Breakheart Pass was not only a good Western, but one of the best train movies of all time.
Good list. Love the Wild Bunch and watch it on DVD. Also Clints spaghetti westerns.
Tombstone and the miniseries Lonesome Dove.
Could include Emperor of the North and Treasure of the Sierra Madre but some might balk at the classic Western designation.
These are all great, but Support Your Local Sheriff has to be in my top ten. ;-)
Let it never be doubted that American popular culture has conquered the world. Remember that the Western motif was essentially American morality tales.
Good list,visited Lone Pine California where some classics were filmed,also Monumemnt Valley where those John Ford Classics were filmed,one of the best trips of my life,also Sedona Arizona where another very good film Broken Arrow with James Stewart was filmed
great list, not hot for The Wild Bunch, or Once upon a Time in the West. Preferred Magnificent Seven to either those. Also like Cheyenne Autumn (Richard Widmark), McKenna’s Gold (Gregory Peck)My Darling Clementine (Henry Fonda). Also, anyone remember Henry Fonda in a shoot um up called Fire Creek?
Silverado is probably better than half the movies on your list.
I actually prefer Randolph Scott’s movies over John Wayne’s later 1965 movies.
Rio Bravo was remade as El Dorado and later as Rio Lobo. Rio Lobo starts as a Civil War story then turns into another Rio Bravo.
And let’s face it, some of Clark Gable and Errol flynn’s westerns were great!
“The Long Riders” & “The Hired Hand”
No Outlaw Jose Wales?
One of the better lists I have seen.
I would only change a few and that is not because I didn’t like the ones selected, just liked a few more better.
John Wayne always considered “Red River” as his best movie and I agree. He also always wore a belt buckle with the Red River “D” brand on it.
True Grit (the new one), Unforgiven, Gunsmoke, Liberty Valance, The Searchers, High Noon and Shane absolutely define the genre.
All others are copies of the above. And wish they had soared as high.
The Searchers is the best. Rio Bravo and its clones are lame. Hard to see putting any of those in a top ten list.
Stagecoach (1939)
Broken Trail (2006)
Open Range (2003)
Rio Bravo (1959)
3:10 to Yuma(The 1957 original The 2007 version is a tribute to gay-bdsm and is a travisty to the history of western movies!)
A Thunder of Drums (1961) (One of the great and often over looked Western works of author James Warner Bellah.)
John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy – Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) ( I know that’s cheating, but these three must be looked at as a whole.James Warner Bellah again I am luck in that I have his that these novies are based on.)
The Big Country (1958) (One of the few very long westerns that keep you engaged through the whole movie.)
The Missing (2003) (A good tell of failure and forgiveness.)
Westward the Women (1951) (A great tribute to western womanhood. Today’s feminist wouldn’t had made it to Rockies much less California.)
I am sure that many will disagree, but those are my choices and I am sticking with them.
I like to add that Broken Trail, Open Range, and 3:10 to Yuma are great movies to show boys how to be a man.
How about this entry?
The Villain (1979)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080097/
Starring;
Kirk Douglas as Cactus Jack
Ann-Margret as Charming Jones
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Handsome Stranger
Paul Lynde as Nervous Elk
That needs to be deconstructed a bit more. What was really going on was a communist infiltrated Hollywood was churning out anti-capitalist propaganda to subvert the American youth. Kids brought up on this 'entertainment' turned into the the counterculture of the late 50s and early 60s, and the radicals of the late 50s.
Now to a gander at your choices....
I cannot argue with your list. In my opinion The Searchers has to rate right up there with the best western made. Everything came together in that movie from the acting to the director to the scenery.
“Unforgiven” with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn
“Hondo” John Wayne
“3:10 To Yuma”. Glenn Ford
” The Professionals”. Ensemble cast with Gene Hackman