A list of the earliest Western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 films, by decade, released before 1920.
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1890s

1894 — 0

• Annie Oakley
• Buffalo Bill
• Buffalo Dance
  Buffalo Dance (film)
  Buffalo Dance is an 1894 American 16-second black-and-white silent film shot in Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio. The film was made at the same time as Edison's Sioux Ghost Dance. It is one of the earliest films made featuring Native Americans. In this film, produced by William K. L...
  
  
• Sioux Ghost Dance

These films were all shorts produced by William K. L. Dickson at the famous Edison "Black Maria" studio. All the performers were from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...

 and Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...

 himself exhibiting their rifle shooting skills. The two dances featured three members of the Sioux

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 tribe who were thus the first Native Americans to perform on film.

1900s

1903 — 8

• The Great Train Robbery

1904 — 4

1905 — 0

1906 — The Story of the Kelly Gang

The Story of the Kelly Gang

The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly . It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and was the longest narrative film yet seen in Australia, and the world. Its approximate reel length...

1907 — 7

• The Bandit King
• Robbery Under Arms

1908 — 13

• The Bank Robbery

1909 — 39

• The Cowboy Millionaire
  The Cowboy Millionaire
  The Cowboy Millionaire is a 1909 American silent short western directed by Francis Boggs and Otis Turner. The film stars Tom Mix, Mac Barnes and William Garwood. It was the debut film of actor William Garwood.-Cast:* Tom Mix* Mac Barnes* William Garwood...
  
  
• The House of Cards
• The Red Man's View
  The Red Man's View
  The Red Man's View is a 1909 Western film directed by D. W. Griffith. Prints of the film exist in the film archives of the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.-Cast:* Owen Moore - Silver Eagle...
  
  

1910s

1910 — 126

• Abernathy Kids to the Rescue
• In Old California
• Broncho Billy's Redemption

1911 — 224

• The Abernathy Kids to the Rescue
• An Accidental Outlaw
• The Battle
• The Indian Brothers
  The Indian Brothers
  The Indian Brothers is a 1911 short silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Frank Opperman and featuring Blanche Sweet.-Cast:* Frank Opperman - The Indian Chief* Wilfred Lucas - The Indian Chief's Brother* Guy Hedlund - The Renegade...
  
  
• Fighting Blood
  Fighting Blood
  Fighting Blood is a 1911 short silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith, starring George Nichols and featuring Lionel Barrymore and Blanche Sweet...
  
  
• The Last of the Mohicans (colonial Western)
• The Lonedale Operator
  The Lonedale Operator
  The Lonedale Operator is a 1911 short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City....
  
  

1912 — 336

• According to Law
• The Ace of Spades
  The Ace of Spades
  The Ace of Spades is a 1935 British drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Michael Hogan, Dorothy Boyd and Richard Cooper....
  
  
• The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch
  The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch
  The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch is a 1912 short silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet.-Cast:* Blanche Sweet - The Goddess* Charles West - Blue Grass Pete* Dorothy Bernard - The Goddess's Sister...
  
  
• The Half-Breed's Way
  The Half-Breed's Way
  The Half-Breed's Way is a 1912 American silent short Western starring Harry von Meter, Vivian Rich and George Beech....
  
  
• The Heart of an Indian
• The Invaders
  The Invaders (1912)
  The Invaders is a 1912 American silent film directed by Francis Ford and Thomas H. Ince.- Plot summary :The U.S. Army and the Indians sign a peace treaty. However, a group of surveyors trespass on the Indians' land and violate the treaty. The army refuses to listen to the Indians' complaints, and...
  
  
• Under Burning Skies
  Under Burning Skies
  Under Burning Skies is a 1912 short silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet.-Cast:* Wilfred Lucas - Joe* Blanche Sweet - Emily* Christy Cabanne - Emily's Husband* Alfred Paget - Emily's Husband's Friend...
  
  

1913 — 311

• The Abandoned Well (film)
• The Accidental Bandit
• The Accusation of Broncho Billy
• The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
  The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
  The Battle at Elderbush Gulch is a 1913 Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and featuring Mae Marsh, Lillian Gish, and Lionel Barrymore.-Plot:...
  
