9 Years Ago, Kurt Russell Starred In Two Of The Best Modern Westerns & They Released Just 2 Months Apart

By Faith Roswell

Published Sep 24, 2024

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Custom image by Milica Djordjevic

The success of modern Western movies like Western movies had a dip in popularity. However, they've not disappeared entirely, as several Hollywood actors and filmmakers have found great success in exploring the Wild Wild West on the big screen. Among the many contemporary actors to deliver quality Westerns in recent years is Kurt Russell.

With a history in the genre that goes back to his days as a child actor, Kurt Russell has been starring in Westerns for decades. A year when he was especially busy with his work in the genre was 2015; not only was Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, he plays a bounty hunter and shelters from a blizzard with other criminals.

Kurt Russell Starred In Bone Tomahawk & The Hateful Eight In 2015

Bone Tomahawk Features One Of The Most Disturbing Deaths In A Western

Kurt Russell as Sheriff Franklin inspecting a fire poker in Bone Tomahawk

Unlike most Westerns, which usually contain at least one heroic character, The Hateful Eight has no real heroes, as the eight people in the cabin are killers and criminals. Russell plays John Ruth, the fur coat-wearing bounty hunter who trusts nobody and interrogates everybody. However, Russell's character in Bone Tomahawk is the archetypical good guy seen in many classic Westerns: Russell plays Sherriff Franklin Hunt, who is determined to protect as many people as possible, even while in mortal danger himself. Hunt's heroism makes Bone Tomahawk's goriest death even more disturbing, as the audience sees it through Hunt's eyes.

One disturbing death in Bone Tomahawk is notoriously hard to watch, and unusually gory for a Western movie which, while rarely shying away from blood and violence, does not generally venture into the horror genre. Hunt's search party finds the kidnap victims they were looking for, but are taken prisoner themselves, with deputy Nick being scalped and dismembered while alive, as the camera remains on Nick and the bloodiest parts throughout. Nick's horrific death scene is not only memorable in its own right, but gives another interesting dimension to Bone Tomahawk, making it both a Western and a horror.

Bone Tomahawk vs. The Hateful Eight: Which Is Better (& Which Did Better)

The Hateful Eight Was Originally Going To Feature A Classic Western Trope

Bone Tomahawk attracted a high Rotten Tomatoes score, box office success, and a shoutout from horror writer Stephen King, who praised Bone Tomahawk for the dialogue. Bone Tomahawk is considered a slow burn, but Russell is given a chance to show audiences who his character is in both domestic and dangerous settings. The Hateful Eight did not do as well at the box office, however, the performances of the cast, which also includes Tim Roth and Samuel L. Jackson, were praised as The Hateful Eight added a 'whodunnit' aspect to the Western genre.

Bone Tomahawk vs The Hateful Eight
Title	Budget	Box Office	Rotten Tomatoes critic score	Rotten Tomatoes Audience score
Bone Tomahawk	$1.8 million	$475,846 million	91%	74%
The Hateful Eight	$44 - 62 million	$156.5 million	75%	77%

Bone Tomahawk and The Hateful Eight stand out from other Westerns as they include elements of other genres. Bone Tomahawk gradually increases the horror throughout the movie, while The Hateful Eight, which began with a typical Western trope of criminals being sent to be executed, continues as a mystery, complete with a fake letter and poisoned coffee. The Hateful Eight's ending saw characters double-crossing each other, Daisy being hanged, and Mannix and Warren dying as friends, but, Tarantino's original ending featured a Western trope: a shootout, with every character killing someone, leaving Warren as the only character left alive.

Kurt Russell Has A Long History With The Western Genre

Tombstone Is Often Considered Russell's Most Popular Western, But That Depends On Who Is Rating It

Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp looking on in Tombstone

Kurt Russell's second-ever movie role was in the 1964 Western Guns of Diablo. From then, he played a variety of characters, who often behave as though they are in a Western, like Escape From New York's Snake Plissken. Though Russell has appeared in relatively few Westerns when taking the many roles in his long movie career into , the Western movies featuring Russell have been very well-received. His 1993 movie, Tombstone, features what is arguably one of Russell's best roles, in which Russell plays legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, as well as producing and ghost-directing the movie.

Kurt Russell's first movie role was in It Happened At The World's Fair, in which he kicked Elvis Presley. Later, he voiced Presley in Forrest Gump.

The Wyatt Earp biopic Tombstone was seen as a career-defining movie for Russell, and was especially praised for the action and dialogue. Russell himself praised Tombstone, telling GQ, "It’s being considered one of the greatest Westerns ever made, so I’m happy about that... I can’t say that, but I like hearing that." Though Tombstone's Rotten Tomatoes rating is a lower-than-expected 73%, its audience rating is 93%. Interestingly, Tombstone's rating is almost exactly the reverse of Bone Tomahawk's rating, with critics giving Bone Tomahawk 91% and audiences giving it 74%. Tombstone might be Russell's greatest Western, but by the numbers, Bone Tomahawk is just one point behind.