Gritty 97-Minute Neo-Western Is Making A Stand On Streaming After Sneak Release

A gritty neo-Western film from 2024 has found success on the streaming charts two years later.

Audiences have been gravitating to Westerns and neo-Westerns in recent years as studios lean into the genre more and more. Whether it’s shows like Dark Winds, Little House on the Prairie and Yellowstone, or movies like Hell or High Water and The Power of the Dog, the genre has proven to be resilient despite the evolution of the entertainment industry.

Ellen Cole Is An Unexpected Action Hero

Image via Regency

There’s one neo-Western in particular that’s finding a brand-new audience on streaming right now. The Last Stand of Ellen Cole is currently No. 3 on Paramount’s Top 10 global streaming chart, behind Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender and Scream 7, both of which were recently released on the platform.

Top Gun: Maverick, The Internship, Primate, One Mile: Chapter Two, One Mile: Chapter One, RoboCop and World War Z make up the rest of the Top 10.

The film is not available on Paramount+ in the United States, but it is streaming in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The Last Stand of Ellen Cole did not get a theatrical release back in October 2024. Instead, it went straight to digital and streaming platforms. Derek Lee and Clif Prowse directed the neo-Western from a script by Jalmari Helander, Petri Jokiranta and Tim Walker.

Lin Shaye stars as the titular Ellen Cole (and serves as a producer), a trained killer who goes to great lengths to prevent a contractor from evicting her from her ranch in Montana.

At 80 years old, the character is an unexpected action hero and proves to be formidable as she goes up against figures in powerful positions trying to take advantage of someone they believe could never be underestimated.

Over the years, Shaye has starred in such films as A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Running Man, Amityville: A New Generation, Dumb & Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, Snakes on a Plane, Ouija and the Insidious franchise.

Her co-stars in The Last Stand of Ellen Cole are Liz Caribel Sierra, Craig Tate, Ty Olsson, Karan Gill, Hart Bochner, Sean O. Roberts, Tanner Bornowsky, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Agnes Tong, Devon Alexander, Paul Lazenby, Petar Gatsby, Alec Willows and Candus Churchill.

Paramount+ Is A Good Home For Western Action

Credit: ABACA/INSTARimages.com

Paramount+ is the perfect streaming home for a neo-Western like The Last Stand of Ellen Cole because the platform hosts several other projects in the same genre, most notably Taylor Sheridan’s TV shows 1883, 1923, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Landman, The Madison and Dutton Ranch.

The Paramount-owned network CBS airs Marshals, which returns for its second season on October 4 and streams the following day on Paramount+.

Outside of the Sheridan universe, several other Westerns are available to stream on Paramount+, including Longmire, Joe Pickett, Gunsmoke, Hell on Wheels, The Shootist, True Grit and The Tin Star.

Sheridan may be leaving Paramount for NBCUniversal when his current deal ends in 2028, but Paramount+ will still have plenty of Western and neo-Western content available to stream, including The Last Stand of Ellen Cole in several countries around the world.

Birthdate

May 21, 1970

Birthplace

Cranfills Gap, Texas, USA