Discussion Forums - Western

Topic: Saddle up these winners!

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macnemo (Michael C.)


Date Posted: 12/30/2008 7:33 PM ET
Member Since: 12/26/2008
Posts: 9
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Last Edited on: 12/30/08 7:34 PM EST - Total times edited: 1
macnemo (Michael C.)



Subject: Recommended Westerns
Date Posted: 12/30/2008 7:41 PM ET
Member Since: 12/26/2008
Posts: 9
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The following list was intended as a response to sevenspiders' Amazingly Good Westerns topic. I mistakenly created this post. Please ignore it.

(Some of the movies on this list 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.



Last Edited on: 12/30/08 7:43 PM EST - Total times edited: 1