The Epic Western, like other Epics, can be defined by one of two factors: its scope and/or its length. The scope of the film can encompass the way the film is shot, the number of cast members and extras, the themes presented, or perhaps even the extent of the sets/production design. Also, the Western may be defined as an Epic if the length of the film runs for more than 150 minutes.
The Covered Wagon
A great caravan of covered wagons, filled with hearty pioneers and their families and possessions, are waiting for the Spring 'jump off' at Westport Landing, now Kansas City. Where countless pilgrims fell, a love triangle flourishes, as Molly Wingate must choose between the brutish Sam and the dashing Will. Complicating her decision are the perils of the trail.
Cimarron
A western saga about empire building, it follows the adventures of Yancey Cravat, a lawyer and newspaperman from Wichita, who joins the Oklahoma Territory land rush in 1889. Soon he and his family are citizens of Osage. Beset by wanderlust, Yancey joins the Cherokee Strip land rush in 1893, leaving wife Sabra behind to run the newspaper and raise their son, Cimarron.
The Plainsman
This western interweaves classic real-life old west legends like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln into a stunning tale as vast as the wild frontier itself.
Arizona
When Peter Muncie moseys into Tucson, a love-struck Phoebe decides the handsome drifter's just the man to help run her cattle ranch, the largest in the territory. Standing in her way, however, is Jefferson Carteret, a city slicker who not only plans to cheat Phoebe out of her business but Peter as well, by gunning him down on their wedding day.
Duel in the Sun
Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.
Red River
With no market for his herd, the master of a vast cattle ranch and his son decide to head the first cattle drive over the now famous Chisholm Trail, past the Red River, into Missouri. The path is filled with hardship and the drive looks hopeless as the men struggle to prevail.
Across the Wide Missouri
In fur-trapping country, a man depends on his single-shot rifle and his courage. One of those men is Flint Mitchell (Clark Gable), who heads into Blackfoot territory with his fellow mountain men -- and with his new Blackfoot bride (María Elena Marqués) who may be the key to their safety in the dangerous land. Mitchell is a rough, buckskinned man of action and Gable shows he's more than rough enough to portray him in a brawling, breathtakingly beautiful frontier tale.
Giant
Based on Edna Ferber's epic novel of a wealthy Texas cattle rancher who marries a strong-willed Virginia woman and the problems they encounter with politics and prejudices of the time.
The Searchers
Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards, an Indian-hater who believes more in bullets than words. He's out to find his young niece, who's been taken captive by the renegade Comanches who massacred her family.
The Big Country
A retired ship captain moves west to marry and start life over as a rancher. He finds himself between two families at war over cattle watering rights, unaccepted by the local people, and in a deteriorating relationship.
The Magnificent Seven
The citizens of a small Mexican farming village hire seven gun fighters to defend them from a ruthless and exploitative group of bandits led by Calvera. As Calvera's next raid approaches, the peasants and the gun fighters work together to prepare to defend the village.
How the West Was Won
This saga follows a family's move west through generations. Restored clarity eliminates the film's original panoramic three-panel join lines.
Cheyenne Autumn
Three-hundred starving Cheyenne men, women and children, forcibly resettled in the barren wastelands of Oklahoma, set out on a desperate 1500-mile trek back to their Yellowstone homeland. A true-life story.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The inimitable "Man with no name" teams with two gunslingers to pursue a fortune in stolen gold, but they soon discover their greatest challenge is to stay alive.
The Wild Bunch
Outlaws on the U.S.-Mexican border face the march of progress, the Mexican army and a gang of bounty hunters led by a former member as they plan to rob a U.S. Army train.
Once Upon a Time in the West
A story of a vicious villain coldly wiping out an entire family and leaving another man to be falsely accused of the slaughter.
Little Big Man
Jack Crabb is 121 years old. And he's done it all. He's been a full-fledged Cheyenne, an Indian fighter, a snake oil merchant, master gunman, drinking buddy of wild Bill Hickok, colleague of Buffalo Bill, and is the only survivor of Custer's Last Stand. Crabb is either the Old West's most neglected hero or the biggest liar ever to cross the Mississippi. Little Big Man is Jack Crabb's story.
Duck, You Sucker!
A Mexican peasant and an Irish terrorist join forces in a daring rescue of political prisoners during the Mexican Revolution.
Heaven's Gate
A 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.
Dances With Wolves
Sent to protect a U.S. outpost on the desolate frontier, Lt. John Dunbar finds himself alone in the vast wilderness. Befriending the very people he's sent to protect the outpost from, the Sioux Indians, Dunbar slowly comes to revere those he once feared. When the encroaching U.S. Army threatens to overrun the Sioux, he is forced to make a difficult choice.
Wyatt Earp
The biography of the legendary Wyatt Earp, including the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral.
The Alamo
Facing 4,000 Mexican troops, 186 Texan soldiers and volunteers - including William Travis, Davy Crockett, and Jim Bowie - retreat within the walls of the Alamo, a Franciscan mission that was converted into a military fort. Once inside, the men prepare themselves for what will be a bloody battle to the death. U.S. General Sam Houston leads the charge from the outside. The Texans held the fort for 13 days under siege by General Santa Anna.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Everyone 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.
The Lone Ranger
A thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes. Native American spirit warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice -- taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won, and lost, through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Kevin Costner's ambitious cinematic adventure will take audiences on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.
Lonesome Dove
Augustus McCrea and Woodrow F. Call, former Texas Rangers, are partners and friends who have shared hardship and danger. Gus is the romantic, a reluctant rancher who has a way with women and the sense to leave well enough alone. Call is a driven, demanding man, a natural authority figure with no patience for weakness. He is obsessed with the dream of creating a new homestead. The two men could hardly be more different, but both are tough fighters who have learned to count on each other.
Broken Trail
A man and his estranged nephew become the guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls. Their rivals intend to kidnap the girls while the two are delivering a herd of horses.
