Film

The Plainsman

Name: The Plainsman
Genre: Western, War, Romance
Released: 1936
Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, Helen Burgess

A 1936 DeMille Western that throws Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Buffalo Bill into a rollicking frontier adventure. Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur crackle with charm through gunfights, romance, and period spectacle. It's swashbuckling rather than serious—a movie that knows exactly what it is and commits fully to the fun.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love old-fashioned frontier adventure built on big set pieces, sly sparring between strong leads, and the unhurried swagger of 1930s studio Westerns.

Skip it if you want a revisionist Western with grit and moral complication; this one is cheerfully romantic, broad in places, and treats its history as a rollicking pageant.

What it asks of you: Expect a long, leisurely ride of nearly two hours, with stretches of talk and romance between the big action sequences, so settle in and let it unfold at its own gait.

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If you liked this

Johnny Guitar1954

Joan Crawford faces down Sterling Hayden in a Western that inverts every masculine convention the genre had built. Weird, confident, genuinely strange—proof the form could stretch further than most directors dared.

But It's slow and hypnotic rather than action-driven, which means if you want constant movement you'll find long stretches of talk and mood instead.

The Big Trail1930

John Wayne's first lead role in an epic Western about a massive wagon train heading west. Shot in an early wide-screen format that makes the landscape feel genuinely monumental—a technical marvel for the era.

But Wayne is still learning his craft and the dialogue is occasionally stilted. The 70mm prints are rare; most versions don't capture the format's intended majesty.

My Darling Clementine1946

John Ford's Tombstone story is mythic and melancholic, trading shoot-outs for character study. Henry Fonda is luminous as Wyatt Earp, and the film finds genuine poetry in the desert and frontier decline.

But It moves at Ford's deliberate pace, which means long silences and lingering shots. If you need plot momentum, you'll feel it dragging.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Plainsman

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pursued1947

Both use the frontier as a stage for personal drama, but where The Plainsman is about community building and adventure, Pursued buries its hero in cycles of violence and family damage—the inverse register of the same setting.

Robert Mitchum in a Western shaped like a film noir—psychological, violent, and obsessed with trauma and revenge cycling through generations. Raoul Walsh directs it with genuine darkness and style.

But It's bleak and sexual in ways that feel unsettling. The plot twists toward family horror that can feel soapy if you're not bought in.

Dodge City1939

Errol Flynn as a frontier marshal in Technicolor—pure adventure spectacle from Warner Bros. It's got charm, action, and the anarchic energy of Flynn in his prime, shot beautifully in vibrant color.

But The story is gossamer-thin and exists mainly as an excuse for action sequences. Plot coherence is not the priority here.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

Suzy Amis plays a woman who passes as a man to survive the frontier. It's revisionist, quieter than most Westerns, and genuinely interested in the loneliness of reinvention and passing.

But The pacing is meditative rather than dramatic, and it asks you to sit with discomfort rather than resolve it cleanly. Some find it glacial.

Westworld1973

Michael Crichton's sci-fi Western about an android gunslinger gone wrong. Yul Brynner is unstoppable as the thing that looks like a man; it's thrilling, conceptually clever, and brief.

But The early 1970s special effects show their age badly, and the film trades subtlety for high-concept premise. It can feel more idea than drama.

True Grit1969

John Wayne's Oscar-winning performance as Rooster Cogburn opposite a teenage girl on a revenge quest. It's funny, touching, and Wayne proves he can do more than swagger.

But The dialogue is thick with period dialect and can take concentration to parse. If you're not patient with how people talk, it'll frustrate you.

The Man from Laramie1955

Anthony Mann's tense, psychologically complex Western with James Stewart as a man nursing a moral wound. It's beautifully shot in VistaVision and carries real moral weight beneath the gunfights.

But It's darker and less romantic than the Plainsman era of Westerns—there's brutality and moral compromise that can feel bleak.

Fort Apache1948

John Ford's cavalry Western with Henry Fonda, John Wayne, and Shirley Temple. It's a sprawling examination of duty, honor, and the mythology we build around frontier history.

But It's episodic and long, held together more by theme than plot. Some sequences feel like sketches, and the pacing uneven.

Red River1948

Both center on iconic frontier figures, but Hawks uses the cattle drive the way DeMille uses Indian attacks—as structure for exploring masculine will and rivalry, not spectacle.

Howard Hawks' masterpiece about two stubborn men—John Wayne and Montgomery Clift—clashing over a cattle drive. It's a character study disguised as an action film, shot in stunning black-and-white.

But The tension between the leads is psychological and slow-building. If you want external action to drive the drama, you'll find long stretches of men at odds in silence.