  
• The Massacre (film)
• Past Redemption

1914 — 244

• Broncho Billy and the Greaser
• Rose of the Rancho
  Rose of the Rancho
  Rose of the Rancho is a 1914 Western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film cost $16,988 to make, and grossed $87,028.-Plot:Esra Kincaid takes land by force and, having taken the Espinoza land, his sights are set on the Castro rancho...
  
  
• The Squaw Man
• The Virginian
  The Virginian (1914 film)
  The Virginian is a 1914 film based upon the novel by Owen Wister, and starring Dustin Farnum as the Virginian. The movie is the first of several versions, including a 1929 movie with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston and a 1960 television series. The 1914 film was directed by Cecil B....
  
  

1915

• Broncho Billy and the Baby
• Keno Bates, Liar
• The Stagecoach Driver and the Girl
• The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws
  The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws
  The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws, subtitled Picturization of Early Days in Oklahoma, is a silent movie produced by the Eagle Film Company in 1915 depicting the end of the outlaw gangs which operated freely during the closing days of the Twin Territories...
  
  

1916

• According to St. John
• Accusing Evidence
  Accusing Evidence
  Accusing Evidence is a 1916 silent Western film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Lon Chaney, Sr....
  
  
• The Apostle of Vengeance
• Hell's Hinges
  Hell's Hinges
  Hell's Hinges is a 1916 American Western silent film starring William S. Hart and Clara Williams. Directed by Charles Swickard, William S. Hart and Clifford Smith, and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was written by C. Gardner Sullivan.-Plot:...
  
  
• The Return of Draw Egan
  The Return of Draw Egan
  The Return of Draw Egan is a 1916 silent era western drama motion picture starring William S. Hart, Louise Glaum, Margery Wilson, Robert McKim, and J.P. Lockney....
  
  
• The Wire Pullers

1917

• The Dynamite Special
• The Little Moccasins
• The Narrow Trail
• A Romance of the Redwoods
  A Romance of the Redwoods
  __notoc__A Romance of the Redwoods is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Mary Pickford.A print of the film survives in the film archive at George Eastman House.-Cast:* Mary Pickford as Jenny Lawrence...
  
  
• Roped In
• Single Shot Parker aka 'The Heart of Texas Ryan'
• Squaring It
• Straight Shooting
  Straight Shooting
  Straight Shooting is a 1917 Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. Prints of this film survive in the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Cheyenne Harry* Duke R...
  
  
• Wild and Wooly

1918

• Bucking Broadway
  Bucking Broadway
  Bucking Broadway is a 1917 film by John Ford, probably his sixth feature film. Long thought to be lost, along with about 60 of Ford's 70 silent films, it was found in 2002 in the archives of the CNC . It was subsequently restored and digitized...
  
  
• Hell Bent
  Hell Bent
  Hell Bent is a 1918 Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. A print of the film exists in the Czechoslovak Film Archive.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Cheyenne Harry* Duke R. Lee - Cimmaron Bill * Neva Gerber - Bess Thurston...
  
  
• Out West
  Out West (1918 film)
  Out West is a 1918 short comedy film, a satire on contemporary westerns, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, and Al St. John. It was the first of Arbuckle's "Comique" films to be filmed on the west coast, the previous five having been filmed in and around New York City...
  
  
• Riders of the Purple Sage

1919

• Ace High
  Ace High (1919 film)
  Ace High is a 1919 short Western film directed by George Holt and featuring Hoot Gibson.-Cast:* Pete Morrison* Magda Lane* Hoot Gibson* Helene Rosson - * Jack Walters* Martha Mattox...
  
  
• Ace of the Saddle
  Ace of the Saddle
  Ace of the Saddle was a 1919 Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. The film is considered to be lost.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Cheyenne Harry Henderson* Joe Harris - Sheriff, Yucca County* Duke R...
  
  
• By Indian Post
  By Indian Post
  By Indian Post is a 1919 short Western silent film directed by John Ford. One of the two reels survive.-Cast:* Pete Morrison - Jode MacWilliams* Duke R. Lee - Pa Owens* Magda Lane - Peg Owens* Edward Burns- * Jack Woods - Dutch...
  
  
• The Crooked Coin
• The Gun Runners
• The Tune of Bullets
• A Western Wooing

See also

• Category: Western Films
• Western (genre) film actors
• Western (genre)
• Movie Ranches