A guide to films that express social realism or escapism; and a guide to culturally important films that may reveal a character's thoughts, dreams, or motivations.
Image from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs from thecinematouch.blogspot.com at http://thecinematouch.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-2018-cinema-touch-awards.html
Image from The Assassination of Jesse James from didyouseethatone.com at https://didyouseethatone.com/2014/10/18/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/
Image from Meek's Cutoff from lens-views.com at http://lens-views.com/Index/Meeks_Cutoff.html
Image from The Dark Valley from imdb.com athttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt2650978/mediaviewer/rm1652181504
Image from Django Unchained from film-grab.com at https://film-grab.com/2013/05/28/django-unchained/
Image from My Darling Clementine from criterioncast.com at https://criterioncast.com/reviews/blu-ray-reviews/my-darling-clementine
Image from The Revenant from film-grab.com at https://film-grab.com/2017/08/29/the-revenant/#
Image from True Grit from film-grab.comat https://film-grab.com/2012/12/05/true-grit/
Image from There Will Be Blood from https://www.nyfa.edu/at https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/best-cinematography-look-will-blood/
Image from Slow West from cinematicpaintings.com at https://cinematicpaintings.com/post/137325899973/slow-west-2015#_=_
Image from True History of the Kelly Gang from acmag.com.au at https://acmag.com.au/thotkg_180731_bk_0013/
Western History & Cowboys
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordEveryone in 1880s America knows Jesse James. He's the nation's most notorious criminal and is being hunted by the law in 10 states. He's also the land's greatest hero, lauded as a Robin Hood by the public. No one knows of Robert Ford, at least not yet. But the ambitious 19-year-old aims to change that. He befriends Jesse and rides with his gang. And if that doesn't bring Ford fame, he will have to find a deadlier way. Friendship becomes rivalry and the quest for fame becomes obsession.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE ASSASSINATION
ISBN: B0010V60XE
Publication Date: 2008
BacurauA few years from now, Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertô, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, and soon, in a genre-bending twist, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one.
Dead ManOn the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange North American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE DEAD
ISBN: 0715515213912
Publication Date: 2018
The FuriesIn 1870s New Mexico Territory, megalomaniacal widowed ranch owner T.C. Jeffords butts heads with his daughter, Vance, a firebrand with serious daddy issues, over her dowry, choice of husband, and finally, ownership of the land itself.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE FURIES
ISBN: B0016AKSP0
Publication Date: 1950
The Good, the Bad, and the WeirdIt's 1930s Manchuria, and greed is in the air. A manic outlaw, a nasty holy man, and a determined bounty hunter are all in hot pursuit of a treasure map. Throw in Chinese gangsters, the Japanese army, and other rival factions also in pursuit of the invaluable map, and it all comes down to a big showdown in the desert.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE GOOD
ISBN: 0788612921
Publication Date: 2008
Heaven's GateA Harvard graduate, turned federal Marshal in Wyoming, learns of a government sanctioned plot by cattle barons to kill the area's European settlers for their land. The resulting battle is based on the Johnson County War of 1892.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE HEAVEN'S
ISBN: B008Y5OWSO
Publication Date: 1980
Meek's CutoffA wagon train of three families has hired mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains. Claiming to know a shortcut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage. Over the coming days, the emigrants face the scourges of hunger, thirst, and their own lack of faith in each other's instincts for survival. When they encounter a Native American, they must choose between following their guide or an 'enemy.'
Call Number: DVD MOVIE MEEK'S
ISBN: B0057IAPBO
Publication Date: 2011
My Darling ClementineWyatt Earp is the sturdy lawman who sets about the task of shaping up the disorderly Arizona town of Tombstone, with the help of the boozy, tubercular gambler and gunman Doc Holliday. Though initially at cross-purposes, the pair ultimately team up to confront the violent Clanton gang.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE JOHN
ISBN: B00LUSUVUK
Publication Date: 1946
The PropositionIn the Australian outback during the 1880s, Charlie Burns is presented with an impossible proposition by local law enforcement. The only way for him to save his younger brother from the gallows is to find and kill his psychotic older brother within nine days. Local law enforcer Captain Stanley has recently arrived from Britain and is facing problems of his own as he tries to shield his innocent wife from the brutalities of their new surroundings and deal with mounting pressures from renegade natives and his superior.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE PROPOSITION
ISBN: 0687797112194
Publication Date: 2005
RavenousIt's a recipe for nonstop action and excitement when the inhabitants of an isolated military outpost go up against a marauding band of cannibals in a deadly struggle for survival.
Call Number: BLU-RAY MOVIE RAVENOUS
ISBN: 0826663149999
Publication Date: 1999
The RiderAfter suffering a near fatal head injury, a young cowboy undertakes a search for new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE RIDER
ISBN: B07DRYCV9V
Publication Date: 2018
The Shooting; Ride in the WhirlwindIn the mid-sixties, the maverick American director Monte Hellman conceived of two westerns at the same time. As shot back-to-back for famed producer Roger Corman, they feature overlapping casts and crews. The films - The Shooting, about a motley assortment of loners following a mysterious wanted man through a desolate frontier, and Ride in the Whirlwind, about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit, are rigorous, artful, and wholly unconventional journeys.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SHOOTING
ISBN: B00MRKX8CS
Publication Date: 1966
Slow WestA sixteen-year-old boy heads west on a journey across nineteenth century frontier America in search of the woman he loves. He encounters a mysterious traveler named Silas, who protects him from the savage elements and outlaws in a lawless land. But is Silas really watching out for him, or is he tied to the band of thieves tracking their every step?
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SLOW
ISBN: B00XK8JK7S
Publication Date: 2015
Sukiyaki Western DjangoIn this action-packed Western, a nameless gunfighter arrives in a town ripped apart by rival gangs and, though courted by both to join, chooses his own path.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SUKIYAKI
ISBN: 0760137338796
Publication Date: 2007
El TopoClassic Americana and avant-garde European cinema sensibilities meet Zen Buddhism and the Bible as a master gunfighter and comic mystic must defeat his four sharp-shooting rivals on an increasingly bizarre path to allegorical self-enlightenment and surreal resurrection.
Call Number: ESPANOL DVD PELICULA TOPO
ISBN: 0038781102699
Publication Date: 1970
True History of the Kelly GangAfter discovering his family comes from a line of warriors called the Sons of Sieve, the young Australian bandit leads an anarchist army against the oppressive rule of the British.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE TRUE
Publication Date: 2020
Image from The Rider from kinepolis.lu at https://kinepolis.lu/en/films/rider