Watch These Five Fantastic Westerns Streaming Now
Saddle up for a Western-themed Do You Like Apples!
The Western dominated movie and TV screens back in the 50s and 60s. It was essentially like the comic book movie of our day. And while the genre has died out a little since then, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been great Westerns released in the last several years. Below, we give you four tremendous modern Westerns that all came out in the last 10 years, and we throw in one classic to boot. Make sure you keep reading toward the bottom too, because we recognize a new season of a Netflix comedy and we hit The Office Episode of the Week.
Billy recommends…
Hell or High Water (streaming on Netflix)
There is nothing better than a movie experience that has you leaving the theater thinking this is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The intense tone and underlying message of this one hit the perfect notes and now here is my pitch to convince you to watch this one. Sadly, my pitch is going to be a deep dive into some boring aspects like writing and direction of the movie. But like this movie, I hope I can unexpectedly keep you entertained. Get ready.
Hell or High Water is directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan. I am not sure which one is the star of this production, but I know this one would not have worked without such an amazing collaborative effort. Mackenzie brings a personal touch to this one by elaborating on the amazing relationships that Sheridan wrote.
First, we have Toby and Tanner Howard (Chris Pine and Ben Foster). They are brothers. Toby is a typical small town Texas man in the positive sense. Quiet and keeps to himself. The other, Tanner, is an eccentric screw-up who can't stay out of trouble because of his selfish ambition. The boldness of Tanner and the empathetic heart of Toby lead them to commit a string of bank robberies, but for a surprisingly sweet reason.
Second, we have Marcus and Alberto. Partners working for this small town police department. Marcus plays into the sweet, but kind of racist (do these go together?) stereotype of a man influenced by the South. Alberto is a Hispanic man with a positive outlook, whose family was displaced long ago by the western expansion. It’s an unexpected relationship that brings some levity to this intense story.
Sheridan writing such amazing characters gives Mackenzie an easier job, but Mackenzie navigates this story beautifully. He carefully uses the camera to, in a way, study these two relationships. That intimate look into each of their lives creates a cohesive tension instead of letting the natural tension of a bank robbery take over.
I often compare Hell or High Water to the movie Drive. Both are incredibly different in tone, but each use the backdrop of a movie we have seen before in original and fresh ways. Movies like this don’t come around often and is a perfect modern western to throw on.
Slow West (streaming on Netflix)
The audiences’ love of Michael Fassbender has died down over the past couple of years and that is a shame. Fassbender plays a mysterious cowboy who makes money by collecting bounties. This role was made for Fassbender. A charismatic and mysterious character who people are drawn too.
Along the way we think that Fassbender randomly runs into a young Scottish man by chance. For the Scottish man, Jay, it was by chance. He is on a journey to find the love of his life who had to flee from Scotland to the scary West of America. For Fassbender though, he is there for much more sinister reasons.
The story of this one is simple, but incredibly gripping. We have the force of love projecting us forward and the mysterious, undiscovered West bringing the necessary tension. I began to really like this movie because of the way it is shot, though. Not the direction of the movie, which is solid, but the cinematography.
It is not typical for a Western to have an incredibly bright color palette. The nature is shown in its full glory and that creates a dream-like feel to Slow West. The dream-like feel makes this 1 hour and 30 minute movie glide along wonderfully. Slow West is a great last-minute movie to throw on. I don’t mean that negatively. I mean that no matter how late it is you can throw this one on and enjoy yourself while leaving plenty of time to sleep. That is a weird pitch, but it is a weirdly attractive quality for a lot of movies I watch. Don’t miss this one while it is available.
Drew recommends…
Wind River (streaming on Netflix until August 28)
We’re used to Westerns set in a dusty, sun-baked little town, but 2017’s Wind River is the rare cold-weather Western. Set in snowy Wyoming during the dead of winter, it’s more of a neo-Western. Regardless, it’s one of the best crime thrillers in any genre of the last few years.
Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, the writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water (covered by Billy above), Wind River has a fantastic opening scene. A desperate, frightened young woman runs through deep snow in the middle of the night on a Native American reservation. We never see what she’s running from, but a local game tracker (Jeremy Renner) discovers her frozen corpse the next day. This sets up the core mystery of the story, which introduces a young FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) to investigate the death.
Wind River is the third entry in what’s become known as Sheridan’s Frontier Trilogy (following Sicario and Hell or High Water). There are no overlapping characters or storylines, but essentially, if you like one of these movies, you’re going to like them all. All three are set in the American West and they all feature characters trying to do what they think is right in a harsh, unforgiving world, which is mirrored by the severe landscapes around them. These are violent, intense, and unrelenting films that aren’t afraid to stare into the heart of darkness.
