OK, so we didn't corral Shane or, for that matter, Gunfight at the OK Corral. But, in a festival that's as big as all outdoors, we've rounded up most of the other great Westerns, along with some near-greats and fascinating curiosities. In this unprecedented tribute, TCM salutes an indigenous American art form and the oldest of all film genres. Remember, the very first narrative film, The Great Train Robbery (1903), was a Western! Ever since, audiences have thrilled to the classic images: the brave pioneers, the slow-talking but quick-drawing heroes, the Indians and outlaws and unforgettable landscapes.

Our festival is broken into three main groups, beginning with stars of the Western film. These don't come with any more stature than John Wayne, once cited as being second only to Abraham Lincoln in having the most recognizable name and face in U.S. history. Many Westerns, ranging from Stagecoach (1939) to The Shootist (1976), attained classic status partly because of Wayne's towering presence. Wayne could also be an actor of surprising subtlety and skill, as he proves in Hondo (1953), unavailable for many years and showing in its TCM premiere. In this story of a tentative romance between a hard-bitten cavalry scout and a frontier wife, Wayne holds his own with Oscar-nominated Geraldine Page. The other giant of the American Western is Gary Cooper, who won his second Best Actor Oscar for High Noon (1952). Cooper's characters were often more complex and less certain than those of Wayne, who deplored High Noon as "un-American" because Cooper's tight-lipped sheriff was full of doubt and willing to ask for help. It particularly infuriated super-patriot Wayne that "The last thing in the picture was ol' Coop putting the United States marshal's badge under his foot and stepping on it."