A good old western – what else does a fan of dangerous adventures in the realities of the Wild West need? In 2023, filmmakers around the world delighted connoisseurs of the genre with wonderful works, among which there are both serious historical paintings and frivolous action films of fast-paced action.
We have selected for you the most interesting, fresh westerns that will be released in 2023, combining the classic techniques of the genre and the most advanced visual technology.
Killers of the Flower Moon
- IMDB Rating – 6.4
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Crime, Detective, Western, History
- Production: USA / 2023
- Budget: $200,000,000
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantu Cardinal, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Kara Jade Myers, Janay Collins.
Martin Scorsese’s historical western is arguably the major genre phenomenon of 2023 starring DiCaprio, De Niro and Lily Gladstone. It’s a more than three-hour epic based on a real historical tragedy.
The Osage tribe was forcibly relocated from their ancestral lands to what is now Oklahoma in the 19th century. And ironically, in the new, almost lifeless territory, the Indians discovered the richest deposits of oil when the U.S. government needed it, and became rich men.
But in 1920 the tribe members began to die of an unknown disease, which was arranged by the greedy businessman Hale (De Niro), who at the same time persuaded his corrupt nephew Ernest (DiCaprio) to marry the tribal chief’s daughter in order to inherit his rights to the oil. Ernest falls in love with the girl and doesn’t know what to do.
This is the last movie of stuntman and Osage language teacher, Native American actor Larry Sellers, who died in 2021 before he could finish filming his scenes.
The Dead Don’t Hurt
- IMDB Rating – 8.2
- Genre: Western, Drama, Melodrama
- Production: Mexico, Canada, Denmark / 2023
- Director: Viggo Mortensen
- Starring: Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Solly Macleod, Garrett Dillahunt, W. Earl Brown, Danny Huston, Shane Graham, Alex Breaux, Jason Clarke
The Dead Don’t Hurt” is a very recent movie, and there is no official Russian translation of the title. The movie takes place in a small border town in the United States in the 1860s.
Danish immigrant Holger Olsen marries Vivienne, a French woman from Canada. The woman finds a job at a local bar, Olsen takes care of their ranch, and everything goes smoothly until the Civil War breaks out, where Olsen volunteers. The town is run by a corrupt mayor, Schiller, who turns a blind eye to the iniquities of a large landowner, Jeffries, who has his eye on Vivien’s land. And his promiscuous son Wanston decides to take possession of a woman left unprotected.
The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in early September 2023. Director and screenwriter Viggo Mortensen was not going to star in his movie, but when the actor chosen to play Holger left the project, Viggo took over the job.
Los Colonos
- IMDB Rating – 7.1
- Genre: Drama, Crime, Western, History
- Production: Argentina, Chile, UK, Taiwan, Germany, Sweden, France, Denmark / 2023
- Director: Felipe Galvez
- Starring: Mark Stanley, Sam Spruell, Alfredo Castro, Marcelo Alonso, Mariano Llanas, Luis Machin, Benjamin Westfall, Agustin Rittano
This dark dramatic western from Chilean director Felipe Galvez is the story of the Chilean south of the late 19th century, told from different angles. The landowner Jose Menendez sends the British McLennan, the American mercenary Bill and the mestizo Segundo, who came to him to divide the land, on an expedition to make the surrounding lands safe and free.
It is supposed to hunt down and destroy all Indians living in the surrounding steppes and interfering with the cultivation of the land. The unwilling companions roam the wilderness, take advantage of firearms, and do not hesitate to cut off parts of the destroyed people to prove the success of their “cleansing” …
This directorial debut of Gálvez is selected for the 2024 Oscars from Chile.
The Old Way
- IMDB Rating – 5.5
- Genre: Action, Drama, Western
- Production: USA / 2022
- Worldwide Box Office: $59,729
- Director: Brett Donohoe
- Starring: Nicolas Cage, Noah Le Gros, Nick Searcy, Ryan Keira Armstrong, Clint Howard, Kerry Knooppe, Abraham Benrubi, Shiloh Fernandez, Beau Linnell, Skyler Stone
Shooter Colton Briggs had a turbulent youth and managed to mess with a couple of big bad guys, killing them in a shootout in which the nephew of the bandit brothers, James, survived.
Years later, Colton – settled down farmer, happily married to the charming Ruth and adoring his daughter Brooke. But one day bandits, one of whom is the grown-up James, kill Colton’s wife in his absence. And he sets off on the trail of the killers, taking his 12-year-old daughter along for the ride.
Incidentally, the main gunwoman on set was Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who caused a bloody incident in the making of another 2023 western, Rust.
Surrounded
- IMDB Rating – 5.8
- Genre: Drama, Western
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: Anthony Mandler
- Starring: Letisha Wright, Jamie Bell, Michael Kenneth Williams, Jeffrey Donovan, Kevin Wiggins, Brett Gelman, Luce Raines, Augusta Allen-Jones, Herman Johansen, David Manzanares.
Western “Surrounded” is unusual in that the main role in it is played by a black actress Letisha Wright. Events unfold after the Civil War. Moses Washington, nicknamed “Mo” – a former slave who fought in the Buffalo regiments.
