WEIRD FRONTIER: Unusual westerns

As supernatural-themed western series Wynonna Earp continues (9pm, Spike), we take a look at some of the stranger westerns to have graced the big and small screens…

There’s a Jules Verne feel to 1960s show The Wild Wild West – which inspired the disastrous 1999 film of the same name. Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) and James T. West (Robert Conrad) (1) are the secret agents protecting 19th-century President Ulysses S. Grant with a range of high-tech gadgets not usually found in the Old West. Self-explanatory schlock-horrors Billy The Kid v Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (both from 1966) are pure hokum, as is 1969 cowboys v dinosaurs tale The Valley Of Gwangi, despite the latter boasting effects by stop-motion genius Ray Harryhausen. Here, rodeo queen Gila Golan puts Gwangi, an enormous tyrannosaur (2), on display, King Kong-style. Big mistake. The mysterious stranger was Clint Eastwood’s stock in trade in front of the camera, and it’s a theme that runs through 1973 supernatural western High Plains Drifter, only his second major film as director. Clint also stars, as the avenging angel seeking out the killers of a federal marshal. Jon Favreau (Iron Man) brings his skills in the fantasy field to play in 2011 sci-fi western Cowboys & Aliens, which was based on a graphic novel of the same name. Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde (3) are the Wild West trio caught up in an epic game of space invaders in 19th-century New Mexico.