1. "The Three Amigos"
   "Support Your Local Sheriff"
2. "Blazing Saddles"
   "Little Big Man"

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." (Mel Brooks, writer and director of "Blazing Saddles.") Clearly, the man understood satire.

1. "Return of the Bad Men"
   "Ambush"
2. "Yellow Sky"
   "Tombstone"

"Society questions the police and their methods, and the police say, 'Do you want the criminals off the street or not,'" Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp. A book was later written based off of the screenplay for "Tombstone," which was released in 1993.

1. "Pursued"
   "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"
2. "The Eagle and the Hawk"
   "The Lawless Breed"

Although the movie begins with a disclaimer that "Most of what follows is true," in actuality, William Goldman found it too difficult, and in some cases impossible, to determine what was actually true and what was fiction. As a result, he just went with standard lore and wrote a screenplay instead of a book so he would not have to do as much intense research.

1. "Day of the Outlaw"
   "Fury at Furnace Creek"
2. "Devil's Doorway"
   "High Plains Drifter"

Clint Eastwood stayed below his $5.5 million budget, but "High Plains Drifter" did remarkably well for a Western, making it into the top 20 grossing films of 1973 (making $15.7 million at the box office.)

1. "True Grit"
   "The Proposition"
2. "The Missing"
   "Belle Starr"

"I believe you testified that you backed away from the old man, Wharton? Which direction were you going?" "Backward. I always go backward when I'm backing away," spoken by Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) in "True Grit."

1. The Hired Hand.
   Open Range.
2. The Big Country.
   Rancho Deluxe.

This is the shortest of the three movies Kevin Costner directed ("Open Range," "The Postman," and "Dances With Wolves"). It runs 2 hours and 19 minutes whereas the other two are about 3 hours long.

1. Distant Drums.
   Only the Valiant.
2. A Man Called Horse.
   Dances With Wolves.

Richard Harris (1930-2002) was also in "The Sporting Life," "Camelot," "Gladiator," and other Westerns, such as "Unforgiven." Shortly before his death, he played Albus Dumbledore in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Chamber of Secrets."

1. The Wild Bunch.
   Vera Cruz.
2. Viva Zapata!
   The Magnificent Seven.

"It's like a fellow I once knew in El Paso. One day, he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him that same question, "Why?" … He said, "It seemed to be a good idea at the time." (from "The Magnificent Seven," 1960)

1. Saddle the Wind.
   The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
2. The Hangman.
   I Shot Jesse James.

"If a Western is a good Western, it gives you a sense of that world and some of the qualities those men had—their comradeship, loyalty, and physical courage. The vogue for the new kind of Western seems pretty unimportant to me. They try to destroy something that has been vital to people for so long." (James Stewart)

1. Django.
   The Undefeated.
2. Maverick.
   Virginia City.

The budget for Maverick was $75 million and it grossed $183 million worldwide. It was ranked #1 in theaters on its opening weekend.

1. Rio Bravo.
   Broken Arrow.
2. The Hanging Tree.
   Backlash.

"You want that gun? Pick it up. I wish you would." (Sheriff Chance in 'Rio Bravo.)

1. Dances With Wolves.
   Fort Apache.
2. The Stalking Moon.
   White Buffalo.

"Sir knight? I've just [urinated in] my pants—and nobody can do anything about it."

1. The Cheyenne Social Club.
   Paint Your Wagon.
2. The Shakiest Gun in the West.
   City Slickers.

"City Slickers" won one Oscar. It was commercially successful with a budget of only $26 million, it grossed $180 million at the box office worldwide.

1. Decision at Sundown.
   Shane.
2. The Fastest Gun Alive.
   My Name Is Nobody.

This was Jean Arthur's (1900-1991) last film. She was 53 at the time and had been through the transition from silent films to sound. This was her first and only color movie.

1. Wyatt Earp.
   Hondo.
2. The Law and Jake Wade.
   Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.

"Mister, I've been in a really bad mood for the last few years, so I'd appreciate it if you’d just leave me alone." (from the movie "Wyatt Earp")

1. The Proud Ones.
   Stagecoach.
2. Comanche Station.
   Night Passage.

The cast included Ann-Margaret (who later starred in "Grumpy Old Men" and "The 10th Kingdom") and Stephanie Powers (who went on to star in "Hart to Hart" and "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E."). Slim Pickens and Keenan Wynn both had a part in "Dr. Strangelove: Or how I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" prior to their involvement in "Stagecoach."

1. Mackenna's Gold.
   They Died With Their Boots on.
2. El Dorado.
   The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

"You see, in this world, there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig." (from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly")

1. Backlash.
   High Noon.
2. The Tin Star.
   Terror in a Texas Town.

Many U. S. Presidents have been fond of the movie because the hero is alone in the end, with only his pacifist wife to help him. Bill Clinton was reported to have watched the movie 30 times.

