The Lonesome Dove Cinema Club
The Best of Western Films from Around the World
Dust off your boots pilgrims.
Every two months, The Lonesome Dove Cinema Club transforms Belfast into the Wild West. From the haunting landscapes of The Great Silence to the nihilistic justice of Unforgiven, we explore the rugged frontier of film. Whether it’s a cult classic like Black God, White Devil or a legendary tale like The Return of Frank James, we are dedicated to one thing: celebrating the cinematic power of the Western.
Blazing Saddles (1974)
"The West was never this funny—or this unhinged."
Join the Lonesome Dove in this special Christmas (ish) screening of Mel Brooks's 1974 comic classic Blazing Saddles. Westerns can be serious affairs, so thank goodness for Brooks, who skewers all the sacred cows including racism, violence, misogyny, corruption and baked beans. All delivered with gusto by a brilliant cast led by Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder and the inimitable Madeline Kahn.
Rock Ridge, 1874. Determined to run a new railroad through the dusty American frontier town, conniving land speculator Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) has the nerve to uproot its peaceful inhabitants. With law and order being the last thing the ruthless land-grabber wants, Lamarr convinces debauched Governor William J. Le Petomane to do something dangerously unprecedented.
As a result, hoping for disorder and a hasty exodus, they appoint an unsuspecting nobody named Bart (Cleavon Little) as the community’s first sheriff. But there’s no such thing as a foolproof plan. And when Sheriff Bart signs up the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), a washed-up gunslinger with an obscure past, as his deputy and right-hand man, change is afoot. Now, for the first time in a long while, the townspeople can make a stand.
However, can they foil Hedley’s ludicrous money-making scheme?
Join us for a christmas show and laugh along with the Lonesome Dove.
Directed by Mel Brooks, 1974, USA, 93 Minutes.
Screening at the Beanbag Cinema.
Lonesome Dove Screenings
The Lonesome Dove comes around about every two months, if the creek don't rise. At the moment we're screening at the Beanbag Cinema, deep in the heart of Belfast.
The Searchers (1956)
Presented in partnership with Queen's Film Theatre
“So we'll find 'em in the end, I promise you. We'll find 'em. Just as sure as the turnin' of the earth.”
Western legends John Wayne and John Ford join forces to tell an indelible story of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Restored in 4K and screening for its 70th anniversary.
Ethan Edwards (Wayne) returns home to Texas after the Civil War to find that members of his brother's family have been killed and his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood) has been abducted by Comanches. Vowing to track her down, Edwards, along with Debbie's adopted brother Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), embarks on a dangerous mission to find her, journeying deep into Comanche territory.
A towering work of Hollywood mythmaking, director Ford’s masterpiece represents both the apex of the classical Hollywood western and the blueprint for the troubling moral complexity of the genre revisionism that would follow it.
This screening will be introduced by Des O'Rawe, a reader in Film Studies at Queen's University, Belfast.
119 minutes
Screening 2.45pm, 20th September 2026 at QFT
The Lonesome Dove Cinema Club
The Lonesome Dove CInema Club is dedicated to the screeing of the finest westerns, and also to building a community of western lovers. Founded by Hugh Odling-Smee, the club is always looking for new members for the lonesome trail.
Contact The Lonesome Dove
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