# Any Canadian Westerns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595 "2009-03-24T16:10:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/1 "2009-03-24T16:10:02Z")
Films that is. I know there are several Australian Westerns but what about Canadian ones? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/2 "2009-03-24T16:26:01Z")
How about “The Grey Fox,” the story of elderly “gentleman bandit” Bill Miner? [http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0085622/](http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0085622/) ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/3 "2009-03-24T16:28:30Z")
Not sure about westerns but there is a Canadian country music singer called [Stompin’ Tom Connors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stompin%27_Tom_Connors) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/4 "2009-03-24T17:09:01Z")
Canada’s Western mythos is quite a bit different than the U.S.'s. Our ‘western’ movies tend to focus more on events like the Riel Rebellion, or on the early exploits of trappers and the Northwest Mounted Police. Cecille B. Demille even made a movie about the [Northwest Mounted Police](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Mounted_Police_(film)). Although Bat Masterson and Seth Bullock (of ‘Deadwood’ fame) were born in Canada , Canada didn’t experience the kind of lawlessness and drama in the late 1800’s that the U.S. did. The Northwest Mounted Police moved into the west and established control in the 1870’s, put down the whiskey trade, and signed treaties with native populations. The big event of this era was probably the Northwest Rebellion, led by Louis Riel, which was put down after a few months by the government. There have been several movies made about this. On the other hand, you could say that Canada has a strong western movie tradition, since so many ‘American’ westerns are shot in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/5 "2009-03-24T17:13:04Z")
Would [Dudley Do-right](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Do-Right)fit? [Seargent Preston of the Yukon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_of_the_Yukon) (TV Series 1955-58) [Grey Owl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Owl) ([film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128239/)) While Canadian pioneers may have been [interesting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_folklore), I suspect that most stories would look like [‘Anne of Green Gables’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables). ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/6 "2009-03-24T17:14:01Z")
Based on **Sam** ’s comments, [Death Hunt](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082247/) might fit in there nicely. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/7 "2009-03-24T18:08:36Z")
There are a number of movies about the [Klondike Gold Rush](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Gold_Rush) (part of which took place in Canada). Would they count? The first that comes to mind is [The Far Country](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048055/) with Jimmy Stewart and Walter Brennan. ---
**Author:** ![Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/das_glasperlenspiel/32/2944_2.png) [@Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Das_Glasperlenspiel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/8 "2009-03-24T18:35:31Z")
I wonder if “The Englishman’s Boy” (Link: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0871134/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0871134/)) would fit the description? ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/9 "2009-03-24T19:18:03Z")
The film [Saskatchewan](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047449/) fits the bill, although it’s a pretty terrible movie. If nothing else, the scenery is pretty great, although the beautiful mountain scenery was shot over in Banff. (No, I don’t know why.) The introductory sequence is really the only part worth watching. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/10 "2009-03-24T20:20:55Z")
It is not a movie, nor is it ever likely to be, but the play ‘[The Collected Works of Billy the Kid](http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Collected-Works-Billy-Kid-Michael-Ondaatje/9780307397614-item.html)’ (here in its form as a poem) by Michael Ondaatje is a very Canadian take on typical Western themes. You’d find a lot more just plain documentary histories about that period - [The National Dream](http://www.cbclearning.ca/CBCEDS/shopping/product.aspx?CatalogName=CBCEDSBase&CategoryName=canadian_history_all_canadian_history_titles&Product_ID=X4G-73-00&Variant_ID=X4G-73-00-010101), for example - than westerns. [This site](http://www.cbclearning.ca/CBCEDS/shopping/SearchResultInCategory.aspx?CatalogName=CBCEDSBase&CategoryName=canadian_history_all_canadian_history_titles&SearchAction=0) shows lots of the stuff that CBC has produced over the years. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the western doesn’t resonate anywhere near as much with Canadians as it does with Americans. Certainly, in our family, it was my Grandfather who was a ‘pioneer’ and his story didn’t have anything to do with fighting bad guys in a remote lawless area. His story was all about bloody hard work. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/11 "2009-03-24T20:31:08Z")
tr0psn4j: > [@](#): > > Not sure about westerns but there is a Canadian country music singer called Stompin’ Tom Connors Well, if you’re going to include country singers, Shania Twain is also Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-canadian-westerns/490595/12 "2009-03-24T20:48:35Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the western doesn’t resonate anywhere near as much with Canadians as it does with Americans. Certainly, in our family, it was my Grandfather who was a ‘pioneer’ and his story didn’t have anything to do with fighting bad guys in a remote lawless area. His story was all about bloody hard work. I’m betting most 19th century settlers in Wyoming or West Texas would say the same thing! Western dime novels and Tom Mix movies were never SUPPOSED to be factual representations of what life was like on the frontier, in Canada OR down below.