While John Ford putJohn Wayne through his pacesamid the rocky spires of Monument Valley, establishing the flat expanses of the Southwest as a mythic American dreamscape, a few filmmakers ofWesternsbegan exploring new locations, trading sand for snow. This led to anew Western sub-genre– the winter Western.
There is little Fordian romance, or indeed sun, to be found in the winter Western. Examples of the form tend to be bleak, unforgiving, even brutal. The heat-baked, red-sand desertbeloved of Ford and his discipleshas its own harshness, of course, but when it comes to evoking the gray areas of human morality, nothing beats a literal gray area.
Snowy landscapes may look beautiful on film, but they can create nightmares for actors. Such was the case onTrack of the Cat, the production Robert Mitchum called the hardest of his career, thanks to the Mount Rainier, Washington shooting locale.
The director wanted to make a black-and-white movie in color, and the snow provided the perfect means of achieving the desired effect.
The wintry setting isn’t just there for atmosphere in William Wellman’s 1954 Western. The director wanted to make a black-and-white movie in color, and the snow provided the perfect means of achieving the desired effect. The Coen Brothers pulled off the same trick 50 years later with the similarly monochromeFargo.
Track of the Catgrossed a healthy $2 million when it was released, making the film a more-than-worthwhile venture, even if it did almost break famous tough-guy Mitchum.
Yellowstonemade Taylor Sheridan a TV mogul, but before that, he made his mark in feature films, penning the scripts forSicarioandHell or High Water, along with writing and directingWind River.
A mystery thriller starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen,Wind Riverqualifies as both a neo-Western and a winter Western. It’s also part of a trilogy about the modern-day frontier, along with the aforementionedSicarioandHell or High Water.
The movie’s snowy Wyoming setting (it was filmed in Utah) isn’t just there for mood, but proves integral to the film’s plot, as the frigid, lung-destroying air becomes a literal murder weapon.Wind Riversits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was a hit at the box office, grossing $45 million on a budget of $11 million.
Sergio Leone is almost universally recognized as the master of the spaghetti Western. If there’s a runner-up in that race, it’s Sergio Corbucci. Released in 1968, the brutally nihilisticThe Great Silenceis widely regarded as the #2 spaghetti Western director’s masterpiece.
Quentin Tarantino has often sung Corbucci’s praises. While promoting his own filmThe Hateful Eight, the director citedThe Great Silenceas his favorite example of the sub-genre he dubbed “snow Westerns” (viaIGN).Another Corbucci film inspiredDjango Unchained’s title, butThe Great Silenceseems to have been a bigger influence on the film’s story.
Concerns overThe Great Silence’s incredibly dark climax led Corbucci to film two alternate endings, one upbeat and the other ambiguous, but both were rejected by producers.
Corbucci’s unsparingly bleak movie may have more snow in it than any other winter Western, and a higher body-count too.The Great Silence’s 100% RT fresh rating speaks to its status as one of the great spaghetti Westerns not directed by Leone.
7Day of the Outlaw
Directed By Andre De Toth
Andre De Toth’s 1959 drama demonstrates how a setting can elevate a fairly standard story. Placed in a typical dusty frontier town,Day of the Outlawmight feel like any one of a hundred other movies. Set in the mountains, where life seems to be hanging on by a thread, it plays like a unique, windswept vision of hell.
This underrated gem has also been cited by Tarantino as a favorite “snow Western.” TheHateful Eightdirector could’ve called it a “wind Western,” after the wintry element that can be heard whispering behind almost every scene. Rotten Tomatoes has compiled just sevenDay of the Outlawreviews, but they’re all positive, giving it a 100% fresh rating.
The exploits of famous outlaw Jesse James have been a favorite subject of Westerns for decades. While many films have romanticized James as an Old West Robin Hood,The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Forddepicts him as a haunted man who seems resigned to his impending death.
The paintings of Andrew Wyeth served as the inspiration for legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins in rendering the Canadian prairie’s grayish winter starkness forThe Assassination of Jesse James. The movie’s look enhances its sense of dreamlike inevitability, as the murderous scenario promised by the title slowly plays out.
Andrew Dominick’s film may indeed have been too slow-moving, dreamlike and bleak for audiences. Despite starring Brad Pitt, it grossed just $15 million. 77% of reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes are positive, a reflection of the movie’s reputation as an underappreciated gem. Deakins and Casey Affleck both got Oscar nominations.
