The Prince and the Showgirl in 35mm with Bus Stop

Yul Brynner plays a gunslinger leading a septet of strangers to defend a Mexican village against marauders in director John Sturges’ classic Western remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai—a remake that itself inspired three sequels, a TV series, and its own 2016 remake. Brynner’s fellow gunslingers include then-rising stars Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. Elmer Bernstein received his second Oscar nomination for his rousing score, whose classic main theme became arguably his most popular and widely recognized melody.

Marlon Brando took on his only feature directing project—following the last-minute departure of original director Stanley Kubrick—with this character-oriented Western about a bank robber who tracks down a friend (frequent Brando co-star Karl Malden) who betrayed him. The Academy Award–nominated VistaVision color cinematography by Charles Lang Jr. (How the West Was Won,1962) makes strong use of scenic locations in Mexico and California, with vivid imagery of Brando riding his horse along the Monterey coastline. Until 2024, One-Eyed Jacks was the final film shot with the VistaVision process.

John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven, 1960) directed this vivid re-telling of the classic Western set in 1880s Arizona. Burt Lancaster is Marshal Wyatt Earp, who partners with his brothers to clean up the town of Tombstone. Helped by loyal friend Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas), they find themselves embroiled in a deadly conflict with the Clanton family. The second film to team Lancaster and Douglas, Gunfight was nominated for its film editing and sound recording and features a rousing score by four-time Oscar winner Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon, 1952), with a memorable title song performed by Frankie Laine. In 1967, Sturges continued the story with Hour of the Gun, starring James Garner as Earp and Jason Robards as Holliday.