These long, dark, cold winter nights are perfect for watching movies – especially movies about our beloved Wyoming.
I have long enjoyed such movies, and each winter I try to write a column featuring some of the best of the bunch. This column is just about movies, not TV series, of which there are many.
My Top Ten Movie List:
“Unforgiven,” by Clint Eastwood, set in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, named Best Picture.
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
“Shane,” with Alan Ladd, filmed in Jackson Hole.
“The Revenant,” about a Wyoming mountain man also named Best Picture.
“Brokeback Mountain,” written by former Wyomingite Annie Proulx.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” filmed at Devils Tower.
“Once Upon a Time in the West,” filmed in fictional Sweetwater, Wyoming.
“Taking Chance,” about a Dubois Marine’s body delivered home.
“Wind River,” about tribal crimes on the Wind River Reservation.
“2012,” about Yellowstone Park blowing up.
Wyoming Is For Westerns
Hollywood has not always gotten Wyoming right, but when it does, the results are unforgettable.
The Cowboy State has always been bigger than a place on a map. When movies turn their cameras toward Wyoming, or toward characters who carry Wyoming in their bones, they are usually searching for something elemental: space, silence, toughness, and a moral clarity born of big spaces, wind, and distance.
Some of my favorite films featuring Wyoming do more than use the state as a scenic backdrop. They let Wyoming shape the story, mold the characters, and define the stakes. In these movies, the land is not passive. It presses in on people, challenges them, and sometimes saves them.
The two best of this genre are “Unforgiven” and “Shane,” filmed decades apart but both portraying Wyoming as the often-tough place that it can be. Clint Eastwood directed and starred in “Unforgiven,” which was named Best Picture of the Year in 1992.
“Shane” was made back in 1953 in Jackson Hole, with Alan Ladd playing the good guy. The American Film Institute ranks the two movies fourth and third on the all-time list of greatest westerns.
It would be interesting to watch these two movies, back-to-back. The style of acting, directing, and photography changed dramatically over that 40-year period. The over-acting in “Shane,” is distracting. And typically, the plot is much simpler. But I love that call at the end of “Shane:” “Come back, Shane. come back.”
My personal favorite movie that features the Cowboy State as a locale is “Once Upon A Time In The West.” It features Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda - a lengthy visual treat. Its musical score is, by far, the best of any movie ever made about Wyoming. It is also the best spaghetti western of all time, filmed in fictional Sweetwater, Wyoming.
Other Contenders
“The Hateful Eight” by director Quentin Tarantino was released in 2016 and included scenes purportedly in the Cowboy State. Tarantino’s earlier movie “Django Unchained,” had very chilly winter scenes that were filmed in Jackson Hole.
Moviegoers saw some amazing Wyoming footage in the movie “2012,” which featured some of the best special effects ever. If you ever worried about Yellowstone blowing up, well, there it is – right there on the big screen.
My friends Dave Peck of Lovell and Cale Case of Lander both favored “Hellfighters,” starring John Wayne and filmed in the Cowboy State.
Close Encounters
The most famous science fiction movie filmed here was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” a huge success by director Steven Spielberg. Much of the action features Devils Tower. It is rated one of the best sci-fi movies of all time.
It was filmed in Ogden Driskill’s backyard. He also liked “The Cowboys” and “Blazing Saddles.”
“Starship Troopers” was a huge hit and featured scenes from Hell’s Half Acre near Casper.
If you like Coen Brothers movies, then watch “Red Rock West,” a very entertaining movie with lots of odd twists. It was actually made by the Dahl brothers and uses Wyoming as a locale. Another terrific movie is “An Unfinished Life,” written by a Cody author Mark Spragg.
“Flicka” and “The Horse Whisperer” have strong Wyoming connections and are high-quality oaters for horse lovers and more.
A funny movie called “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” takes place in Wyoming, where a mobster couple is hiding out in the Cowboy State featuring Hugh Grant.
If you want a real treat, watch “Heartland.” Be sure to get the 1979 version starring Rip Torn and Conchata Ferrell. Based on a book written about homesteading in southwest Wyoming years ago, it is amazing. And yes, this is the same Conchata who played the loud-mouthed housekeeper in the TV series “Two and a Half Men.” A gritty movie that is long on amazing scenes and short on dialogue.
Some Other Contenders
“Broken Trail,” starring Robert Duvall, takes place at the Lander Cutoff just south of the Wind River Mountain Range. “Monte Walsh,” starring Tom Selleck, is set in fictional Antelope, Wyoming.
Dave Bell liked “The Legend of Earl Durand,” starring Slim Pickens who used to have a home in Pinedale. Ray Hunkins liked “Tom Horn,” starring Steve McQueen.
Other movies nominated by friends included “Spencer’s Mountain,” “ Cat Ballou,” “Jubal,” “ Cheyenne Autumn,” “ The Man From Laramie,” “The Mountain Men,” “ Hallelujah Trail,” “Endangered Species,” and “Heavens Gate.”
These are my favorite Wyoming-themed movies. What are yours?
Bill can be reached at bill@cowboystatedaily.com
