30 movies that most effectively incorporate the desert landscape
by fletchers_paradox | created - 12 May 2012 | updated - 12 May 2012 | PublicDeserts are my favorite landscapes, and if desert films are a sub-genre, they're probably my favorite sub-genre. These aren't necessarily the movies I like most that happen to be set in the desert, but those which I feel utilize the landscape to the greatest effect as setting or character. Most of them are entirely or almost entirely set in the deserts. A few (Morvern Callar, Manon, Hope) are primarily set outside the desert but use the desert to such powerful effect it would feel wrong to leave them off. I don't have any Ford or Mann, not because I don't have great respect for their directorial skills, but because I feel that they use the landscape to create spacially impressive compositions rather than to explore the its atmospheric aspects (at least in regards to the desert), and it's the latter I'm trying to focus on in this list. Order is (very) rough.
It's important to note this is by no means an exhaustive list, as it's obviously limited not only by the number of spaces but also by the number films I've seen, and my woefully limited experience with the cinema of many desert-rich regions is a big drawback. Nevertheless I hope those who read this can take away some good recommendations and spread the desert love! Recommendations are, of course, much appreciated.
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1. Twentynine Palms (2003)
Unrated | 119 min | Drama, Horror
David, an American photographer, and his Russian girlfriend Katia are scouting locations for a photo shoot. During the day, they drive through some of the wildest, most bizarre desert landscapes, but their luck begins to run out.
Director: Bruno Dumont | Stars: Yekaterina Golubeva, David Wissak
Votes: 5,096 | Gross: $0.05M
2. Fata Morgana (1971)
Not Rated | 79 min | Documentary, Drama
Footage shot in and around the Sahara Desert, accompanied only by a spoken creation myth and the songs of Leonard Cohen.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Lotte Eisner, Wolfgang Büttner, Manfred Eigendorf, Eugen Des Montagnes
Votes: 4,090
3. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Thriller
An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Kôji Mitsui, Hiroko Itô
Votes: 22,717
4. Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
Passed | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Sent to a dude ranch in the west to recover her health, a New York actress falls in love with a ranch owner recently acquitted of the murder of his wife.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Richard Todd, Ruth Roman, Mercedes McCambridge, Zachary Scott
Votes: 1,444
5. Desert (1976)
11 min | Short
An experimental short by Stan Brakhage which captures the desert landscape from the view of his hotel room.
Director: Stan Brakhage
Votes: 262
6. The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Approved | 71 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two fishermen pick up a psychopathic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.
Director: Ida Lupino | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman, José Torvay
Votes: 10,529
7. Japan (2002)
R | 122 min | Drama
A painter from the big city goes to a remote canyon to commit suicide. To reach some calmness, he stays at the farmstead of Ascen, an old, religious woman. Although but a few words are spoken, love grows.
Director: Carlos Reygadas | Stars: Alejandro Ferretis, Magdalena Flores, Yolanda Villa, Martín Serrano
Votes: 3,993
8. Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
G | 99 min | Documentary
Film-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Scott Rowland, Stefan Pashov, Doug MacAyeal
Votes: 19,258 | Gross: $0.94M
9. Zabriskie Point (1970)
R | 113 min | Drama
At a time of chronic civil unrest in late 1960s America, a young idealist and an anthropology student cross paths at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, California. They start an unrestrained relationship by making love on the dusty terrain.
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni | Stars: Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin, Paul Fix, G.D. Spradlin
Votes: 17,153 | Gross: $1.05M
10. The Double Steps (2011)
86 min | Adventure, Drama
A conceptual reimagining of painter François Augiéras' life as he believed that the best way to escape without a trace is to walk backwards.
Director: Isaki Lacuesta | Stars: Bokar Dembele, Miquel Barceló, Alou Cisse, Hamadoun Kassogué
Votes: 179
11. Beau Travail (1999)
Unrated | 92 min | Drama, War
An ex-Foreign Legion officer recalls his once-glorious life of leading troops in Djibouti.
