LOWCW 2026 || My Tag Answers

My tag answers are below. :)

Tag rules: List a character for each role below (also including the name of the film). Elaborate as you like! (They don't have to be your favorite or even the main character, just someone / a role you found memorable.)

Legends of Western Cinema Week Tag 2026

1. Cavalryman – Captain Nathan Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. (An old review, but yes, I still love it.)

2. Stagecoach driver – Ok, so it’s not quite a stage, but Yul Brynner's character driving the hearse with Steve McQueen riding shotgun in the opening scenes of The Magnificent Seven. One of the best scenes ever.

3. Doctor – Doc Boone in Stagecoach.

4. Judge – Harry Morgan's Justice of the Peace (and sheriff... and barber...) in The Apple Dumpling Gang.

5. Sheriff – I was going to say Henry Fonda's character, Morg, in The Tin Star, but technically, he's a deputy, so I'll say his co-star in the film, Anthony Perkins as Sheriff Ben Owens. 

6. Cowboy – Kevin Costner as Charley Waite in Open Range.

7. Homesteader – In terms of characters I’ve thought about for years (and still can’t quite make up my mind about)... Penny in the original 1947 or Temperance in the 2009 remake of Angel and the Badman.

8. Gambler – It's a tie between...

Doc Holliday in Tombstone

and Feathers in Rio Bravo. 

🤷‍♀️

9. Native American – It's set nowadays, but Officer Mathias (Zahn McClarnon) in Longmire. 

10. Outlaw – Ok, he’s not exactly an outlaw (seeing as he got released for time served), but the psychological power of the villain in High Noon is pretty unmatched.

11. Storekeeper – Glenn Ford as George Temple in The Fastest Gun Alive.

12. Schoolteacher – Another character I'm pondering to this day is Molly Stark in The Virginian (the 2000 adaptation specifically). Hopefully I'll sort my thoughts some day and be able to do a review! 😅

So there you have it! I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the above and also which characters you'd choose. :)

Western Adventure Game

Welcome to our fill-in-the-blank-to-discover-your-own-western-adventure game!

Quick random side note: I went down a fascinating rabbit trail and found ice cream was definitely available on the American frontier. By the late 1800’s, even widely available. Per Google, “Yes, ice cream was widely available in the 1880s American frontier. By 1880, ice cream parlors were popular in remote locations, with towns like Tombstone, Arizona, hosting up to four distinct 'ice cream saloons.'

• Production Methods: Pioneers and cowboys made ice cream using hand-cranked churns (patented in 1843) and ice harvested in winter, stored in insulated ice houses, or transported by rail. In areas without natural ice, such as early Tucson, entrepreneurs used chemical freezing mixtures (e.g., sal ammoniac and water) to manufacture sherbet and ice cream as early as 1875.
• Cultural Presence: Ice cream was a staple social treat; lawman Wyatt Earp was known to visit the Tombstone ice cream parlor daily. Flavors ranged from traditional vanilla and chocolate to eccentric Victorian options like asparagus and Parmigiano.”

So yes, there will be an ice cream question below! 😉

Make sure to leave your story in the comments. I can’t wait to hear about your adventures! :)

Game

1) Due to the current time of day where you're at you begin your odyssey as a...

• 12 AM-12 PM = mountain man / trapper
• 12 PM-3 PM = banker
• 3 PM-6 PM = wagon master
• 6PM-12AM = scout

2) Enduring many difficulties, dangers, and hardships, you're heading west. Based off the second letter of your middle name, your most memorable episode happens while crossing the...

• A-G = Prairie
• H-N = River
• O-U = Mountains
• V-Z = Desert

3) Where (pick your favorite color below) you end up in a showdown with a...

• Red = Grizzly
• Green = Moose
• Yellow = Buffalo
• Blue = Prairie dog

4) Finally arriving at a boomtown, and based on your last beverage, you decide to try your hand at being a...

• A. Coffee = prospector / miner
• B. Tea = saloon keeper
• C. Lemonade / ginger ale / soda water = barber
• D. Whiskey and branch water (or just plain branch water) = bounty hunter

5) Based off your preferred ice cream flavor, your new career goes…

• Chocolate = very well indeed
• Asparagus = middling
• Parmigiano = could be going a lot better
• Vanilla = spectacularly badly

(If you want to, please feel free to elaborate on WHY things are thus developing! 😉)

6) In the midst of your job endeavors, you encounter your next big challenge when (based on the outside temperature today) you…

• Under 70⁰ = …get caught in a blizzard and have to ride it out sheltered under the overhang of a river bank – bundled up in your thick buffalo coat and surviving on oyster crackers
• 70⁰-80⁰ = …your horses are stolen by outlaws
• 80⁰-90⁰ = …your small stockpile of savings is lost when the bank is accidentally blown up
• Over 90⁰ = …your stagecoach is caught in a buffalo stampede

7) Thankfully, you come upon some kind strangers who share a cheering, hearty meal. Depending on your go-to for summer headwear, the highlight of the spread is...

