History Main / TheSevenWesternPlots

* The B Western ''Film/TheBeastOfHollowMountain'' starts out as a standard ranch story about a rancher's business and romantic rivalry with the less scrupulous owner of a neighboring ranch. Then a dinosaur [[ShockingSwerve walks into the plot]] for some reason.

* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' follows the enigmatic Harmonica, who, after repeated attempts to meet with Frank failed, decides to aid Jill [=McBain=] alongside notorious outlaw Cheyenne in keeping Jill as the land owner of a ranch the local railroad company, owned by [[BigBad Mr. Morton]] (whom Frank [[TheDragon works for]]), seeks to purchase from; ownership of the land itself is dictated based on if [=McBain=]'s late husband (and any living inheritors like herself) could build a station by the time the railroad reaches them. While [=McBain=] and Cheyenne have their own agendas with Mr. Morton, the former desiring to honor her late husband's wishes by building a new town on their land while the latter was a scapegoat for the deaths of [=McBain=]'s husband and children, Harmonica's motivations are much more mysterious, and more focused on Frank, who, for most of the film, can't quite remember who Harmonica is and why they know each other. [[spoiler: It isn't until the final duel between Harmonica and Frank that it's revealed that Harmonica has a [[ItsPersonalWithTheDragon deeply personal vendetta]] against Frank, who is revealed in a flashback to have killed Harmonica's brother many years before. Frank only finally remembers who Harmonica is just before succumbing to his gunshot wound (having drawn too slow against Harmonica), revealing that film was truly a revenge story the entire time.]]

* The B Western ''Film/TheBeastOfHollowMountain'' starts out as a standard ranch story about a rancher's business and romantic rivalry with the less scrupulous owner of a neighboring ranch. Then a dinosaur walks into the plot for some reason.

* ''Film/OldHenry'' has the title character, a rancher, taking in a wounded marshal, who is being pursued by outlaws. The outlaws lay [[TheSiege siege]] to the ranch, unaware that the rancher is [[UsefulNotes/BillyTheKid more than he seems]].

* ''Film/TakeAHardRide'', a {{Blaxploitation}} SpaghettiWestern, is a ranch story away from the ranch, with outlaw antagonists. A wealthy CattleBaron unexpectedly falls sick and dies while on a bank run in town, leaving his African-American right-hand man to bring the next month's payroll back to the ranch. When word gets out among the racist locals that a black man is carrying a lot of money through the wilderness, every gunslinger for miles around is on his tail.

* ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' and ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', the respective UrExample and the TropeCodifier of the modern Western, are both railroad stories, making that particular story the oldest of the Western plots.

* ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven'' and [[TheMagnificentSevenSamurai the many stories that follow in its footsteps]] are fusions of the outlaw story and the ranch story, with heroic gunslingers helping the townsfolk fight off bandits.

* ''Film/{{Ravenous}}'' is a WeirdWest mix of the marshal story and a deconstructed cavalry story. In the early days of Manifest Destiny, soldiers stationed at a BleakBorderBase in the Sierra Nevadas are called to rescue the survivors of a wagon train that has gotten stuck in the snowy mountains and [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty had to resort to cannibalism to survive]]. The "taming" of the west is shown as a far more brutal and monstrous thing than the alleged "savagery" it is eliminating, and westward expansion is presented as a metaphorical act of mass cannibalism.

* ''Film/{{Ravenous}}'' is a WeirdWest mix of the marshal story and a deconstructed cavalry story. In the early days of Manifest Destiny, soldiers stationed at a BleakBorderBase in the Sierra Nevadas are called to rescue the survivors of a wagon train that has gotten stuck in the snowy mountains and [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty had to resort to cannibalism to survive]]. The "taming" of the west is shown as a far more brutal and monstrous thing that the alleged "savagery" it is eliminating, and westward expansion is presented as a metaphorical act of mass cannibalism.

* ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' and ''Film/LastManStanding'', both adaptations of ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'' focus on two gangs terrorizing a town and one lone badass who plays both sides in order to save the few innocents caught in the middle of it, making both movies and the entire AFistfulOfRehashes plot an outlaw story. However, ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' takes place in the actual old west while ''Film/LastManStanding'' [[NewOldWest updates the setting]] to TheRoaringTwenties.\

** "Meal Ticket", the third story, doesn't really fit any of these and is more a story about the ruthless nature of show biz that happens to be set in the Old West.

