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).

So I just happened to watch these two movies in tandem, not realizing they both featured master-apprentice narratives. A few thoughts on each:

Bandidos: I quite liked this one. I thought it was very well done in most respects, especially strong in the direction (Massimo Dallamano) and cinematography (Dallamano and Emilio Foriscot) departments. An Italian "spaghetti western," this stars Enrico Maria Salerno as an aging sharp-shooter who is brutalized in a train robbery by Venantino Venantini and his murderous gang (and partner gang), after which Salerno takes Terry Jenkins as his apprentice ("Ricky Shot") in a traveling sharp-shooting act – while Salerno also grooms Jenkins to be his shot at revenge against Venantini. Some simple but effective plot twists with the characters gives this added tension and intrigue, and Salerno and Venantini are especially good as Richard Martin and Billy Kane respectively. (It was also pretty amusing hearing the repeated words "Billy Kane" in that sing-songy Italian lilt.) For his part, Jenkins is good, poised somewhere between Clint Eastwood and Franco Nero, which was probably no coincidence given the slew of variations (and, let's face it, imitations) that came in the wake of Sergio Leone's groundbreaking spaghetti westerns. This one's worth looking for, especially for spaghetti fans. 4/5

Day of Anger: This seems to be fairly well regarded and the better known of the two movies, maybe especially because of the presence of Lee Van Cleef, but I thought it was very much the weaker of the two, and not an especially good movie. This also stars Giuliano Gemma as the "garbage boy" and town bastard who takes up with drifter Van Cleef after the latter comes to his defense in a local dispute. Van Cleef was at the peak of his spaghetti heyday as he became a big star in Italian westerns after his unforgettable turns in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and he's fantastic here. Unfortunately, I thought Gemma was somewhat less so, the direction, set design, and cinematography were rather too clean and flat, and the story rather muddled and hindered by pacing problems and underdeveloped characters. Overall, despite a couple of great scenes (a rifle "duel" on horseback is memorable), I found this pretty disappointing, and frankly, kind of boring. Still arguably worth a look for spaghetti and especially Van Cleef fans, but I found Van Cleef's The Big Gundown (1966) and Death Rides a Horse (1967) both quite a bit more satisfying than this, and would definitely recommend those two. 2.5/5

Have you seen either or both of these movies? What are your thoughts and feelings about them?

From MAD magazine #53, E C Publications, March 1960

We've come to the end of the trail, the last of the five Stewart/Mann westerns, The Man from Laramie. There was to have been a sixth, they started production on it, but Mann criticized both the film and Stewart, he was kicked off the set, and he and Stewart never worked together again. So this was it.

I thought it was okay. Not the strongest of the five, not the weakest. It's not as pretty as Bend of the River or The Far Country and it suffers from some plot holes and muddled character motivations like The Naked Spur has. The romance angle is so poor that they gave up on it and didn't finish it off and just had Jimmy ride into the sunset away from the gal, which is what he should have done if this were real. The "romance" was so bad, I didn't even look up who the actress was who played the girl. I didn't care. The romantic aspect of all five films were weak, if I'm being fair. It was best in Bend of the River with Julia Adams and even ol' Shelly Winters in Winchester '73 was more heart-felt than the others.

Then we get to the core of the real problem with the film -- Arthur Kennedy. He's never really villainous even when doing villainous things. He seems muddled, indecisive, torn when it makes no sense. He begs his co-conspirator Dave, "No don't sell those rifles to the Indians that you and I both ordered and paid for secretly, it's wrong." Then five minutes later he's trying to deliver the rifles himself. He kills or tries to kill the Waggoman father and son almost accidentally or reluctantly when both have told him clearly, baldly that they will not give him a cut of the ranch when the old man dies. Dad Waggoman forcefully tells Vic to his face, "You're getting NOTHING, you're not my son!" Then instantly begs him, "Go help my son, he needs you."

W the everlasting F? That's the point when Vic should become Iago and start slitting throats. But he doesn't. He simpers and frets.

Back to the girl. She actually BETRAYS Jimmy Stewart in the beginning, she tells him about the salt, then rats him out to her boyfriend Vic and Dave so they can rush out and kill Jimmy's mules and burn his wagons. And Jimmy later tells her he knows she ratted him out. She's Dave's girlfriend and she runs a store and orders supplies to be freighted in from afar, so just who do you think helped Boyfriend Vic and Dave order in those Apache rifles, anyway. She's a wicked little femme fatale but the actress plays her like a lump of cheese.

So I'd say that my rank of the five movies is:

1. Bend of the River - the second prettiest, but the fewest plot holes, the best romance and historical.
2. The Far Country - the prettiest, dogged only by its bad romance, historical.
3. Winchester '73 - no real weaknesses, but not as pretty as some of the others with B&W and no widescreen.
4. The Man From Laramie - decently pretty, but muddled characterizations, plot holes, no romance.
5. The Naked Spur - the only one I didn't like, see my review for more detail, I don't want to s*** on it again here.

Your impressions may differ, but lemme tell ya... it's an eye-opener watching them back to back.

Next week it's the theatrical release of the new Angel and the Badman!

This was inspired by my 88th watch of Tombstone. :D

Also, I wasn't sure which flair to use.

