Ah, you overplayed your hand. Not falling for that one.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Stagecoach
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Dances With Wolves
Django Unchained, even though that’s more of a Southeastern than a Western
Ride with the Devil, even though that’s more of a Midwestern than a Western
I wasn’t quite daring enough to include Serenity or Solo on the list. And it’s been too long since I’ve seen The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Far And Away… what if they actually were terrible but I didn’t know at the time? And I couldn’t quite squeeze Red River into the list. Same goes for The Terror Of Tiny Town, though it didn’t take up much space.
Shit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. How could I forget that one? My list sucks!
I think they both count. Once again (like “War Film” what exactly is a “Western Film”? :) ).
I think the first is fantastic, on my Top 40 Westerns. I think the second is standard, derivative fare from that director (Who hasn’t impressed me since before Kill Bill). If it wasn’t for “meta”, he’d still be in a Video store. :)
That was swirling around with Fort Apache for me. It and Stagecoach. All these “Grandpa movie” Philistines forget that Kurosawa wanted to be freaking John Ford.
But hey, When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
@scottagibson, Ithink you will enjoy this:
Unforgiven
The Searchers
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Stagecoach
Dances With Wolves
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Be it known I am woefully ignorant of this genre.
A Bold choice, it swirls around my Top 40. The Log Riders, however swirls around my top 25. Still possibly the best James-related film.
Not quite as good as either is:
Tombstone
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Django Unchained
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Shane
Last of the Mohicans (1992)
…honorable mention to Cold Mountain.
I don’t know if all of these strictly qualify.
Very much, thanks. My chagrin was this: I think Liberty Valance is actually my top western, and somehow it went right out of my head.
I think they all do. This is a Broad category, like “War Films”. Shane is a cultural icon (and took an actor who would have been associated with Noir and put him in a completely different place in popular memory). Lst of the Mohicans is perfectly within the genre (and a great film). It deals with the Frontier. Perfectly a Western IMO. Westerns don’t have to take place post-Civil War in Arizona, for instance.
This is a Western, takes place in the Pampas:
There is an edit feature. :)
@Navaronegun I’m going to end all this and start a “Your top 10 Lists” Thread.
…I do like me a western, so…
#1 with a bullet. Unforgiven
(Magnificent Seven)
3-6 in no particular order
High Noon
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Quigley Down Under
*Honorable mention, and not a movie: Lonesome Dove
There are no finer western performances than those by Jones and Duval in Lonesome Dove; but the rest of the cast really can’t compete. I like it a lot, but it doesn’t hit my top six for that reason.
My lists aren’t that interesting. The discussion caused by distilling is interesting. :)
Both of those were in consideration for me (as is Valance, mentioned at length earlier).
So now, think about it, Zinnemann directed High Noon AND The Day of the Jackal!? Could you have a better example of dichotomous excellence 20 years apart?
I’d love to see someone nominate a western set in a different continent even.
Could you make a western set in Europe? Probably not, but I’d be interested to see one.
How about China? I’m almost certain there is films that fit this description, and I’ve probsbly seen one, but am blanking. China seems like the best candidate for a non American setting that fits the ‘western’ genre.
Is there a movie about the Colombian caudillos? Jose Thomas Boves and his band would certainly fit a western theme
Dude practically begs for movie treatment.
Tampopo is a western set in then-modern Japan. At least the filmmakers thought it was a western.
Also a great film.
Look above in this thread, Pardner. :)
Kurosawa always thought he was making John Ford Westerns when he was making Chanbara/Jidaigeki. No foolin’. And then Sturgis and Leone borrowed from him.
I was looking, and that started off my thoughts!
I haven’t heard of that film, and the blurb doesn’t say what continent that desert is on. But that’s exactly the thing I was getting at.
The Pampas…its a really great film.
Australia: