Scenic Wonders of America: American West

Jan 1, 1991

1h 1m

★ 0.0

Overview

Start where America's mighty Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico... voyage upriver and wonder at the majesty of the Great Lakes... then head west to take in some of our country's most incredible scenic highlights.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

International Video Network

Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

Scenic Wonders of America: American West Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Peter Donat

Told in the cinematic tradition of classic westerns, “COWBOYS - A Documentary Portrait” is a feature-length film that gives viewers the opportunity to ride alongside modern working cowboys on some of America's largest and most remote cattle ranches. The movie documents the lives of the men and women working on these "big outfit" ranches - some of which are over one million acres - and still require full crews of horseback mounted workers to tend large herds of cattle. Narrated through first-hand accounts from the cowboys themselves, the story is steeped in authenticity and explores the rewards and hardships of a celebrated but misunderstood way of life, including the challenges that lie ahead for the cowboys critical to providing the world's supply of beef. “COWBOYS” was filmed on eight of the nation’s largest cattle ranches across ten states in the American West.

6.0

Killing the Colorado

Aug 4, 2016

The drought in the American West is predicted to be the worst in 1,000 years. Join five Academy Award-winning filmmakers as they explore the environmental crisis of our time and how to fix it before it's too late.

0.0

Motorcycle Moment

Feb 21, 2025

In 1964, Les Blank filmed 45 minutes of motorcycles for a documentary film that was never completed. Before his death in 2013, he asked his son Harrod Blank to cut the footage to the music of The 13th Floor Elevators. Edited by Ben Abrams, this film captures the vastness of the American West at a time when the motorcycle was the ultimate in highway adventure.

7.8

Black Far West

Oct 15, 2022

Did you know that the first cowboys were black? Using magnificent archives and testimonies from historians, Cécile Denjean restores justice to African-Americans in the story of the conquest of the West.

7.0

Reel Injun

Feb 19, 2010

The evolution of the depiction of the various Native American peoples in cinema, from the silent era to the present day: how their image on the screen has changed the way to understand their history and culture.

0.0

Poison in the Rockies

Jan 9, 1990

Acid rain, economic development, and a century of mining pollute Rocky Mountain waters.

0.0

Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature

Jun 24, 1997

Documentary on water usage, money, politics, the transformation of nature, and the growth of the American west, shown on PBS as a four-part miniseries.

0.0

Ancient Sunshine

Oct 1, 2019

A reflection on anarchism and labor, ANCIENT SUNSHINE marks a path through the struggles of climate activism and coal extractions in the American West.

8.0

La grande prairie, le pacte du bison

Oct 24, 2025

No overview available.

6.0

The Sky on Location

Sep 15, 1983

A personal meditation on the landscape of the American West that tracks the ruling conception in nature in the 19th and 20th centuries from the pioneers through the instamatic tourists, at the same time that it obsessively follows the four seasons. The elemental vicissitudes of the weather, the exact moment of the day, the colour of the light and the soil and the trees form an acute visual record of the constantly changing mood of the landscape. The film successfully attempts, with quiet, passionate, almost single-minded firmness, to confront us as nakedly as possible with our cultural inability to see nature whole, without preconceptions.

0.0

Sanderson to Brackettville

Apr 9, 2018

Inspired by films like Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas and David Byrne's True Stories, photographer Jason Lee set out to document residual American landscapes across Texas in early 2017 with large format color films for his recently released book A PLAIN VIEW. This short documentary follows Jason on the road during a four-day stretch in West Texas.

7.6

The Big Country

Sep 30, 1958

Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between his future father-in-law, Major Terrill, and the rough and lawless Hannasseys over a valuable patch of land.

5.7

Thunder at the Border

Dec 13, 1966

Firehand and his Apache friend Winnetou are determined to get justice for the murder of four young braves. They set off to track down the gang responsible for the horrendous act.

7.2

The Man from Laramie

Aug 19, 1955

Will Lockhart arrives in Coronado, an isolated town in New Mexico, in search of someone who sells rifles to the Apache tribe, finding himself unwillingly drawn into the convoluted life of a local ranching family whose members seem to have a lot to hide.

6.7

Wagon Master

Apr 22, 1950

Two young horse traders guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter rugged terrain, the cutthroat Clegg gang, hospitable Navajo, and moral challenges on the journey.

4.1

Billy the Kid Versus Dracula

Apr 10, 1966

Dracula travels to the American West, intent on making a beautiful ranch owner his next victim. Her fiance, outlaw Billy the Kid, finds out about it and rushes to save her.

5.9

Butcher's Crossing

Feb 3, 2023

In the 1870s, a young Harvard dropout seeks his destiny out West by tying his fate to a team of buffalo hunters led by a man named Miller. Together, they embark on a harrowing journey risking life and sanity.

0.0

Eastern Western

Dec 5, 2025

This beautifully understated Western is the story of a son raised by two fathers, one from the European East and one from the American West. On the cusp of the 20th century, somewhere on the American frontier, Igor, an immigrant and recent widower, struggles to raise his two-year-old son Ivo on his own. When his American friend and mentor Duncan decides to move his horse-breeding business and young family to California, Igor and Ivo join the wagon train headed West.

6.3

R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned

Nov 15, 2022

When Sheriff Roy Pulsipher finds himself in the afterlife, he joins a special police force and returns to Earth to save humanity from the undead.

6.8

Deputy Droopy

Oct 28, 1955

Two outlaws are trying to steal a shipment of gold being guarded by Deputy Droopy, and have to keep quiet to avoid alerting the sheriff.

Scenic Wonders of America: American West

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Scenic Wonders of America: American West Trailers