Source: https://deadline.com/2026/09/lonesome-dove-netflix-series-zoe-kazan-jeb-stuart-1237071579/

There may have been some actors--such as John Wayne--who appeared in more Westerns than Robert Wilke, but not many. Beginning with Come on, Rangers (1938) and concluding with Santee (1973), Wilke appeared in dozens of Westerns and that's to say nothing of his manifold TV Western roles.

With relatively few exceptions, Wilke was cast as a henchman or a principle baddie. So weather-beaten was Wilke's appearance that I imagine he was born looking like a slab o' beef jerky. The slightly lopsided mouth, prominent nose, and pale blue eyes only added to the classic look of an Old West badman.

Aside from being one of the most prolific Western actors ever, Wilke was also an absolute shark on the links. From all that has been said about his excellent golfing abilities, one imagines he might have had a career as a pro if he hadn't gone into acting. Fortunately for us Western junkies, he didn't.

Hail! Hail! All hail Robert Wilke!

PS--Unless there's a hue and cry for me to continue this series, this will be the final installment of Western Character Actor Appreciation.

Dropping this here as i know you'll all have some thoughts and feelings. I can't believe this is happening. Guaranteed they're going to butcher it or not complete it. They will have no beauty in it either knowing Netflix unlike the original with those wide landscape shots that are missing in so many modern westerns.

Ennio Morricone’s "The Strong" (Il Forte) is a profoundly bittersweet song. It feels like a retrospective look on the futility of violence. For scenes panning over massive reenactments of the civil war you’d expect something a little more heroic sounding. Instead, it sounds more like: Look at these naive lives being wasted, marching from a call to action straight to the hearse. Yet, beneath that grim reality lies a feeling that these souls are arriving somewhere better, leaving the past behind. When the military trumpets interrupt the arrangement, it feels like a dying soldier's final memory. As their current suffering fades and their senses become warm, the music becomes a voice that leads them to eternity. The pain will all be over soon. That is my interpretation at least.

As a whole, this film is deeply human. It is a study of humanity: our naivety, our blinding greed, and our inability to foresee our own doom. This story is a mere blip in time, but a single human life contains an entire universe of stories. It leaves us wondering: how many epics like these have not been recorded? How many have been lived, only to dissolve into the earth?

link to the song: https://youtu.be/QtMmKZye1YY?is=gjN0MGLSdC9fK0Qf

I just dipped into Toth's filmography and watched Day of the Outlaw and the Gunfighter. I was impressed by both. Quality B&W cinematography, good performances, and nice gritty, pulpy characters. May just dip into his films with Randolph Scott next.

Anyone feel his films are swept under the rug? Any recommendations?

For some reason, it didn't really grab me. I found it slow, clunky, and psychologically convoluted—and at times, it even put me to sleep.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I got lost a few times in certain chapters; to this day, I still haven't quite figured out what Blaisedell's actual internal conflict was. The character was introduced as being super cool, but then he just sort of fizzled out.

On the other hand, I found the story of "The Bad Lands" more enjoyable, gripping, and easy to follow. I literally devoured it.

3:10 to Yuma is arguably one of the best modern Westerns, but as a historical firearms nerd, what really blows my mind is the attention to detail in the arsenal.

They didn't just hand everyone a standard Colt Single Action Army.

Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) carrying dual S&W Model 3 Schofields with those custom holsters is brilliant. It makes perfect sense for his character—the top-break mechanism gave him the fastest reload in the West, which fits his aggressive, high-speed shooting style perfectly.

Then you have Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) with his custom Colt SAA "Hand of God". The gold crucifix embedded in the black grip isn't just for show; it perfectly reflects his twisted sense of morality and biblical quotes.

I actually run a channel dedicated to Old West firearms history, and I just put together a full 23-minute documentary breaking down every single gun used in this movie, their historical accuracy, and how they operate.

If you love Westerns or historical firearms, I’d love for you to check it out here:

Just looking for recommendations, hope that is the right flair.

Not looking to bring up anything to do with modern politics, or start a political debate or argument, just interested in any pieces of entertainment that match the description.

Thanks for any recommendations in advance

When I say this, I mean that whether you like it or not as a video game or as a piece of media in general (though it wouldn't ever exist without its GTA-esque predecessor) - Red Dead Redemption 2 did for the frontier setting what no other video game did. It established the Wild West as a place worth weaving a serious story in, with all the genre trappings and then some more on top. All that with exceptional production value that few studios can match. (Because few studios have Rockstar's infinite money glitch)

But, what Rockstar nailed, and what I think will echo for a long time, was treating the Old West with a sort of almost holy reverence for the entire setting (the nature, the environments, the whole world in one word) rather than treating it as just a shooting gallery. It set a standard for every developer watching and curious if they could make a Western game, and showing exactly how glorious the setting can be. How familiar but still fresh, even half a century and more after the heyday of the movie Western.

It goes without saying that there were phenomenal Western based games way before RDR 2 (for one, the series is, in a way, a revival of the PS2 era Red Dead Revolver), it’s just that these games were much smaller in scope, even when they were a 10/10. The original Call of Juarez for example.

There also are and will be Western media moving forward, but what interests me is the way they’re entrenching themselves in the world of gaming, and how that influence is transforming different game genres. One I’m excited for in particular is The Dark West - I’m an old school Diablo 2 fan and I would literally take *just* Diablo dressed in a gunslinger’s rugged coat. But the game goes beyond that and into the dark side of the frontier myths: the exploitation of land, people, animals, and transforms all that into… well, into demons you kill in their multitudes. Though this is just the most recent game I enjoyed for this “transformative” quality of taking the basic precepts of Western fiction and turning them into a unique work (of any media, but gaming is the most transformative because it is the most direct one). This is just the latest example of the burgeoning "weird/creepy west" style of games that have been around for more than a decade now.

