Sedona was a working film set long before it was a hiking destination. Between 1923, when Zane Grey’s The Call of the Canyon became the first feature shot here, and the early 1970s, the Sedona Heritage Museum counts more than 60 Hollywood productions filmed among these red rocks. Most of them were Westerns. Hollywood built an entire frontier town below Coffee Pot Rock, John Wayne had a lodge built so his crews wouldn’t have to commute from Flagstaff, and for about 25 years the sound of gunfire echoing off the buttes usually meant a director had just called action.
That history is why we built two guide pages that this post feeds into: Western movies made in Sedona, which covers the full filmography, and Sedona film locations you can visit, which maps the specific spots. Read this post first, watch the movies, then use those two pages to plan the driving.
Here’s the idea. The house has a media lounge, and a Sedona trip runs best when the evenings have a plan too. Watch one of these seven films each night, then go stand where it was shot the next day. The buttes haven’t moved. In several cases you can frame the exact shot from the film with your phone, 70-plus years later.
How this list was built
Every film below is a verified Sedona shoot — confirmed through IMDb filming-location records, the American Film Institute’s catalog, and Sedona historical sources, not just local legend. Plenty of Westerns get loosely attributed to Sedona because the scenery looks similar; these seven actually rolled cameras here, and for each one I’ve noted what specific scenery to watch for.
The list runs in chronological order, 1947 to 1968, which works as a seven-night watch order too — you’ll see the town of Sedona grow in the backgrounds as the years pass. On streaming: these titles rotate between services and classic-movie channels constantly, so I won’t tell you where each one lives this month. Check current streaming listings, and know that all seven are available as digital rentals if nothing else pans out.
1. Angel and the Badman (1947)
John Wayne plays a wounded gunslinger nursed back to health by a Quaker family, and slowly talked out of the pistol by Gail Russell. It was the first film Wayne produced himself, and he chose Sedona for it — the production built the Western street set below Coffee Pot Rock that dozens of later films would reuse, and Wayne had the Sedona Lodge built so cast and crew could stay in town instead of shuttling from Flagstaff.
What to spot: Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock sit behind the Quaker ranch scenes, shot in the area then called Little Horse Park. The first kiss between Wayne and Russell was filmed at Merry-Go-Round Rock, up Schnebly Hill Road. The opening horse chase is Monument Valley, not Sedona — everything on the farm is local.
Where to watch: this one fell into the public domain, so free copies are everywhere and easy to find; restored versions rent digitally. The next day, drive the Red Rock Scenic Byway past Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte and you’re looking at the ranch backdrop.
2. Broken Arrow (1950)
James Stewart plays Tom Jeffords, the Army scout who rode alone into Cochise’s stronghold to negotiate peace, with Jeff Chandler earning an Oscar nomination as Cochise. It was one of the first major Hollywood Westerns to treat Apache characters as full human beings rather than targets, and the AFI later shortlisted it for its 10 Top 10 Westerns ballot. Shooting ran through the summer of 1949 around Sedona and Flagstaff, with studio sets kept to a minimum.
What to spot: Oak Creek Canyon does heavy lifting as the Apache stronghold, and Cathedral Rock shows up in the riding scenes. When Stewart splashes across a creek with red spires behind him, that’s the Sedona you can still walk into today.
Where to watch: it cycles through classic-movie channels and streaming services — check current listings. Follow it up with the Oak Creek Canyon drive; the canyon walls in the film are the same ones over your windshield.
3. Johnny Guitar (1954)
The strangest and most argued-about film on this list. Joan Crawford plays Vienna, a saloon owner facing down a lynch mob led by Mercedes McCambridge, while Sterling Hayden’s guitar-slinging drifter watches from the edges. Nicholas Ray directed it in blazing Trucolor, French critics adored it, and in 2008 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry. The production spent 44 days shooting around Sedona in the fall of 1953 — Republic Pictures built Vienna’s saloon set against the red cliffs near where the Chapel of the Holy Cross now stands.
