'High Noon' works on many levels; the second-to-none screenplay, the subtle direction, the clock, Gary Cooper's Oscar-winning performance... It's about a small town sheriff who must basically stand alone to defend the people from a wild gang of outlaws, who have just been let out of jail and will arrive on the noon train. Although he does not have to, and the town does not deserve saving, Cooper decides that he will do the job that he was hired to do. A classic amongst Westerns, it strips the ge find out more...

Way ahead of its time, this is a Western with a difference! There's gun-totting women (including the brilliant Joan Crawford) fighting over the men that they love and leading the men into action. Then there's the anaemic looking Sterling Hayden as the male lead in this classic that tramples stereotypes with a memorable result! The 'Lie to me...' speech is guaranteed to give you chills. find out more...

A frontier opportunist stumbles into a small gold-rush town and decides to earn a little extra pocket money by accepting a temporary assignment as their sheriff. Happily applying himself to his new position he manages to turn the town derelict into his deputy, outsmart the dreaded Danby clan and fend off the lusty advances of the mayor's daughter - all without breaking a sweat or dirtying his shiny black boots! 'Support Your Local Sheriff' is a deliciously witty western, which overturns and rein find out more...

One of the finest of the genre, this classic western follows two men whose initial contempt for each other's methods, one a hard man rancher, the other a naively honest lawyer, develops into respect when faced with the the town's local hoodlum. Tense, absorbing and not without wit. Superb. find out more...

Crusading frontier policeman Captain Stanley captures the fugitive Burns brothers, Charley and Mikey, at the scene of a bloody rape and murder. Informing Charley that he must kill his older brother, Arthur, in order to avoid the execution of Mikey, Stanley retreats to an old jailhouse and awaits the bloody outcome. Director John Hillcoat's second collaboration with Nick Cave (here contributing the film's screenplay and soundtrack), is a taut and often brutal character study of desperation ami find out more...

Jimmy Stewart plays the good brother whose sharp shootin' wins him the eponymous, and often fetishised, rifle in a riveting contest. The episodic story that follows tracks the rifle as it changes hands, from brother to brother, arms trader to Indian warrior, encouraging the viewer to realise that the true star of the film (and indeed the battle for the West) is the rifle. The actors, including a young Rock Hudson, seem to play their characters in the knowledge that they are very much in the back find out more...