Posted on 11/13/2010 9:31:23 AM PST by JoeProBono
"What components make a western truly great? That depends on who's asking, as there are so many subgenres and different takes. There's the classic, the Spaghetti western, the singing cowboy western, the comedy western and the contemporary western. We tend to favor the slow-moving epics à la Leone over fast shoot-'em-ups, and our gunslingers and cowboys to be complex, stoic characters faced with morally difficult situations we believe are microcosms for all of life. There were many contenders for this very American genre—even though some of the finest were shot by an Italian. We've also tried to include a couple of rare choices that do not easily spring to mind, such as the Australian oeuvre "The Proposition." After all, you can Google John Wayne yourself. But what list of top westerns would be complete without The Duke?"
One of the first of many western paperbacks I have read, almost 50 years ago.
Hi, Dolly and company.
In no particular order:
The Wild Bunch
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
The Professionals
The Magnificent Seven
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Fort Apache
Tombstone
Water Hole #3
Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid
El Dorado
Jack.
Damn smartass “muleskinner”.
"Fill you hands you son of a bitch!"
“That’s big talk for a one eyed fat man”.
Good one.
Recently saw an old John Wayne movie on TV. I think it was *The Cowboys*
Wayne has to get his cattle to market and the only ones that applied for the job were young boys...the youngest was 14. The cattle were rustled and the Wayne charter killed. The boys with the help of the cook (black actor cannot remember his name), took back the herd, killed the rustlers and got the herd to market. The town was stunned when all these kids brought in the cattle....They purchased a head stone for the Wayne character and when they went back to put in on his grave they couldn't find the place due to the growth around the meadow. The cook said to put it anyplace boys as he was at home in the meadow (paraphrased)
I think it was called "The cowboys"....
alan Ladd was a short guy and I read where in a lot of his movies, he had to stand on a box with the leading ladies...
Thanks, i liked it but must not have like it that much if I can’t remember the name.
Oooooo..ooooh I just watched that finale...now will watch the movie...great ending!
Silverado, the Velveeta of westerns.
Wasn’t the studio that changed the ending, it was Howard Hawks. He never liked the idea of his characters getting killed at the end. As his career went on, he got more into the characters and less what the plot “should” have determined.
I like the ending of Red River because it defuses all the phoney hate between the two. It’s actually a very advanced narrative idea. By the time Hawks got to Rio Lobo, though, he’d completely lost interest in coherent storytelling. But as late as El Dorado, he was making terrific movies.
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