I've found it common on film blogs to make lists, so this year I've done a few, just for the fun of it. Recently I've been watching double my already-prodigious intake of western films (I'm visiting my father, and that's the thing we most have in common), so I started thinking about who I really value in the genre. There are no big surprise names here. I think that the only real unique thing about it, if there is indeed anything unique, is in the order of the names. I chose who I really quite enjoy the most, as opposed, perhaps, to those that might make a more eclectic combination. I generally think that “top ten” lists place a bit too much of a limitation in a field this wonderful and large, but I'm not writing a book, so, in a bottom to the top countdown, here we go!
10) John Wayne - Now, if anyone who loves western movies ever cared about what I thought about film in general, they'd probably be pissed off around this moment. To a great many, Wayne is the ne plus ultra of the screen cowboy; the ultimate man's man of the west. Well, I don't disagree with that. The list of great westerns that Wayne has been a major part of are practically chapter and verse western scripture, and he has icon legend status in the hardcore film community.
But I don't like icons.
There's something that has to happen to make an icon that doesn't sit right with me. There's a touch of the caricature in that process, which over time becomes parody; like the “Bogey” phenomenon, or the mild drag queen flair of Marylin Monroe. It starts to bleed into the work over time, and it, for me at least, spoils my enjoyment. Wayne is great, but the silly “duh-huh” comical bar-fighty vibe dims my admiration. He's on my list because he has to be, but he's not at the top.
But I don't like icons.
There's something that has to happen to make an icon that doesn't sit right with me. There's a touch of the caricature in that process, which over time becomes parody; like the “Bogey” phenomenon, or the mild drag queen flair of Marylin Monroe. It starts to bleed into the work over time, and it, for me at least, spoils my enjoyment. Wayne is great, but the silly “duh-huh” comical bar-fighty vibe dims my admiration. He's on my list because he has to be, but he's not at the top.
9) Tim McCoy – An actual cowboy who became a screen cowboy, Tim McCoy was quite a fellow. A veteran of both WWI and WWII, he grew up wrangling cattle and interacting with the native American tribes in his area. All of these things are the spine upon which the body of his work rests, and it's that which makes him so wonderful to watch. McCoy was very native-friendly, and he did his best to populate his films with actual natives. To me that says a lot about the man behind the actor.
On top of that, his films are great! Tall, long in the face and with sharp, eagle-type eyes, his version of the cowboy has a bit more of the dusty trail than most. There's a real cowboy behind that movie man, and it works to his advantage; in an era that includes so many famous faces, Tim McCoy has certainly come by his spot honestly.
On top of that, his films are great! Tall, long in the face and with sharp, eagle-type eyes, his version of the cowboy has a bit more of the dusty trail than most. There's a real cowboy behind that movie man, and it works to his advantage; in an era that includes so many famous faces, Tim McCoy has certainly come by his spot honestly.
8) Johnny Mack Brown – He has really risen in my estimation over the years. At one time I bundled him in with the mass of still-great but 2nd-string, 60-minute, 30's-type cowboys (like Bob Custer and Ken Maynard), but I've come to be a big fan! The thing that strikes me about JMB is that he's eminently watchable. When he's on the screen, his gravitas is captivating, and even if the film is average, I come away feeling. “Gee, that was a great movie!”. There aren't that many actors like that, who can get by on charm alone.
Toss in a warm delivery and a palatable level of control and confidence, and you get the kind of western that is really quite thrilling and fun to watch.
I'm always excited to find a "new" Johnny Mack Brown picture!
Toss in a warm delivery and a palatable level of control and confidence, and you get the kind of western that is really quite thrilling and fun to watch.
I'm always excited to find a "new" Johnny Mack Brown picture!
7) Buck Jones – Buck Jones is a name that is nearly interchangeable with the term “cowboy star”. People who have never seen a 30's western still know who he is, and, along with men like Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers, he'll be known until the end of time.
To me, he's the pre-”John Wayne” John Wayne. He was big, tough, rugged, and all the other manly superlatives that one normally associates with the Duke, but with that sort of dime-novel/pulp fiction vibe that made those early westerns so worth watching. He certainly was a tough character; I watch a Buck Jones western waiting eagerly for Buck to pop some scoundrel in the jaw, gun them down in a showdown, or chase them down in the obligatory horse scene, dispensing Justice as well as any screen cowboy. Buck, more than any actor other than Tom Mix, is the emblem of that age; his is the name that jumps out each time that I think of those days.
