My favorite movie on the topic of "being a man" is the 1958 western epic
The Big Country.
Ironically, the movie stars, among others, the late gun grabber Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston, president emeritus of the NRA.
Thematically, the movie has everything the Claremont Institute could want concerning the character of men and women.
James McKay (Gregory Peck) Former ship captain representing the "cultured East," but defying the Eastern stereotype living by deed rather than fast talking. Doesn't use courage for show, but as a steel reinforcement to his character. When push comes to shove, his character fights Steve Leech (Charelton Heston) to a draw, and stands ready to kill Buck Hannassey in a duel.
Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) Strong willed brunette
who has, following the death of her father, been keeping an increasingly difficult peace over a dispute concerning her property's water rights. Both Terrill and the Hannasseys want to buy her ranch to exclude the other. Represents a good blend of Eastern education and frontier female strengths. Sees the quiet strength in McKay and comes to understand him by selling him the ranch when he is willing to step into the feud and maintain the status quo.
Patricia Terrill (Carroll Baker) Imperious blonde,
the bitchy daughter of Major Henry Terrill. Comes to represent the worst of the "cultured East" having become vain and a fan of style over substance while in college on the East Coast. Castigates McKay for his unwilliness to "be a man," through showing off. Comes to believe McKay is a coward because she cannot escape the image of her cruel, casually power-wielding father as the ideal man.
Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) Terrill's ranch foreman. He represents the better aspects of the "frontier West." Self-reliant, tough as nails cowboy, and loyal to a fault. He harbors class resentments and is not so-secretly in love with Terrill's daughter. He regards McKay as a rival and treats him with contempt early on for the latter's "metrosexual ways." Nonetheless Leech sees the error of his judgement regarding McKay, but cannot quite bring himself to abandon Terrill moments before his boss leads him into a deadly trap through the latter's stubborn pride.
Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives) Represents the better, old school, of the "savage West." Rough around every edge, he nonetheless lives by a moral code and ultimately respects women though he is a chauvanist. He has raised his sons without a mother and he bitterly regrets what failures they are as men.
Major Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford) Represents the worst of the "frontier West" He is vain, pretentious, power mad, cruel, and has gone out of his way to make the Hannasseys into his bitter enemies. He has also corrupted his daughter through his base hatreds. Allowing his men to beat the Hannassey boys in town at the start of the movie and ordering them to keep the Hannassey cattle from water he doesn't even own, later in the flick, are but two of the memorable episodes of his pettiness.
Buck Hannassey (Chuck Connors) Representative of the all of the worst of the "savage West." Buck is essentially a good-for-nothing sociopath. He is a liar, abusive, a coward, he kidnaps Julie Maragon and attempts to sexually assault her. There is nothing redeeeming about Buck at all. If his character were in a modern movie, he'd be a ghetto punk or something.
Anyway, it is my favorite Western for a lot of reasons. Everyone should see it at least once.