# Best Western (movie) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237 "2010-03-21T15:46:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/81 "2010-03-22T05:07:38Z")
What’s with all the _Silverado_ love? I consider it an enjoyable cheesefest but not a great movie. In no particular order: _My Darling Clementine_ _Fort Apache_ _Unforgiven_ _Shane_ (Could anyone explain choosing _Pale Rider_ over the original? Maybe I’m missing something important about the Eastwood version.) _Red River_ I’m awarding a Special Jury Prize to _Little Big Man._ I love it and it is technically a western, but somehow it’s meta that it belongs to its own category. Also, a special shout-out to _Barbarossa._ It may not be a great movie but it’s quirky and a hell of a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/82 "2010-03-22T12:02:27Z")
> [@Clark\_K](#): > > _Shane_ (Could anyone explain choosing _Pale Rider_ over the original? Maybe I’m missing something important about the Eastwood version.) > > Also, a special shout-out to _Barbarossa._ It may not be a great movie but it’s quirky and a hell of a lot of fun. I can try to explain the different levels of appeal. I was a kid when _Shane_ came out so I wasn’t able to see the subtext and all that. I was mostly impressed with Shane’s outfit and I was scared of Wilson. As the years went by and I saw it again and again, I began to understand that Shane was a lot different from the John Wayne type cowboy/gunslinger and that he was somehow a small (not Alan Ladd short) person in a big setting but managing to get by. All that is to try to say that _Shane_ broke ground that continues to be plowed and planted. Maybe _Red River_ dealt with similar themes with the Monty Clift character and the realism of the relationships, but _Shane_ was bigger, in color and more direct. In the decades to follow, many experiments in making the West more accessible were tried and things got more brutal (not that _Shane_ wasn’t – that was another ground-breaking thing with that movie) and the good guy - bad guy distinctions blurred. I see _Pale Rider_ as an appreciation of _Shane_’s influence, but with the brutality and grittiness raised way higher. The bad guys were clearly bad and the good guys mostly so, and “Preacher” added the elusive ghost-like avenger tone to the simple Shane “savior in buckskins” thing. For level of violence, compared side by side, I put _Shane_ at an 8 and _Pale Rider_ at a 9. (If there’s been a 10, it’s _The Wild Bunch_). The depth of theme/issue part goes to _Shane_ since _Pale Rider_ relies on the spooky aspect of Preacher and his past and whether anybody could survive those wounds. I’d love to hear another take on it, because mine is really simplistic. _Shane_ introduced an idea and _Pale Rider_ copied it with improvements. I also love Wille and am okay with Gary in [Barbarosa (1982)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083619/)! ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/83 "2010-03-22T14:58:10Z")
I thought that the begining of the Wild Bunch was sheer genius at all levels ,the ending pretty good but the middle a little dull. Enjoyed Deadwood(The series)to start off with but it jumped the shark quite early on. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/84 "2010-03-22T15:14:41Z")
1. Silverado 2. Winchester '73 3. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 4. A Fist Full of Dollars 5. High Noon Silverado is by far my favorite I think the Kasdans did a great job of distilling what is great about westerns. I really enjoy the story of Winchester '73 and it is pretty solid in there at number 2 but after that things get hazy. I think Fist full of dollars is the best of the spaghetti westerns which need to be represented in any top westerns list. Similarly She wore a Yellow ribbon is the best John Wayne movie and while I probably watch El Dorado more often I think SWAYR is a better movie and a John Wayne movie has to make the list. High Noon is the movie I’m most iffy about which is why it’s #5 I think it is a great movie but not necessarily a fun movie and there are lots of westerns that I watch much more frequently but I think it’s a good choice to round out a top 5 list. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/85 "2010-03-22T15:21:29Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > 1. High Noon > > High Noon is the movie I’m most iffy about which is why it’s #5 I think it is a great movie but not necessarily a fun movie and there are lots of westerns that I watch much more frequently but I think it’s a good choice to round out a top 5 list. I share your concern over _High Noon_. It’s another of those I saw as a kid. In fact, I saw it the night I graduated from sixth grade. Like _Shane_ it broke ground and became the standard for the Adult Western. But I saw it again after a long time just the other day. It’s a weak movie as movies go, and like so many of “the classics” you just had to be there at the time, or have a strong background in movie history, to elevate it above the so-so level. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/86 "2010-03-22T15:43:04Z")
