Your 10 favorite Westerns..

Discussion in 'Movies/TV' started by RollTide, Nov 22, 2009.

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  1. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    Ok we had gangster films, westerns go hand in hand. Guy films with violence and issues of life and death.

    There are hundreds of westerns out there so any top 10 list must be an elite list so what are your top 10?

    I am a huge Segio Leone fan and he revolutionized the genre. His films which were Italian produced and filmed in Spain with a few American stars are all classic.

    Here is the top 10 list from the American film institute. I happen to disagree with a few of those. Tell me what you think..

    http://www.afi.com/10top10/western.html
     
  2. titanbuoy

    titanbuoy medium rare ®

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    I came up with ten off the top of my head. I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something. I didn't even try to put an order to them...

    Once Upon a Time in the West
    The Unforgiven
    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
    Stagecoach
    Red River
    The Gunfight at the OK Corral
    The Searchers
    Rio Bravo
    My Darling Clementine
    High Noon
     
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  3. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    IMDB the internet movie database has just 6 westerns that ranked in the top 250 films overall based on the voting of their members.

    The good, the bad, and the ugly

    Once upon a time in the West

    Treasures of the Sierra Madre

    Unforgiven

    A Few dollars more

    High noon



    2 westerns just missed the top 250 were "The searchers" and "A fistful of dollars"..

    That's 4 of the top 8 Westerns being Sergio Leone films including the top 2! It shows the popularity of Sergios films as well as Clint Eastwood who acted in 3 of those 4.

    IMBD always rates newer films higher at first and then after a while the ratings slowly fall and level off. So the top 250 is very top heavy with films made in the last 5 years.


    I love westerns to the point that even an ordinary Western i have seen before is enjoyable. Pale Rider is an example of that. I own the 4 Leone films listed and watch them regularly.
     
  4. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    Great list bouy! I think in a way there are 2 camps when it comes to the genre. The lovers of the great John Wayne films like The Searchers-Stage coach-Rio bravo-Red River and those who like Leone's films. I like them all and so apparently do you.

    Your list is better than the AFI that's for sure.
     
  5. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    My top 10 with honorable mention..

    Top 10


    Once Upon a Time in the West
    The Unforgiven
    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
    Red River
    The ox bow incident
    A few dollars more
    Treasure of the Sierra Madre
    The Searchers
    The man who shot Liberty Valance
    The wild bunch


    Honorable mention

    High Plains drifter

    High noon
    Rio bravo
    Magnificent 7
    How the west was won
    Fistful of dollars


    Some debate if treasure of the Sierra Madre is really a western but i included it. One of the most frustrating films i ever watched.
     
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  6. titanbuoy

    titanbuoy medium rare ®

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    It was rough leaving The Wild Bunch (I'm a big Robert Ryan fan), Fistfull of Dollars, Ride the High Country etc. off my list. Tops tens are a pain. Didn't think of Butch and Sundance until I looked at the AFI list... I really like that flick too. It's definitely a classic movie of my youth.

    It's hard not to love westerns. I really like Treasure of the Sierra Madre but I don't really consider it a classic western for some reason. What are some your favourite more recent films (let's leave out Eastwood's stuff). I really liked Jarmusch's Dean Man, and Open Range was good. Dances with Wolves is always fun to watch. There's a flick called "The Proposition" starring Guy Pierce, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston that's really cool. It's set in the 1800's Australian outback, but it has all of the trappings of a classic western.

    Like you I even like the somewhat cheesier flicks. Whether it's "Silverado", "They Call Me Trinity" or even "Young Guns" I'm apt to watch if I happen upon them while surfing the channels (okay... maybe not Young Guns).

    Crap! I just thought of Michael Mann's "Last of the Mohicans". What a great movie.
     
  7. titanbuoy

    titanbuoy medium rare ®

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    D'oh! Another oversight on my part.

    There's not a movie on your list that I don't love (including honorable mentions).

    Blazing Saddles deserves some mention I think.
     
  8. KamikaZ

    KamikaZ Ex-Hall of Famer

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    10. Blazing Saddles (Brooks) - some will argue this isn't REALLY a western (just a comedy with a western backdrop), but screw it. A comedy classic and still some of the funniest one-liners of all time.


    9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Domink) - Definitely the most beautifully shot film on the list, I enjoyed the story and the performances immensely.


    8. For A Few Dollars More (Leone) - I had to choose one of the "Man with no name" trilogy, this is just my personal favorite.


    7. The Outlaw Josey Wells (Eastwood) - definitely my favorite Eastwood role.


    6. Treasure of Sierra Nevada (Huston) - favorite Bogart role, a classic in every sense of the word.

    5. High Plains Drifter (Eastwood) - love it for the creepy atmosphere.

    4. The Proposition (Hillcoat) - a film that takes place in the Australian wilderness, a brilliant modern masterpiece that has heavy ties to Cormac McCarthy's literary masterpiece, Blood Meridian.

    3. No Country For Old Men (Coen) - A modern day thriller in the spirit of the old west. One of my favorite films.

    2. Unforgiven (Eastwood) - a subtly dark western that really examines the violence of the genre masterfully.

    1. The Wild Bunch (Pekinpah) - the most violent, bad-:grrr::grrr::grrr: western there is. Pekinpah's masterpiece, and has one of the most epic, violent endings in film history.



    Close, but...: Once Upon a Time In The West, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars, High Noon, The Searcher, Red River
     
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  9. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    To be honest the list is very actor oriented. I wanted to get Jimmy Stewart in there somehow and that was probably his finest western. He made many good ones but that was the only classic.

    Same with the Ox Bow i wanted Henry Fonda in a good guy role not just the evil frank role of OUTW.

    Red river introduces another favorite actor of mine Montgomery Clift. And of course Bogey in the Treasure of the Sierra madre. I made sure all my favorites were in there and of course How the West was one has everyone imaginable.

    Not top 15 material but another favorite of mine is "The shootist" with Wayne and Stewart. In the film Stewart plays a Physician who has to tell Wayne's character that he is dying of cancer. It really broke Jimmy up something awful when he found out that Wayne really was diagnosed cancer not long after.
     
  10. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    Nice list and after some thinking i'm going to put the Wild Bunch in my top 10 in place of the magnificent 7. Move that film down to the honorable mention category because you are right a great film all around.

    I really love the Lee Van cleef character in a few dollars more and he became one of my favorite actors after watching that a few times. And honestly you could say that his passion for payback is every bit the equal of the harmonica character's desire to kill Frank in Once upon a time in the west."

    The final gun fight is classic with that guitar followed by that haunting trumpet that gives me chills. So beautiful and so intense. A great film!
     
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