Tara Lain's Top 5 Cowboy Movies for Halloween

Hi! It’s Halloween Week and I’ve got a head full of cowboys. I know we don’t usually connect the two, but I’ve got good reason. I’m crazily finishing the last pages of my new cowboy novel this week (expect it next spring), and I’m celebrating the release of my little Halloween short, Trex or Treat, in which two lonely guys meet in a haunted house dressed like famous cowboys they think were most likely to be gay.

So in honor of the season, I thought I’d share five of my fave cowboy movies – since I love both cowboys and movies. These are in no particular order – 

1. Tombstone – This needed editing it never got. But to see Val Kilmer’s landmark performance as Doc Holliday, I’ll watch every second of it ten times. 

2. The Long Riders – I adore this super-interesting film that was one of the first to present the west in a semi-authentic way. 

3. Silverado – The introduction to the world of a charismatic and unforgettable Kevin Costner could be this film’s only claim to fame, but it’s not. The entire cast is great and so worth watching.

4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – The Man with No Name! This film shows how great a character can be created with body language and very few lines. Oh, and a cigar stub.

5. The Magnificent Seven – I liked the recent remake, but it didn’t touch the original. Every character was a walking book, so dimensional and amazing. Getting to see so many great actors all in one film is almost more than the heart can bear. When you add in the Last Samurai story and one of the greatest soundtracks ever created, it’s quite a film.

What are your fave cowboy movies? Let me know your favorites and we’ll pick someone at random to win any one of my Dreamspinner ebooks with an action hero in it. (This could be cowboys, cops, firefighters, sleuths, athletes – we’ll interpret action pretty liberally.)

Just tell us about your favorite cowboy movie.