western | The Last Movie Guy

Tornado (2025): When East Meets West in a Slow-Burning Duel

The longstanding romance between westerns and samurai films has yielded some of cinema’s most iconic hybrids from The Magnificent Seven to A Fistful of Dollars. Tornado (2025), the second feature from Scottish director John Maclean, joins this lineage with quiet confidence and striking visual precision. Known for Slow West (2015), Maclean once again proves his deep understanding of the western form, only this time, with the philosophical touch of the Japanese jidaigeki.

Blood on the Moon (1948): A Film Noir Western

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Hugo Pagan Soto

Before making Blood on the Moon (1948), Robert Wise had already established himself as a prestigious director in the Hollywood industry. What few know is that it was Orson Welles who gave him the opportunity that would change his life. Wise began working in RKO’s accounting department but soon ended up working as an assistant director. When Welles embarked on producing his legendary Citizen Kane (1941), he sought Wise to edit the film. After the impressive work editing Welles’ masterful work, Wise’s career took off.

The Settlers: A Western in Tierra del Fuego

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Hugo Pagan Soto

With The Settlers (2023) director Felipe Gálvez Haberle makes his debut in style. He conceives a work that is pure cinematic poetry but can hit with devastating force. The Chilean addresses a part of his country’s history that is rarely commented on, the massacre of the Selk’nam people. These indigenous people, known as the Onas, lived in Tierra del Fuego from very ancient times until their massacre began at the end of the 19th century.

Unforgiven: Clint Eastwood rides to save the western

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Hugo Pagan Soto

Western is perhaps the most cinematographic genre of all, it was born by and for the big screen. In the bowels of that far west of celluloid, the technique and codes that gave life to the seventh art were cultivated. In it, legends were forged in front of and behind the cameras that will prevail forever as unequivocal synonyms of cinema. Unforgiven (1992) is one of those legends, the film directed by Clint Eastwood came at a time when the genre was not at its best and brought it to life again.

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Hugo Pagan Soto

Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog.
Psalms 20:22

Surely under the dust of the old North American west many stories remain buried. Much has changed since the era of archetypal Westerns. The genre has found life again and again thanks to directors who take risks and take it down unexplored paths. Veteran director Jane Campion joins that list and with The Power of the Dog (2021) she leaves us a film that breaks some molds and delves into the psychological profile of the characters to compose from the intimate. The actions are born from the wishes of the characters, everything revolves around their deepest desires and what happens in the foreground always has a more complex background.