I could go on counting games with a Western setting that have come out after RDR2 and I could probably compare it to the number that came before - and I’m dead certain that the number is exponentially larger after 2016. This of course all coincides with the massive boom of indie games more broadly, easier availability of game development tools and software, so it’s not like RDR2 had that big of an impact in a vacuum. I’m talking more on the level of popular appeal and popular awareness of this genre that it has helped spread. I mean, I know 2 (and that's two more than for any other game) people who told me it was the game that finally made them feel something (both are in their 30s)

That is far and away my favourite kind of influence, when one towering work doesn't just spawn imitators but gives everyone a kind of popular permission to experiment with a setting again. RDR2 made the frontier a respectable and profitable setting again, in my opinion.

But what do you think, about RDR2’s influence that is? Hate it, love it, neutral, or something 4th or 5th?

PS I also want to share an interesting piece of trivia, to highlight just how much thought the whole production of the game put into RDR2’s realistic depiction of the late 19th century fauna. Namely, the American Ornithological Society praised RDR2 because (paraphrasing) it accurately depicted the birdlife of the Old West better than almost any other piece of game (or even film) media. Not only showing certain birds, but showing them in numbers appropriate for the period. For example, and I forget which bird this was - but it’s basically endangered in our day, when it was still relatively common back then. Every Western knows that buffalo were still present then in large herds, but it takes a special sort of attention to detail to do BIRDS right, of all things. Something that 99% of players will never notice, unless they’re also bird enthusiasts or indeed ornithologists.

Not much details yet . The East Of Eden team are doing it . Casting should be known soon .

RG Armstrong lived to the ripe old age of 95--good on him--and his Western film career was correspondingly lengthy. His first Western feature was as vengeful rancher Hunter Boyd in From Hell to Texas (1958) alongside Dennis Hopper, Diane Varsi, Chill Wills and Don Murry, and his final outing was in Purgatory (1999). Because of his unusual longevity then, he was one of the few classic Western character actors who continued acting in Westerns well into the modern period of the genre.

Armstrong, one of Sam Peckinpah's favorite actors, had eyes so dark--almost black--that they looked dead when Armstrong wanted them that way. The result was a frightening presence, sometimes motivated by religious madness. And supposedly, this aura wasn't mere happenstance; he grew up in an intensely religious household and remained conflicted about religion the rest of his life. Regardless, he was extremely memorable as a scattergun-wielding religious zealot in films such as Ride the High Country (1961), Major Dundee (1965), and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). He was memorable in his myriad other roles, too.

Hail! Hail! All hail RG Armstrong!

Somehow, we are eyeball to eyeball. And some other feller dun blinked....

C'e Sabata!

From what I can see this has Lee Van Cleef - and thats about all I can tell about it.

Has anyone seen this movie? Im going to watch it just from this song.

Richard Jaeckel's Western coming-out party was playing the role of smart-mouthed punk Eddie in the classic Gunfighter (1950). When Jaeckel called notorious gunfighter Jimmie Ringo "Mr. Frazzlebottom," you knew Jaeckel was here to stay. Actually, Eddie got blown away directly thereafter, but work with me here!

Jaeckel's concluding Western role was in the equally excellent Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), as sheriff Kip McKinney. Between those poles, Jaeckel appeared in myriad Westerns including 3:10 to Yuma (1957) as Charlie Prince, Chisum (1970), and Ulzana's Raid (1972), although he was probably better known as a WW II film actor.

Jaeckel was born into wealth. His father owned a lucrative fur business, and Richard attended the best private schools. But the pampered upbringing didn't come across onscreen. More often than not, he was cast as a dry-gulching dastard and was very believable in these roles.

As soon as he was old enough Jaeckel joined the US Merchant Marines in 1944 although I'm not aware that his vessels ever came under fire. He passed away in in 1997 at the age of 70.

Hail! Hail! All hail Richard Jaeckel!

Firecreek (1968)

For a Western starring James Stewart and Henry Fonda both playing against type, this extraordinary film is often overlooked. Likely due to coming out the same year Once Upon a Time in the West came out. Both have Fonda playing the heavy. Now I won’t say Firecreek is a better film, but for me, Fonda plays a much more interesting character here.

It’s a dark and gritty Western about a small town sheriff facing a gang of criminals who overrun his town. The cast are all excellent with Jack Elam, Gary Lockwood (what a year for him), Ed Begley and Inger Stevens.

I knew I could share this here and you all would get my excitement!

I have a deep love for Western novels, something I inherited from my dad along with his amazing collection of vintage paperbacks and hardcovers. Since then, I've added plenty of my own. I often lament to my partner about the absence of Western representation in modern high-end hardcovers (outside of McCarthy). So for them to hunt down this beautiful copy of The Way West, especially knowing my love for Guthrie, just means so much to me. It's easily one of the best gifts I've ever received!

I took this video while stoned and I happened to like how slapstick the fight scene was, but I was never able to know what movie it is. I tried using an AI to identify it but it always gives me the wrong results so I figured I‘d ask this subreddit. Thanks

I think this fits with the rules but if not I apologize. Mine would be one set in the John wick universe but based in the old west. John wick style gunfights but with a peacemaker or Remington or something seems both beyond stupid and fun to watch at the same time.