The Weird West
How the West was weird. And how!!
About the list: While the original idea seems to be focused more on a horror/western mash-up it seems to now include Steampunk (with anachronistic steam-based technology) and other science fictional elements (the science fiction western). However, I'll not include the Space Westerns (where western-style stories are set in the future, like Firefly) as we want to keep focused on the western setting and there is probably enough material for a separate list. So the identifying factors: a cross-genre in a western setting (period or modern) with the addition of another genre to spice things up. The list mainly draws from the relevant Wikipedia entry, but as I wrote most of it I reckon that is OK.
Further reading: Paul Green's 2009 book Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Films, Television and Games and About.coms Horror Westerns list.
About the list: While the original idea seems to be focused more on a horror/western mash-up it seems to now include Steampunk (with anachronistic steam-based technology) and other science fictional elements (the science fiction western). However, I'll not include the Space Westerns (where western-style stories are set in the future, like Firefly) as we want to keep focused on the western setting and there is probably enough material for a separate list. So the identifying factors: a cross-genre in a western setting (period or modern) with the addition of another genre to spice things up. The list mainly draws from the relevant Wikipedia entry, but as I wrote most of it I reckon that is OK.
Further reading: Paul Green's 2009 book Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Films, Television and Games and About.coms Horror Westerns list.
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- DirectorsOtto BrowerB. Reeves EasonStarsGene AutryFrankie DarroBetsy King RossWhen the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show.
- DirectorMack V. WrightStarsRobert LivingstonRay CorriganMax TerhuneA supernatural western! The Three Mesquiteers accompany an archeological expedition to a lost Indian city of gold called Lukachuke.
- DirectorSam NewfieldStarsBilly CurtisYvonne Moray'Little Billy' RhodesAn evil gunslinging midget comes to terrorize the good little people of Tiny Town. The townspeople organize to defeat him, and zany antics ensue.A western with an all-midget cast, it isn't really a cross-genre but it is weird.
- DirectorsEdward NassourIsmael RodríguezStarsGuy MadisonPatricia MedinaCarlos RivasAn American cowboy living in Mexico discovers his cattle are being eaten by a giant prehistoric dinosaur.
- DirectorJacques R. MarquetteStarsAnne GwynneStuart WadeGloria CastilloIn 1880 a young boy is exposed to the effects of a meteor and becomes an ugly killer monster, as his mother hides him in her new house and tries to stop his killing.
- DirectorEdward DeinStarsEric FlemingMichael PateKathleen CrowleyWhile a malady is claiming the lives of young women in a Western town, a sinister gunslinger-for-hire Drake Robey is really a vampire, and it's up to Preacher Dan to save the town and girlfriend Dolores Carter.
- DirectorJohn FloreaStarsLorne GreenePernell RobertsDan BlockerHoss scares a bear that has treed a green-clad little man, subsequently finds a buried strongbox filled with bags of gold dust and, when both the treasure and its owner disappear, unsuccessfully tries to convince his skeptical family that he'd discovered a leprechaun's hoard. But the whole town goes searching for the mythical men after a newly arrived Irish professor confirms the presence of multiple leprechauns...and their gold!
- DirectorGeorge PalStarsTony RandallBarbara EdenArthur O'ConnellA mysterious circus comes to a western town bearing wonders and characters that entertain the inhabitants and teach valuable lessons.
- CreatorMichael GarrisonStarsRobert ConradRoss MartinDick CangeyUndercover government agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon battle crime in the 1870s.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsJohn CarradineChuck CourtneyMelinda CaseyDracula travels to the American Old West, intent on making a young and beautiful female ranch owner his vampire bride. Her fiance, the reformed outlaw Billy the Kid, finds out about it and rushes to save her.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsJohn LuptonNarda OnyxCal BolderDr. Maria Frankenstein transplants an artificial brain of her own creation into the skull of Jesse James' slow-witted friend Hank Tracy and names him Igor.The film is public domain.
- DirectorLuigi VanziStarsTony AnthonyLloyd BattistaHitoshi ÔmaeAn American gunfighter is tasked with delivering a valuable scroll to a feudal lord in Japan, and becomes embroiled in a feud between the lord and his rival cousin over ownership of land owed to a young princess in their care.
- DirectorJim O'ConnollyStarsJames FranciscusGila GolanRichard CarlsonA cowboy named Tuck Kirby seeks fame and fortune by capturing an Allosaurus living in a Mexican valley and putting it in a wild west show. His star attraction, called the Gwangi, turns out to have an aversion to being shown in public.Definitely one of the early classics of the sub-genre. If it was made today it'd be called "Cowboys and Dinosaurs" which would be a bit of a let down.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsGregory PeckOmar SharifTelly SavalasA bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.
- DirectorAl AdamsonStarsRobert DixScott BradyJim DavisA former Civil War soldier returns to take revenge from a Yaqui chief who killed his wife in the marriage night. Death plays with both men, plus gun-runners and gold-runners, as her emissaries on Earth, to do a large harvest of souls.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsCharles BronsonToshirô MifuneAlain DelonIn 1870, a gang robs a train and steals a ceremonial Japanese sword meant as a gift for the U.S. President, prompting a manhunt to retrieve it.An odd attempt to merge the western with a samurai film (and filmed in Europe) and the cast is impressive: Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune, plus Ursula Andress and Alain Delon.
- DirectorGeorge EnglundStarsJohn RubinsteinPatricia QuinnDon JohnsonTwo gunfighters separate and experience surreal visions on their journey through the west.
- CreatorsEd SpielmanHerman MillerStarsDavid CarradineRadames PeraKeye LukeThe adventures of Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine as he wanders through the American West, armed only with his spiritual training and his skill in Kung Fu.The original kung-fu western. It is a pity Bruce Lee didn't star but David Carradine made the part his own.
- DirectorFredric HobbsStarsChristopher BrooksStuart LancasterE. Kerrigan PrescottA mutant sheep is on the move near a ranch in the American West.
- DirectorAntonio MargheritiStarsLee Van CleefLo LiehPatty ShepardA martial artist joins a hard-hitting gunfighter in the search for treasure while bandits step into their way.
- DirectorMichael CaffeyStarsSteve ForrestDean JaggerWill GeerMiraculously still alive after his hanging, gunfighter James Devlin defends a young widow's farm from a vicious land grabber.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsCharles BronsonJack WardenWill SampsonAt the closing of 1874 a haunted, dying Wild Bill Hickok teams up with a grieving Crazy Horse to hunt a murderous albino buffalo.
- DirectorWilliam DearStarsFred WardBelinda BauerPeter CoyoteA maverick motorbike racer wanders into a top-secret time-travel research test site which unintentionally teleports him to the mid-1800s and ends up having to fight violent outlaws for his survival.
- DirectorPhil SmootStarsStephen WinegardKimberly MauldinStuart WatsonAliens land in a small town where Jesse Jamison is about to have a gun show and bullets fly after the aliens start killing people. Watch out Diamond Booking agency for your next momentous event.
- DirectorDuccio TessariStarsGiuliano GemmaWilliam BergerCarlo MucariBased on the adventures of the hero Tex from the comic strip by Bonelli. An interesting spaghetti-western/fantasy movie that blends magic and mythology with six-guns and stagecoaches.
