Highest-Rated Movies about 'Homesteading', Sort by Popularity

Desperadoes of Dodge City (1948), Buck and the Preacher (1972), Abilene Town (1946), Gun Glory (1957), Tornado Range (1948), Black Fox: Good Men and Bad (1995), Texas Wildcats (1939), Hero's Island (1962) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Homesteading movies.

#1. Desperadoes of Dodge City (1948)

Storyline: Rocky and the Land agent riders need to get an important message to the Army post. The message is stolen but Rocky knows one of the four men on the stagecoach has it. When Rocky and the four get trapped in a shack by the outlaw gang, he learns that one of the four is the gang leader. Rocky has to learn his identity and retrieve the message—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: outlaw, henchman, lawman, wife, husband, driver, engaging ...

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#2. Buck and the Preacher (1972)

Storyline: After the American Civil War, many freed slaves head out West in search of free land and a better life. Former slave and Union Army sergeant Buck becomes a self-employed wagon master to wagon trains of freed slaves heading West. Buck knows the region well and he charges fair wages from the wagon trains employing him. He also has a working relationship with the local Indian tribes that charge trespassing fees from the wagon trains heading West across Indian lands. In return, they allow the settlers to move across Indian territory unhindered and to hunt a few buffalo needed to feed the wagon train settlers. However, not everyone in the region is friendly toward the black settlers traveling West. Owners of Southern plantations, dismayed by the loss of slave manpower that previously worked the plantations for free, hire band of white rogues and outlaws to prevent former black slaves from going West. In order to achieve this aim, the hired bands of rogues attack wagon trains and destroy the wagons, the supplies and the food resources of the former slaves. They threaten the black settlers with harm and they tell them to return to the Southern states where they came from and work the plantations. Wagon master Buck encourages the freed slaves to continue their trek westward and to not give up their dream of settling in the West. Knowing this, the band of rogues led by DeShay plans to capture and kill Buck. The DeShay gang sets up ambushes and traps but Buck always manages to avoid capture. The gang resides in the town of Copper Springs where the sheriff, an honest man, doesn't agree with the gang's ruthless tactics against wagon trains of freed slaves. Chased by the DeShay bunch, wagon master Buck and his tired horse arrive at a river where a black preacher, Reverend Willis Oakes Rutherford, is bathing. A desperate Buck switches horses with the preacher, against the man's will, and rides off to meet his wagon train. The preacher heads to Copper Springs where he bumps into DeShay's gang. Recognising Buck's horse, the gang interrogates the preacher about Buck's whereabouts. DeShay promises a 500 dollar reward to the preacher if the preacher finds Buck and captures or kills him. DeShay also instructs the preacher to convince all black settlers to turn back east toward the Southern plantations and abandon their trek Westward. The preacher agrees with DeShay and leaves town. Outside town he meets a wagon train formed of freed slaves and led by none other than Buck. After an angry exchange between the preacher and Buck, the preacher joins the wagon train. During the following days of travel, the preacher notices that all the money of the wagon train is kept in a money belt carried by one of the women around her waist. A few days later, a distrustful Buck orders the preacher to leave the wagon train and he himself rides away to scout the area and to pay in cash a right of passage to the local Indian tribe in behalf of the trespassing wagon train. The preacher follows Buck and he witnesses the payment made by Buck to the Indian chief for safe passage of the settlers. When Buck, followed by the preacher, returns to the wagon train, a gruesome scene awaits. DeShay's gang attacked the wagon train, stole the settlers' money, destroyed their food and supplies and even killed a few settlers. Heartbroken, the surviving settlers want to turn back but Buck encourages them to go on. Angry at the devastation, Buck and the preacher decide to ride to the town of Copper Springs and exact revenge on DeShay's gang and also try to retrieve the money DeShay stole from the black settlers. There only are two against many but Buck and the preacher are determined to do it.—nufs68

Plot Keywords: trail guide, preacher, con artist, bounty hunter, former slave, amusing, thrilling ...