After others directed his first two screenplays, Sheridan impressively helms Wind River. He gets terrific performances from both Renner and Olsen; it’s really some of their best work. Renner has to anchor the movie and play a haunted character full of regret at the same time, while Olsen has to convincingly play a fish out of water that can still competently handle a fraught situation.
Filmed in remote Utah, there are some gorgeous shots here that were probably difficult to capture, considering you have to drag camera equipment through the snow out to the middle of nowhere. The setting is perfect for this frigid, raw film that dials up the pressure before a tense and explosive shootout.
For what first appears to be a slowly unfurling mystery, there are several surprises in store later in the movie. I won’t give away any more than that, because Wind River hits hard when you don’t know what’s coming. It vanishes from Netflix on August 28th, so get to this one soon.
True Grit (streaming on Amazon Prime)
If you have a great story idea and a couple interesting characters, your Western can go a long way. When you have that and your Western is made by a pair of master filmmakers, you can go even further. True Grit, the 2010 Coen brothers’ movie nominated for 10 Oscars, is an exciting, poetic, and carefully crafted work that hits every mark.
The Coens found the right talent at the right time for True Grit. Even by their standards, they nailed the casting in this one. Hailee Steinfeld, in her very first film role, beat out 15,000 applicants for the part of Mattie Ross, the precocious, resolute 14-year-old that hires a couple lawmen to track down her father’s killer. Steinfeld, who has gone on to lead other films and a career as a pop star, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her efforts. She’s a fresh-faced revelation as Mattie, somehow able to keep up with veteran A-list talent with little to no acting experience.
One of the men she hires, U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, is played by the great Jeff Bridges, who makes Cogburn a rugged, almost unintelligible alcoholic that reluctantly agrees to Mattie’s wishes. Bridges was bravely taking on John Wayne’s famous Oscar-winning role in the 1969 True Grit, and I can’t think of anyone else that would’ve been a better choice. His performance is a perfect mix of gruff mercenary and lovable hero. In an amusing and surprising supporting turn, Matt Damon plays LaBoeuf, the lawman working with Cogburn to bring Josh Brolin’s Tom Chaney to justice.
This is one of the Coens’ most accessible movies. In much of their work, the message can be subtle or obscure, and the characters can be mysterious and strange. In True Grit, we understand the field of play from the start, and what follows is a highly entertaining Western tale.
The Magnificent Seven (streaming on Amazon Prime)
One more recommendation for those of you who are really into Westerns. The Magnificent Seven (the 1960 original, not the 2016 remake) is an enjoyable cinematic relic of the 60s. Based on one of the most famous foreign films ever, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven portrays seven gunslingers that are brought in to protect a small Mexican town from a bunch of bandits.
Some of the most accomplished actors of the era (Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, and Eli Wallach) appear in what was a box office failure at the time. Since then, its legacy has lived on through its triumphant and catchy score and the recent remake starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke.
Neither version of The Magnificent Seven is considered a masterpiece, but the 60s cool-guy performances of the original and the riveting final shootout make it well worth a watch for fans of the Western.
Streaming TV Corner
What we’re watching this week
Drew: GLOW (Season 3 now streaming on Netflix)
GLOW has become one of the most reliably good ensemble comedies on TV over the last three years. This show about the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (an actual women’s professional wrestling outfit in the 80s) can be hilarious, strange, delightful, confrontational, sincere, and more within the span of a season. Led by Alison Brie and Marc Maron, the entire cast is wonderful to watch; they’re the kind of characters you just want to spend time with -- a hallmark of a great comedy. Plus, you don’t even have to be interested in pro wrestling (I’m not) to be charmed by GLOW.
The Office Episode of the Week
Drew: “Boys and Girls” (Season 2, Episode 15)
This mid-second season episode is the one where Jan holds a “women in the workplace” seminar, and Michael gets frustrated that he can’t listen in so he creates his own impromptu “men in the workplace” meeting in the warehouse. Like the season one “Basketball” episode, this gives the show a chance to clash the office and warehouse characters in interesting ways.
Some highlights include Michael claiming he is “collar blind” when it comes to white collar and blue collar workers. He also puts a math problem on the chalkboard and says it’s “a little Good Will Hunting situation.” However, the best line reading of the episode goes to Meredith, who starts the women’s seminar with “Hi, I’m Meredith and I’m an alcoh-... I mean, good at supplier relations.”
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