Posted on 12/29/2004 3:00:15 PM PST by pissant
Top 10 Best Westerns of All Time:
1. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Sergio Leone's quintessential Western epic made Clint Eastwood the torchbearer in the genre and cemented Lee Van Cleef as one of the greatest movie villains of all time.
2. Shane - The archetypal Western plotline of the stranger who befriends a family and saves them from evil set the tone for all that swam in it’s wake, including The Unforgiven, the most blatant (and best) Shane knockoff.
3. High Noon - A case study in movie making, High Noon is among the first films to take place in real time.
4. The Wild Bunch - Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent epic still packs quite a punch.
5. High Plains Drifter - The most badass revenge flick ever made. Clint's The Man With No Name could kick Dirty Harry's ass.
6. The Unforgiven - There would be no Unforgiven without Shane.
7. Outlaw Josey Wales - Practically a remake of High Plains Drifter but with more backstory, sub-plots and fully developed characters. You can still feel the sting of that darned whip!
8. Treasure of the Sierra Madre - A later-era Western to be sure, but a terrific character study in greed and trust, and a fine example of why we are still talking about Bogart to this day. The man oozes star power.
9. A Fistful of Dollars - The beginning of Sergio and Clint's Dollars series, this is the best of the bunch.
10. Once Upon a Time in the West - Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson lead this all-star cast. Never in cinematic history has a harmonica been the source of so much tension.
Do ya'll agree or disagree?
(Excerpt) Read more at clinteastwood.org ...
How could one not love it? Just a great movie!
It is, even if it is a remake of an even better film, The Seven Samurai.
I think when he mentioned a remake of "High Plains Drifter" he meant to say "Pale Rider" which was the Eastwood directed version of this plot line.
I agree with including Blazing Saddles along with another classic that many people don't realize was made tongue-in-cheek - "Once Upon a Time in the West" - with a stellar cast and a send-up of just about every conceivable western cliche.
I can recommend several excellent places for grub, if you are interested. And if you are a beer or wine drinker, Seattle can't be beat.
Yes, "Tombstone," definitely. A terrific film! While not exactly historically accurate, neither are a lot of Westerns.
"Head them off at the pass? I hate that cliche." BLAM!
Please let me know. The places in Belltown are AWFUL!
yeah, agree on that, it's a terrible flick...
Fort Apache--Henry Fonda
ANY one with John Wayne.
Hard not to throw all the rest of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood westerns in there too, along with The Magnificent 7. I have all these on DVD.
I just reread and realized I was not clear in my previous post. Pale Rider is a remake of High Plains Drifter, and the original list mistakenly has The Outlaw Josey Wales as the remake. It's a completely different story.
You almost might have said, "even if it is (like almost every other movie) a remake of... The Seven Samurai."
I've never seen that, though; it's in our Blockbuster queue. We just recently saw Rashomon.
Dan
there was a movie called the Red Sun, with some no-name actors I saw as part of a double feature with John Wayne's McQ (a cop classic). It was fascinating in my youth, anyway. Chinese guy and a cowboy go after the bad guys.
And if you don't agree with me...well then "Iuventus Stultorum Magister".....(taps the grip on his pistol....)
Oh, you can't miss. Just a great movie. You have to forget some of their politics (as usual), but: Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Jeff Goldblum, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese (yes, that's right: John Cleese), and Linda Hunt. Great cast, great script, great scenese... great fun!
Dan
"The Cowboys" with John Wayne..
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
True Grit
Lonesome Dove
The Gunfighter
then I gotta question his judgement.
I wanted to add Hud and Quigley Down Under, but they're about cowboys not true westerns.
Try Chinoise on the top of Queen Anne for great asian food. The 74th street Alehouse on Phinney Ridge or Bics in Greenwood for excellent pub grub, Circa in West Seattle (Admiral & California) for high end & the best pub grub. Jaks Grill in the West Seattle junction for Steaks that are better than the fancy places and alot cheaper.
All mentioned above have good, casual atmospheres. Cheers.
""The Cowboys" with John Wayne.."
Not a classic western, but fun nonetheless.
This guy left out every John Wayne film and True Grit and Stagecoach would be on just about every great western list. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre? Good movie but no western.
And the Searchers.
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