1. Man With a Gun.
   Decision at Sundown.
2. Have Gun Will Travel.
   Unforgiven.

Eastwood had all of the buildings in the town built so they could fully use them. To help maintain the Old West feel, he forbid cars and other modern vehicles on the set.

1. Unforgiven.
   Winchester '73.
2. Young Guns.
   Two Flags West.

In real life, Tunstall was younger than most of the participants in the Lincoln County War. Those members of his group, the Regulators, who survived the war were never heard from again after moving out of the area.

1. Three Hours to Kill.
   3:10 to Yuma.
2. A Fistful of Dollars.
   Night Passage.

Christian Bale (born 1974) played the main character, Dan Evans, in the 2007 version. The same character was played by Van Heflin (1908-1971) in the 1957 original.

1. Riding Shotgun.
   Western Union.
2. Rawhide.
   The Kid From Texas.

As part of the old studio system, Susan Hayward was in four feature-length movies released in 1951: ?I'd Climb the Highest Mountain," "Rawhide," "I Can Get It for You Wholesale," and "David and Bathsheba." "David and Bathsheba" became the fourth highest-grossing film of the year.

1. Rio Grande.
   River of No Return.
2. Red River.
   The Man From Snowy River.

The Salmon River, on which the river in the movie was based, winds through a canyon that is more than a mile deep. For more than 150 years after Lewis and Clark's expedition, the only direction that people could travel was down the Salmon River, but now highly-skilled power boat operators can make the upriver trek.

1. McCabe & Mrs. Miller.
   The Outrage.
2. Wichita.
   Once Upon a Time in the West.

This movie marked Henry Fonda's change from a strong dramatic hero to a villain. His children, Jane and Peter Fonda, and grandchildren, Bridget Fonda and Tony Garity, also became actors.

1. Canyon Passage.
   The Ox-Bow Incident.
2. The Hanging Tree.
   Man Without a Star.

"The Ox-Bow Incident" was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award in 1944. It received two more award nominations and five wins.

1. The Virginian.
   Hangman's Knot.
2. I Shot Jesse James.
   Only the Valiant.

Joel Albert McCrea (1905-1990) played the Virginian. His paychecks went to buying farmland, and he became one of Hollywood's wealthiest ranchers.

1. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
   Cheyenne Social Club.
2. Garden of Evil.
   The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

"I hope you won't be disappointed. You see, I am not a very interesting person. I haven't ever done anything except be other people…" (Henry Fonda)

1. The Quick and the Dead
   My Darling Clementine.
2. The Claim.
   The Gunfighter.

Making only $18.5 million on a $35 million budget, this revival spaghetti Western opened to mixed reviews, but everyone praised Spinotti's cinematography. Sergio Leone was the noted inspiration for the film.

1. Quigley, Down Under.
   The Bushwhackers.
2. The Man From Snowy River.
   Lightning Jack.

"The Man From Snowy River" was an Australian production that cast Kirk Douglas in a major role. It was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture- Foreign Language but lost to Gandhi.

1. Stranger at My Door.
   The Stranger Wore a Gun.
2. Angel and the Badman.
   Ride Clear of Diablo.

Like Indiana Jones, Marion Mitchell Morrison "John Wayne" (1907-1979) also took his nickname from the family dog "Big Duke." He never thought of himself as "John Wayne" but rather Duke Morrison, a name the studios felt sounded more like the name of a stuntman than that of a leading man.

1. The Last Posse.
   When the Daltons Rode.
2. The Wild Bunch.
   Silverado.

"Can't you see this horse loves me?" "I had a gal do that to me. It didn't make her my wife." (from Silverado)

1. The Iron Horse.
   Straight Shooting.
2. Straight Shooting.
   The Great Train Robbery.

The Great Train Robbery (1903) was one of the first films to have an actual narrative—most of the previous films were more like abstract art. It is also regarded as one of the first Westerns.

1. Streets of Laredo.
   Branded.
2. The Proud Ones.
   Three Violent People.

William Holden (April 17, 1918—November12,1981) was the best man in Ronald Reagan's wedding. Suzanne Vega mentions his death in "Tom's Diner" (1982): "I open up the paper there's a story of an actor who had died while he was drinking…" Holden bled to death after becoming drunk and hitting his head on a nearby table.

1. The Last Command.
   She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
2. Dakota Incident.
   Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend.

"Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness." (John Wayne as Captain Nathan Brittles in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.")

1. McLintock!
   Rango.
2. A Million Ways to Die in the West.
   Shanghai Noon.

On a $40 million budget, "A Million Ways to Die in the West" grossed only $43 million in the U. S. and $87 million worldwide. Most critics liked the idea of a modernized, unconventional Western comedy, but felt MacFarlane's acting, writing, and editing fell short.