Posted on 03/11/2017 10:56:52 AM PST by nickcarraway
Louis L’Amour hated “High Noon”. He said the idea of all the townspeople being scared and the one hero standing up to the bad guy or guys was stupid.
He said most of them would have been veterans of the Civil War and not easily frightened.
Surprised I haven’t seen John Wayne’s 1960 “The Alamo” on the list so far. The movie is great, but the story of how Wayne got it made and why he did is even better. The DVD has a great extra feature telling that story. The major studios wouldn’t touch it so Wayne did the entire production himself — starring, directing, and producing! All to make sure the story was told correctly.
I was just going to type the same. This list needs the good the bad and the ugly.
The main problem with a top 10 list of Westerns is there were just too many good ones to narrow it down.
Fine list but my #1 choice would be “The Outlaw Josey Wales.”
“Vow to endeavor to persevere.”
It is on my list as #1.
Nice article.
“Most cowboys in fact were blacks and Latinos”
Where did this idea come from? I’be seen this assertion several times.
“Agreed. The original (wo Suzanne Pleshette).”
She was in “Support Your Local Gunfighter,” not, “Support Your Local Sheriff”.
Joan Hackett was in “Support Your Local Sheriff”.
I have always enjoyed “How the West Was Won” (1962). IMDB - “A family saga covering several decades of Westward expansion in the nineteenth century - including the Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the building of the railroads.”
Because it spans multiple generations of one family, it has a huge cast with a lot of Western favorites. Many of the greats in the cast are short cameos, but still it is an amazing collection of fine actors and actresses. If you like “can-do” stories of ordinary Americans, you’ll like this. This movie was made before America lost its way and when people still celebrated America and patriotism. The ending scene showing modern America in 1962 gives great credit to the achievements made in our country after the “west was won.” The sense of victory and conquest was still alive 17 years after the end of WW II and before Viet Nam destroyed it.
Cast (in credits order)
Carroll Baker ... Eve Prescott
Lee J. Cobb ... Marshal Lou Ramsey
Henry Fonda ... Jethro Stuart
Carolyn Jones ... Julie Rawlings
Karl Malden ... Zebulon Prescott
Gregory Peck ... Cleve Van Valen
George Peppard ... Zeb Rawlings
Robert Preston ... Roger Morgan
Debbie Reynolds ... Lilith Prescott
James Stewart ... Linus Rawlings
Eli Wallach ... Charlie Gant
John Wayne ... Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Richard Widmark ... Mike King
Walter Brennan ... Col. Jeb Hawkins
Andy Devine ... Cpl. Peterson
Raymond Massey ... Abraham Lincoln
Agnes Moorehead ... Rebecca Prescott
Harry Morgan ... Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Spencer Tracy ... Narrated by (voice)
One of my favorites, but not really a Western.
I LOVE High Noon, it is a western that appeals to chicks as well as tough guys. Very suspenseful, I think, very well done.
Yeah, for me “Open Range” is right up there. The remake of “3:10 to Yuma” is pretty damn good too.
CC
That’s right......as well as Open Range, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Shane and let’s not forget Blazing Saddles.......(snort)........;)
Yup. Maybe they hoped for similar success with a better known name. Good, but not as good as the original, IMO.
Open Range was a great movie, along with Broken Trail. The Outlaw Josey Wales is one of the greatest movies of all time, not just a Western, in my opinion. It’s about a journey to redemption, a return to peace and civilization after a horrible war, the connections that make us all human and about much needed vengeance. What a great story, with great acting and direction.
Placemark...
It lacks a lot of things - decent dialogue for one, but it's an iconic movie with three powerful actors.
I still have "BLONDIE!" echoing in my ears after all these years.
Big Hand for a Little Lady
Unforgiven.
The Cowboys
Tombstone
Liberty Valance
Lonesome Dove series
Hell or Highwater
Pale Rider
My name is nobody
Blazing Saddles
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
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