Sunday, February 9, 2014

My Favorite Films: Westerns

I know that many of you don't like westerns. To that, I can only call you dirty commies and refuse to ever speak to you again. As for the rest of you, the good Americans among us, I could probably give you a Top 500 here, including anything by Gene Autry or Audie Murphy or John Wayne or Glenn Ford or Randolph Scott. But I'm going to keep this to the ten I turn to most often. Head 'em up!

1. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966): The ultimate Spaghetti Western and in many ways the ultimate Western. You've got three men, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach playing cat and mouse as they pursue a buried treasure in a grave. In the process, you have iconic moments, a twisting game of revenge complete with last second reprieves, beautifully staged gun fights, and one of the greatest scores ever in a film. I can watch this one every day.

2. The Magnificent Seven (1960): This film is just fantastic. A remake of Seven Samurai (another excellent film), you got seven big named action stars teaming up to take on Mexican bandit Eli Wallach. What makes this film so great is that it explores each character, including Wallach, and you come to like (or pity) them all, including Wallach. Add in snappy dialog, scene stealing Steve McQueen, and a booming soundtrack and this is easily the best classic Western you will ever find.

3. The Wild Bunch (1969): If the The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly was a story about antiheroes, then The Wild Bunch is simply the story of villains. One group of villains robs a bank. Another group of villains is hired to stop them. They chase them to Mexico where they encounter villainous Mexican soldiers. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, this is "tough guy" Western at its peak. It's brutal, it's bloody, and it's packed full of action and, of all things, philosophy.

4. Silverado (1985): This is a great redemption story done with tremendous ability. Interesting characters with strong relationships, great actors, some great situations, some likeable villains, and a plot that pulls you in and keeps you going from start to finish, I highly recommend this film.

5. High Plains Drifter (1973): This one's really fascinating. This is the story of a man with no name, Clint Eastwood, who may well be an avenging angel come back to town to punish the townsfolk for hiring killers to get rid of their sheriff and then watching as these killers whip him to death. Interestingly, this was remade by Eastwood in the 1980s as Pale Rider, and while Pale Rider was a good film which I enjoy very much, it completely lacks the spirit which made this film so special. This film feels like a glimpse into hell at times.

6. Dodge City (1939): If there's such a thing as a cliché Western, this is it. Errol Flynn needs to clean up Dodge City to make it safe for the good people who live there and in the process, he fights cattle barons and gunslingers. But this cliché is done right!

7. Blazing Saddles (1974): Funniest... western... ever.

8. Unforgiven (1992): This film pissed me off originally. The first time through, it felt like Eastwood was repudiating his Spaghetti Western days. But over time, I've come to see this as a film that wants to be a more serious, realistic Western, but at the same time lets us know that The Man With No Name lives in Eastwood's spirit and he'll come shoot every last one of you if you give him cause.

9. The Quick and the Dead (1995): I'll admit it, I like this one. This film was meant to deconstruct Westerns and essentially mock them. But it's got an amazing cast and it soft-pedaled the satire a little too much to achieve its purpose of sending a nasty message about Westerns. Thus, what was meant to be smug and condescending actually turns out to be a heavily-clichéd but fun Western... a serious version of Rustler's Rhapsody mixed with Bloodsport and I enjoy it.

10. High Noon (1952): This is a very uncomfortable Western because everyone is made out as a coward, a hypocrite or a monster. Nevertheless, the story is made with undeniable quality and in the end you feel satisfied when the Marshall saves the day and then walks away from the townsfolk he once thought were decent people. In a way, this is a revenge fantasy where Cooper proves everybody wrong and then shames them by leaving them to wallow in the own cowardice and avarice.

Let me also give a shout out to Sergeant Rutledge. This is a really well done film that handles race and racism in the US better than any film I've seen in Hollywood. It's also a fantastic legal drama.

Thoughts?

64 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

I probably would tend to go farther back than you, but that is natural given we are a generation apart. Nevertheless, Wild Bunch, Magnificent 7 are classics, as is High Noon. I always thought Unforgiven was a masterpiece. I would definitely add Big Country, and Horse Soldiers is a personal favorite since it is based on a true civil war cavalry raid which was used to keep Joe Johnson from reinforcing Vicksburg in 1863. My personal favorite is The Charge at Feather River with Guy Madison from the early 50's. it was later adapted to a n episode of Cheyenne on t.v.

