10 Western Movie Tropes That Define The Genre

Western movies have long been built on repeated tropes that define the genre. As the exciting stories of how cowboys, bandits, and outlaws make their way through a lawless life across the Wild West frontier, many tropes and cliches have reappeared time and time again to the point that they become readily associated with the genre itself. These tropes helped create a cinematic language for Western movies and helped them stand apart from other types of genre films.




Many of the best Western movies ever made were packed with tropes and cliches of the genre. The acclaimed collaborations of icons like John Wayne and John Ford would not have been possible without the foundations of the Western genre and the tropes and clichés that it embodied. From over-the-top brawls in dusty saloons to lone gunmen facing off against ruthless crooks in a lawless town, these tropes helped define Westerns.


10 A Showdown At High Noon

High Noon (1952)


While it was the 1952 Western High Noon that solidified the movie trope of a noble gunslinger facing off against an adversary at a predetermined time, this cliche has its origins throughout the entire genre’s history. With climatic gunfights being a staple of Westerns across films, TV, comics, and more, this idea represented a test of the hero’s bravery, determination, and skill. By organizing the battle for later in the future, the Western showdown trope showcased that the hero could have fled town but instead stuck around to risk their life in the name of justice.

High Noon perfectly encapsulated this trope as Gary Cooper’s portrayal of Marshal Will Kane got to the very heart of Western movie stars’ innate characteristics. Even though Marshal Kane’s life was likely to be lost as he faced off against a gang of killers alone, he knew it was the right thing to do and that only a coward would flee town. Despite accusations of High Noon propagating communist sympathy and John Wayne rejecting this classic Western as “the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen,” it has remained a firm favorite among Western movie lovers.


9 The Noble Outlaw

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Paul Newman's Butch Cassidy and Robert Redford's Sundance Kid take refuge behind huge rocks in the mountains in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

While the term noble outlaw may sound like it embodies an inherent contradiction, Western movies have consistently showcased its value. A noble outlaw was a cowboy who, although they didn’t follow the letter of the law, still lived by their own set of moral and ethical values. In a way, this comes across as more genuine, as outlaws formed their own value system that aligned more with the dog-eat-dog, every-man-for-himself mentality of life during the era of the Wild West.


One movie that highlighted this trope well was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a film that showcased its stars, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, as criminal men of great virtue. Despite being bank robbers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were not evil men, just clever crooks who decided to use their smarts to make it big and carry out their thieving plans. Although it was clear these outlaws were criminals, their innate likability meant audiences rooted for them anyway.

8 The Saloon Brawl

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Denzel Washington as Sam Chisolm in a Cowboy Hat on a Dusty Street in The Magnificent Seven


There have been so many memorable saloon brawls in Western movies that this trope has been parodied in everything from Blazing Saddles to My Name Is Nobody. This common Western occurrence usually involved an out-of-towner arriving uninvited at a dodgy saloon full of cowboys and criminals. With incredible tension, the hero usually starts asking unwanted questions, and before too long, all hell has broken loose as bottles are thrown, guns are fired, and he’s forced to showcase his skills as a superior gunslinger to calm things down.

One modern example of this trope in action was the 2016 remake of the Western classic The Magnificent Seven. This scene saw Denzel Washington take part in an intense bar shootout that saw him shooting several men while barely even looking at them. This showcase of pure gunmanship revealed Washington’s character’s innate skill and set up the audience’s expectations of him for the rest of the movie.


7 The Lawless Town

Unforgiven (1992)

Clint Eastwood aiming a gun in Unforgiven

Whenever a town is seen in a Western movie, it always seems to be either a glowing example of law and order that an outlaw comes in and disrupts or a lawless example of Wild West excesses that a noble hero must come in and save. The lawless Western town has been a consistent trope in the genre as it is firm fodder for compelling narratives of heroes versus villains. This was effectively seen in the HBO series Deadwood, which walked the fine line between both tropes as civilization began to entrench on a previously lawless frontier encampment.


Another famous example of this trope in practice was in Clint Eastwood’s masterpiece of Western revisionism, Unforgiven. This Best Picture-winning Western brought together many of the tropes of the genre to comment upon itself, and the lawless Western town was no different. As the former sheriff William Munny, Eastwood was seen embarking on a quest for revenge while encountering the outlaw-ridden, brothel-filled lawlessness of frontier Western towns.

Unforgiven Movie Poster

Unforgiven

Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, is a Western that delves into the myths of the American West. The film follows William Munny, a retired and widowed outlaw, who takes on one last job with his old partner and a young gunslinger. They aim to avenge a disfigured prostitute in a corrupt town controlled by a brutal sheriff. The film explores themes of redemption, the brutal realities of frontier justice, and the consequences of violence.

Release Date
August 7, 1992

Runtime
130 Mins

6 The Damsel in Distress

Django (1966)

Loredana Nusciak as María in Django (1966)


The damsel in distress trope has been a consistent feature of not just Western movies but storytelling in general for centuries. This idea of a helpless woman who needs a heroic man to swoop in and save the day has been frequently seen in Greek mythology, fairy tales, and countless modern genres. The innate danger for women of violence and sexual assault within the lawlessness of the Wild West has made this even more prominent in stories of outlaws and cowboys, as it often represented a strong motivation for the hero to take action.

