Can You Ace This Quiz on Classic Western Movies?

In “Rio Bravo” (1959), John Wayne plays John T. Chance, a sheriff who tries to help his alcoholic best friend, “Dude,” played by Dean Martin. Wayne was initially worried that Martin would overshadow him in the role, before being convinced by director Howard Hawks that the dynamic could be something new for him. Hawks was right, and the pair’s on-screen friendship became the most endearing part of the film.

Raylan Givens is a character portrayed by Timothy Olyphant in the TV series “Justified” (2010 to 2015). The character originated in a series of works by Elmore Leonard, making his debut in Leonard’s 1993 crime novel, “Pronto.” The author’s 2002 short story “Fire in the Hole” was the basis of the FX series.

Robert Altman’s 1971 film “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” was originally known as “The Presbyterian Church Wager,” and posters were even printed with that title before the studio shifted gears. The film takes place in the fictional town of Presbyterian Church. The title refers to a bet placed by members of the church as to whether or not McCabe will survive. An official from the real Presbyterian Church complained about the religious group being mentioned in a movie that also dealt with brothels and gambling, so the title was changed.

John Wayne appeared in more than 150 movies in his career, but won only one Academy Award. His first Oscar nomination for Best Actor came in 1949 for the film “Sands of Iwo Jima.” His next Oscar nomination didn’t come for another 20 years. In 1970, Wayne won his first — and only — Academy Award for his role as Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit.” Five years later, the actor reprised the role in the less successful “Rooster Cogburn,” opposite Katherine Hepburn.

At the beginning of the 1993 film “Tombstone,” outlaws Wyatt (Kurt Russell) and Virgil Earp (Sam Elliott) arrive in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1879, to retire and live a private life. However, they come into conflict with a group of cowboys and confrontations ensue. Most of the characters and major events featured in the movie — such as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the Earp Vendetta Ride — were based on real-life people and events.

“Wanted: Dead or Alive” only ran on CBS for three seasons (1958 to 1961), but it launched Steve McQueen to a legendary Hollywood career. The actor played a traveling bounty hunter named Josh Randall, who stood out from other cowboy characters on TV because he was a troubled antihero. Two years after his breakout role, McQueen starred in his first major movie, “The Magnificent Seven” (1960).

In 1931, “Cimarron” won the fourth-ever Oscar for Best Picture — making it the first Western to take home the top prize. It took 69 years for another Western to win the award, until “Dances With Wolves” won in 1990. Two years later, “Unforgiven” became the third Western to win Best Picture.

“Saturday Night Live” boss Lorne Michaels, actor Steve Martin, and musician Randy Newman wrote the script for the 1986 Western comedy “Three Amigos.” Michaels and Martin had previously worked together on “Saturday Night Live,” where Martin was a frequent host. Michaels even cast two former “SNL” cast members as Martin’s co-stars: Chevy Chase and Martin Short. “Three Amigos” is about three silent, Western film stars who find themselves mistaken for real cowboys.

“Gunsmoke” ran on CBS from 1955 to 1975. The series aired a whopping 635 episodes throughout its 20-year run — the most of any prime-time show at the time. The first six seasons consisted of half-hour episodes before the show expanded to a full hour for the next 14 years. In 2018, “The Simpsons” broke the record for most prime-time episodes aired.

Since its premiere in 2018, "Yellowstone" has established itself as a TV Western for the modern age. Set in Montana, the show follows the Duttons, a family of wealthy ranchers, as they clash with land developers, Indigenous peoples, and even the eponymous national park. The show proved so popular that a prequel series, "1883," debuted in December 2021, and two other spin-offs are in the works.

John Sturges' 1960 Western "The Magnificent Seven" follows seven gunmen protecting a small town from bandits. Any fan of jidaigeki, or Japanese period films, will recognize this plot from Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" (1954). Although Sturges' remake is a classic — and starred some of Hollywood's biggest names, including Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen — it's not quite as epic as its sword-slicing source material.

The Dollars Trilogy, starring Clint Eastwood, includes the most famous examples of the spaghetti Western subgenre. "A Fistful of Dollars" introduced Eastwood's Man With No Name in 1964, and was followed by "For a Few Dollars More" in 1965, and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" in 1966. "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) was directed by Leone but isn't part of the trilogy.

No director's name is more synonymous with the American Western than John Ford. The cinematic mind behind "The Searchers" (1956), "Stagecoach" (1939), and "How the West Was Won" (1962), Ford began working in the genre during the silent film era. Ironically, although he is known for his Westerns, Ford only won Academy Awards for non-Westerns such as "The Informer" and "The Grapes of Wrath."

"The Big Trail" was the beginning of an illustrious acting career for then-23-year-old John Wayne, who played hero Breck Coleman. Released in 1930, the movie underperformed at the box office but gave Wayne his first leading role. He later appeared across a variety of genres, but his most memorable films, such as "True Grit," "Stagecoach," and "The Searchers," take place in the dusty American West.

The sci-fi Western "Westworld" is set in a Western-inspired theme park filled with harmless gun-toting robots — until suddenly, they're no longer harmless. Directed by Michael Crichton, author of the "Jurassic Park" novels, the film was adapted into a successful HBO television series in 2016. In the original film, the Gunslinger is the main antagonizing robot, who torments park goers.

Edwin S. Porter's "The Great Train Robbery" is regarded as one of the world's earliest narrative films, as well as one of the first Westerns. The film is 11 minutes long — short by today's standards, but far longer than other films of that era, which were more like vignettes than full features. The Western is known for its use of innovative techniques such as double exposure and shifting narrative perspectives.

From the comedic mind of Mel Brooks, "Blazing Saddles" is a sharp-witted parody that challenges some of the Western genre's most problematic tropes while addressing the racism of 1970s America. Brooks parodied many genres throughout his career, including sci-fi ("Spaceballs") and horror ("Young Frankenstein"), but "Blazing Saddles" remains one of his most famous and talked-about films.

Most famously embodied by director Sergio Leone's films in the 1960s and '70s, spaghetti Westerns are a subgenre of Westerns usually filmed in Italy. Although European Westerns date back to 1895 with the Lumiere Brothers' "Indian Banquet," some consider composer Giacomo Puccini's opera "La fanciulla del West" (1910) to be the first spaghetti Western.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were real characters, but legendary screenwriter and novelist William Goldman didn’t want to be held to just the facts for his 1969 movie. So, the film begins with the tongue-in-cheek announcement: “Most of what follows is true.” The fact of the matter is that there was a lot of mystery surrounding the outlaws, and instead of doing laborious research for the film, Goldman used the disclaimer for any liberties he may have taken.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were already independently successful when they teamed up for the first time in 1943, but the success they found together eclipsed everything that had come before. Their first musical, "Oklahoma!," ran for more than 2,000 performances on Broadway and won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1944.

“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” is a 1966 film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as the “Man With No Name.” The film is set during the Civil War and centers around a plan hatched by Eastwood’s character and a Mexican bandit named Tuco to steal a bounty. Tuco is later betrayed and seeks revenge.