Tennessee Jed said...

and the Coen's re-make of True Grit is truly growing on me ....

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, I think my favorite period is either the 1960s or the 1940s actually. I think those two periods produced the best westerns. The 1940s were very earnest with larger than life heroes. And the 1960s had some of the strongest storylines.

Tennessee Jed said...

Another favorite of mine was the Long Riders which featured Carradines and Keach brothers. This was about the defeat of the James gang in the Northfield Minnesota bank robbery. Used to live only a short drive from there. Music was by Ry Cooder, and it's just a well made movie.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, One of my lesser-known favorites is Joel McCrae.

Tennessee Jed said...

Andrew - you are right, he is kind of obscure, but certainly a fine actor. The only film I own of his is the adaption of Richard Connell's classic short story noir "The Most Dangerous Game" with Fay Wray of King Kong fame.

Dave Olson said...

Would you believe I've never seen any of the "Dollars" trilogy? Oh I've seen bits and pieces of all of them, but never any of them all the way through. I've heard that The Good...(etc) is actually a prequel for the other films. What's the proper viewing order?

Now that I think about it, I haven't seen too many Westerns. I've only seen four on your list. But I've also seen Maverick, Dances With Wolves, and I'm a big fan of Lonesome Dove. Don't worry, I won't pretend that Back to the Future Part III is a Western in any real sense.

Maybe I should re-evaluate Unforgiven. I tried watching it several years ago, but I only got about 20 minutes in before I said "This sucks" and turned it off. Its status as an Oscar winner doesn't give it any points as far as I'm concerned; they've also given that award to pieces of shit like Annie Hall and Crash.

Tennessee Jed said...

Dave - to me, Unforgiven is kind of like a slice of gunfighter reality. The polar opposite of say, Guy Williams as Zorro (even though Zorro was a swordsman.)

As someone who loves the real history, I liked all the Wyatt Earp films (Gunfight at O.K. Corral, Tombstone, and Wyatt Earp.

AndrewPrice said...

BTW, Since I'm sure that almost none of you know what Rustler's Rhapsody is, I should mention that it's a parody film from 1985. I like it, but apparently no one else does. It's a Tom Berenger film and the premise is that since the bad guys can never beat the good guys in a western, the bad guys hire a good guy to fight the good guy.

LINK

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, McCrea is someone I didn't know when I started seeing him in films. He kind of looks like someone else famous and you spend a few minutes trying to figure out who he is. After awhile, I realized that he was really quite good.

He led an interesting life too. He followed Will Rogers's advice to save half of what he made. He invested that in real estate (ranch land) and became a millionaire by the 1940s. And he was a Republican.

AndrewPrice said...

Dave, Unforgiven starts slowly and annoyingly. He spends all his time repudiating the gunfighter he was by whining about being drunk and stupid, etc. I almost turned it off at that point too. But the movie starts to pick up once the film shifts to Gene Wilder's character "Little Bill." And by the time the film ends, Eastwood is a classic badass again... threatening to kill an entire town.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, Agreed. Unforgiven is a slice of reality in a very unreal genre. It's fascinating to hear them talk about things like how gunfights really went, e.g. being first isn't what wins and how alcohol often played a part. I find the ending to be really strong too... "I was building a house."

PikeBishop said...

Andrew: I hope you meant Gene HACKMAN! You just gave me all kinds of bizarre casting thoughts with that one. ;-)

AndrewPrice said...

PikeBishop, Uh, yeah. That's a major typo. LOL! That's what happens when the mind is distracted.

PikeBishop said...

You pretty much mentioned all of my favorites Andrew, so I won't add anything there, but would like to recommend a little gem that is one of the most interesting Westerns I have ever seen. A forgotten little late 60s film called "Duel at Diablo."

To me it's sort of like how "Kelley's Heroes" took a sixties/Vietnam era fractured lens to World War II, Duel takes a "times they are a changin'" angle to the traditional western.

First off: simple clichéd story, cavalry troop and civilians have to make it across dangerours country and avoid renegade Apaches. Been there; done that. Yawn! But....

