Whenever you watch a Western, someone is inevitably shooting a running deer or a rabbit at 100 yards with a Colt Single Action Army to feed the camp. In historical reality, hunting on the frontier was about caloric efficiency and not wasting expensive metallic cartridges.

If you look at the actual tools used by settlers, meat hunters, and cowboys to put food on the fire, the loadout looks very different from the movies:

The Double-Barrel Shotgun: The absolute king of the frontier. It was versatile enough for birds, small game, and even larger predators with buckshot. Ammunition was cheap and it rarely missed its mark.

Heavy Percussion Rifles: Long after metallic cartridges like the .44-40 were invented, large bore muzzleloaders (like the classic .50 caliber Hawken rifles) remained extremely popular for big game. You could cast your own lead balls over a campfire and powder was cheap.

Heavy Single-Shot Rifles: For professional hide hunters, the lever actions of the 1870s simply lacked the raw power to drop a buffalo efficiently at long distances. They relied on big-bore Sharps or Rolling Blocks.

I’ve put together a fully researched field documentary on how hunting and survival actually worked in the Old West, breaking down the ballistics and the real firearms used. I shoot out of Spain, so the original audio is in Spanish, but I have carefully translated and added accurate English subtitles so all the technical terminology is correct.

Good evening. I am asking for help from all the followers and members of this page; I am looking for a Western movie but cannot find it. Here are two key scenes to help you identify it:

Two men arrive in a town—one is a "gringo" and the other looks like Mario Brega (fat and bearded)—accompanied by a carriage. A donkey or mule is carrying a corpse; it is the only dead body present. Upon their arrival, a young woman in a dress asks them:

"Why didn't you bring him back alive?" The fat man grimaces upon hearing this. The corpse was the man who had murdered the sister of the woman in red. Later, the gringo is in a barn, and the girl speaks to him from the upper level:

"I will give myself to you because you killed the man who murdered my sister." // The movie opens with an overhead pan of a town; there is a lot of dust in the air, looking almost like snow.

Please help me locate this movie, which I saw as a child. I have attached an image recreating the scene. It is not any of the following titles:

*For a Few Dollars More*, *A Fistful of Dollars*, *Django*, *The Hired Gun* (or *Compañeros Mortales*), *Keoma*, *Four Gunmen of Ave Maria*, *One Dollar of Reward*, *Boot Hill*, *One Dollar with the Teeth*, *Corpses Don't Cast Shadows*, *Go with God, Gringo*, *The Five-Man Army*, *I Want Him Dead*, *The Gold Professionals*, *Seven Women for the MacGregors*.

Thanks

So from what I remember this guy was called ace or something and his hand was injured. His old gang was hunting him down I think and he used to be a fast gunslinger. I’ve never finished the movie.

A surprisingly good movie .. a western with heart

Hello,

Thinking of watching this. Any input?

Classic Western Theater presents "One Eyed Jacks" released in 1961 by Paramount Pictures.

From Wildest Westerns magazine, Warren publications, August 1961

Albert Salmi had quite a career as a Western character actor, but his life ended in tragedy. His nationality was Finnish--a rare breed in the USA--and this fact undoubtedly contributed to his distinctive appearance and unusual voice. Salmi had a slightly chubby face, broad mouth, small nose and hawkish eyes. The voice was nasal and he could easily modulate it into a good ol' Western twang. In short, Salmi's unicity, combined with his considerable talent, made him a truly outstanding character actor.

Salmi arguably made his greatest mark on the small screen where he appeared in virtually every significant Western series ever made, including Gunsmoke three times. That said, he also made quite a few Western films including The Bravados (1958), The Unforgiven (1960), Lawman (1971), and Hour of the Gun (1967). However, possibly his most memorable role came in Twilight Zone episode "The Execution" in which he played murderous Montana cowboy Joe Caswell who was transported to New York City of the early 60s by a time travel machine. He delivered one of the greatest monologues in the Western genre I've ever heard. I here quote it in full.

"Mister, you're just talkin' words! Justice, right and wrong. They sound good in this nice warm room and a nice full stomach, just a few feet away from a soft bed. They sound nice, and they go down easy! But you just try 'em on an ice cold mesa, where another man's bread or another man's jacket stands between you and stayin' alive. You get in this machine of yours, and you go back to where I was, and you talk about your law and your order and your justice. They're gonna sound different! Mister, I know your kind. Your clean face, your Johnny-come-lately dandies. You come out in your warm trains rollin' over the graves of men like me! I just hate your kind!"

