Top 10 Western Movies

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Nothing like a good western. And I actually agree with the #1 selection. According to Canoe.ca:

Top 10 Best Westerns

By KEVIN WILLIAMSON - Sun Media

#10: SHANE (1953): A gunfighter hoping to leave his violent ways behind him -- perhaps the genre's most common theme -- must defend a family.

#9: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966): Sergio Leone's sun-drenched spaghetti westerns -- which catapulted Eastwood to stardom -- amount to operatic clashes of right and wrong, bolstered by Ennio Morricone's masterful score.

#8: THE WILD BUNCH (1969): Director Sam Peckinpah's end-of-an-era saga about aging gunfighters battling extinction.

#7: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960): Based on Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai, a group of mercenaries are hired to protect a Mexican village.

#6: McCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971): The 1970s marked the arrival of the "anti-western" -- a revisionist sub-genre that subverted cliches. Few were as successful as this film from Robert Altman starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.

#5: DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990): Cynics and cinephiles loathe it now -- particularly since it beat Goodfellas for the Best Picture Oscar -- but Kevin Costner's frontier epic is nonetheless sweeping, big-hearted filmmaking.

#4: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1968): A buddy movie served immeasurably by the winning chemistry between Paul Newman and Robert Redford as the outlaws.

#3: HIGH NOON (1954): Gary Cooper personifies taciturn Old West heroism as a marshall who finds himself in a solitary showdown with vicious killers. Like the finest examples of the genre, it is as concerned with morality as mortality.

#2: THE SEARCHERS (1956): John Ford's classic about a Civil War veteran (John Wayne) searching for his niece, who was kidnapped by Comanches years earlier. Long hailed as one of the most influential films ever made.

#1: UNFORGIVEN (1992): Clint Eastwood's Oscar winner is, like The Assassination of Jesse James, a meditation on the myth-making inherent in Old West lore. As killer-turned-family man William Munny, Eastwood -- whose career was forged in fake blood -- finds a perfect vessel for his own cinematic redemption.

The link

[Doc Holliday]

I'd squeeze the original Young Guns in there.

Once upon a time in the West would make my top 10 cut too.

My name is nobody made Terrence Hill and should get considerations...

#1 - Unforgiven
#2- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
#3- Once upon a time in the West
#4- The magnificient 7
#5- Young Guns
#6- My name is nobody
#7- Tombstone
#8- Les Pétroleuses (young Claudia Cardinal and Brigitte Bardot, need I say more)
#9- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
#10- Dances with Wolves

[Skilly]

I dont watch that many westerns .... but from the list the only ones I saw were: Shane; Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven

From Doc's list I also saw Young Guns and Tombstone

I guess another I'd add would be The Quick and the Dead

[Skilly]

I'll be watching "3:10 to Yuma" after the game tonight ... any good?

[jkr]

Of the original list, I have seen them all except McCabe & Mrs. Miller. My personal favorites are the spaghetti westerns. Seen them all.

[jkr]

skilly said:

I'll be watching "3:10 to Yuma" after the game tonight ... any good?

Let me know how you like it. I have it on hold from my libray which means it could be 6 months before my turn comes up.

As an aside, I didn't know this was an Elmore Leonard book ( he wrote Get Shorty among other crime novels). He started out writing westerns.

[CentreHice]

I enjoyed "3:10 to Yuma". Far-fetched moments, especially at the end....but hey, it's Hollywood.

One thing for sure....I really want Russell Crowe's hat.

[habmeister]

good, bad and ugly is by far my favourite, 3:10 to yuma was very well done though. i liked unforgiven but not like most did, thought it was good but not great. i really liked young guns and tombstone is probably my #2 favourite.

imdb.com top 20 all-time

1. 8.9 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (good, bad...) (1966) 85,867
2. 8.7 C'era una volta il West (1968) 43,490
3. 8.5 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 20,864
4. 8.5 The Wind (1928) 1,418
5. 8.3 High Noon (1952) 22,722
6. 8.3 The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) 5,144
7. 8.2 Per qualche dollaro in più (1965) 24,149
8. 8.2 Unforgiven (1992) 60,535
9. 8.2 The Wild Bunch (1969) 20,471
10. 8.1 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 37,849
11. 8.0 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) 15,009
12. 8.0 The Searchers (1956) 20,045
13. 8.0 3:10 to Yuma (2007) 43,636
14. 7.9 Per un pugno di dollari (1964) 22,729
15. 7.9 Rio Bravo (1959) 13,099
16. 7.9 My Darling Clementine (1946) 5,006
17. 7.9 Hud (1963) 4,776
18. 7.9 Grande silenzio, Il (1968) 2,179
19. 7.9 Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) 4,651
20. 7.9 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) 16,074

link to top 50: imdb.com/chart/western

[Skilly]

centrehice said:

I enjoyed "3:10 to Yuma". Far-fetched moments, especially at the end....but hey, it's Hollywood.

One thing for sure....I really want Russell Crowe's hat.

Exactly my feeling ... was a real good story, but certain parts left me wondering "who would do that?" and "there is no way someone would let him do that" ....

...but I still enjoyed it alot.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Personal favorite?

"The Frisco Kid."

[habernac]

Open Range and Silverado are excellent as well. Anything with Eastwood is gold, Pale Rider is underappreciated.

[cigarviper]

I'm a sucker for cinematography so Dances With Wolves and Open Range are right up there. Costner at least has this part of filmmaking down pat IMHO. Hard to ignore all the old classics though. Cat Ballou was memorable. Lee Marvin was great in that and Jane Fonda was smokin' hot.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

cigarviper said:

I'm a sucker for cinematography so Dances With Wolves and Open Range are right up there. Costner at least has this part of filmmaking down pat IMHO. Hard to ignore all the old classics though. Cat Ballou was memorable. Lee Marvin was great in that and Jane Fonda was smokin' hot.

"... someone back home sayin' ... why he don't write?"

Probably one of my favourite westerns as well. I remember when it first come out. That was one of the few movies that brought out every emotion in the theatre.

However, "Unforgiven" is probably my favourite western. Eastwood's character, Will Munny, was totally believable. But, it was also one of the few movies I've seen where everyone was the bad guy.

* Richard Harris, "English Bob" or "the Duck of Death" was a washed-up hired gun,

* Gene Hackman, "Duck I says," was a prick and terrible carpenter,

* Will Munny, Ned Logan and the "Scofield Kid" were perfectly casted.

Every character was believable, but at the same time everyone was a bad guy.

I liked "Tombstone" as well, but didn't like "Wyat Earp" at all.

Cheers.

[Polarice]

Here are my 10..

10. UNFORGIVEN

9. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

8. TOMBSTONE

7. RED RIVER

6. CITY SLICKERS

5. THE SEARCHERS

4. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

3. YOUNG GUNS

2. HIGH NOON

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

[habernac]

Once Upon a Time, the scene where the fly is crawling around on Jack Elam's face. Leone was the man.

[Polarice]

habernac said:

Once Upon a Time, the scene where the fly is crawling around on Jack Elam's face. Leone was the man.

I bought a bunch of DVD's for my father on fathers day a few years ago, all these old westerns that I never heard of, and Once Upon a Time was one of them. I've watched that movie at least 10 times since!!