To me, he's the pre-”John Wayne” John Wayne. He was big, tough, rugged, and all the other manly superlatives that one normally associates with the Duke, but with that sort of dime-novel/pulp fiction vibe that made those early westerns so worth watching. He certainly was a tough character; I watch a Buck Jones western waiting eagerly for Buck to pop some scoundrel in the jaw, gun them down in a showdown, or chase them down in the obligatory horse scene, dispensing Justice as well as any screen cowboy. Buck, more than any actor other than Tom Mix, is the emblem of that age; his is the name that jumps out each time that I think of those days.
6) William Boyd – Who doesn't like Hopalong Cassidy? Nobody, that's who! Well, there might be a few, but I don't want to know if they exist. Boyd is like archetypal favourite uncle, but with spurs and six-guns; when he walks into the room, you can mildly detect a genuflection in even the hardest of bad guys. From that moment any possible ruckus has it's lifespan on a short timer.
Trained in the era of silent film, William Boyd is skilled in acting with his presence alone. If you watch him stand, or turn, how he tilts his head, and the way he glances across the room, you can see very subtle expression in even the most meager of cowboy genre pictures. If one wants to understand him as a cowboy star, then watching his non-western silents will really open the eyes.
William Boyd is the man!
Trained in the era of silent film, William Boyd is skilled in acting with his presence alone. If you watch him stand, or turn, how he tilts his head, and the way he glances across the room, you can see very subtle expression in even the most meager of cowboy genre pictures. If one wants to understand him as a cowboy star, then watching his non-western silents will really open the eyes.
William Boyd is the man!
5) Audie Murphy – War hero and cowboy star! I have to admit that Murphy is an unlikely legend. He's short, sleight of build, plain spoken, and generally unimposing. The magic of him is that, in reality, he was one of the most decorated soldiers in WWII; when you watch his films, and that knowledge informs your expectations of his characters. Think about his classic role in DESTRY. Destry is a lawman that doesn't carry guns, drinks milk, and doesn't mind letting people talk smack to him, but as things progress, the reality of the man begins to grind away at the first impression. That says much about Murphy himself, and shows that being big and wild isn't the only way to be a top gunslinger!
Audie Murphy: mild-mannered titan.
Audie Murphy: mild-mannered titan.
4) Tom Mix – How can one not love a cowboy star who is so good that he can pull off calling his horse “Tony”? Yet nobody blinks an eye at what should be cheesy, especially me; Tony is just as credible as Trigger or Silver, in spite of sharing a name in common with a number of New York wise guys!
That's the Tom Mix anima; pretty much everything he touched is pure gold. Manly and tall, with a cool brow and an easy strength, Mix is one of those guys that, when he walks into a room with a dozen gunfighters, with square shoulders and a mild smile, you believe that it's all going to be A-OK.
Tom Mix is just plain great...when I think of the huge percentage of his 200+ films that are lost, it really burns my eyes.
That's the Tom Mix anima; pretty much everything he touched is pure gold. Manly and tall, with a cool brow and an easy strength, Mix is one of those guys that, when he walks into a room with a dozen gunfighters, with square shoulders and a mild smile, you believe that it's all going to be A-OK.
Tom Mix is just plain great...when I think of the huge percentage of his 200+ films that are lost, it really burns my eyes.
3) James Stewart – You may notice that I use his full name here; when it comes to his westerns, the diminutive “Jimmy” doesn't apply. The James Stewart with the six-gun isn't the much-beloved stuttering nice guy of the legendary IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE; he burns with a fire on a level of which most actors can only dream. He's mean, too! He's so oft associated with “nice”, that, though I've been his cowboy movies most of my life, I find my sub-dominant thought narrative mildly shocked when he subverts that expectation.
I like that someone like Stewart can pull off “rugged” as well as he does his more well-expected persona. To me it calls B.S. on those who refer to people like, say, Tom Hanks, as “the new Jimmy Stewart”.
James Stewart well deserves his spot in the film history books and certainly on this humble list.
