Tom Selleck is best known for a few roles: as Thomas Magnum in Magnum, P.I., which ran from 1980 to 1988, and as Commissioner Frank Reagan in Blue Bloods, which ran from 2010 to 2024. Selleck also had several memorable recurring roles, such as when he played Dr. Richard Burke in Friends and Lance White on The Rockford Files. In all of his roles, Selleck has experience playing an authority figure who is ready to take charge regardless of the rules.
Selleck’s experience in a position of authority extends to his role on the silver screen. Even with his many roles on television, Selleck was also known for his roles in six Westerns. Each of them was released between 1979 and 2003 to varying levels of success, but they were central to Selleck’s career and established him as a leading actor in Westerns.
The Shadow Riders Put Cowboys Into the Civil War
Selleck Must Rescue His Relatives From Confederates
The Shadow Riders is ranked a 6.6 out of 10 on IMDB
Directed by Sam McLaglen and released in 1982, The Shadow Riders combines Westerns, Civil War movies and the theme of indestructible familial bonds. Selleck stars alongside Sam Elliot as a pair of brothers who have to rescue their relatives, who were kidnapped by a band of Confederates. The plot of The Shadow Riders is based on the novel of the same name by Louis L’Amour, and was published in 1981.
Viewers found The Shadow Riders to be a standard film. Selleck, Elliot, and their costars provide respectable performances, but no character arc or performances stand out. Audiences did not find anything striking about the cinematography, either. For many, The Shadow Riders was a perfect way to pass the time but did not contain any deep material worth analyzing. Though it was considered an average film, The Shadow Riders was still memorable as a film in Selleck’s overall repertoire.
Last Stand at Saber River Pits One Man Against Many
Selleck Stands For His Land
Directed by Dick Lowry, Last Stand at Saber River finds Selleck playing as Paul Cable, a returning Confederate soldier who returns home to Arizona only to find his land taken over by Union squatters. With Paul’s land in ruins and his wife, Martha, bitter about Paul’s long absence in the Civil War, Paul faces an uphill battle to fix his homestead. Together, however, the Cable family works to fix their homestead and fix their familial ties.
Viewers enjoyed that the theme of family was so prominent in Last Stand at Saber River. They also enjoyed that the feuds comprising the plot were nuanced rather than black-and-white and that Selleck as Paul encourages individualism at its highest. Paul proves himself to be a father who doubles down on his beliefs and will do anything to ensure his family’s safety. Last Stand at Saber River won a Western Heritage Award in 1998.
Quigley Down Under Brings Selleck Down Under
Selleck Must Solve Australians’ Problems
Quigley Down Under is rated a 6.9 out of 10 on IMDB
Directed by Simon Wincer, Quigley Down Under is the only one of Selleck’s Westerns to take place in Australia. Selleck, who plays Matthew Quigley, stars alongside and against Alan Rickman, who plays Matthew’s sworn enemy, Elliott Marston. At the forefront of Quigley Down Under is a very surface-level lesson about good and evil; unexpectedly, lessons about genocide and the complexities of love are also layered into the film’s plot.
The complexity of Quigley Down Under is part of why audiences enjoyed it so much. Many viewers cite Selleck’s wide variety of skill usage (most notably his sharpshooting) as one of their favorite parts of the film, portraying him as a versatile cowboy who is skillful and morally sound. A surprise to Quigley Down Under’s success was the audience’s love of Rickman’s performance. Quigley Down Under, in fact, won Alan Rickman the British Actor of the Year Award at the London Circle Critics’ Awards in 1992; the film itself won the Golden Reel Award in 1991.
Monte Walsh Proves Age Isn’t Everything
Selleck May Be Older, But He Can Still Cowboy
Monte Walsh is rated a 7.1 out of 10 on IMDB
Directed by Simon Wincer, Monte Walsh is a remake of the 1970 film of the same name, which starred Lee Marvin and Jack Palance. Selleck plays Monte Walsh, the aging cowboy. Monte Walsh is both a lesson in defying ageism in the West and an example (if not a somewhat romanticized one) of how larger corporations at the time were slowly beginning to take over smaller businesses. Tucked within those lessons is also one of pondering the future, as audiences see Monte ponder his life’s direction now that everything he knows has changed.
Monte Walsh’s existentialism is part of what audiences enjoyed about the film — rather than being a straightforward shoot-out film with the main conflict of good versus evil. There are thoughts of navigating the future when ideal visions don’t work out. Audiences also felt that Wincer’s version of Monte Walsh was superior to director William Fraker’s 1970 version. Given Wincer’s remak won the Western Heritage Award in 2004, audiences have a fair point.
Crossfire Trail Puts Selleck In Literal Crossfire
A Favor For A Friend Gets Deadly
Crossfire Trail is rated a 7.1 out of 10 on IMDB
Directed by Simon Wincer, Crossfire Trail is based on the novel of the same name, which was written in 1954 by Louis L’Amour. Selleck plays Rafe Covington, a cowboy out to fulfill the wishes of his dying friend. Crossfire Trail features all the elements of a classic Western: a cowboy on a mission, a shootout with clearly evil villains, and a paramour for the main character. With Crossfire Trail, it is Ann Rodney, who is played by Virginia Madsen.
Crossfire Trail was a book-to-film adaptation audiences felt succeeded. They enjoyed how the plot characterized the film’s characters. An example of this is when Bruce Barkow is clearly characterized as the antagonist when he bribes the town marshal to charge Rafe with sexual assault, or when he forces Ann to go through a marriage ceremony with him in front of the entire town. Other viewers enjoyed the technical elements of the film, such as the cinematography. Both elements likely contributed to Crossfire Trail receiving a Western Heritage Award in 2004.
The Sacketts Show The Power of Brotherhood
Strength Lies in Familial Ties
The Sacketts is rated a 7.6 out of 10 on IMDB
Directed by Robert Totten, The Sacketts was based on two novels by Louis L’Amour: “The Daybreakers” and “Sackett”. The Sacketts was released in two parts rather than one and aired on NBC on May 16 and 17, 1979. As The Sacketts follow the three brothers (Tell, Orrin, and Tyrel Sackett), the miniseries emphasizes the importance and power brotherhood can provide. The Sacketts also emphasize the importance of maintaining morality, especially in the West where nothing is defined.
Though audiences enjoyed the casting of the Sackett brothers, they felt that what made The Sacketts were the supporting cast members. Longtime Western actors such as Glenn Ford, Gene Evans, Slim Pickens and Ben Johnson all star in The Sacketts and contribute memorable performances to the miniseries. Audiences were also keen to give The Sacketts accolades for their attention to detail throughout the miniseries, such as ensuring appearance continuity and proper horse care. The star-packed miniseries and care taken for the minutiae of Western life make a strong case why The Sacketts was Tom Selleck’s best western role.
