View Full Version : Greatest Western Movie of all time
Grand58742
07-27-19, 22:16
Since we're on the "Greatest Movie" kick, I figure I'll toss in something guaranteed to make us fight.
Greatest Western Movie.
Ten great flicks on the list (in my opinion). Sadly, only ten possible picks for the list. But there are a lot of great westerns out there so there could be some justification for an addition to the list.
Honorable Mention: Blazing Saddles.
Really, Blazing Saddles? Not Appaloosa, Open Range, Hondo, The Searchers, True Grit, Stagecoach, Red River, Dances with Wolves or Shane?
m1a_scoutguy
07-27-19, 23:08
WOW,, some awesome movies and all tough choices! I picked Rio Bravo but with a heavy heart, LOL Love Tombstone and Butch Cassidy & the Sundance kid but didn't pick them cuz I'm sure Hollywood screwed up the storyline somehow. I still like them both for the entertainment value as great Westerns! Any and ALL Clint Eastwood Westerns are top picks for sure ! Anyways almost an impossible pick ! Yes I always watch Open Range when its on,great flick for sure ! I always "quote Costner" with the line: "hows this gonna work if you don't do as I say: when he is telling Sue Barlow (Annette Bening) to heads back to town when they are leaving to finish the cattle drive. Wife just laughs and says F you,,,LOL
Grand58742
07-27-19, 23:08
Really, Blazing Saddles? Not Appaloosa, Open Range, Hondo, The Searchers, True Grit, Stagecoach, Red River, Dances with Wolves or Shane?
I had to throw in Blazing Saddles just because there aren't really any funny westerns.
And the fact it's a timeless classic.
Whoa now partner, if we're talking funny westerns we can't forget Cat Ballou, Paint Your Wagon, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, North to Alaska, The Cheyenne Social Club and Waterhole #3.
You left out a lot of my favorites, some are classics -
3:10 to Yuma - better than the remake, which was good.
The Wild Bunch - one of the bloodiest westerns I recall seeing.
True Grit - like the remake better than the original.
Red River - my favorite John Wayne Western, even above True Grit.
And for light hearted - Cat Ballou starring a pert-breasted, pre- Hanoi, Jane Fonda.
Plus, Shane and Ol' Yeller, dang, what kind of leftist leaves them off the list? :rolleyes: (re: leftist - liking Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou and Barbarella doesn't count - they came before 'I'm not Fond'a Hanoi Jane.')
Tombstone is the most fun, but Open Range might be my favorite. Comes across more authentic.
Paint your Wagon
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Once Upon a Time In the West
The_War_Wagon
07-28-19, 05:45
I can't choose BETWEEN "Tombstone," and "The Outlaw Josey Wales." Both are great, for very different reasons. Split the trophy.
Outlaw Josey Wales is a favorite.
BoringGuy45
07-28-19, 06:38
Favorites:
3:10 to Yuma (loved the remake)
Silverado
Outlander Systems
07-28-19, 08:00
Fistful of Shekels.
I picked Unforgiven but only becuase Open Range wasn't there. Lot's of great choices kind of like deciding what's the best pistol of all time.
I am sorry, but I cannot choose just one from that list. I like numerous in that group, but there are plenty of others not mentioned. If some of you might remember, my family ranch hosted Pat Garrett and his posse the Winter of 1880-1881 in the hunt for the Kid, aka William Bonney, Billy the Kid. We were on the main trail going from Fort Sumner to Las Vegas and to Santa Fe. My great grandfather (born 1856) and his brother (born 1848) were involved in a gunfight in Las Vegas, New Mexico at one time.
My family also provides horses to the movie industry, back to the 1950's including films like "The Man from Laramie" with Jimmy Stewart. Lots of Westerns get filmed here. We provided horses to the remake of 3:10 to Yuma and Appaloosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. I was on the set of both of those films. When I was still in the Army, my Dad and a fellow rancher also provided horses for the movie "Silverado".