I like that someone like Stewart can pull off “rugged” as well as he does his more well-expected persona. To me it calls B.S. on those who refer to people like, say, Tom Hanks, as “the new Jimmy Stewart”.
James Stewart well deserves his spot in the film history books and certainly on this humble list.
2) Gregory Peck – How can a guy that looks like a lawyer and sounds like Walter Cronkite be one of the best cowboy actors that ever lived? Well, don't ask me, but it's 100% true. From the easy-going sea captain in THE BIG COUNTRY, to the aging tracker in THE STALKING MOON, and to the stern gunfighter in YELLOW SKY, Peck pounds his stamp deeper and deeper into the bedrock of the western genre with every role. Not only that, he's one of the best actors in Hollywood, which fleshes out even script-flat characters to an amazing degree. What I enjoy the most about Peck is that, whatever the reality, he seems like a very good and thoughtful man. I've noticed that when he's speaking his lines he seems to have an actual inner dialogue about the situation that his character is in, and he reflects the scene perfectly in each movement of his brow.
Peck is brilliant, 100% of the time.
Peck is brilliant, 100% of the time.
1) Alan Ladd – Alan Ladd is my pick for top cowboy actor, hands down. It isn't necessarily because the 1953 classic SHANE is my favourite western, or that his 1950 masterpiece BRANDED is in my top ten cowboy pictures of all time. I pick Ladd because he's just plain tough. There's a bit in BRANDED that goes thus:
Woman: what's your name?
Ladd: They call me Choya.
Woman: That's Spanish for “cactus”; why do they call you that?
Ladd: Ever try to pick one?
That spells Ladd's cowboy out perfectly. He moves like a solid, well-oiled machine, and when he draws a weapon, it's amazing. Such speed and tight reflexes. Witness the scene in SHANE when the little boy startles him; Ladd spins around faster than most actors can think! Take that and the mass fistfight in BRANDED, add that to a credible Spartan attitude and an incredible posture on horseback, with deep intensity and a real humanity, and you have a western winner, in my book. He's another that looks like a city boy (I think of him as Phillip Marlowe with a colt .45), but reads like a cowhand all the way. Incredible!
End of list!
Woman: what's your name?
Ladd: They call me Choya.
Woman: That's Spanish for “cactus”; why do they call you that?
Ladd: Ever try to pick one?
That spells Ladd's cowboy out perfectly. He moves like a solid, well-oiled machine, and when he draws a weapon, it's amazing. Such speed and tight reflexes. Witness the scene in SHANE when the little boy startles him; Ladd spins around faster than most actors can think! Take that and the mass fistfight in BRANDED, add that to a credible Spartan attitude and an incredible posture on horseback, with deep intensity and a real humanity, and you have a western winner, in my book. He's another that looks like a city boy (I think of him as Phillip Marlowe with a colt .45), but reads like a cowhand all the way. Incredible!
End of list!
Honourable mention Well, now that the list is finished, I want to give an honorable mention to Clint Eastwood. If this were a list of eleven actors, he would certainly have been on it. HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is, to me, one of the greatest possible westerns, and there is nobody else in any genre who can pull off dangerous, wild, and quite possibly evil in the way that he can, while still delivering an overwhelming sense of relief and safety. He is the embodiment of the “new” western hero (anything after 1960 is new, in my book), full of all the irony of the post-50's era, but with every bit of the greatness and fullness of the classic artists. Clint is the epitome of the post-modern cowboy, to be sure, and if the bulk of my tastes were more recent in nature, he would be the absolute king of the cowboys.
One day I'll make a “top eleven-to-twenty” list, which could be very fun, and would probably be much more difficult! Until that time, if anyone wants to call me crazy, or call me deluded for leaving out their faves, or for not giving their guy his due, feel free to comment.
As a crazy person myself, I love to hear a good cowboy-oriented rant.
Draw, varmints!
One day I'll make a “top eleven-to-twenty” list, which could be very fun, and would probably be much more difficult! Until that time, if anyone wants to call me crazy, or call me deluded for leaving out their faves, or for not giving their guy his due, feel free to comment.
As a crazy person myself, I love to hear a good cowboy-oriented rant.
Draw, varmints!
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