The time has come for another movies list – this time it is the top 10 westerns. It is a fascinating genre that has provided the film world with some of the greatest cinemaphotography in all moviedom.
10. The Searchers 1956, John Ford
Ethan Edwards, an ex-Confederate soldier from the Indian Wars, finds that his family has been massacred and his niece captured by the Comanches and vows to bring her back and kill everyone of the Indians who did this to him. He travels for five years in order to find her and when he does realizes even though she has been found she has become one of them.
9. Rio Bravo 1959, Howard Hawks
The sheriff of a small town in southwest Texas must keep custody of a murderer whose brother, a powerful rancher, is trying to help him escape. After a friend is killed trying to muster support for him, he and his deputies – a disgraced drunk and a cantankerous old cripple – must find a way to hold out against the rancher’s hired guns until the marshal arrives.
8. A Fistful of Dollars 1964, Sergio Leone
An anonymous, but deadly man rides into a town torn by war between two factions, the Baxters and the Rojo’s. Instead of fleeing or dying, as most others would do, the man schemes to play the two sides off each other, getting rich in the bargain.
7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969, George Roy Hill
Butch and Sundance are the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Butch is all ideas, Sundance is all action and skill. The west is becoming civilized and when Butch and Sundance rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them no matter where they run. Over rock, through towns, across rivers, the group is always just behind them.
6. For a Few Dollars More 1965, Sergio Leone
Two bounty hunters are after the same man, Indio. At first, they go their own ways, but eventually get together to try and find him. But are they after him for the same reason?
5. High Noon 1952, Fred Zinnemann
A retiring lawman about to leave town with his new bride seeks allies among the fearful townspeople when an outlaw he put in prison returns with his gang to take revenge in this classic western.
4. Unforgiven 1992, Clint Eastwood
The town of Big Whisky is full of normal people trying to lead quiet lives. Cowboys try to make a living. Sheriff ‘Little Bill’ tries to build a house and keep a heavy-handed order. The town whores just try to get by.Then a couple of cowboys cut up a whore. Unsatisfied with Bill’s justice, the prostitutes put a bounty on the cowboys. The bounty attracts a young gun billing himself as ‘The Schofield Kid’, and aging killer William Munny.
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948, John Huston
Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster.
2. Once Upon a Time in the West 1968, Sergio Leone
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad in this long frontier epic. Mysterious pasts and the strength of loyalties is explored amid lightning fast gun battles and stylish vistas.
1. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 1966, Sergio Leone
The Good is Blondie, a wandering gunman with a strong personal sense of honor. The Bad is Angel Eyes, a sadistic hitman who always hits his mark. The Ugly is Tuco, a Mexican bandit who’s always only looking out for himself. Against the backdrop of the Civil War, they search for a fortune in gold buried in a graveyard.
Afterword
Do you think I have left off a great movie or put them in the wrong order? Tell me what you would have done differently.
Sources: Synopsis details courtesy of IMDB
Leaving “Shane” off the list is profoundly retarded. You can’t name a more representative and influential example of the genre.
As much as I like Eastwood, Pale Rider was a complete ripoff of Shane.
WHAT?? What about “They call me Trinity” or “Trinity’s still my name” ??
Shanghigh Noon??
Rio Lobo is an alltime favorite also.
There is a difference between a “Western movie” and a movie that takes place in the “West”.
A major plus to Sergio Leone’s contributions to this list?
Ennio Morricone’s scores.
200 is a long way off.
My suggestion is to re-do this list. Separate the movies “based in the West” from the rip roaring fast gunfights movies like Magnificent Seven. This is the main reason you are being castigated left and right up and down.
Not a western fan, but I’ll help someone win the DVD.
Hell, I’ll take it if I win.
I don’t think that Treasure of the Sierra Madre should have been included. It takes place in Mexico, but is not a “Western” in the traditional sense. I would vote for inclusion of Shane, The Magnificent Seven, and My Darling Clementine, and exclude Sierra Madre, Butch Cassidy, and as good as it is, Rio Bravo.
It is a disgrace that the list does not include Warlock(1951)
I didn’t think The Treasure of the Sierra Madre belonged with the other movies either, but I’m not entirely sure how to define what a Western is either so I didn’t say anything.
3:10 to Yuma! (Just Saw It)
And Pale Rider (’84 Clint Eastwood effort)
Don’t know where’d they go on the list but I thought they should be mentioned too…
Ooh! Ooh! THE THREE AMIGOS!!
I am amazed you do not include “The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance”. This is required viewing on many University courses on films – also what about “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon”???
It doesn’t look like his list is going to reach 200 posts. Would anyone win the DVD then?
smac: it will eventually
i never liked westerns because my dad only watched bad d-grade westerns when we were kids
actually our tv viewing looked like this:
westerns, westerns, lawrence welk, westerns, westerns, shirley temple movies, westerns, westerns, bad variety shows (barbara mandrell and sisters!- blecch)
For those of you that have not seen Open Range, give it a chance. Great story line and great action. It really is a great work by Costner.