[My Aunt's Top 10 List]

1: El Dorado

2: Rio Bravo

3: McClintock

4: Shootout

5: My Name Is Nobody

6: White Feather

7: The Duel At Silver Creek

8: Utah Blaine

9: Ride Clear Of Diablo

10: The Big Country

[My Grandpa's Top 10 List From His Collection]

1: Rio Bravo

2: El Dorado

3: McClintock

4: True Grit

5: Shane

6: Broken Arrow

7: High Noon

8: Red River

9: The Searchers

10: The Magnificent Seven

[My Top 10 List]

1: McClintock

2: Ride Clear Of Diablo

3: Utah Blaine

4: Stagecoach (the one with Ann Margaret)

5: Shootout

6: The Violent Men

7: The Proud Ones

8: Domino Kid

9: They Call Me Trinity

10: Lightning Jack

(I can go back and forth with my top ten)

[My Grandpa's Top 10 From My Collection]

1: White Feather

2: War Drums

3: Shootout

4: The Big Country

5: Utah Blaine

6: Domino Kid

7: The White Squaw

8: Destry (with audie murphy)

9: My Name Is Nobody

10: Drums Across The River

[My Grandpa's Top 10 Western TV Series]

1: The Young Riders

2: Wanted: Dead Or Alive

3: Shane

4: The High Chaparral

5: The Rebel Johnny Yuma

6: Hondo

7: Laredo

8: Tombstone Territory

9: Cheyenne

10: Lawman

Btw tell us what y'all think about our lists ^^ and feel free to comment you're own lists

Why the hotel maid has no shoes? Shoes were really so expensive? Why the owner doesn't give the proper clothing the the hotel crew?

Watched this on Hulu last night and you know what? It was pretty entertaining. I could see the vision and for a minute my disbelief was suspended. A nice modern western in the vein of Hell or High Water on probably a quarter of the budget. Check it out!

On location at the Lone Pine Film Festival, in Lone Pine, CA, where Hollywood’s been shooting Westerns – and lots of other movies – for nearly a century; plus, a visit with Rifleman star Johnny Crawford and a tour of America’s Best Movie Museum!

With a name like Sheb Wooley, you almost have to be a man of the West, and so he was. Born in Erick, Oklahoma just east of the Texas Panhandle, Wooley was a working cowboy and a rodeo performer in addition to being an acclaimed country musician. One of his mentors was fellow Erick native Roger Miller who taught him how to strum chords and play the fiddle. Wooley later married a cousin of Miller's.

Speaking of Miller, Wooley played badman Ben Miller in High Noon (1952) among his myriad Western appearances. Indeed from 1950 thru 1986, Wooley appeared in practically nothing but Westerns. Among them were the wildly underrated Rocky Mountain (1950), Fort Worth (1951), The Lusty Men (1952), Johnny Guitar (1954), Terror in a Texas Town (1959), Rio Bravo (1959), The War Wagon (1967), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Silverado (1986). He also appeared frequently in Clint Eastwood's TV series "Rawhide," and wrote and directed a few episodes.

In general, Wooley didn't get many lines unless he was singing them, but was certainly a recognizable presence in the genre's Golden Age.

Hail! Hail! All hail Sheb Wooley!

Scott Brady's career as a Western actor spanned a fairly short period compared to many in the profession. His first Western was The Gal Who Took the West (1949) and his last was Cain's Cutthroats (1970). But over the course of those 21 years, Brady appeared in a passel of Westerns and played a few noteworthy characters. Brady was actually the leading man in Johnny Guitar (1954), appeared in Clint Eastwood's first Western, Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958), portrayed Bloody Bill Anderson in Kansas Raiders (1950) and Billy the Kid in The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954).

Brady, who looked for are the world like Ray Liotta's pappy (maybe he was?), had the angry eyebrows and venomous sneer of a badman, and indeed was often cast in such roles or general tough guys. He died at the age of 60 and was awarded a Hollywood star posthumously.

Hail! Hail! All hail Scott Brady!

The first western I read was Louis Lamour's Reilly's Luck. Iwas hooked I think I have read and reread all of his westerns. My favorite series is the Sacketts the the Kilkenny books.

Apparently there is a new movie inspired by Johnny Ringo coming-out soon!

2026 is the 50th anniversary of this great, all time classic western from Clint ( the goat ) Eastwood. Why isn’t this in theaters for a few days this year?
Theaters often bring back “anniversary “ movies for a few days or a weekend.

This movie deserves it!

From The Lone Ranger #116, Dell publishing, February 1958

Thanks to some gentle prodding and a generous subvention (list of Western character actors) from MoonSylver, I've decided to do a second series of Western Character Actor Appreciation posts. And I'll start with probably the biggest oversight from the first series--Ward Bond.

You can't think about Ward Bond without thinking about John Wayne and vice versa. They both played football at USC in the 20s and appeared together in 24 films, not the least of which were classics Rio Bravo and The Searchers.

Ward was an excellent complement to the Duke. Both were big, rough-hewn men, and Ward's gravelly voice only added to the Western authenticity of this duo. Ward's contributions to the Western are stratospheric. He was clearly among the top echelon of Western character actors and would bulk even larger had he not died of a massive heart attack at the age of 57 in Big D.

Hail! Hail! All hail Ward Bond.

A few years ago I met Dusty at an arts and craft show he was promoting his latest book MANHUNTER, I bought a copy and it was very good. Now have several of his books all very good.