Your Top Six “Western Films”?

Movies
#167

So glad you are here, Mr. Trap

See above poll and debates throughout about what exactly is a “Western Film”.

I got poetry in me. I do.

Altman makes one Western and it ends up being one of my Top 6 and one of my all time favorite films. It’s isolated, glacial, and amazingly personal and intimate at the same time. And sparse. And cold…

#168

I’m a little surprised no one has mentioned:

(My six-gun is already dry, but that’s why I keep this little derringer in my boot. For emergencies like this.)

Also, I remember liking “The Gunfight”, though I only saw a little bit on AMC once and a bad copy ripped to YouTube another time. Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash are aging gunfighters that have no reason to duel each other, except money is tight and twenty bucks is twenty bucks.

#169

Well in that case I’ll just throw in The Dark Tower, because everyone loves Idris Elba!

darktower

#170

I’d definitely agree with Lonesome Dove its way up there. I replace Searchers with True Grit, and Silverado with High Noon although I liked both.

#171

Here’s a fine Austrian western: The Dark Valley

#172

All who are interested, just be aware that “Western Films” are welcomed in the rebooted Quarter To Three Movie Club:

#173

I haven’t really seen enough Westerns but I am all about the cult of the new:

Unforgiven (1992) - Gene Hackman is the bad guy
Tombstone (1993) - Probably the most quotable western of all time
The Quick and the Dead (1995) - Gene Hackman is the bad guy
True Grit (2010) - Good
Meek’s Cutoff (2010) - Oregon Trail the movie?
The Salvation (2014) - Mads kicks ass
The Homesman (2014) - …

Oops that was seven.

#174

Best Westerns (but um not motels)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (I like young Duke pretending to be old more than actual old Duke)
Red River (hon. mention The Big Sky)
The Naked Spur (and pretty much anything that’s Anthony Mann + James Stewart is gold)
The Gunfighter
Once Upon a Time in the West
Unforgiven

Best Westerns That Aren’t Westerns (and aren’t No Country for Old Men, because somebody already picked the best example)

Yojimbo
The Asphalt Jungle
The Proposition
Hell or High Water
The Road Warrior
Die Hard (the yippie-ki-ay is a giveaway…)

#175

I still need to see this.

#176

And he was inspired by John Ford…

Completely agree on The Road Warrior.

#177

Who then inspired Sergio Leone to remake Yojimbo as A Fistful of Dollars. It’s all cyclical.

#178

Exactly. I’m not dissing Kurosawa, I find the influence and then the echo and then Leone’s echo back again as a Western set in the Old West fascinating.

Yojimbo’s actual plot is all Dashiell Hammett. Kurosawa just set it during the Bakumatsu.

A GREAT freaking read, by the way.

#179

All the Continental Op stories are the best. I love that ugly bastard.

#180

The four westerns that jump out as most memorable are to me, in no order:

Unforgiven
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Wild Bunch
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Also, for John Wayne movies I’ll take The Searchers and another of his great movies, Rio Bravo/El Dorado. I’ll let Chili Palmer in Get Shorty explain:

Bo Catlett:
You broke into my house, and I have a witness to it.

Chili Palmer:
What?

Bo Catlett:
Only this time it ain’t no John Wayne and Dean Martin shooting bad guys in “El Dorado.”

Chili Palmer:
That was “Rio Bravo.” Robert Mitchum played the drunk in “El Dorado.” Dean Martin played the drunk in “Rio Bravo.” Basically, it was the same part. Now John Wayne, he did the same in both. He played John Wayne.

Bo Catlett:
Man, I can’t wait for you to be dead.

#181

Tope 6 westerns? Please. A genre dear to my heart.

So before I start my top six (which will only be my opinion) I think I will go one at a time at my own speed.

#6 Best Western of all time (in hop) is the Wild Bunch. Only one I’ll choose with William Holden (who I love dearly)

#182

Unforgiven
The Searchers
The Good bad and the ugly
Once upon a time in the west.
Wild Bunch
The Alamo (John Wayne)
True Grit (either)

#183

With Red Dead Redemption 2 out I’ve been on a bit of a Western kick so it’s been great to scroll through this thread. Need more time to think about my list, but two quick thoughts.

  1. Noticed Unforgiven was on Netflix so watched it again. Man, what an amazing, bleak film. Pairs really well with RDR2.
  2. Not a film, but Have Gun, Will Travel still holds up really well. What an interesting take on the Western format.
#184

“Australia. What fresh hell is this?”
Winstone’s cockney delivery was pretty funny.

#185

How did I miss this thread. I’m glad it got bumped, I now have a few recommendations to add to my watch list. Mine in return:

  1. High Noon
  2. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
  3. Tombstone
  4. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  5. Unforgiven
  6. Dances With Wolves

Close on the cut list:
Once Upon a Time In the Old West
Shane

#186

For me, Once Upon a Time in the West is Leone’s masterpiece and the peak of the spaghetti western era. I like the Leone / Eastwood films, but Once is the best.