Inspired by the likes ofThe Great SilenceandDay of the Outlaw, Tarantino made his own contribution to the winter Western sub-genre withThe Hateful Eight. The director went easy on his actors, however, subjecting them to the snowy elements for only part of the movie, the rest being set cozily inside a stagecoach stopover.
Not that the tone of Tarantino’s film is especially cozy. As frigid as it is outside, that’s how chilly the dynamic is between the film’s eight hateful principals, as Tarantino weaves a murder-mystery a la Agatha Christie, with characters straight out of Bret Harte.
The Hateful Eightgrossed $161 million against a budget of up to $62 million. Tarantino’s second straight Western received a less-enthusiastic critical reception thanDjango Unchained, but still reached 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, while snagging three Oscar nominations,with its one win going toEnnio Morricone’s score.
There is romance in a white character leaving behind the “civilized” world to live in the wilderness, at least according to Hollywood.The Revenantstrikes a different chord, depicting a man who escapes the modern world’s savagery by plunging into a more primal sort of hell, where the bone-chilling climate is just the first torture.
It is easy to make fun of Leonardo DiCaprio’sRevenantOscar campaign, with all its stories of on-location hardship, and the miseries inflicted by director Alejandro González Iñárritu in his quest for realism. But the strength of DiCaprio’s performance can’t be denied.
The Revenantwas loosely based on the story of real-life survivalist Hugh Glass.
DiCaprio badly wanted his Oscar, and the Academy happily acquiesced, giving the star the Best Actor trophy, one of three awards claimed by the 12-time-nominated epic. Iñárritu’s uncompromising artistry causedThe Revenant’s budget to balloon to $135 million, but it was worth it, as the film grossed $533 million worldwide, while racking up a 78% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
43 years beforeThe Revenant’s protagonist trekked off into the wilderness,Jeremiah Johnsonsent Robert Redford into the Rockies to learn the ways of the mountain man, in a story based partially on the real-life exploits of a legendary frontiersman.
Sydney Pollack’s film at first paints an idyllic picture, but things turn dark as loss is visited upon Johnson, and the peaceful man is forced into violence. Audiences loved Pollack’s epic tale of the West, pushing it to a $44 million gross on a budget of $3 million.
The film’s critical reputation is not in dispute, as it sits at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.“And some folks say he’s up there still,”Tim McIntire intones as theJeremiah Johnsoncredits roll. The real Johnson may not still be up there,but the movie has lived on thanks to the hugely popular nodding Redford internet meme.
Peckinpah revolutionized the Western with his violent revisionist epicThe Wild Bunch. Eight years earlier, he presided over legendary cowboy actor Randolph Scott’s final film,Ride the High Country, a movie whose title could be the name of a book on winter Westerns.
Relatively sedate compared toThe Wild Bunch,Ride the High Countryis a classic dying-of-the-West movie, about an aging lawman teaming with his morally dubious old friend to undertake a perilous mission. Amazingly, the film was originally released as the bottom half of a double-bill, and written off by MGM as a loss despite its modest budget.
As so often happens with overlooked masterpieces, European critics were the first to recognize the greatness of Peckinpah’s film. Everyone else caught on, andRide the High Countrynow sits at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie entered the National Film Registry in 1992.
Many a Western begins with a mysterious stranger appearing in town, bringing violence with him. The arrival of Warren Beatty’s McCabe eventually brings violence, but McCabe himself is not a violent person, and the “mystery” around him is a function of the townspeople’s paranoia.
McCabe & Mrs. Milleris about a pair of scrappers hanging on by their fingernails, having used up all their chances. The film’s hardscrabble setting is a perfect stage for their final act. The movie would make no sense in the sunshine, so it’s set in the mud and damp, the drizzle, the grayness, and finally, an all-encompassing blizzard.
Critics loved this Western from the start, with the famed Pauline Kael gushing over it, and Rotten Tomatoes has it at 85% fresh.
The movie failed upon its initial release, but Beatty believed in it so much,he pressed the studio to re-release it a year later with a new ad campaign, and it performed better. Critics loved thisWesternfrom the start, with the famed Pauline Kael gushing over it, and Rotten Tomatoes has it at 85% fresh.