1. Great cast: James Garner, Dennis Weaver, Sydney Portier, Bill Travers, Bibi Anderson
2. Not just your stereotypical white people or freed slaves: Portier plays a competent guy who busts broncos for the army; Travers is a British officer who came to America when opportunities in her majesty's forces were limited (I seem to remember a foggy footnote in history that this did occur), Anderson has a half breed baby so she is shamed by white and Apache society, and Garner's character is actually named Jesse Remsberg. A stretch but, yeah, Jews on the frontier.
3. The cavalry unit is awful! A bunch of green recruits who can't even wheel their horses properly. Poitier is actually along on the trip to keep breaking the mounts as they go.
4. Anderson is married to an utter racist Grange, played by Dennis Weaver, who hates her for the baby she has given birth to. This was a pretty daring plotline for the times.
5. This movie has the absolute worst scene of torture I have ever seen in a film. I get the whillies just thinking about it 35 years later.

Check it out.

AndrewPrice said...

PikeBishop, I have seen Duel At Diablo many times. I like it a lot, though I'm not sure why. I think the cast is fantastic. I love the soundtrack even if it doesn't fit a western.

On that note, I wish I liked James Garner's films better, but I don't. I think he's a compelling actor, but somehow his films always feel flat to me.

AndrewPrice said...

P.S. I get the Encore Western Channel and that's great for seeing a whole variety of forgotten films that you will never see anywhere else. Duel At Diablo is one of those, as are other interesting films like The Scalphunters (a funny treatment of race with Ossie Davis making a fool of both Burt Lancaster and Telly Savalas), Escape from Fort Bravo with both William Holden and John Forsythe, some early John Wayne, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Tim Holt, and some interesting Frank Sinatra films.

Anonymous said...

I really like most of the movies list, but for me I would add

The Outlaw Josey Wales (my all time favourite Western)
Tombstone (so much fun)
3:10 To Yuma (I never saw the original, waited years before seeing this but loved it)
Shane (classic)
Young Guns (I saw this as a kid, I know what it is, but I still love it and the Bon Jovi song)
Three Amigos (I saw this as a kid and just loved it)
The Man from Snowy River (an Australian western of sorts).

Scott.

Tennessee Jed said...

As I put more thought into this, newer films I liked include Open Range and Apaloosa. Another big screen epic shot in "Cineramama" (if you don't know, don't ask) was "How the We4st Was Won"

Tennessee Jed said...

Andrew - I got ENCORE westerns for a long time as part of a Direct TV package. That helped me write the old post I did about TV western stars of the 50's a few years back. I might see if I could negotiate just getting the western channel instead of a package.

PDBronco said...

Let's start with some John Ford: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, Stagecoach, The Searchers, The Three Godfathers. Add some non-Ford John Wayne: Red River, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, McClintock. A few non-Wayne: Magnificent Seven, The Big Country, How The West Was Won. And a few comedies: Support Your Local Sheriff, Support Your Local Gunfighter, The Cheyanne Social Club, Blazing Saddles.

And I apologize for any spelling issues - using my iPad, and am to lazy this morning to check IMDB.

Floyd RTurbo said...

Unforgiven
The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Rio Bravo, the bracer to High Noon
The Magnificent Seven
Pale Rider
Quigley Down Under
Rio Grande
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Fort Apache

Anonymous said...

Floyd, are you serious about Quigley Down Under?

As an Australian I must protest!

Scott.

Outlaw13 said...

I liked Quigley Down Under as well, but I'm not from there. I would imagine it tales a lot of liberties with the local history...as do most movies about the Alamo and Texas in general.

My favorites pretty much have already been listed. But I will put them down just to attempt to add to the discussion.

Tombstone. Wyatt's speech at the train station where he says, "I'm coming and hell's coming with me" never fails to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The Searchers. This is in a league of its own. I actually think it stands out because John Wayne is playing against type and he does so very well.

The Cowboys was a late Wayne effort that I likes as well.

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande and Fort Apache. As a modern day member of the United States cavalry it is interesting to see where so many of our traditions came from and hear and see things about Soldiering that still ring true today.

The Magnificent Seven
Open Range
Bite The Bullet, a film about a horse race across the west was something I enjoyed a great deal as well.

I know this was a mini series and not a movie but Lonesome Dove was incredible.

As for comedies you can't beat Blazing Saddles, in fact I would bet you couldn't make that movie today. I know someone mentioned James Garner earlier and I always enjoyed his film, Support Your Local Sherriff

Kenn Christenson said...

