post-Civil War American West

Ford's iconic Westerns like 'The Searchers' and 'My Darling Clementine' profoundly explore post-Civil War tensions, manifest destiny, and the moral complexities of westward expansion.

Leone's spaghetti Westerns, particularly 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,' reframe the post-Civil War West as a lawless frontier of moral ambiguity and mythic confrontation.