Discussion Forums - Western

I used to assume that Westerns were all boring and corny.  When I was twelve my dad made me sit through How The West Was Won, which went on forever.  But recently I've started watching them again and some of them are amazing.  I loved High Noon, The Searchers, The Man with No Name trilogy, Unforgiven, Shane, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  I've heard good things about 3:10 to Yuma, so I'll rent that one when its on dvd.  How about the other western that came out this year with Brad Pitt?  The Assassination of Jesse James something or other?  Was it good?  What other recent or classic westerns should I see?

Tombstone is my personal favorite.  Must see.  Whether you're a western fan or not.

Young Guns was great too.  I liked that those have contemporary actors.  I like classics too, but I just really like to see some guys I know dressed up as cowboys. 

I always liked Trinity , Unforgiven, High Plains Drifter, Little Big Man, El Dorado, The Outlaw Josey Wales,

enjoyed Young Guns, Tombstone, Comedy Westerns Blazing Saddles and Lust in the Dust.

Sam Elliott makes one very sexy cowboy btw !

Wendy beat me to the spaghetti westerns with Eastwood!

I also love any of the John Wayne movies: The Searchers, Rio Bravo, The Sons of Katie Elder, etc.

Ohh... and the Magnificent Seven is a great movie!'

For pure oddness and fun: The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)

And Blazing Saddles ruled, though I guess you can't qualify it as a typical western, LOL.

these are some of my  favorites

COPPER SKY....,............................JEFF MORROW...B/W

ANGEL AND THE  BADMAN.........JOHN WAYNE.....B/W

RIVER OF NO RETURN...............MITCHUM, MONROE

WESTWARD THE WOMEN..........ROBERT TAYLOR

THE LAST WAGON........................RICHARD WIDMARK

THE FAR COUNTRY....................JIMMY STEWART

WAGONS EAST!............................JOHN CANDY

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER...........JAMES  GARNER

**MAIL ORDER BRIDE....BUDDY EPSON

**A THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD...ROSALIND CHAO

These are other classic westerns that were not mentioned above:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly  - (1966) Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach

Once Upon a Time in the West - (1968) Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards and Charles Bronson

The Ox-Bow Incident - (1943) Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn

The Wild Bunch - (1969) WIlliam Holden and Ernest Borgnine

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - (1962) John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Marvin and Vera Miles

Red River - (1948) John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru and Walter Brennan

Stagecoach - (1939) John Wayne, John Carradine and Claire Trevor

Fort Apache - (1948) John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple

The Shootist - (1976) John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard and Jimmy Stewart

Ride the High Country - (1962) Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea and Mariette Hartley

To give you an idea of  my taste in Westerns, the ones previously posted by other members that  I really enjoyed include: The Searchers, Rio Bravo, Unforgiven, The Magnificent Seven, Tombstone, and the original 3:10 to Yuma.  I've also heard great things about High Noon and Shane so I have purchased both but not yet seen them.

Hope this gives some of you new ideas!

I liked alot of the ones already mentioned especially any John Wayne's from the 1940's on.  Also:

GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL - Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas

QUICK AND THE DEAD -Gene Hackman, Russel Crowe

HALLELEUIA TRAIL - Burt Lancaster, Brian Keith

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE- Henry Fonda

HIGH NOON- Gary Cooper

MAVERICK- Mel Gibson

SPRINGFIELD RIFLE- Gary Cooper

QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER -Tom Selleck, Alan Rickman

HUD- Paul Newman (more modern day type but good)

GIANT- Rock Hudson, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor (another more modern story)

MISFITS- Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe (still another more modern story)

In addition to all of the previously mentioned westerns, give a look at the following gems (some of which, alas, are not available on DVD):

The Big Country, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, and Chuck Connors. I can't believe that this essential epic has not been mentioned. Besides the sterling cast, magnificent scenery, and "psychological" drama, The Big Country is further enhanced by Jerome Moross' exemplary, enduring score.

Colorado Territory, starring Joel McCrea and bombshell Virginia Mayo (hommina hommina hommina); this is actually a remake of the Raoul Walsh-John Huston-Humphrey Bogart crime-drama High Sierra.