Always liked "Shane." Can't think of a part of this film I dislike. Great story of standing your ground, working together and learning the real meaning of heroism.

Kenn Christenson said...

Have to second "Support your local Sheriff." The genius of this film is that the humor was contained within the characters and framework of a story that you would find in a more serious western.

Backthrow said...

As a kid, Westerns didn't interest me at all. But then, in my teens, I saw The Magnificent Seven and Eastwood's "Dollars" trilogy directed by Sergio Leone, especially The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Those were the gateway drugs that opened the world of Westerns to me, and now I love them, although I still can't get into the 1930s/1940s B westerns with Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. I respect the actors, and they play likeable characters, but I still find the films themselves to be deadly dull and indistinguishable from one another.

But, anyway, the prime stuff, and there's lots of it. Of the titles already mentioned, I enjoy:

The Wild Bunch
Silverado
High Plains Drifter
Unforgiven
High Noon
Sergeant Rutledge
The Big Country
True Grit (1969 & 2010)
Maverick
Lonesome Dove
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Scalphunters (good call, Andrew!)
Escape from Fort Bravo
The Outlaw Josie Wales
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Shane
Open Range
Appaloosa
How the West Was Won
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Fort Apache
Stagecoach
The Searchers
Three Godfathers
Red River
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (which [i]was[/i] one of Ford's)
McClintock!
Support Your Local Sheriff
Rio Bravo
Pale Rider
Quigley Down Under
Rio Grande

And would add:

Once Upon a Time in the West
The Professionals
Ride the High Country
Ramrod
Wells Fargo
The Sons of Katie Elder
Nevada Smith
Jeremiah Johnson
The Pony Express
Will Penny
Monte Walsh ('70)
Rawhide (1951)
Garden of Evil
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Vera Cruz
Bandido
Yellow Sky
Wagonmaster
The Westerner
Destry Rides Again
Winchester '73
The Devil's Doorway
Day of the Outlaw
Bite the Bullet
Last Train from Gun Hill
The Hanging Tree
Bend of the River
The Naked Spur
The Far Country
The Man from Laramie
The Tin Star
Man of the West
Jubal
Colorado Territory
Four Faces West
Westward the Women
Annie Oakley
The Tall T
Seven Men From Now
Comanche Station
Decision at Sundown
Buchanan Rides Alone
Ride Lonesome
Westbound
The Sheepman
Hombre
Two Mules for Sister Sara
Hang 'Em High
The River of No Return
Rancho Notorious
The Furies
The Gunfighter
Pursued
Track of the Cat
Witchita
The First Texan
Stranger on Horseback
The Outriders
The Virginian
Cattle Drive
Fort Massacre
The Oklahoman
Gunfight at Dodge City
Trooper Hook
War Paint
The Ride Back
The Ox-Bow Incident
My Darling Clementine
Three Godfathers ('36)
Hell's Heroes
Texas
Duel in the Sun
Buffalo Bill
Broken Arrow
Shalako
Bandolero!
The Spikes Gang
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
They Died with Their Boots on
Hannie Caulder
Viva Maria!
Lust for Gold
The Badlanders
The Law and Jake Wade
A Fistful of Dynamite (a.k.a. Duck, You Sucker)
Ride with the Devil
The Broken Trail
Cat Ballou (I make allowances for a pre-Hanoi Jane Fonda, but Lee Marvin makes the movie)

--and don't forget the better of the scores of non-Leone 'spaghetti westerns':

The Big Gundown
Death Rides a Horse
The Mercenary
Companeros
Run, Man, Run
Day of Anger
Django
Sabata
Navajo Joe
The Five Man Army
My Name Is Nobody
A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die
Kill Them All and Come Back Alone
A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die
The Great Silence
A Bullet for the General
The Hills Run Red
Nest of Vipers
The Hellbenders
Mannaja

*whew*

AndrewPrice said...

Scott, Excellent additions! You have added a plethora of good movies! :D

I thought about adding Tombstone and Young Guns, by the way, but there just wasn't room.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, Encore has been great! Without it, I never would have seen a lot of the more obscure stuff no one shows (like Autry). It's also let me see a lot of series I never got to see before -- Lawman, Gunsmoke, and Have Gun Will Travel in particular.