One particularly violent example was Django, the 1966 spaghetti Western starring Franco Nero that served as a primary influence for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. This Western from director Sergio Corbucci featured a classic damsel-in-distress character in Maria, a prostitute who was tortured and assaulted by gangs of bandits. These horrific instances spur Django into action and showcase exactly why the damsel in distress trope can be so effective from a narrative and character motivation perspective.


5 The Weathered Old Cowboy

True Grit (1969)

True Grit John Wayne (1) With an eye patch as Rooster Cogburn on horseback

A wise, older mentor guiding a younger protege has been a tenet in storytelling for countless centuries and even holds a special place within the classic monomyth of the hero’s journey. This also holds true for the Western genre, as young gungliners encounter old, weathered cowboys who wish to pass their wisdom on to the upcoming generation. By providing a complex and almost parental relationship between the two characters, this trope has continually been used in Western movies to great effect.


One famous example of this trope in practice was John Wayne’s iconic role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. This classic Western saw Wayne reluctantly team up with the young Mattie Ross, a stubborn teenager trying to track down her father’s murder in lawless Native American territory. The juxtaposition between Mattie’s bright-eyed ambition and Cogburn’s well-worn frustration and life experience made this an iconic Western and a firm showcase of this notable trope.

4 Civilization Versus The Wilderness

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Kevin Costner as Dunbar standing in a field in Dances With Wolves


The juxtaposition between the untamed, lawless Wild West landscape and the encroaching influence of civilization has been a consistent theme within Western movies. This has been a line to walk and has led to interesting explorations of Native American culture and the story of how the United States carved out its own identity and mythology. The world of Westerns has been both wild and filled with rigid order, and often, a lone gunman or a determined bandit has stood at the center of this dichotomy.

This trope was powerfully explored in Kevin Costner’s Best Picture winner, Dances with Wolves. As Lieutenant Dunbar dealt with conflicts and contradictory existences of white settlers and Native American tribes, Dances with Wolves became an examination of the complexities of American culture, as it seemed impossible for modernity to take hold without destroying the lives and livelihoods of indigenous populations. Packed with historical references around Civil War-era disputes about Native American tribal land, Dances with Wolves had a lot to say about the complex legacy of the United States.


3 The Great Train Robbery

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Jesse James silhouetted by the headlight of an approaching train in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

One of the best-known Western tropes involves complex and impressive heists and robberies. This was seen as far back as the earliest days of cinema in the 1903 silent movie classic The Great Train Robbery and has continued to expand ever beyond the confines of traditional Westerns, such as in the Breaking Bad episode “Dead Freight.” Throughout cinematic history, train robberies were as integral to the Western genre as cowboy hats and horseback riding.


Even the opening scene of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford began with a dramatization of the famous Blue Cut, Missouri Train Robbery., just one of many robberies committed by the real-life James brothers. A good train-robbing scene can be an excellent showcase of a Western antihero’s cunning ability, and the fast-paced nature of a moving train makes it particularly cinematic. As one of the most tension-filled and impressive tropes in Western movies, it’s not surprising that it has endured since the silent era.


2 The Lone Gunslinger

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Clint Eastwood in The Man With No Name Trilogy
Custom image by Sam McLennan

While Western heroes often form temporary alliances for reasons of mutual benefit, the typical Wild West gunslinger was a lone wolf who played by his own rules. This trope represents the individualistic tendencies of the United States and was carried forward into classic spaghetti Westerns by legendary directors like Sergio Leone. A famous example of a lone gunslinger was Clint Eastwood’s iconic portrayal of the character known as The Man with No Name.

The Man with No Name was the leading antihero across Leone’s entire Dollars Trilogy and starred in A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. As the character who has uttered some of Eastwood’s greatest Western movie quotes, The Man with No Name encapsulated the cool independence and self-direction of a true Western star. While Eastwood did team up with the likes of Eli Wallach as the cunning bandit Tuco, it was always on his own terms.


1 The Quest For Revenge

The Searchers (1956)

Ethan (John Wayne) and Debbie (Natalie Wood) in The Searchers

John Ford’s iconic Western The Searchers was among the best movies ever made and was a strong showcase of the classic genre trope of the quest for revenge. The idea of a normal man or former gunslinger who was forced into action through trauma and pain has been a trope of the Western genre for a very long time. While this idea has been explored in hyper-violent ways in recent years, such as Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, The Searchers remains the definitive example of this movie trope.


While The Searchers began with John Wayne as Ethan Edwards’ quest to locate his abducted niece (Natalie Wood), it grew into a search for vengeance to wrong those who had stolen the childhood of his young relative Debbie Edwards. The Searchers showcased revenge in its purest form as Ethan scalped the chief Comanches before bringing Debbie to safety. Although this was a trope repeated time and time again in the Western genre, Ford’s masterful work on The Searchers has remained the quintessential example.

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