A lone figure, a gun, and a hostile landscape. Westerns may be the most fundamental movies. But when storytellers who want to challenge myths approach the genre, whether it’s just for fun, using the genre to tell previously overlooked stories, or using the genre to tell familiar stories in new ways, Just to set it up in the settings and see how it evolves. That’s when you get something really special. Whatever its shape or style, Westerns are all about exploring new territory, so get in the saddle and the wild ride begins here.
Drover’s wife
Life on the frontier is difficult for many reasons, and sometimes the spread of civilization brings only bad news. For Molly Johnson (Leah Purcell, who also wrote and directed), living on the outskirts of a Snowy Mountains community and tending to her farm and children in her husband’s absence is a hard but honest life. She finds (at the worst possible time) a wanted man, Yadaka (Rob Collins), on her property, and he makes her life a little easier, but his presence in the area makes her fearful. It will attract so much attention that there is a good reason to do so. Purcell’s re-editing of Henry Lawson’s story of the same name, the film explores the burdens placed on those deemed “inferior” by society, such as working women and Indigenous men, and how they struggle to win. It sharply depicts what a victory it was.
“The Doctor’s Wife” is currently available on SBS On Demand.
A Fistful of Dollars / A Few Dollars More / The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Widely known as the Dollars trilogy, director Sergio Leone made westerns cool, made Spain seem more American than America, and made television star Clint Eastwood a star. Fun fact: Did you know that the so-called “Man with No Name” played by Eastwood is actually given a (different) name in each film? Or is it technically made in reverse order? And how Eastwood’s character assembled that iconic look is slowly revealed in the final film? What makes these films timeless classics is their thrilling pulp storytelling (the first one “borrowed” the plot from the samurai classic Yojimbo), perfect casting, and Leone’s iconic It is a fusion of styles. A close-up squinting into the sun has never been more dramatic.
All three movies are streaming on SBS On Demand.
The good, the bad, and the ugly
mad dog morgan
Dennis Hopper may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of westerns, but in this film (and another film in the Wild Western Collection, ‘T’) he shows the respect for the genre. and has proven adept at sometimes turning it on its head. This story of a violent Australian bushranger (Hopper) and his Indigenous partner (David Gulpilil) is part action movie, part historical drama, and part (big) trippy counterculture experience. Hopper’s outlandish performance is wonderful and haunting, but at times surprisingly subtle. It also features perhaps the most memorable final line (by Frank Thring) in Australian cinema.
“Mad Dog Morgan” is currently available on SBS On Demand.
first cow
Survival in the West is not necessarily about who is the fastest on the back foot. Cookie (John Magaro) is a cook in Oregon in the 1820s. King Lu (Orion Lee) is a fugitive Chinese worker. When circumstances bring them together, they realize they have a common dream of living peacefully on land. When a local tycoon turns over the area’s first cow, he sees an opportunity to make a fortune by stealing the milk to make biscuits. But while milk in the West is as valuable as gold, it can get you into just as much trouble. This honest yet moving story of friendship is about small stakes but a huge heart.
“First Cow” is currently available on SBS On Demand.
new gold mountain
In the Chinese community around the Ballarat gold mines in the 1850s, Wei Xin (Yeo Sung Ahn) is a man who gets things done. It’s hard work, and it gets even tougher when a murdered white woman is discovered in the camp. He now has a mystery to solve in a volatile situation where various factions, both white and Chinese, vie for power and influence, but everyone wants him to succeed. Not that there is. With a lively supporting cast and lively locations (filmed primarily at Ballarat’s historic Sovereign Hill), the film is both a fascinating mystery and an insight into the nuances of a multicultural society that has sprung up around the lust for money. It is also a depiction.
“New Gold Mountain” is currently available on SBS On Demand.
colonists
The big lie underlying the concept of the frontier has always been that the land is vacant and waiting to be claimed. This drama, set (far) south of the border, confronts that lie head on. In the 1800s, when Spanish landowners wanted to lay claim to large areas of Patagonia, two Westerners, a former British military officer and an American gunfighter, were hired to explore the (apparently beautiful) territory. A person was dispatched with a local Chilean guide. What that means will gradually become clear. What used to be a nurturing home for the indigenous people is turned into a soul-destroying hell by increasingly murderous newcomers.
“The Settlers” is now available on SBS On Demand.
django
In the best tradition of always overcooked spaghetti westerns, there’s a lot going on in this series. When Django (Matthias Schoenaerts), a Civil War veteran, shows up in the town of New Babylon in search of his daughter, he finds himself surrounded by a colony of freed slaves and a gang of racist fundamentalists (led by Noomi Rapace with a great accent). encounter a collision. I want the land it sits on. Everything is personal and no one is what they seem. By the time things start to clear up with a shootout, you don’t know who to root for. But you can always tell who you want to see get the results they deserve.
Django is now streaming on SBS On Demand.
Magnificent Seven
The residents of a small Mexican village, plagued by regular attacks by a gang of bandits, decide to fight back and hire a ragtag group of washed-up gunmen and thrill-seekers to fight off the bandits. If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a western remake of Seven Samurai. Director John Sturges and an all-star cast (including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, and Eli Wallach as the bandit leader) make this one of the towering classics of the western genre. , was an almost perfect example. The best of Hollywood filmmaking.
“The Magnificent Seven” is currently available on SBS On Demand.
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