Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of Air Mail: C...

Dir: John Ford

Jode McWilliams, the foreman of Circle O, is in love with Peg, the daughter of Pa Owens, the owner of the ranch. The trouble is that daddy won't allow! Which does not stop Jode from wanting to marry Peg. He asks Stumpy, the cook, to help him write a love letter to the lady of his heart. The other cowhands find it and, with a view to making fun of Jode, nail it to the door. Two Horns, an Indian, steals it and ... delivers it to Peg. When Jode and his posse, pursuing the facetious redskin, arrive at the Owenses' house, Jode's boss has already found out. A showdown ensues and the young man, who has lost the fight, is made prisoner and held in a room. But he is rescued by his pal Chub and a helpful parson marry the two lovebirds. Away they ride from the reluctant father towards happiness.

Dir: John Ford

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Last Outlaw perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A grizzled hero is revisiting the town of his youthful exploits.

Dir: John Ford

The marshal of a wild Kansas border town is killed in a gunfight in a saloon. His son, Cheyenne Harry, shoots dead two of the killers. Not wanting to lose both her son and her husband to gun violence, Harry's mother gets him to agree never to carry a gun again. However, Harry's rival for the beautiful Conchita, Boone Travis, commits a murder and frames Harry for it. Complications ensue.

Dir: John Ford

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Bare Fists perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Harry's bride is murdered at their wedding along with Harry's mother and father, and the good-hearted outlaw turns grimly malevolent.

Dir: John Ford

Cowboy Lin McLean's restlessness takes him to Denver, where he becomes enamored of a waitress named Katie.

Dir: John Ford

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Riders of Vengeance perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The head of a band of cattle rustlers is defied, prompting him to call his phantom riders together and route the defier's cattle, and then seek their owner intent on taking his life.

Dir: John Ford

Cattleman Flint cuts off farmer Sims' water supply. When Sims' son Ted goes for water, one of Flint's men kills him. Cheyenne is sent to finish off Sims, but finding the family at the newly dug grave, he changes sides.

Dir: John Ford

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Woman's Fool perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A man declined admission to fight in the American Civil War joins a gang of marauders and winds up as a fugitive.

Dir: John Ford

Fellow convicts Cheyenne Harry and Buck Masters become even more bitter enemies when Buck agrees to tamper with the prison's books for the warden's greedy son.

Dir: John Ford

Jim Kyneton, once a member of an outlaw gang, joins the Texas Rangers and is forced to track down his former friends and his half-brother Nick, who have been robbing a gold mine.