As such an iconic and uniquely American genre, Western movies have inspired a high number of seemingly unrelated films. Whether made in Hollywood or finding themselves among the Spaghetti Westerns of Italian tradition, cowboy movies have become an immobile staple of pop culture. Even if the genre is far from as popular as it once was at the height of its box office dominance, many of the most famous Westerns have an enduring influence on many iconic films of other categories.

Interestingly, many Westerns are themselves modeled after classic Samurai movies, particularly the works of Akira Kurosawa. This influence has then gone on to shine in the iterations of Western plots that have come since the heyday of the genre, spanning a generational wave of clear inspiration. From science fiction classics to even family-friendly animated features, many films have surreptitiously stolen large chunks of their narrative from eerily similar Western predecessors.

10

Kill Bill Vol. 2

Copied The Searchers

It’s no surprise that Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan of Westerns. The genre is often laden with the same revenge-fueled stories his early career was interested in, and Tarantino has gone on to direct a few Westerns himself, including Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. But even before officially dipping his toes into the American West, Tarantino’s films have been suffused with ideas lifted straight from some of the most recognizable installments of the genre.

Specifically, Kill Bill Vol. 2 takes some heavy inspiration from Western revenge flicks, especially The Searchers. The latter follows a former Confederate soldier in his bloody quest to save his daughter from Comanche raiders, mirroring The Bride’s own unwitting quest for her kidnapped daughter. Beyond the surface level narrative similarities, Tarantino goes so far as to re-create a famous shot from The Searchers, emulating the prodigal return of the missing child.

9

Star Wars

Copied The Searchers

Quentin Tarantino clearly wasn’t the only one to find the 1956 revenge story so striking. George Lucas also put something of his own sin on the plot of The Searchers in the production of the very first Star Wars movie, later referred to as Episode IV: A New Hope. At a visual level, it’s easy to spy Western influence creeping forwards in the original Star Wars, from the seedy cantina gunslingers to the oppressive heat of Tatooine’s desert.

Like the protagonist of The Searchers, Luke Skywalker teams up with an old war veteran in order to rescue his kidnapped female family member, creating quite a similar dynamic to John Wayne’s posse in the film. But the most obvious note of reference Star Wars makes to The Searchers comes about when Luke finds his family burned to a crisp at the hands of the Empire. The shot composition and emotion of the scene are nearly a beat-for-beat replica of the scene in The Searchers in which Wayne’s character returns to his family’s ranch only to find them massacred.

8

A Bug’s Life

Copied The Magnificent Seven and Three Amigos

While it may seem unlikely, Pixar animation’s breakout hit A Bug’s Life bears some heavy Western influence underneath the distracting surface of 3-D animation. A Bug’s Life revolves around an ant who commissions a group of circus bugs in order to protect his colony from a ferocious band of grasshopper raiders. This premise in and of itself is quite similar to The Magnificent Seven, which was in turn heavily inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

However, a lesser-known Western comedy seems to bear an even more similar narrative to A Bug’s Life, being the Steve Martin-led Western-comedy Three Amigos. The film follows a band of three American actors mistaken for real gunslingers by a Mexican village, who don’t realize they are expected to trade bullets in real life until it’s far too late. This easily served as the inspiration for the hapless circus bugs of A Bug’s Life, who don’t realize the danger of their situation, thinking their battle to be an elaborate performance.

7

Mad Max: Fury Road

Copied The General

The Mad Max movies could be considered to be Westerns in their own right, with their themes of survival, dramatic desert landscapes, and nomadic drifter protagonist better with gunshots than he is with words. Thusly, it should come as no surprise that visionary director George Miller was heavily influenced by certain Westerns when crafting the very first Mad Max movie. But even the most ancient of Westerns have gone on to have a clear influence on even the most recent entries in the series.

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Interestingly enough, Mad Max: Fury Road bears some heavy visual resemblance to a black-and-white Buster Keaton silent film, The General. While the American Civil War narrative of the film may not ring very true to the simple plot of Mad Max: Fury Road, visually, the chase sequences and elaborate stunts of the film bear an undeniable visual resemblance to George Miller’s work. The General seems completely natural when edited with the pulse-pounding soundtrack of Mad Max: Fury Road, and the post-apocalyptic joyride’s sped-up frame rate sequences are indicative of 20s filmmaking techniques.

6

Escape From New York

Copied The Dollars Trilogy

Although a genuine Western never made its way into the filmography of legendary filmmaker John Carpenter, the director has a clear love for the genre that shines through in his films. Nowhere does this become more apparent than in Escape from New York, and, to a lesser extent, its sequel, Escape from L.A. The first film follows Snake Plissken, an ex-soldier and federal prisoner who is given the task of rescuing the president after Air Force One crash lands in the dystopian mega-prison New York City has become.

