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Best Native american Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of native american cinema — measured across 1,496 indexed frames from 21 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Native american films over-index on rider, saddle and neckerchief — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    The Searchers

    John FordDP Winton C. HochIMDb 7.8TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    After a long three-year absence, the battle-scarred Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, Ethan Edwards turns up on the remote and dusty Texan homestead of his brother, Aaron. In high hopes of finding peace, instead, the taciturn former soldier will embark on a treacherous five-year odyssey of retribution, when the ruthless Chief Scar's murderous Comanche raiding party massacres his family, burns the ranch to the ground, and abducts his nine-year-old niece, Debbie. Driven by hatred of Indians, Ethan and his young companion, Martin Pawley, ride through the unforgiving desert to track down their lost Debbie; however, is the woman they lost and the prisoner in Scar's teepee still the same woman the searchers seek?

  2. 2

    Little Big Man (1970)

    Arthur PennDP Harry Stradling Jr.IMDb 7.5TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Jack Crabb is 121 years old as the film begins. A collector of oral histories asks him about his past. He recounts being captured and raised by indians, becoming a gunslinger, marrying an indian, watching her killed by General George Armstrong Custer, and becoming a scout for him at Little Big Horn.

  3. 3

    The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

    Joel Coen, Ethan CoenDP Bruno DelbonnelIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.

  4. 4

    The Lone Ranger (2013)

    Gore VerbinskiDP Bojan BazelliIMDb 6.4TMDB 6.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    In the 1930s, an elderly Tonto tells a young boy the tale of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. An idealistic lawyer, he rides with his brother and fellow Texas Rangers in pursuit of the notorious Butch Cavendish. Ambushed by the outlaw and left for dead, John Reid is rescued by the renegade Comanche, Tonto, at the insistence of a mysterious white horse and offers to help him to bring Cavendish to justice. Becoming a reluctant masked rider with a seemingly incomprehensible partner, Reid pursues the criminal against all obstacles. However, John and Tonto learn that Cavendish is only part of a far greater injustice and the pair must fight it in an adventure that would make them a legend.

  5. 5

    Back To The Future Part III (1990)

    Robert ZemeckisDP Dean CundeyIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    In 1955, Marty McFly receives written word from his friend, Doctor Emmett Brown, as to where can be found the DeLorean time machine. However, an unfortunate discovery prompts Marty to go to his friend's aid. Using the time machine, Marty travels to the old west where his friend has run afoul of a gang of thugs and has fallen in love with a local schoolteacher. Using the technology from the time, Marty and Emmett devise one last chance to save the future.

  6. 6

    Slow West (2015)

    John MacleanDP Robbie RyanIMDb 6.9TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    'Slow West' follows a 16-year-old boy on a journey across 19th Century frontier America in search of the woman he loves, while accompanied by mysterious traveler Silas.

  7. 7

    Dances With Wolves (1990)

    Kevin CostnerDP Dean SemlerIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →

    Lt. John Dunbar is dubbed a hero after he accidentally leads Union troops to a victory during the Civil War. He requests a position on the western frontier, but finds it deserted. He soon finds out he is not alone, but meets a wolf he dubs "Two-socks" and a curious Indian tribe. Dunbar quickly makes friends with the tribe, and discovers a white woman who was raised by the Indians. He gradually earns the respect of these native people, and sheds his white-man's ways.

  8. 8

    The Homesman (2014)

    Tommy Lee JonesDP Rodrigo PrietoIMDb 6.6TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.

  9. 9

    Legends of the Fall (1994)

    Edward ZwickDP John TollIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    In early twentieth century Montana, Colonel William Ludlow (Sir Anthony Hopkins) lives in the wilderness with his sons, Tristan (Brad Pitt), Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and Samuel (Henry Thomas). Eventually, the unconventional, but close-knit, family encounters tragedy when Samuel is killed in World War I. Tristan and Alfred survive their tours of duty, but, soon after they return home, both men fall for Samuel's gorgeous fiancée, Susannah (Julia Ormond), and their intense rivalry begins to destroy the family.

  10. 10

    Rango (2011)

    Gore VerbinskiDP Roger DeakinsIMDb 7.3TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    Rango is a pet chameleon always on the lookout for action and adventure, except the fake kind, where he directs it and acts in it. After a car accident, he winds up in an old western town called Dirt. What this town needs the most is water, but they also need a hero and a sheriff. The thirsty Rango instantly takes on the role of both and selfishly agrees to take on the case of their missing water.

What native american films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a native american frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — rider is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • rider19.4×
  • saddle19.2×
  • neckerchief17.4×
  • cowboy hat15.5×
  • horse15.0×
  • revolver9.3×
  • beaded necklace9.1×
  • hat6.2×

How native american films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate native american from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 14%low anglevs 5% baseline
  • 31%widevs 20% baseline
  • 28%nightvs 43% baseline
  • 61%dayvs 42% baseline
  • 58%naturalvs 43% baseline

What breaks the pattern

The New World (2005) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,496 frames from 21 films carrying the native american label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/native-american

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used