Director: Claire Denis | Stars: Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Richard Courcet
Votes: 14,585 | Gross: $0.25M
12. Gerry (2002)
R | 103 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A friendship between two young men is tested when they go for a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Casey Affleck, Matt Damon
Votes: 19,702 | Gross: $0.24M
13. Black God, White Devil (1964)
Not Rated | 120 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
After killing his employer when he tries to cheat him out of his payment, a man becomes an outlaw and starts following a self-proclaimed saint.
Director: Glauber Rocha | Stars: Geraldo Del Rey, Yoná Magalhães, Othon Bastos, Maurício do Valle
Votes: 5,358
14. Antonio das Mortes (1969)
100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In this sequel to "Black God, White Devil", Antonio das Mortes must return back to action after killing the last of the Cangaceiros 29 years ago, when a new outlaw appears, who will eventually reveal as an idealist and mark him profoundly.
Director: Glauber Rocha | Stars: Maurício do Valle, Odete Lara, Othon Bastos, Hugo Carvana
Votes: 2,281
15. Johnny Guitar (1954)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Western
After helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady
Votes: 19,752
16. A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (2009)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
The owner of a Chinese noodle shop's scheme to murder his adulterous wife and her lover goes awry.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Dahong Ni, Ni Yan, Shenyang Xiao, Honglei Sun
Votes: 3,471 | Gross: $0.19M
17. Duel in the Sun (1946)
Passed | 129 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Beautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
Directors: King Vidor, Otto Brower, William Dieterle, Sidney Franklin, William Cameron Menzies, David O. Selznick, Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 9,486 | Gross: $20.41M
18. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Approved | 218 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 314,486 | Gross: $44.82M
19. Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)
Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of dwarfs at a correctional facility erupt in anarchy.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Helmut Döring, Paul Glauer, Gisela Hertwig, Hertel Minkner
Votes: 6,293
20. Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
PG | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Ambitious but diminutive motorcycle cop John Wintergreen patrols the Arizona highways, yearning for promotion to Homicide Detective, while investigating a murder tied to hippies.
Director: James William Guercio | Stars: Robert Blake, Billy Green Bush, Mitchell Ryan, Jeannine Riley
Votes: 6,427 | Gross: $1.60M
21. There Will Be Blood (2007)
R | 158 min | Drama
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds, Martin Stringer
Votes: 641,381 | Gross: $40.22M
22. Lessons of Darkness (1992 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 54 min | Documentary, War
This film surveys the disaster of the Kuwaiti oil fields in flames, with little narration and scarcely any interviews. Hell on Earth is presented in such transcendent visions and music that one can only be fascinated by it.
Director: Werner Herzog | Star: Werner Herzog
Votes: 6,752
23. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Not Rated | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew. Pasolini shows Christ as a Marxist avant-la-lettre and therefore uses half of the text of Matthew.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini, Marcello Morante
Votes: 13,717
24. The Wages of Fear (1953)
Not Rated | 131 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli
Votes: 66,594
25. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,460 | Gross: $5.01M
26. Morvern Callar (2002)
R | 97 min | Drama
After her beloved boyfriend's suicide, a mourning supermarket worker and her best friend hit the road in Scotland, but find that grief is something that you can't run away from forever.
Director: Lynne Ramsay | Stars: Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott, Linda McGuire, Paul Popplewell
Votes: 11,049 | Gross: $0.27M
27. Manon (1949)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
A classic tale about bitter relationships between a frivolous girl and a soldier is adapted for the post-World War II time.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Serge Reggiani, Michel Auclair, Cécile Aubry, Andrex
Votes: 1,176
28. Ace in the Hole (1951)
Approved | 111 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall
Votes: 39,128 | Gross: $3.97M
29. Fando and Lis (1968)
Not Rated | 93 min | Adventure, Fantasy
Fando and his partially-paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Tamara Garina, Sergio Kleiner, Diana Mariscal, María Teresa Rivas
Votes: 6,366
30. Hope (1970)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama
When one of his horses is killed by an automobile, and when it is clear that neither justice nor charity will prevail, the man begins a slow slide into despair. On the advice of a local ... See full summary »
Director: Yilmaz Güney | Stars: Yilmaz Güney, Gülsen Alniaçik, Tuncel Kurtiz, Osman Alyanak
Votes: 4,324
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