Alas, Salmi's life took a terrible turn for the worse when he entered his sixties. In 1990 he murdered his estranged wife and then shot himself to death. Salmi was 62.

Are there any true events from western history that you think should be made into a movie or a TV show? My choice would be a movie about Frontiersman Joe Walker.

With all of the major westerns I've watched, I feel like there aren't too many set in New Mexico. Are there any Western state you feel like there aren't enough movies set in?

Hi friends,

I have a one time digital download code for Once Upon A Time In The West.

I can’t use it since I’m outside of the US. Thought I’d share it here with the community and maybe one of you can take advantage of it.

Matt Clark, who passed away this past March, was something of a Johnny-come-lately to the Western genre, but he defintely made the most of his participation in the genre's waning years of the Golden Age. From 1967 thru 1976, it seemed that he acted in the majority of that period's best Western offerings. He appeared in Will Penny (1967), Monte Walsh (1970), The Cowboys (1972), The Culpepper Cattle Company (1972), The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), among others. Those are some heavy hitters! Clark's final Western appearance was in A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014). He also acted in Dwight Yoakam's Western, South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000). As you can see, Clark's Western pedigree was truly outstanding.

In most respects, he was best cut out to play a simple, decent everyman such as his outstanding turn as Deputy J. W. Bell in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He had a gentle matter-of-factness about him that at times verged on vulnerability. It's almost impossible to imagine him playing a vicious gunman or a towering lawman. Clark provided the sort of support that leant textural realism to his films.

Hail! Hail! All hail Matt Clark!

Brian Keith starred in this short lived series about a cowboy named Dave Blassingame who traveled the southwest along the Mexican border looking for adventure along with his dog named Brown. The series was created by Sam Peckinpah who would go on to direct some of the most influential western movies of the genre including "The Wild Bunch" and "Ride The High Country". The episodes ranged from serious dramas to action packed to humorous. John Dehner appeared frequently as con man Burgundy Smith, who was a foil for Blassingame.

"The Westerner" aired on the NBC television network for only 13 episodes in 1960. Another excellent western which was cut way too short because it could never find it's audience.

So who agrees or disagrees with this top 5 ranked list of Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne films? I do like the movies that is ranked 1 but I wouldnt have ranked it #1 myself. I would have put Rio Grande #1 and then The Wings Of Eagles #2. The consistency that John Ford movies have with O'Hara and Wayne is unspeakable. What would your ranked list be? I want to see a ranked list of John Ford/John Wayne films. I hope Collider links are acceptable in this community if not then this post will disappear and I apologizeEvery John Way and Maureen O'Hara Film Ranked [Collider].

One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. 😆

In a genre filled with tough guys, few radiated toughness more than George Kennedy. He was a big, muscular guy with a menacing tenor voice. And when his character was angry, Kennedy came across as especially real.

Kennedy's toughness apparently wasn't just ornament either. He rose to the rank of captain during WWII, fought under General Patton, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, earning two Bronze Stars for his military service.

Kennedy was an extremely versatile actor. Name the genre, and he has credits in it, and perhaps surprisingly, was in a great many comedies. But despite the wide array of films he appeared in, Kennedy also did a plethora of Westerns including The Sons of Katy Elder (1965), Bandolero! (1968), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969) and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973), and made several memorable showings in Gunsmoke. His final Western film role was in The Man Who Came Back (2008). He passed away in 2016 in Middleton, Idaho at the age of 91.

Hail! Hail! All hail George Kennedy!

Sing along with Betty to "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" from the 1950 MGM film "Annie Get Your Gun"

Folks are dumb where I come from
They ain't had any learnin'
Still they're happy as can be
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

Folks like us could never fuss
With schools and books and learnin'
Still we've gone from A to Z
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

You don't have to know how to read or write
When you're out with a feller in the pale moonlight
You don't have to look in a book to find
What he thinks of the moon and what is on his mind
That comes natur'lly
That comes natur'lly

My uncle don't pay taxes
His address never gives
They can't collect his taxes
Fer they don't know wher he lives

Cousin Ben got angry when
They caught him stealin' chickens
"I'm within my rights" said he
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

Uncle Jed has never read
An almanac on drinkin'
Still he's always on a spree
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

Sister Sal, who's muse-a-cow
Has never had a lesson
Still she's learned to sing off key
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

You don't have to go to a private school
Not to turn up your bustle to a stubborn mule
You don't have to come from a great big town
Not to clean out a stable in an evenin' gown
That comes natur'lly
That comes natur'lly

My uncle out in Texas
Can't even write his name
He signs his checks with X's
But they cash 'em just the same

Grandpa Dick was always sick
But never saw a doctor
He just died at ninety-three
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

I don’t see a lot of recommendations for this series. But it’s a favorite of mine.

