The Flame and the Arrow – My Favorite Westerns

Big Iron / 2020
Colter Wall written by Marty Robbins

“You sit in your tepee and dream and then you go to wherever the dream may take you. It might come true. You wait for real life to catch up.”
–Burt Lancaster

IMDB (Internet Movie Database) says that
Burt Lancaster made 16 Westerns.
That’s wrong.
Desert Fury (1947) ain’t no Western.
Just because a movie is made in Sedona AZ
or somebody is wearing a Cowboy hat
doesn’t make it a Western.

So … let’s say about 15
Burt Lancaster Westerns.

Did you know that?!
(I didn’t.)
But I regard 5 of them to be
Western Classics.

Here’s my list:

The Gunfight at the OK Corral / 1957
Definitely one of the most
influential Westerns of all time

Vera Cruz / 1954
Lancaster and Cooper
Wa do ya want?

The Professionals / 1966
One of the Top Ten Westerns every made.

The Unforgiven / 1960
One of the most controversial Westerns ever made.
And some said that Hepburn doesn’t look very native.
But it’s Hepburn – so all is Forgiven.

The Rainmaker / 1956
Some say this isn’t a Western.
But it’s got Hepburn.
So let it rain.

Honorable Mention:

The Kentuckian / 1955

Moving along …

Heroes / Angu / 1964

“I walked out of class one day and I never went back.”
-Burt Lancaster

In no special order:
My First Western Star is
Burton Stephen Lancaster
But he’d definitely be near the top.

Born in New York, New York, U.S,A.
November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994

As a kid in the 1930s New York, Burt learned to Act
in local theatre productions in also studied Circus Arts –
eventually becoming a Circus Acrobat and Trapeze Artist.
He seemed ‘custom made’ to be a Action Film Star.
But it also helps to have a ton of Charisma/Star Power.

Burt’s first Action Film:
The Flame and the Arrow / 1950