The Definitive Watchlist Seeking the Same Brilliance as The Last Outlaw: Cult Guide

Dir: John Ford

The owner of a gambling hall is entrusted with the care of a pretty young girl. He falls in love with her, but he must decide whether to let her go to his best friend, with whom he believes her to be in love, or to try to win her for himself.

Dir: John Ford

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Phantom Riders 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

This is the same plot as Three Godfathers. Three outlaws rescue a baby in the desert and with barely any water left try to return to the town in which they just robbed a bank.

Dir: John Ford

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

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 cowboy must save his girlfriend from captivity and then cross the desert on foot with a single waterhole on the way.

Dir: John Ford

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of By Indian Post perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Cheyenne Harry and his pals, bent on helping their friend Rawhide Jack, attend a rodeo with the intent to win the prize and to hand the winnings over to Jack. Harry is the successful winner and after the rodeo the boys get drunk and fall asleep.

Dir: John Ford

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

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

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

Convict Cheyenne Harry escapes from prison in a garbage truck and boards a train, where he eludes capture with the help of passenger Henry Beaufort.

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.