Burt Lancaster – Western Film Great


Theme from The Gunfight at OK Corral 

John WHO?

Two blogs I follow (and I don’t follow that many) recently spotlighted Burt Lancaster. Cindy Bruchman over at Cindy Bruchman has Winter Project: Burt Lancaster. While John Charet over at Cinematiccoffee posted Sweet Smell of Success. Two Classics!

I was saying to Cindy that I consider Burt Lancaster to be among the Top Western Movie Stars of all time – appearing in so many Classics that I’d place right up there with John Wayne.
Permit me to prove that.

Image result for poster for the professionals

The film received three nominations at the 1967 Academy Awards. Writer and director Richard Brooks, for Best Director and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) and cinematographer Conrad Hall, for Best Cinematography.

The film won two Motion Picture Magazine Laurel Awards in 1967, for Best Action Drama and Best Action Performance for Lee Marvin. In Germany, it was one of only four movies to receive a Golden Screen Award (the others were Doctor ZhivagoMarvelous Angelique
and You Only Live Twice) in 1967.

Burt Lancaster Western Filmography

1951 Vengeance Valley 
1954 Apache 1954 Vera Cruz
1955 The Kentuckian / 1956 The Rainmaker
1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral / 1960 The Unforgiven
1965 The Hallelujah Trail / 1966 The Professionals
1968 The Scalphunters / 1971 Lawman
1971 Valdez Is Coming / 1972 Ulzana’s Raid
1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians / 1981 Cattle Annie and Little Britches

Not all gems – but the red ones are definite Classics.
Others are notable.
A very impressive Western Film legacy.

 You want good Writing?
How about great Writing.

And great Actors to deliver it.

And if you’ve never seen The Rainmaker … 
Shame on you. 

"That old softspot." - Vera Cruz
“That old soft spot.” – Vera Cruz

Author: jcalberta

Howdy! I love Westerns. ... and the intent of MyFavoriteWesterns.com is to celebrate Western Movies/Film - old and new. This site will eventually show my top 30 favorite Westerns - or more. I will have original graphic work with regular updates. All this - and more ... Yee Haw ... !! - jcablerta / Moderator / Administrator

6 thoughts on “Burt Lancaster – Western Film Great”

  1. Great post there jcalberta 🙂 I think the best way to put it is that Burt Lancaster came off as a genuine actor whereas John Wayne came off as a genuine star. Lancaster could play any character while Wayne was at his best as either a cowboy or whatever role he played in the films of directors John Ford and Howard Hawks respectively. Although I love Ulzana’s Raid more than you do, I am nonetheless glad to see that you love Vera Cruz, which was also directed by Aldrich. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂

    1. I like all of them except Hallelujah Trail. I just qualify all of them as Classic. They might to ME, but …
      For instance The Scalphunters is a hell of Movie IMO. As is Cattle Annie. Just not sure how other folks feel about them.

  2. One of my favorites, as I told Cindy when she first brought him up. And I agree – I would put him up against Wayne! I think most people don’t compare the two because Lancaster did the gladiator movies with Kirt Douglas. He did more variety than Wayne did.

    1. So true GP. When Wayne did venture into that arena it was a disaster – as in The Conqueror – which was rather horrific. I honor Wayne of course. I must. But Lancaster was right there.

  3. Yippee! Yes, I enjoyed what I saw knowing I would see more of Burt. I”m going to swing over to a different genre next, but I sure appreciate your attention and spreading the love of Burt.

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