Lonely Are the Brave, a modern western starring Kirk Douglas as one of those rugged, obsolete cowboys who has lived "past his time."

My Name is Nobody, starring Terence Hill (nee Mario Girotti) and Henry Fonda. Conceived and produced by Sergio Leone, this light-hearted western-comedy has the maestro's golden touch all over it. Musically embellished by the essential Ennio Morricone.

Blood on the Moon and Pursued, two exceptional "Noir Westerns" starring Robert Mitchum.

Ride Beyond Vengeance, starring Chuck Connors, Michael Rennie, Claude Akins, and Bill Bixby (unforgettable as the psychotic "Johnsy Boy Hood"). About the same time that this neglected gem was produced, Connors was starring in a TV "oater" titled Branded. Connors' character in that middling series was psychologically and emotionally "branded" (a coward). In RBV, Connors mountain-man is literally branded -- a moment that, once seen, can never be forgotten.

Rio Conchos, an unsung Western Noir starring Richard Boone as a Civil War veteran maudit, hell-bent on vengenance. Memorable for its explosive, tragic finale.

Offbeat and not conventionally a "western," the science-fiction thriller Westworld is simply fun entertainment. Yul Brynner, as the robotic "evil twin" of the heroic leader of the Magnificent Seven, terrorizes tenderfoots Richard Benjamin and James Brolin.

Finally, I heartily second Darwin's recommendation of Ride the High Country, Sam Peckinpah's excellent, valedictory tribute to Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, who manfully showdown against "redneck peckerwoods" John Anderson, James Drury,  Warren Oates, and L. Q. Jones.

Glen Ford has some great western movies too, like "  the fastest gun alive" ,"Day of the evil gun","Jubal"

I love all the westerns Randolph Scott is in, The Tall T is really good.  I don't  think he made a bad movie.

Recently saw "Forty Guns" and highly recommend it. There were a couple of moments where I had to rewind to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. Definitely edgy for its time.

Yes, the recent movie w/ Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James is a good movie.  It's sort of slow, but I think the atmosphere is there, and reminds me a bit of the movie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller

A lot of good westerns have already been mentioned.  Shane is definitely a classic.  I also like, Little Big Man, A Man Called Horse, Open Range, Lonesome Dove, True Grit, The Cowboys, and The Shootist, Dances With Wolves, Duel in the Sun, and many others.

A lot of good westerns have been listed here, my personnel favorite is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, with just about all the Eastwood westerns

being good ( Pale Face, Unforgiven, High Plains Drifter etc.)  Of Course most of the John Wayne Westerns are excellent, in my top 5 is Stagecoach( he's the man

when the camera zooms in and he's twirling the shotgun) , some others are True Grit  (hope the remake is good ,Haven't seen it yet), The Searchers, Chisum, Rooster

Cogburn. Of the more recent westerns, my 2nd all-time favorite is Tombstone ( A classic, very good cast)  , as well as Assination of JJ by coward RF , Dances w/

Wolves, YoungGuns 1 and 2, and Maverick. I just got Lonesome Dove because I heard good things about it. I hope so.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are my favorite "classic" westerns.

Is Paint Your Wagon a western? :-) Maybe a loving parody... Either way, as someone who doesn't automatically go to either westerns or musicals when looking for a good movie, I still highly recommend it, if only for the giggle factor of hearing Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin (kind of, sort of) sing.

Among modern ones, Appaloosa and the remake of 3:10 to Yuma are really good. I especially appreciate how they tease out the homosocial and homoerotic subtext of most westerns' intense pairings of either two cowboys against the world, or the lawman and the gunslinger locked in battle.

I can't believe no one has mentioned HBO's late, lamented show "Deadwood"! Sure, it requires a greater commitment, but pays it off in spades. And since I'm on the subject of TV westerns, "Justified" is a great contemporary example, based on a short story by Elmore "3:10 to Yuma" Leonard. It doesn't hurt that the lean-and-sexy cowboy hat has officially passed from Sam Elliott to Timothy Olyphant ;-)