Silverado, Paint Your Wagon, A Man Called Horse, Tombstone, Jeramiah Johnson are all good. I’m surprised there isn’t anything very recent on the list. jfrater: have you thought about creating lists based on user voting or at least the order of the lists?
islanderbst: I actually enjoyed the Mandrell Sisters but I was 8 or 9 then. Did you ever watch Hee-Haw? My redneck past is nipping at my heels . . .
yeah, hee haw was good because it had a bit of everything: jokes, music, and i always laughed at minnie pearl
jaguar: i kinda liked open range, but it seemed kinda um, lightweight? almost like a cliff notes western
I was really young when hee haw was on. I remember liking it though. Probably because it was called “hee haw” and when you’re 3 just saying “hee haw” is a blasty blast.
Sed: My sister was always scared of the cartoon donkey in the end credits. She ran out of the room when he came on the screen.
so my dad was a john wayne fan, but ive only liked 1 of his movies ive seen, called “hatari”, but it wasnt a western, it was set on an african preserve and it had a neat scene where they are trying to lasso a rhino from their vehicle
The only John Wayne movie I’ve ever seen is Stagecoach. That was pretty good and I thought it would be on this list especially since it jmpstarted the genre.
What about Red Sun w/ Charles Bronson, The War Wagon, or Hang ‘em High? And the movie with Raquel Welch and Robert Culp, Hannie Caulder, I think.
High Plains Drifter has always been my favorite.
As for comedic westerns, Evil Roy Slade, Support Your Local Sheriff, and Support Your Local Gunfighter.
Still no Blazing Saddles? Unbelievable!
I really can’t get behind a list that puts The Searchers at number 10. It may be the best movie of any kind ever made. Certainly better than the spaghetti westerns listed (which I love, but FOUR of the top ten? No. Not so much.) and Unforgiven, which put me to sleep the first 3 times I tried to watch it.
What is a spaghetti western? I’ve heard the term but never knew what it meant.
smac- they made some westerns in europe (italy, spain and what not)
sergio leone was from italy
cheap crews and locales that looked just like ameircan southwest
italy=spaghetti
Oh, that makes sense now. Thanks.
Sergio lover. If you love spaghetti so much, where’s “They Call Me Trinity”?
westerns are gonna have to make a serious comeback if were gettin to 200!
maybe costner could make Dances with wolves 2: attack of the casinos
or dig up john wayne, andrew mcarthy and jonathan silverman for “Weekend at the Dukes”
I’m going to try to revive this thread so we can get to 200 and someone can win the DVD (hopefully me).
Now that ’3.10 to Yuma’ has been remade, what other Westerns do you think should be done again? Or should no Western be remade?
well. only 42 comments to go.
Westerns are dead.
The traditional western, (the white lawmen tracking down dark skinned bandits, while avoiding ‘injuns’), are clearly done.
And with violence being greatly toned down in Hollywood, they are only making bland, historical context type films (like Open Range)or postmodern or hipster-ironic films with a western setting (Brokeback).
So with the poor box office showings of recent westerns, clearly westerns arent resonating with moviegoers, either through the old west setting or the familiar themes of family, justice, etc.
With political correctness and changing viewer tastes, I believe westerns can not be successful now or any time soon. And if Hollywood tried, say by getting Quentin Tarantino to ‘reinvent’ the genre, then it won’t really be a western, will it?
Islanderbst: To me, No Country for Old Men, except for the year it took place, was a western. Cops, assassins, outlaws, Mexican standoffs, violent shootouts, a satchel filled with millions of dollars in cash, themes of morality, causality, and fate, as well as extreme long shots and an absence of a musical score; everything about it reminds me of a good ol’ western. I think the western will always have a place in American film, as long as good scripts are being written.
borg- you’re right, a good script will always be in style
i havent seen ‘no country’ yet, i really want to
I have haven’t seen ‘No Country for Old Men’ either. I heard good things about Javier Bardem. I’ll probably see it when it comes on TV in several months. That’s what I usually do.
This thread is drying up. Two hundred seems so far away, must have water.
This is the Old West we’re discussing here. I think grain alcohol would be more appropriate.
if it wasn’t for the spaghetti westerns this list would be kinda weak!
Mmmm…spaghetti and grain alcohol…(drool)
34 to go
I’ve never been a fan of westerns but both my parents are crazy about them. I really enjoyed “No Country For Old Men” though which many consider to be a modern western.
The only reason I’m writing this is so that the 200th comment will come sooner and some lucky person wins a DVD.
lets go
wow this one is slow
Are you realy trying to win this one too?
hey ive been trying;
hoping for more “deadwood”; seems like its all over
This could be our own Oak Island Money Pit, buried treasure, never recovered.
Yes, I AM :>
I just saw ‘Way Out West’ today. Can that be considered a Western?
smac: I think it would.
3:10 To Yuma shoul be on here
So should No Country For Old Men
You guys are still beating this dead horse? I guess I am helping you along a little. Csimmons, I hope oyu are not 201 this time.
If i am, then I might just go nuts.