There is quite a range of films that could be considered to belong within the wide genre known as Westerns. All of which have been in existence since the very beginning of the film industry itself. A lot of them came out as great westerns, some came as awful ones, and the rest are ranked someplace in the middle. As a film genre, one cannot find many that can say they have been nearly in the same way influential – or prolific enough – as the Western. Unique and epic on a historic scale, many of these movies have created legends, pioneered film techniques, as well as, most significantly of all, have succeeded in providing a vital approach to American culture and history through the lens of introspection.
1. Serenity
Joss Whedon entered the western genre by creating a science fiction adventure story that appeared as part of the watchable, short-lived yet well-liked series Firefly. It is about an adventure that involves the outlaw crew of the titular starship dodging hostile enemies. Fans were very excited about this sequel. However, the film struggles to pack in a lot of the mythology of the show into its time period, creating an overstuffed project that suffers from the burden of having an excessive amount of stories.
2. Hostiles
Scott Cooper Miami Beach director is one astonishing movie maker who has every asset available at his disposal, which includes the languages of cinema and the ability to draw magnificent performances from actors. Hostiles is a story of a legendary Army captain who is recognized by the hundreds of Indians that he has murdered. His mission is to accompany a dying war chief (Wes Studi) along with his family into their country, a task he undertakes with considerable unwillingness. Indeed, that is a journey that puts everyone on the test and that may be the ultimate salvation of the army captain.
3. Open Range
Kevin Costner might have earned the reputation of being something of a dull leading man, however, Open Range of 2003 as a whole features his underrated western with Robert Duvall and Michael Gambon and does a great deal to present a convincing counter-argument about why this isn’t the case. The movie feels gorgeously filmed, visceral, and yet imbued with sophisticated romanticism about the Old West. So this is not really a product that contradicts itself but rather one that embraces the genre in a new way and elevates it significantly both uniquely and persuasively.
These “underrated” Westerns are not simply the exclusive preserve within the years of the genre’s decline. Instead, they permeate the second half of the 20th century, having fallen into anonymity due either to bad commercial feedback or because they were simply not considered special in comparison to the genre’s more famous classics.