Admittedly, the plot of Escape From New York isn’t all that similar to any of the films in Clint Eastwood’s famous Dollars trilogy, with MacGuffins like Confederate Gold replaced with the President himself. However, Kurt Russell’s performance as Snake is essentially a stolen blueprint of Eastwood’s in the films, complete with a raspy voice and callous, self-centered attitude. This clear emulation is made all the more obvious by Lee Van Cleef’s appearance as the villain Hauk, echoing his vile characters in Sergio Leone’s Western classics.

5

Assault on Precinct 13

Copied Rio Bravo

If Escape From New York was merely John Carpenter’s stylistic copy of a Western classic, Assault on Precinct 13 is where he re-creates one beat-by-beat. Assault on Precinct 13 centers around a police precinct that has been laid siege to by a dangerous criminal gang. This is very similar to the plot of Rio Bravo, which sees John Wayne’s Sheriff John T. Chance holding out against waves of gang members sent by their arrested leader, whom Chance has in custody.

Beyond the cursory similarities in the story, Assault on Precinct 13 maintains some key stylistic influences from Rio Bravo. One shot of blood slowly dripping down from a ceiling is nearly re-created identically in the former, albeit using a police car instead. Even the spectacular action climax of Rio Bravo, in which Wayne’s Sheriff Chance detonates a bundle of dynamite on the gang members, is nearly exactly copied in Carpenter’s love letter, in which the hero does the same with an oxygen tank.

4

Starship Troopers

Copied Rio Grande

Paul Verhoeven’s films are famous for being clever dissections of controversial ideals that typically go under-appreciated beneath the stealth of excellent sci-fi action. Starship Troopers is perhaps the best example of this, being a vicious mockery of fascism dressed up as a typical space opera. But the film also parodies a particularly problematic Western in addition to its general themes, something it conveys with visual and narrative language.

At a glance, Starship Troopers certainly does feel like a Western, with the breathtaking red rock landscapes of its desolate alien worlds evoking the horizon of the American Southwest. But the film’s exploration of weaponized hatred as viewed through the lens of the Arachnid aliens emulates Rio Grande, a 1950 Western that pits John Wayne against an Apache tribe. Verhoeven plays with Wayne’s character by putting Rico through similar circumstances, from his Army recruitment to his estranged lover.

3

Taxi Driver

Copied The Searchers

The third major film to draw heavy inspiration from The Searchers, Martin Scorsese’s classic proves why the Western seems to have so much material worthy of emulation. Just like The Searchers, Taxi Driver puts an emphasis on the rescue of women from dangerous situations, with the controversial Western exploring similar themes of toxic masculinity. But Scorsese’s influences go deeper than this passing similarity in plot.

Though it does so more subtly, Taxi Driver also explores themes of racism, chronicling how Travis Bickle justifies acting on his inherently violent urges via the rescue of a young woman. This isn’t dissimilar to John Wayne’s character’s thoughts on the Comanche tribe. Above all else, both John Wayne’s Ethan and Robert De Niro’s Travis share an intense well of loneliness motivating their violent actions, their ultimate goal to free their damsels in distress being almost incidental.

2

Die Hard

Copied High Noon

One of the most iconic and influential action movies of all time, it’s no surprise that Die Hard takes some heavy inspiration from the progenitor of the genre, the Western. John McClane’s informal designation as a “cowboy” by Hans Gruber doesn’t come from nowhere, and it’s clear that the film’s sensibilities are rooted in the heroism of the old American West. Yet there’s one film in particular that seems to have directly influenced the first of the Die Hard series.

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High Noon is as typical as they get for Westerns with heroic characters, whose protagonist is a dead ringer for Bruce Willis’ John McClane. The film follows a police officer who similarly makes a noble sacrifice to lead a one-man war against a group of violent criminals. High Noon‘s hero also gets back together with his estranged wife, leaving its influence on Die Hard obvious upon watching. Even if the Western doesn’t feature tall buildings and submachine guns, its impression on Die Hard is easy to notice.

1

Outland

Copied High Noon

While Die Hard may have taken heavy inspiration from High Noon, the little known science fiction movie Outland all but remade it in a new setting. The film stars Sean Connery as the new marshal on a mining colony on the moon of Jupiter, Io. When a series of deadly, mysterious incidents start affecting the colony, it’s up to the marshal to uncover the conspiracy and protect the innocent workers.

From the description of the plot alone, it should be obvious that Outland isn’t a beat-for-beat remake of High Noon, perhaps labeled better as a spiritual re-boot. Still, all the elements of the original are there, from the honor-bound protector who refuses to give up on his charge of a small community to the ticking clock element reflecting the impending arrival of High Noon‘s villain. But best of all, Outland explores the same depths of bravery and selflessness as its predecessor, taking the familiar conflict out of the Western setting and into the furthest reaches of space.