A couple others I've really come to enjoy are Breakheart Pass with Charles Bronson and the most twisted Spaghetti Westerns ever -- Sabata and Return of Sabata with Lee Van Cleef... utter, utter nonsense, but somehow compelling.

AndrewPrice said...

PDBronco, That's an excellent list. I like Wayne a lot and I like almost all of his films, though his films don't rank in my top favorites. I've seen a lot of his early stuff late (early black and white) and it's amazing how compelling he is on screen even at that time.

AndrewPrice said...

Floyd, This may count as a sin, I'm not sure, but I like High Noon better than Rio Bravo. Rio Bravo somehow feels a little unreal to me -- though I do enjoy it.

AndrewPrice said...

Scott, LOL! What's wrong with Quigley Down Under?

Floyd R. Turbo said...

I'm embarrassed I forgot The Searchers on my list. :-) #1 too! Now I must go watch it as penance.

AndrewPrice said...

Outlaw, My two favorite John Wayne Westerns are The Searchers, which is a fantastic movie, and The Alamo which I know isn't historical, but makes me happy. :)

I saw The Cowboys for the first time ever about three years ago and I was SHOCKED that Wayne gets killed. What the hell? HE can't be dead! He's John Wayne!!

AndrewPrice said...

Kenn,Support Your Local Sheriff is a fun film. I enjoy it.

I'm on the fence about Shane. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about it that I don't like. I've seen it several times, but just can't figure out what it is.

AndrewPrice said...

Backthrow, That is a long list.

AndrewPrice said...

Floyd, Excellent penance!

Tennessee Jed said...

Backthrow, sadly I expect I actually will forget some of the films you listed. After 65, your memory starts to fade a bit.

Outlaw13 said...

Andrew, while not a western John Wayne also dies in The Sands Of Iwo Jima and of course The Shootist...which I have seen anyone mention yet...which is also very good.

AndrewPrice said...

Outlaw, I know and Iwo Jima is my favorite Wayne film overall. But it was still a shock, especially as it happened long before the ending. I was unprepared.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, As long as you remember the good ones. :)

Kit said...

Searchers, Fort Apache, and Stagecoach.

I would rate For a Few Dollars More over The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I felt The Good dragged on too long at times whereas For a Few Dollars went at a very good and even pace.

Oh, could I add Firefly to the list? Yes, its a TV show but it was short-lived and a very good addition to the western genre.

"Take my love, take my land... "

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, I used to like Fist Full of Dollars best because the plot moves the quickest, but I've changed my mind over the years and I really love The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, but only like the others.

BTW, to the question above, there is no order to these. They are separate films and aren't a series. They just have similar characters/actors.

tryanmax said...

Can't disagree with much so far. Of course, being a youngun, there are a lot I haven't seen. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has heard of,let alone seen, The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford. The Dollars trilogy is like some kind of standard. I would have never watched Kurosawa (sp?) were it not for The Magnificent Seven. Ill never argue Gainst a Mel Brooks film. I'll add Legends of the Fall (if someone already named it and I missed it, I'm sorry). I know it's not for everyone, but it works for me.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I enjoyed Legends of the Fall. I definitely recommend some of the older stuff. Try some of the more famous "gateway" westerns and then see where that takes you. They are different -- have a different feel, but they are highly addictive.

As for Kurosawa, I love his works and I plan to review some at some point.

Floyd R. Turbo said...

Yes tryan... Legends of the Fall... great film.

I also forgot City Slickers. The first one really struck a nerve with the public I thought... sort of a last gasp of Western Romanticism... Jack Palance knocked it out of the park. -- Westworld also hits that theme -- though in a darker way of course. :-)

Dances With Wolves is great in parts though I don't think it has aged very well.

Two sort of modern Westerns: No Country For Old Men and Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner in A Perfect World,

And Outland -- aka High Noon in space.

AndrewPrice said...

Floyd, I love Outland. That easily one of my favorite sci-fi films. Westworld is great too.

I liked City Slickers a good deal. And you're right about Dances With Wolves, somehow it hasn't aged well.

5minutes said...

The fact that this list doesn't include a single movie with John Wayne is a travesty. Not all of his films were great - or good - but when he knocked it out of the park, he knocked it out of the park. The Searchers, for instance, would rank right up under The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly for me.

Tennessee Jed said...

as an aside, "The Quick and the Dead" while good could never be in my top ten favorites in such a target rich genre. Maybe, once again, a generational thing.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, That's the funny thing about "favorites" and why I generally avoid doing them -- because they are quirky and they are rarely synonymous with "best."