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#3. Abilene Town (1946)

Storyline: In the years following the Civil War, the town of Abilene, Kansas is poised on the brink of an explosive confrontation. A line has been drawn down the center of the town where the homesteaders and the cattlemen have come to a very uneasy truce. The delicate peace is inadvertantly shattered when a group of new homesteaders lay down their stakes on the cattlemen's side of town, upsetting the delicate balance that had existed thus far and sparking an all-out war between the farmers, who want the land tamed and property lines drawn, and the cowboys, who want the prairies to be open for their cattle to roam.—Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>

Plot Keywords: marshal, entertainer, cattleman, merchant, sheriff, daughter, gritty ...

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#4. Gun Glory (1957)

Storyline: In 1886, the gunman and gambler Tom Early returns to his homeland to settle down, but he is rejected by his community. He rides to his farm, where he finds that his wife Alice has recently died and his son Tom Early Jr., who disagrees with taking up arms, is working alone. The next morning, Tom rides into the town to buy supplies and sees Sam, the grocer, humiliating his employee Jo. At the same time the cattle lord Grimsell arrives in town with two gunfighters, Gunn and Blondie, and tells the Preacher that he will be crossing 20,000 head of cattle through their lands and their town. Although the preacher tries to explain that the people own the land, Grimsell is not interested in their rights. When Blondie sees Tom Early, he draws his gun but is shot by Tom, in self defense, and kills the gunman. He then invites Jo to work on the farm. While the Preacher wants to send an emissary to Laramie to bring the law to his town, Grimsell summons more than thirty gunfighters to work for him. When the emissary is murdered by Gunn, the naive Preacher organizes a posse to unsuccessfully fight against Grimsell. The farmers are ambushed and attacked and the survivors return to the town. But Tom Early decides to provoke a stampede and fight against Grimsell.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: cowboy, cattleman, preacher, father, son, grocer, bleak ...

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#5. Tornado Range (1948)

Storyline: Eddie Dean, under orders as a U.S. Land Office agent, is trying to prevent a range war from being started between homesteaders and ranchers when a caravan of the so-called 'Nesters', start to take over land acquired by the homesteaders by a government lease. Quirt Thayer, working both sides against the middle, has his gang join with the ranchers seeking revenge against the settlers for raids on the ranchers by Quirt's henchmen. Eddie uses his friendship with Mary King, daughter of the leading rancher, to pin the guilt on the correct culprits.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: rancher, daughter, homesteader, son, sidekick, u.s. marshal, tense ...

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#6. Black Fox: Good Men and Bad (1995)

Storyline: Alan Johnson (Christopher Reeve) and Britt "Black Fox" Johnson (Tony Todd) have been blood brothers ever since Alan freed Britt from slavery. Now the two share a homestead on the Texas frontier. One night, an intruder with a grudge against Britt storms into Alan's house, shooting both Alan and his wife. When his wife dies, Alan sinks into drunken depression, then leaves abruptly to find her killer. Britt, now a deputy sheriff, goes off in pursuit of his friend.

Plot Keywords: homesteader, racist, murderer, deputy, wife, friend, dark ...

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#7. Texas Wildcats (1939)

Storyline: Lightning Bill Carson and sidekick Magpie are after Burrows, the man that killed a friend of theirs. Burrows is after the Arden ranch and his gang are rustling their cattle. Bill is robbing Burrows while posing as the mysterious Phantom and it's not long before the two collide.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: cowboy, sidekick, thief, suspect, young woman, landowner, intense ...

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#8. Hero's Island (1962)

Storyline: After their master dies, servants Thomas (Brendan Dillon) and Devon (Kate Manx) and their children become homesteaders on a coastal island. But when Thomas is murdered by villainous settlers hoping to claim the land for themselves, Devon must raise the kids -- and fight off more attacks -- by herself. Luckily, however, she gets help from Jacob (James Mason), a mysterious shipwrecked stranger, and Nicholas (Rip Torn), a kindly sailor and slave ship escapee.

Plot Keywords: husband, wife, child, settler, blackbeard, sailor, spectacular ...

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