The Bank Robbery (1908)
Channel: Leon Baradat
Date: 19/03/2012

An early silent film, made before intertites became common (which is why very early silent films are narrated, at best).  This was filmed in 1907 but released in 1908.  It's remarkable for several things.  It is one of the first western movies ever made that had any sort of plot (though not the first, as the narrator suggests), and includes possibly the first shootout ever filmed.  It stars real lawmen and real (reformed) bank robbers playing their respective roles.  It also includes appearances by Quanah Parker, a Comanche chief who fought the whites bitterly, but recognized when they could hold out no longer and made a complete switch to mainstream American life, helping lead his tribe through the early years of reservation life.  He died in 1911, only 4 years after this was made.