Top 10 Westerns?

Started by Adam0199, April 01, 2003, 08:25:01 PM

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Grand Epic

I think Once Upon a Time in the West is my favorite film.

EL__SCORCHO

I saw "Johnny Guitar" about a month or so ago at a theater which was doing a Nicholas Ray retrospective and I really dug that movie. The action isn't that great but I thought Joan Crawford was pretty kick ass and a lot of the dialogue was funny. I'm not really into westerns, but this one I liked.

My fav. western would have to be Once Upon a Time in the West.

(kelvin)

The Wild Bunch & any Kurosawa Film  :wink:

Alethia

searchers
man who shot liberty valance
red river
rio bravo
unforgiven
mccabe and mrs. miller
man with no name trilogy

soixante

Westerns might be the oldest film genre of all.  The Great Train Robbery is now 100 years old.

Top 4:

The Searchers -- one of the greatest last shots of all time, and the film was a huge influence on Spielberg (Close Encounters), Schrader (Hardcore), Scorsese (Taxi Driver).

The Wild Bunch -- a nice, sensitive character study.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller -- Altman at his best.

Unforgiven -- The sheriff played by Gene Hackman says, "This isn't fair, I was building a house," before he gets his head blown off.
Music is your best entertainment value.

Holden Pike



1. Once Upon A Time in the West[/color][/b][/size] (1969 - Sergio Leone)
2. Unforgiven[/b][/size][/color] (1992 - Clint Eastwood)
3. The Wild Bunch[/b][/color][/size] (1969 - Sam Peckinpah)
4. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly[/b][/color][/size] (1966 - Sergio Leone)
5. Little Big Man[/b][/color][/size] (1970 - Arthur Penn)
6. "Lonesome Dove"[/b][/color][/size] (made-for-TV 1989 - Simon Wincer)
7. McCabe & Mrs. Miller[/b][/color][/size] (1971 - Robert Altman)
8. A Fistful of Dollars[/b][/color][/size] & For A Few Dollars More[/b][/color] (1964 & 1956 - Sergio Leone)
9. The Professionals[/b][/color][/size] (1966 - Richard Brooks)
10. Lonely Are the Brave[/b][/color][/size] (1962 - David Miller)

And about fifty other favorites, from The Gunfighter and High Noon to The Ox-Bow Incident and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance to The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean and Dead Man and on and on and on.
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film."
- Frank Capra

modage

just watched HIGH NOON.  i really really liked it.  i have never seen a black and white western before and the transfer on dvd was great.  you cant help but associate westerns with a brownish palette, so it was really interesting to see the high contrast of black and white.  the sunbleached backgrounds against Gary Coopers stark black hat and vest was really cooll ooking.  it was a great story too.  different for a western.  under 90 minutes and the first hour had absolutely zero action of any kind and then around the hour mark theres a fistfight and then a shootout in the last ten minutes but it was about the characters struggle and not about shootemups, and was good. :yabbse-thumbup:
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

SHAFTR

I just saw/bought Unforgiven and that film blew me away.

Other westerns I like..

Fistful of Dollars
For A Few Dollars More
Tombstone

haven't seen Good, Bad & the Ugly yet.
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"

Teen Wolf

Check out Winchester '73 and The Man From Laramie. Both were directed by Anthony Mann and star Jimmy Stewart.

Slick Shoes


Ernie

updated list (there's actually 10 this time):

-Once Upon a Time in the West
-The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
-For a Few Dollars More
-A Fistful of Dollars
-Rio Bravo
-Mccabe & Mrs. Miller
-The Shooting
-Ride in the Whirlwind
-The Searchers AND Red River
-The Magnificent Seven

The Wild Bunch sucks, I don't care what anybody says, it's not a good film, one of the most overrated. If BTTF 3 counts then that's definitely a favorite of mine.

Banky

i cant beleive only two of you mentioned the best western ever made

Tombstone

Gold Trumpet

I think a very worthy western to be seen is The Hired Hand by Peter Fonda from 1971. Fonda has been traveling with the film for the last few years showing it at universities and festivals and it just came on video again. The film is about a wandering man living the life his society promoted to him of lawlessness and excitement. His enjoyment has been fulfilled and he feels the desire to rejoin the wife and child he abandoned ten years earlier and be the father he was suppose to be. The results of him coming back show the lack of love that exists between man and wife at the time and what things in life could be replaced. Fonda's achievement is the stunning photography; the quiet and engaging atmosphere and bringing a fresh perspective to the western. Some of the story is typical, but most of it is quite good. I actually think The Hired Hand, along with McCabe and Mrs. Miller, may be the last relevant western.

Dr. Duke

Ride in the Whirlwind

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Unforgiven
I want you to hold it between your knees.

Slick Shoes

Just saw 3 Godfathers, directed by John Ford, and starring John Wayne. Three men find a baby in the desert and must take care of it. It was a bit sappy at times, but overall a very pleasurable viewing experience. It was fun to see John Wayne be uncomfortable as he tries to take care of the infant child. Oh, and here is my list, in no particular order, off the top of my head:

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Shane
Rio Bravo
The Wild Bunch
Winchester '73
The Naked Spur
The Man From Laramie
Ride The High Country
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Shooting