What to spot: the cliffs behind the saloon, Oak Creek Canyon in the riding sequences, and the waterfall hiding the gang’s hideout — which was actually an irrigation tunnel running from Oak Creek, with a fire hose rigged above it to make the falls.
Where to watch: it rotates through streaming services and shows up on classic-movie channels regularly; digital rental is the reliable fallback. Next day, visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross — the ground it stands on was Johnny Guitar country first.
4. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
The best pure Western on this list. Van Heflin plays a broke rancher who takes the job of escorting Glenn Ford’s charming outlaw to the train, and most of the film is the two of them talking in a hotel room while the clock runs out. It’s based on an Elmore Leonard short story and directed by Delmer Daves, who had shot Broken Arrow here seven years earlier. The crew spent two days filming in Sedona at the old Western town set — and they were the last production to use it. The set came down after this film, as housing was already spreading across the flats where Hollywood used to stage gunfights.
What to spot: the town scenes shot beneath Coffee Pot Rock, with red rock skyline behind the frontier storefronts. The train station scenes are Old Tucson, not Sedona.
Where to watch: check current streaming services, and make sure you queue the 1957 version — the 2007 remake with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale is a good film, but it was shot in New Mexico, not here.
5. The Rounders (1965)
A comedy, and a good one. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda play two aging, permanently broke cowboys who spend the film getting outsmarted by a stubborn roan horse and dreaming about spending a winter somewhere warm. Burt Kennedy directed it from the Max Evans novel, and the whole thing is loose, funny, and unhurried in a way modern Westerns never are. The production spent about a month in the area, starting with the bronc-riding scenes shot in Big Park — the flat that’s now the Village of Oak Creek.
What to spot: Big Park before the rooftops, and the moonshine farm set the crew built at Red Rock Crossing, with Cathedral Rock standing over Oak Creek behind it. That view — Cathedral Rock reflected in the creek — is the most photographed scene in Sedona today, and this film caught it before the crowds.
Where to watch: this is the hardest title on the list to find streaming; check current listings, but expect to rent it digitally. Pair it with the Cathedral Rock guide and see the moonshine-farm backdrop in person at Crescent Moon Picnic Site.
6. Firecreek (1968)
James Stewart and Henry Fonda, on opposite sides this time. Stewart is the two-dollar-a-month farmer sheriff of a nothing town; Fonda is the leader of the hired guns who ride in and start pulling it apart. It’s a dark, slow-burn Western that plays like a rebuttal to every heroic sheriff Stewart ever played, released the same year Fonda went full villain in Once Upon a Time in the West. The Sedona portion shot in December 1966, before the company moved back to California sets.
What to spot: the opening sequence — Fonda’s gang riding at full gallop across Airport Mesa, with the camera truck pacing them beside the runway. Scenes were also shot along Schnebly Hill and at the Cross Creek Ranch area. The town itself is a California backlot, so Sedona’s contribution is the wide-open riding country.
Where to watch: check current streaming services; it’s usually available as a digital rental. Next morning, hike the Airport Mesa loop and you’re walking the gang’s gallop line, with a 360-degree view of the red rocks thrown in.
7. Stay Away Joe (1968)
Yes, an Elvis Presley picture. Elvis plays Joe Lightcloud, a rodeo bull rider who comes home to his family’s Arizona ranch and causes chaos involving a government cattle program and one very unlucky bull. The comedy has aged badly in places — it’s a broad 1968 farce built on Native American stereotypes, and it plays that way now. But as a Sedona time capsule it’s hard to beat: the production filmed in and around town from October to November 1967, and cinematographer Fred Koenekamp shot the red rocks in bright, postcard color.
What to spot: Elvis sings “Dominic” at Merry-Go-Round Rock on Schnebly Hill Road — the same formation where John Wayne got his kiss 21 years earlier. Scenes were also shot at the Bradshaw Ranch and at the First National Bank building in Uptown Sedona, which still stands today as a T-shirt shop.
Where to watch: it surfaces wherever Elvis filmographies are streaming; check current listings. Then drive Schnebly Hill Road to Merry-Go-Round Rock — the first stretch is rough, so read that guide before taking a rental car up it.