Under the guise of a man, she heads to the western territories to take control of a gold mine. On the way, her caravan is attacked by bandits, but Moe straightens them out and captures the most dangerous, wanted murderer Tommy Walsh. She has a tough road ahead of her with this living cargo and a bunch of civilians hoping for her protection.
At first, they wanted to cast Nicolas Cage for the role of criminal Tommy Walsh, but he couldn’t because of other projects.
Organ Trail
- IMDB Rating – 5.0
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Western
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: Michael Patrick Jann
- Starring: Zoe De Grand Maison, Mater Zikel, Lisa LoCicero, Olivia Grace Applegate, Sam Trammell, Nicholas Logan, Michael Abbott Jr.
The events of the movie take place in the winter of the 1870s in Montana. At the center of the plot is Abigail Archer. Together with her family, her father, mother and brother, they stumble upon the traces of a brutal bandit massacre in which one woman, Cassidy, survived. The Archers carry her in their arms to their home, but that same night the gang, led by the brutal Logan, returns and kills everyone but Abby and Cassidy.
And now Cassidy must come up with a plan to escape and then get back the only thing left of her family – her beloved horse. With the help of a black farmer, Eric, the girl plans not only to get her possessions back, but also to get revenge on the killers.
Filming was done in locations so remote that the cast would stumble across wolf tracks, and a few months after production wrapped, there was a fatal grizzly attack in the same locations.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners
- IMDB Rating – 8.1
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Crime, Western
- Production: Ireland / 2023
- Director: Robert Lorenz
- Starring: Liam Neeson, Kieran Hynds, Anne Brogan, Bernadette Carty, Kerry Condon, Mark Connolly, Desmond Eastwood, Joe Gallagher, Jack Gleeson.
The second title of this movie in Russian translation is “In the Land of Saints and Sinners”, and it is more in line with the original. A movie that meets all the canons of westerns with Liam Neeson, who played the role of Finbar, a former assassin, who escapes from the past by settling in a small Irish town.
But one day IRA fighters, who have become ordinary gangsters and are engaged in robbery and murder, enter the very town where Finbar lives quietly. He has to take matters into his own hands and drive out the villains to save the people he cares about.
The film was presented at the 2023 Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section.
Dead Man’s Hand
- IMDB Rating – 4.1
- Genre: Western
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: Brian Skiba
- Starring: Delilah Stombs, Izzy Batincoff, Randall Batincoff, Mo Brings Plenty, Jim Burleson, Camille Kollar, Daniel J. Cox, Francis Cronin, Kim DeLongy, Stephen Dorff
Another simple and exciting western that tells the story of a guy named Reno, who was recently one of the toughest gunslingers in the Wild West. But after falling in love, he left his troubled life behind for his family.
One day he has to remember his skills to defend himself against a bandit. The villain dies and his brother gathers a gang, attacks Reno’s farm and kidnaps his wife. Teaming up with Marshal Roy, Reno sets off in pursuit of the gang to restore justice.
The movie is based on a graphic novel by the Maynor brothers, who drew all the “Wanted” posters for the shoot, featuring the director and their publisher.
Gunfight at Rio Bravo
- IMDB Rating – 4.2
- Genre: Action, Drama, Western
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: Joe Cornet
- Starring: Alexander Nevsky, Olivier Gruner, Joe Cornet, Matthias Hughes, Natalie Denis Sperl, Kerry Goodwin, Travis Mills, William Carr, John Marrs, Robert Livingston.
Joe Cornett’s uncomplicated low-quality western with Alexander Nevsky as the central character, which has already become a viral source of memes on the Internet.
In Rio Bravo, a small town in the Wild West, everything is usually quiet and peaceful. And then one day, escorting a dangerous criminal Crowley through the town, Marshal Carter decides to take a break and locks his ward in the cell of local sheriff Kelly. Following Crowley, however, are his gun-toting associates, eager to free the ringleader. Luckily for Rio Bravo, the invincible Ivan Turchaninov (Nevsky) is transiting through town and will save everyone.
The movie already has a sequel, Lost in Rio Bravo, which is expected to be released in late 2023.
Rust
- Genre: Western
- Production: USA / 2023
- Director: Joel Sousa
- Starring: Travis Fimmel, Frances Fisher, Alec Baldwin, Jake Busey, Josh Hopkins, Devon Werkheiser, Todd Bryant, Travis Hammer, Shiloh Molina
This western starring Alec Baldwin is set to be released by the end of 2023. Filming took place in 2021 and was marked by tragedy: gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed loaded the gun with live ammunition, which killed the camerawoman and injured the director. Production was suspended until 2023.
The events unfold in Kansas in the 1880s. A 13-year-old boy along with his grandfather, who is facing hanging for the murder of a local rancher, run away from the town wherever they see fit and experience many adventures.
By the way, all charges against Alec Baldwin, who took the fatal shot, have been dropped. However, despite this, the movie and the actor have already received a Hall of Shame Award from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists for failing to follow safety procedures.
