I’m not sure if we’ve had a recent westerns thread, but I was refining my top top 10 and here it is.
If anyone has a list of favorites, post them up.
Companeros (1970)
Death Rides a Horse (1967)
Django (1966)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
And God Said to Cain (1970)
Keoma (1976)
The Mercenary (1968)
The Great Silence (1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Tombstone (1993)
I like most of the John Ford westerns, and Robert Duvall is very charismatic in LDove, Open Range, Broken Trail
The Deadwood series was a lot of fun.
The Ox-bow Incident (1942) is a great illustration of mob and bias mentality, with Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn.
A smaller, older film than Raimi's Quick and the Dead and shares the same title, released in 1987 w/ Sam Elliott is a nice, traditional Western in contrast to Raimi's somewhat silly effort. Same style as Quigley but serious.
Always gotta go with High Noon (1952). It being a rebuke of the anti-communist hysteria of the time I find fascinating, as well as building of tension while eschewing action - which we do finally get.
I got a big kick out of Kirk Douglas' Man Without a Star (1955) when I ran into it randomly a while back.
Warlock (1959) is more complex than one might expect, with Fonda and Quinn again, as well as Richard Widmark.
For fans of Tombstone, My Darling Clementine (1946 - Fonda again !) is an early telling of the Wyatt Earp tale. Probably better.
I'm in the minority liking Eastwood's Pale Rider more than Unforgiven. They aren't far apart, but I like the muddy, bad weather mysteriousness of PR, plus the odd love triangle gives it some sad poignancy. For me, Unforgiven has a paint-by-numbers quality to it, too many stars servicing a rather trite story. I'd probably like it more if everyone hadn't raved about it at the time, but maybe not.
Heck, The Misfits is an untraditional Western, and that's an interesting movie.
So I'm very intrigued and appreciative of Westerns as a genre, but also with a critical eye. Wish I had an actual list but I don't keep one. But there's lots of 'em. Don't want to recommend The White Buffalo (1977) but it's worth at least one viewing for how strange and cheap it is. Missouri Breaks (1976) should have a curiosity factor, with Brando and Nicholson. I'm sure I'm missing a ton, but others here are putting up nice choices as well.
River of No Return, Tall in the Saddle, Skin Game, How to Support Your Local Sheriff, The Sheepman, Blazing Saddles, Open Range, The Tall Men.
shareSilverado
3.10 to Yuma Bale Crowe remake
Fistful of Dollars
High Noon
The Magnificent Seven the original one
Hostiles
Old Henry
Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid
High Noon
The Searchers
Unforgiven
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Stagecoach
Criminy, I haven't even heard of half of those. Thanks for the reminder to watch the copy of Django I've had on deck for at least a year. Since I seem to be in a western phase rn, this thread is well-timed. More or less in order, but hardly concrete:
Unforgiven (1992)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
True Grit (2010)
Red River (1948)
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
The Wild Bunch (1969) - in no small part due to the soundtrack
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
The Frisco Kid (1979) - just because this is about "favorites"
If you’ve never seen Django, it’s very important to watch it in Italian with subs first. The dubbed English version changes some important things in the story in my opinion. Also, keep in mind that it operates more like a comic book, rather than realism.
It seems like people tend to like the 2010 version of True Grit above the original. That’s uncommon for a remake to be more preferred over the original. I like it a lot also.
Appreciate the tip(s). Almost listed El Topo on mine, but more consider it an art film disguised as a western. And with live action I can't stand dubs, which after looking up your unfamiliar titles ties in to why so many were thus. Love spaghetti and love westerns, but... It has been a minute, so will have to revisit the sub-genre while in this phase.
As for True Grit, I saw the Coen's version first and on the big screen, so that may factor in to my preference, but the Coens really hit that one out of the park. Most of the time I'll prefer originals, with a few notable exceptions off the top of my head, and none of them by a wide margin:
Dawn of the Dead - I catch so much shit for this one. And I don't even like Snyder much!
The Crazies - not to hate on Romero...
The Fly
Maniac
Heaven Can Wait
Not to hijack your thread...
I haven’t seen the original The Crazies in quite some time, but I did enjoy the remake.
I’m thinking The Thing (1982) might be big on most people’s list also.
Funny, commented on this last night as well: https://moviechat.org/tt0084787/The-Thing/5e2f5dd64f56f40685220e68/another-remake-happening?reply=62d3d66e99a7f25ea3713672
shareWhat a great film. I happened to see a retro showing on the big screen a couple of weeks ago. One of my daughter’s friends, who is 18, came with us and she was on her phone the whole time until the dog cage scene. She never picked the phone up again until it was over, and after she said it was the scariest movie she had ever seen. 😀
But yeah, I’ve heard it’s more of an adaptation of Who Goes There, rather than a remake of the 50’s movie.
It's one of only two horror films I've rated a 10/10, so my opinion is surely biased. I'm glued to the screen from the opening notes to the conclusion, but for a "yout'" that story gives me hope, as the kennel scene is where the "holy F" dial gets turned to eleven.
My other 10/10 horror film is The Exorcist, and for a counter-story, ages ago I saw on a big screen, and even though I'd seen it more than a few times already and owned the DVD, I distinctly remember a point where I was considering taking a strategic refill break because I was so scared of a scene I knew was coming. The giggling of a group of teens a few rows away saved/spoiled that moment for me. :D
One Eyed Jacks (1961)
shareThe Shakiest Gun in the West
Blazing Saddles