Comments on: Top 10 Westerns

By: petet2112

petet2112 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:43:05 +0000

Hello saintronald. Thanks for your reply. “The Quiet Man” is a simple movie about Western life in the USA around the late 19th century. Its a beautiful and fantastic movie. Ward Bond always was a secondary character and never did lead roles but was very popular here in my country. As an example, he was in “Gone With The Wind”, “It Happened One Night”, both with Clark Gable, “The Maltese Falcon” with Bogart, “Its A Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart and another one would be “The Searchers” with John Wayne which many experts consider the greatest Western ever made. You being from Australia, here in the US, obviously “Mad Max” with Mel. Every American has seen that one. But two of the best movies that I have seen that are Australian are “Gallipoli” again with Mel (I also have an interest as to why that WWI battle turned out to be a disaster for Australia, I should study up on it) and the other one that I loved was “Rabbit Proof Fence” (I found it odd to see the British actor Kenneth Branagh as a very bad guy in a role). Baseball films : “The Pride Of The Yankees” speaks for itself with Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig. “The Stratton Story, starring Jimmy Stewart, is also a true story of a Baseball pitcher named Monty Stratton who plays for the Chicago team, The White Sox. He has a hunting accident which causes his leg to be amputated and was made a prosthetic leg and continued to pitch. Very inspiring. And actually, I have never heard of “Moneyball”. So I will try to find it. I do suggest “Field Of Dreams” and “Bull Durham” both with Kevin Costner. And “A League Of Their Own” with Geena Davis and Tom Hanks which is a true story about the AAGPBL (All American Girls Professional Baseball League). During WWII, all of the great Baseball stars went to serve during WWII and a women’s league resulted which was very popular, but when the war ended and all the stars came back, it died out. I am doing research right now on a matter that I have been trying to get an answer to for over 30 years. I am sure that you have heard of Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier as the first Black Man to play in Professional Baseball in 1947 with Brooklyn ? Well, back in 1884 when Baseball was in its infancy as a Professional Sport, a Black man played one season with a team from Toledo, Ohio and was a payed professional. His name was Moses Fleetwood Walker (1857-1924). So why wasn’t he credited with breaking the color barrier. Its interesting. About Cricket, I have seen it played here in the states and I actually don’t know anything about it, but when I watched it, It looked like a lot of fun and I enjoyed watching it. So my final entry to my message here is (and its about Cricket) What is the rule or term called a “Century” mean and how is it performed. Thank You my friend and I hope to chat with you later

By: saintronald1956

saintronald1956 — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:09:02 +0000

A movie buff…..me? Well, maybe a little bit of one. Don’t know “The Quiet Man” that well or Ward Bond’s work. Adored Maureen O’Hara though. I’m Australian and don’t know much about baseball (rugby league/cricket is more my go), but love baseball films. Gary Cooper’s “The Pride of the Yankees” Jimmy Stewart’s “The Stratton Story” (?) and “Moneyball” is very good. Am interested in the historical side of it though, although I don’t think that this is the right forum to continue this rapport, so e-mail me on ronald.mcnamara.com.au for further discussion on these topics if you like.

By: petet2112

petet2112 — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:15:20 +0000

Hello saintronald1956. Thank You for the reply and I get the feeling that you are a movie buff. I try to be one, but my hobby is being a Baseball Historian and have been for 25+ years. Another movie I would like to mention and really do not know if it would fit into the category of a Western, and also I am not very big on John Wayne, but “The Quiet Man” (1952) was fantastic to me as well. On the flip of the coin, I am a huge fan of the actor Ward Bond who was also in that movie. Look at a list of movie that he was in primarily as a secondary character (“Gentleman Jim” (1942) was my favorite with him in it). If not a Western, I would put “The Quiet Man” as the incarnation of Hollywood and the Irish. Thanks again for schooling me on Shane. No you have me going about the final scene when Joey is yelling out his name and he goes off into the sunset “Mortally Wounded”. I find that to be very thought provoking. and yes, Jack Palance was also great !!

