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?"
Sounds like "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
A lot of great things about that movie, but the sound stage sets drag it down a few ranks.
ah High Noon....an analogy to the Hollywood communist trials in the 50s. Conservative John Wayne figured it out and would not do it...Conservative Gary Cooper did not get the analogy so he took the part....
I have mixed feeling towards it.
Best music has to go to “The Big Country”. Jerome Moross.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifxqOVt_YE8
2 not mentioned yet
The Professionals
Big Jake
Dances with Wolves
Little Big Man
Chato's Land (Charles Bronson) Didn't see it anywhere here so maybe you all missed a great movie.
Broken Trail
Josey Wales
Red River
True Grit
Open Range
I like Shane...but that annoying kid makes it lose credibility with me.
I put it in my top 20 though.
Filmed in New Jersey it took aim at it's audience with
Justus Barnes pointing the way (six shooter!)
I picked High Noon as my favorite, but you guys have reminded me of an awful lot of other great ones. Almost forgot Magnificent Seven until someone mentioned it. There are just a lot of goid ones, but I picked High Noon as it is a classic whose total story of the embattled Marshal standing alone against the bad guys as the whole town goes into hiding has been written about time and time again as an example. I think George Will compared it to something in a column about a couple of years ago. When people say the name “Will Caine” it immediately invokes memories.
Can’t go by titles since ny Netflix queue has been loaded up with Westerns for the past two years. Stars, yes.
1. John Wayne
2. Randolph Scott
3. Gary Cooper
4. Clint Eastwood
5. Glenn Ford
Although, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and A Fistful of Dollars, are right up there. That’s as modern as I get with my Westerns.
It’s not an American Western, but Quigley Down Under, Tom Selleck is one of my all time favorite gun-play movies. ... “You idiot, he’s hit everything he’s aimed at!” ... “Never said I didn’t know how to use one.”
Ps. Why am I getting asked for a password when I click on this thread. Someone’s got a funky link posted.
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The Searchers, Tombstone, Ulzana’s Raid, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, High Noon, Stage Coach, They Died With Their Boots On, Broken Arrow, Geronimo: An American Legend.
A wonderful compilation of western music themes from TV and movies is on the CD “Round-Up” by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. It’s incredible, imho.
The Searchers
True Grit
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Shane
Silverado
Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid
Fort Apache
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Two Mules for Sister Sarah
The Magnificent Seven
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