Did you know that the movie High Noon was based on the short story, “The Tin Star”? Did you know that the TV show The Virginian was based on a book that literary experts consider to be the very first Western novel? Did you know that LONESOME DOVE is the second book in a series by Larry McMurtry?
Take the opportunity to read the books that your favorite western shows and films were based on. Who knows what neat insights you’ll gain?
Here is a list of Western books that movies and TV shows were based upon that we have in the TBP collection.
TELEVISION SHOWS
Gunsmoke
DAY OF THE GUNFIGHTER by Joseph A. West (BRC 01270)
Justified
Raylan Givens Series by Elmore Leonard
1. PRONTO (DB 37320, BR 21514)
2. RIDING THE RAP (DB 75230, BR 10359)
3. WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE: STORIES (DB 55963, BR 14648)
4. RAYLAN (DB 74284, BR 19487)
Virginian
VIRGINIAN: A HORSEMAN OF THE PLAINS by Owen Wister (DB 36421, BR 16196, LB 00331)
FILMS
Best of the West Series by Bill Pronzini
1. BEST OF THE WEST: STORIES THAT INSPIRED CLASSIC WESTERN FILMS (DB 55165)
2. BEST OF THE WEST II: STORIES THAT INSPIRED CLASSIC WESTERN FILMS (DB 47923)
3. BEST OF THE WEST III: MORE STORIES THAT INSPIRED CLASSIC WESTERN FILMS (DB 48644)
All the Pretty Horses
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES: THE BORDER TRILOGY, VOLUME I by Cormac McCarthy (DB 34043)
Assassination of Jesse James
ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD, ROBERT FORD by Ron Hansen (DBC 16651, BR 05670)
Big Country
BIG COUNTRY by Don Hamilton (DB 57773)
Dances with Wolves
DANCES WITH WOLVES by Michael Blake (DB 32009)
High Noon
CENTURY OF GREAT WESTERN STORIES includes the short story “The Tin Star” by John W. Cunningham (DB 51381, LB 07487)
Little Big Man
LITTLE BIG MAN by Thomas Berger (DB 32463)
Lonesome Dove
LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry (DB 22959, BR 13696)
MacKenna’s Gold
MACKENNA’S GOLD by Will Henry (DB 34699)
Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE AND A MAN CALLED HORSE, LOST SISTER, THE HANGING TREE by Dorothy M. Johnson (DB 64881)
Missing
LAST RIDE by Tom Eidson (DB 40965, LB 04746)
Open Range
OPEN RANGE MEN by Lauran Paine (DB 32457)
Outlaw Josey Wales
JOSEY WALES: TWO WESTERNS, GONE TO TEXAS AND THE VENGEANCE TRAIL OF JOSEY WALES by Forrest Carter (DB 56451)
Ox-Bow Incident
OX-BOW INCIDENT by Walter Van Tilburg Clark (DB 52564, BR 13679)
Searchers
SEARCHERS by Alan Le May (DB 69294, BRC 00476)
SEARCHERS: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN LEGEND by Glenn Frankel (DB 76467)
Shane
SHANE by Jack Schaefer (DB 60163, BR 13561)
Shootist
SHOOTIST by Glendon Swarthout (DB 55309, LB 05175)
Stagecoach
CENTURY OF GREAT WESTERN STORIES includes the short story “The Stage to Lordsburg” by Ernest Haycox (DB 51381, LB 07487)
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE by B. Traven (DB 45216, LB 01289)
True Grit
TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis (DB 44219, BR 19212, LB 06837)