Match each movie night to the next day
Here’s the full pairing, watch order and driving order in one table.
| Night | Film | Next-day stop |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angel and the Badman (1947) | Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte, Red Rock Scenic Byway |
| 2 | Broken Arrow (1950) | Oak Creek Canyon drive |
| 3 | Johnny Guitar (1954) | Chapel of the Holy Cross area |
| 4 | 3:10 to Yuma (1957) | Coffee Pot Rock, viewed from West Sedona |
| 5 | The Rounders (1965) | Red Rock Crossing / Crescent Moon Picnic Site |
| 6 | Firecreek (1968) | Airport Mesa loop trail |
| 7 | Stay Away Joe (1968) | Merry-Go-Round Rock, Schnebly Hill Road |
None of these stops is more than about 30 minutes from West Sedona, and several are under 15. That’s the whole appeal: this isn’t a film-locations pilgrimage across three states. It’s one small town where the entire list happened.
What’s actually left to see
Be straight about expectations: the sets are gone. The Western town below Coffee Pot Rock came down after 3:10 to Yuma wrapped in 1957, and houses stand there now. What survives is better than plywood storefronts, though — the scenery, which was always the reason Hollywood kept coming back. Coffee Pot Rock, Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Butte, Merry-Go-Round Rock, and Oak Creek Canyon all look in person the way they look on screen.
One built artifact did survive: the telegraph office from Angel and the Badman, which was moved from the old set and now stands at the Sedona Heritage Museum in Uptown. The museum keeps a whole room on Sedona’s movie era and is worth an hour, especially after you’ve watched a few of these films and can recognize the stills. For the deeper cut — the full list of what filmed where, including the non-Westerns — head to our film locations guide.
And if the movies are what talked you into the trip in the first place, the math on the house works out nicely: watch a Western in the media lounge every night, hike a filming location every morning, and fill the middle of the day on the indoor pickleball court where the July heat and the January cold can’t touch you. See the listing when you’re ready to pick a week.
Frequently asked questions
Which famous Westerns were filmed in Sedona?
Verified Sedona shoots include Angel and the Badman (1947), Broken Arrow (1950), Johnny Guitar (1954), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), The Rounders (1965), Firecreek (1968), and Stay Away Joe (1968). The Sedona Heritage Museum counts more than 60 total productions filmed in the area between 1923 and the early 1970s.
Can you still visit the Sedona movie sets?
The sets themselves are gone — the Western town built below Coffee Pot Rock in 1946 was torn down after 3:10 to Yuma filmed there in 1957. But the natural locations are unchanged: Merry-Go-Round Rock, Red Rock Crossing, Airport Mesa, and Oak Creek Canyon all look the way they do on film, and the telegraph office from Angel and the Badman is preserved at the Sedona Heritage Museum.
Was the 2007 version of 3:10 to Yuma filmed in Sedona?
No. The 2007 remake with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale was shot in New Mexico. Only the original 1957 version with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin filmed in Sedona, and it was the last production to use the old Western town set.
Where can I stream these movies?
Availability changes constantly, so check current streaming services for each title. Angel and the Badman is in the public domain and easy to find free; the others rotate between services and classic-movie channels, and all seven are typically available as digital rentals.
What is Merry-Go-Round Rock and how do I get there?
It’s a round, banded rock formation on Schnebly Hill Road that appears in both Angel and the Badman and Stay Away Joe. The road is paved for roughly the first mile, then turns rough and high-clearance; many visitors take a jeep tour instead of driving it themselves.
Is watching the movies before visiting actually worth it?
It changes the trip. Views you’d otherwise photograph and move past become scenes you recognize, and spots like Red Rock Crossing and Airport Mesa carry a second layer of history. With a media lounge at the house, one film a night for a week lines up exactly with this list.
Play year-round in red rock country
Sedona Pickler is a private Sedona home with its own indoor, climate-controlled pickleball court. Rally any season, any hour — heated, cooled and lit, with paddles and balls provided.
Check availability on Airbnb
