Hidden Gems Down Under: 11 Must-See Aussie Westerns
When most fans think of westerns, they tend to think of the great American planes and iconic Hollywood actors shooting each other while wearing stylish black or white hats. Of course, this perception of the genre is more or less justified, as the canon of the Western first appeared in American cinema, after all.
In the years that followed, however, the Western became a truly international genre, and the Australian branch is one of the most interesting.
Here are 11 great Australian Westerns you must see:
As you can see from this list, Australian westerns came much later than their American counterparts, although the earliest attempts date back to the early 1900s.
Being late to the party, Australian directors already had a wealth of influences to work with, allowing them to revise Western formulas even earlier than Hollywood directors, and to present viewers with watchable and endearing flicks since the late 60s.
And even now, in an age when fewer and fewer Westerns are being produced, the Australian Western is still alive and well, with an iconic film coming out every five years or so.
It's no wonder that the best Western of the XXI century so far, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", was directed by Australian Andrew Dominik!