A list of the earliest Western films, by decade, released before 1920.
1890s 1894 Annie Oakley Bucking Broncho Buffalo Bill Buffalo Dance Lasso Thrower Mexican Knife Duel Sioux Ghost Dance These exhibition films are silent shorts directed and produced by William K. L. Dickson at Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio, with William Heise as cinematographer. The performers in each film were members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show with Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill themselves exhibiting their rifle shooting skills. The two dances featured members of the Sioux nation who are believed to have been the first Native Americans to perform on film. The lasso thrower was Vicente Oropeza and the stuntmen staging the knife fight were Pedro Esquivel and Dionecio Gonzales. Two real-life rodeo riders, Lee Martin and Frank Hammitt, featured in Bucking Broncho, which was filmed outside the studio.
1895 A Frontier Scene (aka Lynching Scene) Indian Scalping Scene Both of these films, which were scenes only, are believed lost. They were made by Alfred Clark for the Edison Manufacturing Company.
1899 Kidnapping by Indians This is a two-minute silent film drama shot in Blackburn, Lancashire, England by Mitchell and Kenyon. It is the earliest known dramatic work in the genre. Cripple Creek Bar-room Scene Poker at Dawson City These two films were produced by Edison's Black Maria and have been argued to be the first Western films. A Bluff from a Tenderfoot Filmed by Frederick S. Armitage for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, this depicts a poker game.
1900s 1901 Stage Coach Hold-Up in the Days of '49 (Edison)
1903 Alphonse and Gaston, No. 3 (American Mutoscope & Biograph) The Cowboy and the Lady (American Mutoscope & Biograph) The Great Train Robbery (Edison) Kit Carson (American Mutoscope & Biograph) The Pioneers (American Mutoscope & Biograph) Prairie Emigrant Train Crossing the Plains (Lubin Manufacturing Company) Stage Hold-Up (Selig Polyscope Company) Western Card Game (Lubin)
1904 A Brush Between Cowboys and Indians (Edison) Bushranging in North Queensland (Limelight Department) Cowboy Justice (American Mutoscope & Biograph) The Great Train Robbery (Lubin) The Hold-Up of the Leadville Stage (Selig) Western Stage Coach Hold Up (Edison)
1905 Life on the Circle Ranch (Circle Ranch Film Company) The Little Train Robbery (Edison) The Train Wreckers (Edison)
1906 L'arrivo di Buffalo Bill a Roma Attack on Fort Boonesboro From Leadville to Aspen: A Hold-Up in the Rockies Holdup of the Rocky Mountain Express Ned Kelly and His Gang The Life of a Cowboy The Prospectors, a Romance of the Gold Fields The Secret of Death Valley The Squatter's Daughter The Story of the Kelly Gang
1907 The Bandit King Robbery Under Arms (by Charles MacMahon) Robbery Under Arms (by J Tait and N Tait)
1908 The Bank Robbery The Fight for Freedom The Girl and the Outlaw The Kentuckian (1908 film) The Red Girl The Red Man and the Child
1909 Bill Sharkey's Last Game Comata, the Sioux The Cowboy Millionaire The House of Cards The Mended Lute The Red Man's View
1910s 1910 Abernathy Kids to the Rescue Across the Plains Broncho Billy's Redemption In Old California The Two Brothers
1911 The Abernathy Kids to the Rescue An Accidental Outlaw Across the Plains The Battle The Cowboy and the Lady The Indian Brothers Fighting Blood The Last Drop of Water The Last of the Mohicans (colonial Western) The Lonedale Operator Swords and Hearts The Telltale Knife Was He a Coward?
1912 According to Law The Ace of Spades Algie the Miner The Belle of Bar-Z Ranch The Chief's Blanket Geronimo's Last Raid The Girl and Her Trust (remake of 'The Lonedale Operator') The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch The Half-Breed's Way The Heart of an Indian His Only Son The Invaders The Massacre My Hero A Temporary Truce Under Burning Skies When the Heart Calls With the Enemy's Help
1913 The Abandoned Well The Accidental Bandit The Accusation of Broncho Billy The Battle at Elderbush Gulch Broken Ways Calamity Anne's Beauty Calamity Anne's Inheritance During the Round-Up Hearts and Horses In the Secret Service An Indian's Loyalty Past Redemption The Ranchero's Revenge The Sheriff's Baby The Tenderfoot's Money Three Friends Two Men of the Desert
1914 The Bargain The Girl Stage Driver Her Grave Mistake (considered lost) The Man from the East A Miner's Romance (considered lost) A Ranch Romance (considered lost) Rose of the Rancho The Spoilers The Squaw Man A Ticket to Red Horse Gulch The Tragedy of Whispering Creek (considered lost) The Virginian
1915 Broncho Billy and the Baby Buckshot John The Desert Breed (considered lost) The Girl of the Golden West The Heart of a Bandit Keno Bates, Liar The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws The Ring of Destiny The Slave Girl The Stagecoach Driver and the Girl
1916 According to St. John Accusing Evidence The Apostle of Vengeance The Committee on Credentials For the Love of a Girl Hell's Hinges A Knight of the Range Lass of the Lumberlands Liberty (presumed to be lost) Love's Lariat The Night Riders The Passing of Hell's Crown The Return of Draw Egan Stampede in the Night The Three Godfathers The Wire Pullers A Woman's Eyes
1917 A 44-Calibre Mystery The Almost Good Man The Bad Man of Cheyenne Blood Money The Drifter The Dynamite Special The Empty Gun The Fighting Gringo The Fighting Trail Goin' Straight The Golden Bullet Hair-Trigger Burke Hands Up! The Honor of an Outlaw The Little Moccasins A Marked Man (considered lost) The Mysterious Outlaw The Narrow Trail The Outlaw and the Lady A Romance of the Redwoods Roped In The Scrapper (considered lost) The Silent Man Single Shot Parker aka 'The Heart of Texas Ryan' Six-Shooter Justice The Soul Herder (considered lost) Squaring It Straight Shooting The Texas Sphinx The Tornado (considered lost) Wild and Woolly The Wrong Man
1918 The Branded Man Bucking Broadway The Grand Passion Hell Bent Out West Play Straight or Fight Revenge Riddle Gawne (partially lost) Riders of the Purple Sage Ruggles of Red Gap (considered lost) The Scarlet Drop (partially lost) The Squaw Man (partially lost) Three Mounted Men (considered lost) A Woman's Fool (considered lost)
1919 Ace High Ace of the Saddle (considered lost) The Black Horse Bandit Bare Fists (considered lost) By Indian Post The Crooked Coin The Crow The Double Hold-Up Elmo the Mighty (considered lost) The Face in the Watch A Fight for Love (considered lost) The Fighting Brothers The Fighting Heart The Fighting Line The Four-Bit Man A Gun Fightin' Gentleman Gun Law The Gun Runners His Buddy The Jack of Hearts The Kid and the Cowboy Kingdom Come The Knickerbocker Buckaroo (considered lost) The Last Outlaw Lightning Bryce (horror Western) The Lone Hand Marked Men (considered lost) The Masked Rider (partially lost) The Outcasts of Poker Flat (considered lost) Partners Three Rider of the Law (considered lost) Roped (considered lost) Rustlers The Rustlers Scarlet Days The Tell Tale Wire Terror of the Range (considered lost) The Trail of the Holdup Man The Tune of Bullets A Western Wooing The Wilderness Trail
See also Lists of Western films
References