

Sex and Buttered Popcorn

Actor Ned Beatty hosts a look at the genre known as "exploitation" films. Interviews with some of the producers and directors of these films are shown, along with scenes from and trailers for some of these films.

Mau Mau Sex Sex

A documentary about the history of exploitation films that focuses on the careers of legendary producers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney.

Showdown

A cowboy has to get 12,000 dollars in stolen bonds from the ex-girlfriend of his partner, or the gang holding him hostage will kill him.

Showdown at Boot Hill

Bounty hunter Luke Welsh arrives looking for a wanted man. When that man draws on him he has to kill him. To collect his reward he needs a statement identifying him. But the man was well liked in town and no one will sign such a statement. When he outdraws another man who thought he was faster, some townsmen decide he should be killed and they organize a mob to go after him.

Return of the Outlaws

Miraculously escaping a painful demise in the gallows, a notorious outlaw cons a crooked judge, an attractive saloon girl, and an old partner into carrying out the heist of a lifetime. As the plan gets underway, a small town sheriff makes it his personal mission to capture the outlaw and ensure that justice is served.

Fellini: I'm a Born Liar

A look at Fellini's creative process. In extensive interviews, Fellini talks a bit about his background and then discusses how he works and how he creates. Several actors, a producer, a writer, and a production manager talk about working with Fellini. Archive footage of Fellini and others on the set plus clips from his films provide commentary and illustration for the points interviewees make. Fellini is fully in charge; actors call themselves puppets. He dismisses improvisation and calls for "availability." His sets and his films create images that look like reality but are not; we see the differences and the results.

Young Guns of Texas

A man searching for a stolen army payroll is joined by several men after the reward money. One of the pursuers, after killing a ranch foreman, elopes with the ranchers' daughter. Enraged at the shooting of his foreman and convinced that his daughter was kidnapped, the rancher leads a posse after his daughter. When Apaches attack the thieves and their pursuers, the rancher's posse is forced to side with his daughter's new husband and his friends.

Blood on the Arrow

In this western, the sole survivor of an Apache ambush rides out to save a young boy who has been captured. The hero was a captured outlaw en route to his trial.

The Auteur

THE AUTEUR follows formerly renowned porn director Arturo Domingo (Five Easy Nieces, Requiem for a Wet Dream) through a bizarre weekend as he receives a lifetime achievement award at a film festival in Portland, OR. Encountering crazed fans, former collaborators, bitter enemies and free-loving hippies, Arturo attempts to put the pieces of his broken career and personal life back together.

Secret of Treasure Mountain

Three bank robbers escape into the western wilderness, where they hear of a fortune in gold supposedly hidden in Treasure Mountain. Is the treasure real, and will it be discovered before greed destroys them all?

Cry Blood Apache

Telling the story of his early life in flashback, a former prospector (Joel McCrea, with flashback sequences featuring son Jody) explains his brutal massacre of a tribe of Indians. The only survivor (Marie Gahua) agrees to lead him to a secret gold mine.

The Texican

Wanted north of the border, Jess Carlin resides safely in Mexico. Then he hears his brother was killed in a gunfight with another man. Knowning his brother never carried a gun he heads north to find his brother's killer. After battling bounty hunters he arrives in Rimrock, a town controlled by Luke Starr. Starr is the man he wants but he unable to find any evidence until he is given an item found by his brother's body.

Gunpoint

A young, determined sheriff and his posse chase a gang of murderous train robbers, and a kidnapped woman into New Mexico.

Desert Kickboxer

A kickboxing cop abandons the violent life after he accidentally kills his opponent during a match. After quitting, he heads for the Arizona desert to live alone and occasionally work tracking drug runners for the area sheriff. One particularly wily Mexican drug lord, Santos, has been a real thorn in tracker Joe Highhawk's side, so when he encounters the beautiful Claudia and her simpleton brother Anthony running for their lives because she, an accountant, embezzled $20 million from Santos, he decides to help them. This actioner follows what happens next. Along the way, they encounter all sorts of danger, and double cross until the exciting final standoff between the kickboxer and the villain.

Stagecoach

Story follows a stagecoach ride through Old West Apache territory. On board are a cavalry man's pregnant wife, a prostitute with a broken heart, a Marshal taking in his prisoner Johnny Ringo, a crooked gambler, and the infamous Doc Holliday

Crossfire Trail

Rafe Covington is as good as his word, and he's determined to keep his promise to a dying man that he'll look after the man's widow and Wyoming ranch. But the widow doubts the integrity of drifter Covington. And an unscrupulous land grabber and his gunmen are sizing up the ranch the way a spider eyes a fly.

A Gun Fightin' Gentleman

Cheyenne Harry, owner of the biggest cattle ranch in his corner of the west, is having trouble with John Merritt, a land-grabbing Chicago meat-packer. By some artifice of shrewd legal aid, Merritt manages to seize Harry's ranch under a bogus writ of foreclosure. Failing to get justice by his many letters to Merritt, Cheyenne Harry goes east and calls at the millionaire's mansion. At first, Merritt refuses to see him. Then, to cause amusement for his daughter, Helen, and her guests, he invites the "uncouth" westerner into his dining hall. He is sure that he will make some grave error in table deportment and afford them all a laugh. To the amazement of Merrit and the guests Harry's table manners are faultless. Then, to trick him into an embarrassing position, Merritt eats with his knife. Harry, realizing that it is proper for the guest to follow the example of the host, does likewise. He leaves the house chagrined but more determined than ever to get justice from Merritt.

Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl

Clara Bow: Discovering the 'It' Girl features scenes from 25 of her films, as well as interviews with family members and acquaintances.

Gangland: Bullets over Hollywood

"Bullets Over Hollywood" delves into America's fascination with gangsters and features historical perspective, analysis, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and details about the connection between real-life hoods and their cinematic alter egos. The documentary chronicles films such as the _American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]_ film _Musketeers of Pig Alley, The (1912)_ (the 1912 film directed by D.W. Griffith that began it all), 1930's and '40s classics including "Little Caesar," "The Public Enemy," "The Roaring Twenties," "The Petrified Forest" and "High Sierra," to such modern tales as "The Godfather," "Scarface," "Goodfellas," "Donnie Brasco," "Casino," "A Bronx Tale," "Carlito's Way," "Once Upon a Time in America" and many more. The special takes a look at television with shows such as "The Sopranos" and "Growing Up Gotti," all part of America's parallel fascination with fictional and real-life gangsters.

Quantez

A gang of bank robbers with a posse in hot pursuit. Riding into the desert, they take refuge in Quantez, a small town they find deserted. Their horses tired and near death, they’re forced to stay the night — with the plan to cross the border into Mexico the next day.

Los Locos

In the Wild West of the 1800s, a gunman is hired to take a group of emotionally-challenged people across the desert.

Desperado: Avalanche at Devil's Ridge

Duell McCall is an outlaw on the run for a crime he didn't commit. Captured by the law and coerced into helping rescue the daughter of the evil local land baron, he finds himself drawn into an ever-deepening web of lies that threatens to cost him his life.

Hondo and the Apaches

Two episodes from the TV series "Hondo" edited together and released as a feature.

Kentucky Rifle

A man escorts a wagon load of Kentucky rifles through Indian territory and must find a way to get through without losing the rifles to the Indians. Unfortunately the Indians know about it, and give the occupants an ultimatum: either the rifles or their lives.

Six Gun Savior

When Lane McCrae confronts the outlaw that murdered his family, the battle leaves him fatally wounded. He is visited by the Devil, who offers him a deal that would save the lives of both he and his brother, but instead makes him a bounty hunter for Hell replacing his predecessor. When Zathera, the embodiment of death, walks the earth, it's up to Lane, Hawk and their team, to stop her before she wipes out humanity. They are not the only ones hunting Zathera though - there are others who want to reach Zathera first, for plans of their own!

The Ballad of a Gunfighter

A former Confederate robs stagecoaches to be able to give money to the local poor people. He soon runs into a gang of robbers who don't have the same good intentions he does.

Copper Sky

Alcoholic former cavalryman Hack Williams is arrested for killing an Indian, something he did not do. The townspeople, fearful of Apache reprisals, plan to hang Williams in hopes of heading off an attack. But the attack comes and Hack, locked in his jail cell, is the only survivor as a massacre occurs. Into the scene of carnage arrives schoolteacher Nora Haynes. Together she and Williams must find a way to reach safety before another Indian attack. But the pair are by no means well-matched, and their trip alone across the desert is not destined to be an easy one.

Dead Man's Revenge

Bitter and vengeful fugitive Luck Hatcher, dignified former slave turned bounty hunter Jessup Bush, and wily deputy U.S. Marshal Bodine all converge in a small town so they can hatch an intricate con in order to bring greedy and ruthless railroad speculator Payton McCay to justice.

John Ford

A look at the famous director written and presented by Lindsay Anderson.

Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs

This documentary traces the history of the B-Western from it's silent movie origins to its demise in the early 1950s. The film contains a large number of scenes from early silents and seldom seen films, as well as old photographs of the stars and one-sheet advertisements for lost films.

Elizabeth Taylor: An Intimate Portrait

Vintage 1975 documentary about the life of movie queen Elizabeth Taylor hosted by Peter Lawford, and featuring appearances by actors Roddy McDowall and Rock Hudson, directors Richard Brooks and Vincente Minnelli, Elizabeth's mother Sara Taylor, costumer Helen Rose, and producer Sam Marx.

Eastwood on Eastwood

Autobiography of Clint Eastwood up to his movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."

Fuck You All: The Uwe Boll Story

Honing his craft as an indie filmmaker in Germany in the early 90s, Uwe Boll never could have imagined the life that lay before him. From working with Oscar-winning actors and making films with US$60million budgets to having actors publicly disparage him and online petitions demanding he stop making films, Boll continued to work; he has a filmography of 32 features, a career that has led to his new life as a successful high-end restauranteur. Already a cult legend, he will be remembered forever in the film world; for some, as a modern-day Ed Wood, who made films so bad, they're good, while for others, a prolific filmmaker who came from a small town in Germany and never compromised his integrity while forging his own unique Hollywood trajectory.

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