For some of the films not mentioned, I like the Richard Harris film "Man in the Wilderness" and "The Revenant" about Hugh Glass. I also like "Jeremiah Johnson" with Redford. One film that was not a western, but portions shot directly north of where I am typing this is Red Dawn. It takes place in Colorado, but was filmed in NE New Mexico. Not many know that.
For some of the films not mentioned, I like the Richard Harris film "Man in the Wilderness" and "The Revenant" about Hugh Glass. I also like "Jeremiah Johnson" with Redford. One film that was not a western, but portions shot directly north of where I am typing this is Red Dawn. It takes place in Colorado, but was filmed in NE New Mexico. Not many know that.
I think the mountain man/fur trapper era whould be a different genre than the classic western, but those are all great movies. Only gripe is Redford is too small to do Jeremiah Johnson justice, kinda like Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, movies are good but at the back of the mind is the nagging thought that there is a small man playing a big man role.
As a matter of fact I think a best western list should really be divided by date made, 30-40's, 50's, 60-70's and 80's to present. I think for it's time Shane was one of the best westerns ever made, but how do you pick it as best in competition with Open Range, Unforgiven or Tombstone. True Grit is another example, both excellent movies, they both deserve to be on a best list for their different time frames.
The films that didn't make the list, but should have...
El Dorado (pull Rio Bravo and replace with this far better version)
True Grit (both versions. The 2nd was arguably better, but the 1st had John Wayne)
But come on, is there really any doubt? The winner is...
The Outlaw Josey Wales
I had to throw in Blazing Saddles just because there aren't really any funny westerns.
McLintock!
The Frisco Kid
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Hawmps!
Support Your Local Gunfighter
My Name Is Nobody
Maverick
The Hallejujah Trail
The Three Amigos
Cockeyed Cowboys Of Calico County
Just a few to help expand your watch list
The greatest western ever made, without a doubt, is The Shootist. John Wayne's last movie and was only made possible by the supreme efforts from some of Hollywood's best talent.
But come on, is there really any doubt? The winner is...
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Like John Wayne, Clint Eastwood used a stock company of actors for various films. One actor was Woodrow Parfrey. He was the patent medicine carpetbagger with the white suit coat that Josey spit his wad of tobacco on. Clint has always been good about keeping other actors employed for MALPASO productions.
In The Outlaw Josey Wales, at the beginning you have Bloody Bill Anderson riding up to Josey's farm. That actor was John Russell, made famous by playing Dan Troop in the Warner Brothers TV series, Lawman. He also was the contract killer in Pale Rider. Eastwood knew a lot of these actors from his Warner Brothers days and knew their work.
donlapalma
07-28-19, 13:26
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly takes my vote from that list. Unforgiven and Tombstone are also favorites of mine. All-in-all, not a bad movie on that list.
Unforgiven is my favorite. Tombstone is also excellent. And I also really enjoyed Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner, Sam Harris, and Dennis Quaid. That is an under appreciated film that unfortunately released about the same time as Tombstone.
1_click_off
07-28-19, 14:13
Young Guns would be next on the list after those that have been mentioned earlier, except Paint Your Wagon. That is still way low on the list.
I had forgotten about The Shootist, but that should have been on the list, and I am surprised The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance hasn't received any votes. It may not the best western, but it's way up there.
I'm also surprised The Magnificent Seven hasn't received more votes.
High Noon - no votes doesn't surprise me, and Butch Cassidy was a great feel good movie and as usual, an outstanding job was done by Newman and Redford (mostly Newman), but it was't much of a true western.
It's interesting to see Tombstone and Josey Wales neck and neck. I'm kind of surprised it's not more lopsided.
nightchief
07-28-19, 17:03
The Wild Bunch
This!
I voted for Tombstone only because you didn’t put Blazing Saddles on the list.
Young Guns.
Honorable Mention:
Tombstone
Open Range
Fistful of Dollars
Since my family's has included territorial New Mexico, I have a perspective on things that many don't who haven't lived out here. First of too many westerns are too clean - frontier towns were filthy. Secondly, not everyone carried guns in most of these "civilized" communities, but fringe settlements were a little more raw, with a mixture of tougher characters not playing by social rules.
One thing that New Mexico has offered the film industry are actual ghost towns that were raw and violent places. Case in point is a town called La Posta del Rio Puerco, later called Cabezon. This was a Spanish community on the Star Mail/Stage Route between Santa Fe & Prescott, Arizona. It had one main street, a hotel, church, two stores and regular houses. It dates from the late 18th Century but in the 1870's had some German merchants operating there. In 1881, a 13th Infantry Captain named Arthur McArthur came thru there on the stage with wife and kids on the way to Fort Wingate, New Mexico. One of these kids was a baby named Douglas McArthur (the future famous General) They would have stopped at La Posta del Rio Puerco to change horses and get some food. I know people from that area and have spent time there myself.
Here embeded is the film: My Name is Nobody, an Italian Western filmed in New Mexico, and the opening 8-10 minute sequence was filmed in La Posta del Rio Puerco, New Mexico. This demonstrates how raw the west really was. The raw sound editing in this sequence are memorable:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2r3eb0
Once Upon a Time In the West
A big plus 1
Westworld on HBO [emoji1787]
My top 3
Outlaw Josey Wales
Unforgiven
Open Range
Followed closely by a herd of others
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Adrenaline_6
07-29-19, 08:54
McLintock!
The Frisco Kid
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Hawmps!
Support Your Local Gunfighter
My Name Is Nobody
Maverick
The Hallejujah Trail
The Three Amigos
Cockeyed Cowboys Of Calico County
Just a few to help expand your watch list
The greatest western ever made, without a doubt, is The Shootist. John Wayne's last movie and was only made possible by the supreme efforts from some of Hollywood's best talent.
LOL...loved that whole series as a kid. They call me Trinity and Trinity is still my name was before that one. Good times. Terence Hill and Paul Sorvino were great.
Doc Safari
07-29-19, 11:40
"The Searchers" not even one of the choices?
The Searchers.
Not many know it was based on true events.
This movie should have won Wayne his first Oscar.
Shane earns a nod as well.
"The Searchers" not even one of the choices?
I'm afraid this list excludes a great many of films more deserving of being on the list over others. (Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, El Dorado... all pretty much the same formulaic movie). Pale Rider? Puhlees...it "pales" in comparison.
How about Red River? Does Treasure of the Sierra Madre count? (We don't need no stinkin' baaadges!)
Forgot to mention - The Professionals needs to be on the list, and maybe a close second to Josey Wales as best of the best.
Averageman
07-29-19, 14:54
"The Searchers" not even one of the choices?
The Searchers.
Not many know it was based on true events.
This movie should have won Wayne his first Oscar.
Shane earns a nod as well.
Both movies are in my all time top ten.
My favorite type of movie. I like both kinds "Country and Western" Anything with Clint. CE is in 3 of the above.
PB
If we open it up to a mini-series, Lonesome Dove.
Hammer_Man
07-30-19, 23:24
Unforgiven, Tombstone, Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Lonesome Dove (I know not technically a movie).
daddyusmaximus
07-31-19, 07:53
No "Winchester 73" ... Shame on you.
I went with Rio Bravo.
It was a toss up between that or Tombstone.
It's probably more of a mini-series then a movie, but had "Lonesome Dove" been on there, all bets would have been off.
sundance435
07-31-19, 08:37
Rio Bravo for old-timey, good vs. bad Westerns (though High Noon was more groundbreaking in that sense), but I voted "Unforgiven" . It's more what I imagine the Wild West was like and explored the darker side that few Westerns had before.
Lonesome Dove was just a long movie and my favorite.
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