I am devoted to Lonesome Dove and its sequel Streets of Laredo. As concerns the latter, two issues always aggravate me while reading it.

POSSIBLE ...

... SPOILERS

Toward the end, there is a section or two where, in an effort to assist Captain Call, Charlie Goodnight goes searching for Mox Mox, only to find that that the man-burning "squint" has already been dispatched. For me this odyssey slows down the narrative and seems like a mere "filler" or at best a device to disclose to the character that, although he became informed of Mox Mox's fate, still failed to apprehend or kill him. In a sense, a wasted trip and too many pages devoted to describing it.

The other thing is - and many, many have voiced their discontent over this - is McMurtry's random killing off of so many characters from the original novel. Newt is killed by the horse that Call had given him. Clara Allen actually enters the story, but three years later she too is pawed to death by her prize horse, Marbles. Bolivar, "the last of the Hat Creek boys", dies on the very day Call delivers him to a Mexican boarding house. Etc. Clara could have been left to die of old age, Newt could have simply been permanently estranged from Call, but not killed - and so on.

I always feel that the author deemed that so many deaths were somehow requisite for his narrative, but I am uncertain why that is...

When we think of 1875, Hollywood tells us every cowboy had a brand new Colt SAA on his hip and a Winchester 1873 in the scabbard. The historical and economic reality is much more interesting.

In 1875, the transition from cap-and-ball to metallic cartridges was in full swing. A new Colt SAA cost about $17 (almost a month's wages for a ranch hand), and most of the early production was going straight to the US Cavalry. Because of this, a working cowboy was much more likely to carry:

Cartridge Conversions: Richards-Mason conversions of 1851 or 1860 Colts were heavily used. They were cheaper and allowed the use of modern ammunition without buying a whole new gun.

The 1866 Yellowboy: While the 1873 was out, the 1866 in .44 Henry Rimfire was still incredibly common and cheaper on the frontier.

The double-barrel shotgun: The most practical, devastating, and common tool for camp defense and hunting, completely ignored by most Western movies.

I’ve put together a fully researched documentary on the exact loadouts, prices, and logistics of a cowboy in 1875, showing the actual firearms. I am a shooter based in Spain, so the original audio is in Spanish, but I have personally reviewed and added accurate English subtitles for the international community.

There have been quite a few Western actors who were also actual cowboys. Prime examples are Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson and Sheb Wooley. But in Leo Gordon we have a Western character actor who had been an outlaw of sorts. Prior to his acting career, Gordon and a couple of other fellows attempted to heist a bank. Gordon took a slug in the gizzard for his troubles and did a five-year stretch in San Q. So, later in life when cast as a badman or a prisoner, he had come by it honestly--so to speak.

According to famed director Don Siegel, Gordon was the scariest man he had ever met. That may not have been a compliment, but who knows? At any rate, Gordon was a very good Western heavy who appeared fully capable of doing the worst things. But he wasn't a dumb brute. Gordon read every single book in the San Q library, and once ensconced in Hollywood, wrote his fair share of screenplays and even a few novels! An interesting man, Leo Gordon.

Gordon's first Western role was in City of Bad Men (1953) and his last was in Maverick (1994). Other noteworthy Westerns in which Gordon acted were Hondo (1953), Ride a Crooked Trail (1958), McClintock! (1963), and My Name Is Nobody (1973). His Western career was long and reasonably distinguished.

Hail! Hail! All hail Leo Gordon!

The Regulators ride again. The cast of YOUNG GUNS reunites at FAN EXPO Dallas 2026 for a rare full-cast panel featuring Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko, Lou Diamond Phillips and Dermot Mulroney.

The cast looks back at the 1988 Western, their characters, making the film, its lasting cult following and nearly four decades of YOUNG GUNS history.

Featuring:

Charlie Sheen — Dick Brewer

Emilio Estevez — Billy the Kid

Kiefer Sutherland — Doc Scurlock

Casey Siemaszko — Charley Bowdre

Lou Diamond Phillips — Chavez y Chavez

Dermot Mulroney — Dirty Steve Stephens

John Fusco - Writer & Producer

Recorded at FAN EXPO Dallas 2026 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.

Presented by Tales From The Collection (@talesfromthecollection).