The Western genre unintentionally gifted modern society with arguably its most underappreciated yet most used meme, usually utilized in GIF form — a long shot of the bone-dry planes of Nevada, with the wind whistling, and brisk roll of tumbleweed. The imagery is often employed to imply something is unfunny, stupid, or offensive.
Without that small depiction (alongside cacti and the sweaty brows of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood), our immediate connotations of the Wild West probably wouldn’t jump straight to the sun-drenched, droughty terrain of the region, which is why seeing Westerns set in blizzard-like conditions always seems a tad oxymoronic. That being said, Westerns with a snowy-white color palette tend to stand out purely for their alien look, which is often used to highlight a desolation or sadness not always seen in most hot-as-hell movie Westerns. Here are some of the best Westerns set in the snow…
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5 Jeremiah Johnson
Warner Bros.
The great Robert Redford stars in Sydney Pollack’s 1972 Western Adventure, Jeremiah Johnson. An army veteran, having served in the Mexican-American War plans to live out the rest of his days as a man of nature in the Rocky Mountains. Fueled by a burning desire to leave the violence and killing of war in the past, it’s a way of life he seemingly can’t escape, with the infamous Crow Tribe hot on his coattails after a confrontation that inadvertently antagonized the tribe and the tribe’s chief, Paints-His-Shirt-Red (Joaquin Martinez). Jeremiah Johnson is an exercise in self-discovery, healing, and the story of a man claiming his place in legend.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
4 The Hateful Eight
The Weinstein Company
The Hateful Eight marked Quentin Tarantino’s ninth outing at the directorial sail. The 2015 Western thriller is debatably one of the Jackie Brown creator’s best, and most underrated films. Accompanied by a soundtrack composed by the ultimate composer, Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight is set amid a treacherous, relentless blizzard in 19th-century Wyoming. As a film set almost entirely in one location, it relies heavily on Tarantino’s craft as a screenwriting oracle, along with the immense dexterity of the actors on-screen.
It tells the story of a bounty hunter, John Ruth (Kurt Russell). Ruth, along with his $10,000 bounty, journeys to Red Rock, picking up fellow bounty-hunting stragglers along the way. Stopping off at Minnie’s Haberdashery, unbeknownst to Ruth, Mannix (Walter Goggins), and Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), they are walking into a smartly devised trap.
3 The Revenant
20th Century Fox
Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu picked up his second Academy Award for Best Director in consecutive years, after his one-shot movie Birdman claimed him the award the previous year; he was the first director to win successive Best Director gongs since Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve in 1950 and 1951 respectively. The Revenant also finally won Leonardo DiCaprio’s well-documented first Academy Award for Best Actor for his rendition of Hugh Glass, an explorer, and frontiersman, who is left for dead by his fellow hunters following a vicious and near-fatal bear attack.
A story of vengeance and the true strength of the human spirit, The Revenant is mesmeric and stunningly shot in intense natural light by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who won his third Oscar for Best Cinematography in succession. The perilous, ice-covered conditions are at the film’s forefront, and the sheer magnitude of Glass’ struggle to stay alive and exact his revenge is constantly challenged by the parlous weather conditions in 1820s Montana.
2 McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Leonard Cohen’s basso-profundo tones are partly why McCabe & Mrs. Miller is held in such high regard by Western lovers. The Canadian artist was approached by director Robert Altman, who requested that he be allowed to use Cohen’s songs that he had subconsciously written the film in synchrony to. Cohen’s poetic depth adds this atmospheric warmth to the film which follows the story of a charming gambler, Robert McCabe (Warren Beatty), who opens a brothel in a small mining town.
Respected by the townsfolk, and admired for his apparent business acumen, McCabe eventually partners with one of his brothel’s prostitutes, Constance Miller (Julie Christie). With the pair running a prospering trade, their livelihood is threatened by bigger business and by three bounty hunters in this hauntingly beautiful, deeply sad film.
1 The Searchers
In director John Ford and Western legend John Wayne’s career-defining 1956 masterpiece, The Searchers, we are taken on an epic journey of retribution. In this timeless classic, Wayne plays civil war veteran Ethan Edwards, a celebrated confederate and battle-hardened soldier who returns home to Texas. Following a cattle theft by a group of Comanche, Edwards and an assembly of Texas Rangers goes out to retrieve their stolen cargo, only to walk straight into a devious trap that leaves their families in grave danger.
Following the tragic events that see his entire family wiped out by the native Indians, Ethan goes on a psychopathic rampage fueled by vengeance and racial prejudice. It’s a film about tragedy, immense savagery, and bloodthirsty hatred. Wayne’s performance is all-absorbing as the film’s primary protagonist that lives long enough to become the “savage” villain that he accuses the Comanches of being.