* ''Film/TrackOfTheCat'' is a peculiarly character-driven take on the ranch story. While Creator/RobertMitchum is off tracking a panther who has been preying on the cattle (and which he believes [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane might be a supernatural creature]], his family back at the ranch argue and deal with their own insecurities and resentments. It feels more like a Creator/EugeneONeill play than a classic western.
* ''Film/{{Ravenous}}'' is a WeirdWest mix of the marshal story and a deconstructed cavalry story. In the early days of westward expansion, soldiers stationed at a BleakBorderBase in the Sierra Nevadas are called to rescue the survivors of a wagon train that has gotten stuck in the snowy mountains and [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty had to resort to cannibalism to survive]]. The "taming" of the west is shown as a far more brutal and savage thing than any Native American practices ever were, and Manifest Destiny is presented as a metaphorical act of mass cannibalism.

* ‘’Film/RioBravo’’ is also a hybrid marshal/outlaw/revenge story, only it’s more of TakeThat to High Noon above.
* ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' and ''Film/LastManStanding'', both adaptations of ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'' focus on two gangs terrorizing a town and one lone badass who plays both sides in order to save the few innocents caught in the middle of it, making both movies and the entire AFistfulOfRehashes plot an outlaw story. However, ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' takes place in the actual old west while ''Film/LastManStanding'' [[NewOldWest updates the setting]] to TheRoaringTwenties.

* Being something of a Western pastiche, ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' works in elements of different Western plots for the sake of allusion. For example, Marty's arrival in 1885 has him seeing a Cavalry and Indian story playing out, but it's never brought up again after that. Ultimately, however, the majority of the film is an Outlaw story, with Buford Tannen and his gang serving as the primary antagonists.

* ''Film/TakeAHardRide'' is a ranch story without the ranch, with outlaw antagonists. A wealthy CattleBaron unexpectedly falls sick and dies while on a bank run in town, leaving his African-American right-hand man to bring the next month's payroll back to the ranch. When word gets out among the racist locals that a black man is carrying a lot of money through the wilderness, every gunslinger for miles around is on his tail.

* ''Literature/DeadOfWinter'' by Lee Collins is a oddball Cavalry and Indian story mixed with a marshal story in that it is about Cora and her husband Ben as they set out to hunt down a Wendigo. It is subverted in that all of the villains are actually Western supernaturals.

* ''Film/TheBalladOdBusterScruggs'' is an anthology that samples a few of these plot structures.

* ''Film/TheProposition'' is an Australian western that blends a few of the subcategories. Charlie's arc is an outlaw story that is structured like a revenge story (although his target hasn't wrong him, and is, indeed, someone he loves), while Captain Stanley's arc blends the marshal story and a deconstruction of the Cavalry vs. native people story.

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': The prequel, on the other hand, is a deconstructed outlaw story. It chronicles the final days of the Van der Linde gang as Dutch [[SanitySlippage becomes increasingly insane]] and Arthur becomes increasingly disillusioned with the outlaw life, eventually culminating in him openly defying Dutch and [[spoiler: doing everything he can to get John and his family out of the gang before he succumbs to his tuberculosis]]. There's also a subplot that gives a postcolonial take on the Cavalry vs. Indians story, showing the decline of the Wapiti Tribe at the hands of the U.S. Cavalry as a tragedy and an atrocity, rather than some great triumph.

* ''Film/ToyStory2'' has an in-universe example with the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional TV show]] ''Woody's Round-Up'', which - from what we see - appears to be a marshal story with elements of ranch story.

# ''Ranch story'' - the plot follows a ranch and the people working on it, and often concerns threats to the ranch from rustlers or large landowners attempting to force out the proper owners. It often stars a DeterminedHomesteader and/or [[DeterminedHomesteadersWife his wife]] and [[DeterminedHomesteadersChildren children]] and features a CattleBaron or a RailroadBaron as antagonists. The hero is usually TheDrifter or some other outsider.

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# ''Cavalry and Indian story'' - the plot revolves around "taming" the wilderness for white settlers. In its classic form, a DiscreditedTrope nowadays due to the obvious UnfortunateImplications, so modern versions will typically be more sympathetic to the Native people.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/film_bigkill.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Western variety.]]

# ''Ranch story'' - the plot follows a ranch and the people working on it, and often concerns threats to the ranch from rustlers or large landowners attempting to force out the proper owners. It often stars a DeterminedHomesteader and/or [[DeterminedHomesteadersWife his wife]] [[DeterminedHomesteadersChildren and children]] and features a CattleBaron or a RailroadBaron as antagonists. The hero is usually TheDrifter or some other outsider.