Here’s a question for you: What do the beloved Westerns The Ox-Bow Incident, 3 Godfathers, Ride Lonesome, The Gunfighter, Nevada Smith and How the West Was Won all have in common? The answer is they were all filmed in the breathtaking hills of Lone Pine, California! On this special bonus episode, we speak with Steve Latshaw, Director of the Museum of Western Film History, about the exciting 35th Annual Lone Pine Film Festival.

Packed with rare screenings, celebrity guests, fascinating presentations and exclusive location tours, this four-day celebration honors Lone Pine’s remarkable on-screen legacy and its deep connection to the Western movie genre. Join us as we explore an incredible area where literally hundreds of your favorite films and TV shows, many of them Westerns, have been shot since the dawn of the silent era.

To learn more about the Lone Pine Film Festival — or to purchase tickets for this year’s festivities — CLICK HERE.

Are you brave enough to venture into the harrowing world of The Thicket? Join us for an in-depth conversation with visionary director Elliott Lester, the man behind the mayhem! In this gripping episode, Andrew Patrick Nelson sits down with Lester to discuss the making of what many consider the best theatrical Western of 2024. Currently topping the movie rental charts on streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, YouTube, Apple TV+, Tubi, and more, The Thicket is a bold and brutal winter Western that's perfect for fans of cinematic intensity.

A towering figure in the history of the Western, Clint Eastwood redefined the image of the lone hero with his portrayal of the flint-eyed, morally ambiguous gunslinger in Sergio Leone's influential “Dollars Trilogy.” Later, as a director, he fused the stylized detachment of the Italian subgenre with the classic structure of the Hollywood Western — and created a series of unforgettable films that deconstructed the myths of the Old West and earned critical acclaim, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. On this very special episode, bestselling author Shawn Levy joins us to discuss his brand new biography, Clint: The Man and the Movies.

And stick around for a bonus interview with returning guest Mark Swan, who shares his thoughts about Eastwood’s Westerns and offers a behind-the-scenes look at his new album, All the Gold in the West!

Click HERE to purchase Shawn Levy’s book.

Click HERE to purchase Mark Swan’s album.

You can find and follow Shawn Levy HERE

You can find and follow Mark Swan (aka Rex Hooper) HERE

You asked for it, so we’ve delivered! Since the launch of this podcast, John Ford’s masterpiece The Searchers has been our most frequently requested film by far. In this highly anticipated episode, we have a fascinating conversation about it that you won’t want to miss. Joining us to discuss Ford’s influential Western is author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Frankel, whose bestselling book The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend belongs on the shelf of every serious Western movie fan. So saddle up and hit the trail with us as we explore one of the greatest films of all time.

The conversation with Frankel took place at the American West Center of the University of Utah on January 17, 2025.

Special thanks to the podcast Music of Bond for permission to use a clip from their show. To hear the entire episode featuring Matthew Chernov’s guest appearance, visit their Apple Podcast page or look for it wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

On this trailblazing episode, reporter and historian Robert Nott drops by to discuss Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country. Robert is the author of several acclaimed books on Western film history, including The Films of Randolph Scott, Last of the Cowboy Heroes, The Films of Budd Boetticher, and Goin' Crazy with Sam Peckinpah and All Our Friends. His latest book is titled Ride the High Country, and it's the first book to focus exclusively on Peckinpah's poignant 1962 classic.

Robert Nott's book, Ride the High Country, is published by the University of New Mexico Press, and is part of the Reel West series, edited by Andrew Patrick Nelson.

On this super-size episode, Matt and Andrew discuss the biggest Western movie event in recent memory. Is Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 a bold and breathtaking vision of the Old West or a television miniseries masquerading as a feature film? Our hosts debate the issue, covering everything from key scenes and performances to John Debney’s score to the critical and commercial reaction to the movie.

And in a special bonus segment at the end of the episode, returning guest Travis Eller drops by to share his thoughts on the film’s impressive Western hats. He also discusses his principal lead role in the exciting new INSP television series Elkhorn!

Be sure to visit Travis’s custom hat shop, Ugly Outlaw Hats, to order your very own hand-crafted Western hat.

Read any good Western movie books lately? On this page-turning episode, we’re highlighting some of our favorite books about the Western genre. From biographies and coffee table books to scholarly studies and acclaimed film guides, you’ll find plenty of reading recommendations here that will deepen your love of Westerns. And joining us to talk about their own recent Western film books are two authors you’ll definitely enjoying meeting. First, Andrew interviews Henry C. Parke about his new book The Greatest Westerns Ever Made and the People Who Made Them. After that, Matthew chats with Cory Everett about his adorable children’s book My First Spaghetti Western. It’s an episode you’ll want to listen to from cover to cover!

Books discussed on the show:

The Greatest Westerns Ever Made and the People Who Made Them

My First Spaghetti Western

100 Westerns

Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone

Horse Opera: The Strange History of the 1930s Singing Cowboy

John Wayne: The Life and Legend

American Titan: Searching for John Wayne

Bloody Sam: The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah

"If They Move . . . Kill 'Em!": The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah

Hang 'Em High: 110 Years of Western Movie Posters

Click HERE to watch the trailer for Cory Everett’s My First Spaghetti Western

The official trailer for Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga was just released, and Matthew Chernov and Andrew Patrick Nelson are sharing their first reactions to it in this special episode! What clues to the film’s story and characters are hidden within this 3-minute trailer? What tone is Costner going for this time around, and how will his wildly ambitious cinematic epic fit into his already impressive Western filmography? There’s a lot here to chew on, so join Matt and Andrew as they break down the images, themes, dialogue, atmosphere and emotion on display in the brand new trailer for Horizon!

Check out the Horizon: An American Saga trailer for yourself RIGHT HERE.

To receive an exclusive link to our “Secret Episode,” email us at howthewestwascast@gmail.com, and tell us what you think of our podcast.