10 Great Westerns From The 1950s Quiz

Answer: Winchester '73

This was the first of five westerns that Stewart and Director Anthony Mann would work together on. There were actually 133 'One-of-a-Thousand' Model 1873s that were manufactured. There was not enough money in the film budget to pay Stewart his asking price of $200,000 so Stewart offered to take a percentage of the films profits, one of the first deals of its kind. Stewart is thought to have made about $600,000 on "Winchester '73".

Answer: The Gunfighter

John Wayne really wanted to play Ringo and Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures bought the rights to the movie with Wayne in mind. Wayne refused to work with Cohn who, nearly twenty years earlier, had mistreated him when he was first starting as an actor. Cohn then sold the rights to Twentieth Century Fox and Peck got the role.

Answer: Across the Wide Missouri

The film was shot in Technicolor and, when filming on location in Colorado, the crew had to use mules to get the heavy Technicolor cameras and equipment to the set. Ricardo Montalban, who played a Blackfoot chief in the movie, was seriously injured after being thrown from a horse. The injury required a 9-1/2 hour operation and left him in constant pain until his death in January 2009.

Answer: High Noon

The pained look on Cooper's face might not have been all acting; he had a bleeding ulcer at the time of filming and was actually in a lot of pain. A lot of the movie was filmed in the old gold rush town of Columbia, Ca. Today it is a state park on Highway 49 just outside of Sonora.

Answer: Hondo

Louis L'Amour's short story, "The Gift of Cochise" was the basis for the screenplay. This was the first film role for Geraldine Page and she received an Academy Award nomination. Wayne had planned on just producing the movie for his Batjac producton company and he wanted Glenn Ford to play Hondo. Ford though had such a bad experience working with director John Farrow on another movie, he turned down the offer and Wayne took on the role.

Answer: Vera Cruz

During a break in filming, Charles Bronson and Eanest Borgnine decided to ride to a nearby town for cigarettes. A group of Federales held them at gunpoint mistaking them for bandits because they were in full costume, pistols and all. Lancaster's company, Norma Productions, produced "Vera Cruz" for $1.7 million and it grossed over $11 million.

Answer: The Searchers

John Wayne named one of his sons Ethan in homage to his role in "The Searchers", he considered it one of his best roles and favorite movies. In June 2008, The American Film Institute ranked "The Searchers" as the No. 1 Western of all time.

Answer: Run of the Arrow

RKO originally produced the movie but went bankrupt before the film was released, RKO then sold it to Universal and it was distributed as a Universal movie. This was the first film to use squibs to simulate the impact of bullets.

Answer: Rio Bravo

This was the final appearance together for Wayne and Ward Bond, who had known each other since college at USC and had worked together in 22 movies. This was one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies; if he liked a girl he would show her "Rio Bravo" and she had better like it or that would be the end of the relationship.

Answer: The Horse Soldiers

Holden and Wayne each received $775,000 plus 20% of the profits from the movie but, since the movie did not make any profit they just received their salaries. The contracts for the two amounted to twice as many pages as the movie script. Director John Ford suspended filming in Louisiana after stuntman Fred Kennedy was killed while performing a fall from a horse, filming was later finished in California.