Walsh’s powerful, very dark and Freudian film noir/western hybrid—a favorite of Martin Scorsese—stars Robert Mitchum as Jeb, the only survivor of a brutal massacre that wiped out the rest of his family when he was a young boy. Adopted into another family (led by chilly matriarch Judith Anderson) where he comes to fall in love with his foster sister (Teresa Wright), the now-adult Jeb still yearns to untangle the messy, suppressed memories of his childhood trauma, and of the mysterious one-armed man who has haunted and tormented him throughout his life. Told in elaborate flashback, with frequent mindscreens and other expressionistic touches, Pursued opened up new paths for the western genre and remains one of Walsh’s paramount achievements. 35mm preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funded by The Film Foundation and the AFI/NEA Film Preservation Grants Program.

“The greatest western ever.”—Pierre Rissient

Images courtesy of WARNER BROS / THE KOBAL COLLECTION