• No hat = pork and beans
• Cowboy hat = son-of-a-gun stew
• Big sunhat = flapjacks
• Ball cap = cherry pie

8) You’ve picked yourself up, dusted yourself off, and the time has come for yet a new life chapter! When opportunity comes knocking, you jump at the chance. Looking out your window, if you first see a ________ you end up living out your days most happily as a...

• Oak tree = sheriff’s deputy
• Pine tree = rancher
• Maple tree = telegraph operator
• Fir tree = ticket master for the railroad
• Fruit tree = keeper at the livery stable
• Cottonwood / poplar / willow / leafy green tree of any other kind = sharpshooter touring in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

~

Don't forget to leave your story in the comments! :) Here's mine:

My saga begins when I take the job of scouting for a wagon train heading west out of St. Joseph MO. My most memorable adventure happens when crossing the Rocky Mountains where I end up in a tense standoff with a prairie dog. (Ha, this part is all too real -- gophers here, while cute, are an absolute menace, they're everywhere in the garden.) Arriving at a boom town in Wyoming Territory, I end up parting ways with the wagon train and strike out on my own as a bounty hunter. This new endeavor goes spectacularly badly -- in large part because (despite much practice) my quick draw never comes quite up to snuff, and ultimately some outlaws are able to get the drop on me and make off with my horse. Limping along after that, I come upon some kind settlers who share their warm and hearty supper -- including the best cherry pie west of the Mississippi. In the end, I take a job at a livery stable in Jackson, nestled at the base of the Tetons, and live happily ever after (filling in as an extra ranch hand whenever I get the opportunity ;)).

~

Have fun!

Review || Wanted: Dead or Alive, Season 2 with Steve McQueen

I have to say... Season 2 fully lives up to the high expectations set by Season 1. W:DOA is a firm house favorite around here. (That about covers all the relevant points, right??)

In all seriousness, W:DOA episodes themselves always strike me as so original. (Ok, the one involving a ginormous jungle animal is ever-so-slightly/rather-a-stretch, but I love so many of the others so much that I'm absolutely willing to just roll with it.) 

I have more thoughts on revisionist westerns as a whole (among which W:DOA would generally be classed), but for now I'll just say it definitely has the grit and shadows, the layered complexity of its fellows. 

Besides the creative plot points and premises, there are quite a lot of fence sitting characters + a general assortment of straight up mysterious ones. Things are not always as they seem... We have again the complex characters of the first season. One could say gray, but that wouldn't be quite true. The morality isn't in question. It's more that bad guys can often wear a face of great respectability and good guys can be weak or fail at the point of testing. But it's not done in a fatalistic or nihilistic way. It's about life being real, requiring great strength of character, and sometimes people who have a strong backbone -- enough to have gone through great difficulties already -- still buckle. It takes a steely, robust, dyed-in-the-wool sense of moral duty to see and do what's right when the going gets messy -- when fear lies at the door -- when the wrong way out is very, very easy.

Throughout, our protagonist (Josh Randall), does what he does, not because he's felt a high, mystic call to heroism, or even considers himself the best person for the job, but because he's in a given place at a given point in time and something has to be done. And somebody has to do it. And so he does it. He steps in it every once in a while, but he's not an anti-hero (if an anti-hero is one who sometimes does good things for the wrong reasons). Randall is all about doing the right things. He's not a superhero, but something more relatable... an honest man doing his level best -- absolutely determined -- to see that everyone gets a fair shake.

And all done with the stripped back, understated storytelling which westerns do so well -- forcing you to think, to see, to confront things. There are also flashes of (often wry) humor -- unexpected moments and quips that make me actually laugh. There is sweetness and hope, too. And it all comes together to create stories that are consistently, deeply, satisfying.

Incidentally, this season also has the unique episodes where Randall is riding with a partner and those definitely added an entertaining little twist on everything.

As to the small fry... With parental guidance, for the most part I think these are all absolutely family friendly. Especially with the first two episodes revolving around children, my young sidekick was totally invested. (It's really the first western that's come alive for her, so Mama's absolutely delighted.)

Ninja Turtles is still a big thing around here, so her favorite was the Black Belt episode. We watched it twice (obviously). And there was much giggling, lots of "hiyas!", and full on cheering. Total investment. XD

Other eps have also prompted some deep -- as in deep -- conversations. And I'm so grateful for the conversation starter and just being able to experience the stories together. It's been really, really good.

So yes, highly recommend seasons 1-2 and can't wait to start 3! 💚