By: saintronald1956

saintronald1956 — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:50:16 +0000

Flawless indeed.

From the opening scene, Shane riding in from the mountains, to the closing scene, Shane riding out and over the mountains (mortally wounded in my opinion), this classic undoubtedly stands the test of time.

Two actors here born to play their roles, Alan Ladd and Jack Palance as Shane and Wilson respectively. Perfect!

The sound (limited gunfire – for a western – exploding in your ears). The cinematography, just gorgeous. The music is just extraordinary. The so suitable (war) drums pounding away as Shane rides into town for the last showdown.

The thunder in the heavens as Elisha Cook Jr is gunned down mercilessly in the muddy street by Palance.

Palance dismounting from his horse to get water from the well (both he and Shane are eyeing each other off – both knowing that the other is not long for this world). The evil brothers. Ben Johnson, superb as a bad guy turned good guy. The two dogs at the final showdown (i’m serious)!

The dialogue:

(after Shane is perceived as a coward)

Shane – “You wouldn’t want me to back down, would ya Joey?”

Joey – “But Shane, there’s too many!”

(When Shane overhears that Wilson is coming to town)

Shane – “He’s fast, fast on the draw!”

(After Shane kills Wilson, the brothers and various others at the final showdown)

Joey – “Was that Wilson, Shane?”

Shane – “Yeah, that was him! He was quick, quick on the draw!”

And Shane’s final spin of his gun on his finger and then into his holster, with the wide-eyed Joey looking on in pure adoration at this….God.

So very many good things here. They just don’t make them like this anymore!

The best western……possibly, definitely in the top 3.

Shane – Once Upon A Time in the West – The Magnificent Seven.

By: beirutwedding

beirutwedding — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:58:51 +0000

Great call.

By: petet2112

petet2112 — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 02:18:32 +0000

@ saintronald. Shane with Alan Ladd is without a doubt my favorite Western of all. I’m not much on Westerns but that movie strikes home with me. An absolutely flawless movie. But the “You Talkin To Me ?” before De Niro, I now remember that. Very astute and observant on you part. Kudos to you.

By: saintronald1956

saintronald1956 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:47:43 +0000

“Shane”……..’You talkin’ to me?’……Yes, well before De Niro!

By: saintronald1956

saintronald1956 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:46:07 +0000

Yeah, great list! Too hard to rearrange to suit all. But hey, what about “The Magnificent Seven!”

By: beirutwedding

beirutwedding — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:44:18 +0000

“You don’t agree with me. Shame.”

Nice.

“You don’t agree with me. TRAVESTY.”

I mean, I don’t agree with the list but c’mon. And if you made a greatest Westerns list and left off Sergio Leone and John freakin’ Wayne you’d widely be regarded as either being an idiot or having an axe to grind. “Stateliness” is also not the sole criteria for greatness. I recognize that it’s had a profound impact on the culture because it’s well, Shane but I didn’t dig it. Alan Ladd might be the worst actor to become a major movie star. He himself flies in the face of your “flawless” assertion.

“I liked it so it is flawless. I didn’t like it, it”s a travesty.” It’s that kind of thinking that’s the biggest drawback on Listverse.

By: peter8172

peter8172 — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:57:05 +0000

This list has the word “TRAVESTY” written all over it. 4 of them star Clint Eastwood, 2 of them star John Wayne (whom I can’t stand, and 4 of them are directed by Sergio Leone the master of the spaghetti Western. A “Spaghetti Western” + Sergio Leone = MACHO which I am not totally interested in. But the biggest travesty of this list and probably all of LISTVERSE is the omission of the Western movie “Shane” (1953) starring Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, Jack Palance, Edgar Buchanan and child actor Brandon de Wilde. “Shane” is a classic and flawless Western. The novel upon it was based on won a Pulitzer Prize for writing by A.B. Guthrie Jr. Its a stately movie and worth savoring. Shame on you to the author of this list.