The Quick and the Dead is just one of those films that I find super entertaining, even as I don't credit it with any substance.

AndrewPrice said...

5minutes, I like almost all of Wayne's films, ditto on Autry and Murphy and many of the rest. But the ones above are the ones I enjoy the most. They aren't by any stretch the ones I view as "the best," but these are the ones that I look to first when I'm in a western mood.

shawn said...

Lots of good westerns listed already, would probably go with with "Rio Bravo" as my favorite with "High Plains Drifter" as a close second.

AndrewPrice said...

Shawn, You know what I like about "High Plains Drifter"? The supernatural aspect. Is he human or an avenging angel? Are the townsfolk even alive or are they being punished now? The film is very good at being both real and grounded and yet suggesting a lot more.

Tennessee Jed said...

couple of good actors in westerns who were not quite as well known just came to mind; George Montgomery (Mr. Dinah Shore), and Randolph Scott who was one of the few who could do both hero & villain. Couple of Jimmy Stewart films I really like came to mind: The Man From Laramie, and Broken Arrow.

Kit said...

Jed,

"Randolph Scott who was one of the few who could do both hero & villain."

Sorry, I just had to do it. (8sec long)
LINK

Tennessee Jed said...

yes! .....

Voz said...

Anyone here ever seen Ride Vaquero with Anthony Quinn, Ava Gardner, Robert Taylor, and Howard Keel? I haven't seen it in many years but I enjoyed it as a kid. I just watched the new 3:10 to Yuma with the commentary and also The Cowboys interviews with several of the main actors and director just recently done. Bruce Dern and Roscoe Lee Brown were/are both liberals and didn't know how they'd like working with Wayne who was a Republican, but both of them were amazed at Wayne's willingness to work with them...and all they admit all the things they learned from Wayne about playing their characters.

I love Open Range...probably one of my favorite westerns.. Duvall is great...Costner's commentary on that film is very insightful into the process of making the film as well as some great stories from the filming.
I have always enjoyed Wayne's later films, although I've seen lots of his B&W films as well...all of his have a high rewatchability factor...just watched The War Wagon with Kirk Douglas last week with my 9 year old.
Silverado is always fun to watch,
I liked Duel at Diablo also...I think I saw it mentioned on the site once and I went out and found a copy.
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance is classic.
Eastwood's westerns were more pessimistic and more ambiguous and I picked up on that but never knew those terms at a young age so I gravitated towards the Duke...
I have not yet seen Sergeant Rutledge but it's in my queue.
Maverick was hilarious as well as Blazing Saddles and Support Your Local Sheriff.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, Randolph Scott is great. I've enjoyed every film I've seen him in.

AndrewPrice said...

Voz, "Open Range" is fantastic. "The War Wagon" is good too. "Maverick" was really funny. I enjoyed that a lot. Agreed on the re-watchability of John Wayne films.

I definitely recommend "Sergeant Rutledge."

Anonymous said...

As to Quigley Down Under, to me it is another movie about how Americans think Australia is/was and doesn't often gel with the way I see it. It reminds me of a lot of old movies I grew up watching where they had Poms playing and writing the Australian characters and not doing that good a job.

I can understand why Americans might like it, but I watched it and shook my head.

Scott.

AndrewPrice said...

Scott, I can understand that.

In all honesty though, I liked the movie because I thought it was a decent "western." The fact it was supposed to be set in Australia never really connected with me. In other words, I've never taken any aspect of it as representing any sort of truth about Australia... it was just a Tom Selleck sort-of western.

KRS said...

Andrew, you started a good, long thread and I can't think of a good western that someone didn't mention. The lists of favorite westerns being noted here are long and varied. The thread is long, too, suggesting that you've touched a nerve.

So, the age old question that we've chewed on before - what the hell happened to the western?

AndrewPrice said...

KRS, An excellent question. Hollywood still does Westerns, they are just more rare and more cynical. But it would seem that there is a large audience for genuine westerns.

Anonymous said...

It's been ages since I've seen it, but I'd like to second Rustler's Rhapsody. Of course it's no Blazing Saddles, but it has its charm.

Anyone for Shanghai Noon? No? How about The Apple Dumpling Gang? LOL

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