I think the problem with High Noon is the lack of action. It’s in that category that I think of as psychological westerns where it’s more about the emotions of the characters then where they are or what they are doing. Personally I don’t find these movies as very enjoyable but I recognize that High Noon does a great job of explaining why the citizens are doing what they are and why Gary Cooper feel he must act to save people who won’t save themselves. Because of the portrayals I think it deserves to be rated as highly as it is but it still doesn’t make it an enjoyable movies. Of course being as young as I am probably hurts a bit too since the movies that have come out during my lifetime (I’m 27) have trended to more action and less plot overall so I don’t think I’m used to movies that are so heavily story driven. But that is a different thread. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/87 "2010-03-22T17:44:31Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I think the problem with High Noon is the lack of action. It’s in that category that I think of as psychological westerns where it’s more about the emotions of the characters then where they are or what they are doing. IMO, the problem with High Noon was Grace Kelly. She was annoying and whiny, and it’s why the film didn’t make my list, despite the fine acting by Cooper. Another movie I have to add from my childhood is the 1955 **Davy Crockett, King of The Wild Frontier** , with Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen and the rest of the crew. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/88 "2010-03-22T17:59:02Z")
Was not High Noon panned by conservatives as being communist? If so why, I have never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/89 "2010-03-22T18:14:27Z")
My favorite Westerns, in no particular order: The Magnificent Seven (just watched this again a few nights ago. The scene with Yul and Steve driving the hearse is just one of the best things ever put on film). The War Wagon El Dorado Rio Bravo Support your Local Sheriff The Shootist ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/90 "2010-03-22T18:22:58Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > My favorite Westerns, in no particular order: > > The Magnificent Seven (just watched this again a few nights ago. The scene with Yul and Steve driving the hearse is just one of the best things ever put on film). > The War Wagon > El Dorado > Rio Bravo > Support your Local Sheriff > The Shootist Liked all of these, especially The Shootist: “Is the mattress. . .ticky?” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/91 "2010-03-22T19:55:05Z")
\*\*\* ATTENTION POSTERS \*\*\* I have started a separate thread [Some Issues with Cafe Society Polls](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=556801)where we can discuss methods for dealing with this large number of candidate movies in a poll or polls. Please contribute ideas if you have some – in that thread. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/92 "2010-03-22T20:02:12Z")
Wow, no one has mentioned Hombre! Paul Newman, Richard Boone, Elmore Leonard story and some of the most memorable lines in western movie-dom. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/93 "2010-03-22T20:03:36Z")
The Shootist. Unforgiven. Hombre. And of course: The Magnificent Seven. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/94 "2010-03-22T21:49:32Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Silverado is by far my favorite I think the Kasdans did a great job of distilling what is great about westerns. It appears that they wrote Silverado by listing every single Western movie cliche they could think of, and then casting the movie with actors who would have a great time playing them up (while not minding looking a little goofy sometimes). It’s certainly not ‘great’ in the auteur sense, but it’s definitely great entertainment. I forgot The Magnificent Seven…that should have been on my list. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/95 "2010-03-22T22:45:22Z")
1 Eastwood: GBU or Unforgiven? Unforgiven BARELY. 1 John Wayne: True Grit / Rooster Cogburn (toss up) 1 Ensemble: Magnificent 7 1 comedy: Blazing Saddles 1 Recent: Tombstone ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/96 "2010-03-22T22:59:55Z")
1.) _No Country For Old Men_ - Come one, no one’s mentioned this? It’s a modern western! 2.) _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_ - The scene with Tuco assembling a new gun and the Mexican standoff at the end were both just awesome. Also- how can you not love cigarillos? If I were to ever smoke tobacco, it’d be out of a cigarillo. 3.) _3:10 to Yuma_ (the new one) - “Even bad men love their mothers.” 4.) _Tombstone_ - “I’m your huckleberry.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/97 "2010-03-23T00:56:05Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > 1.) _No Country For Old Men_ - Come one, no one’s mentioned this? It’s a modern western! For that matter, so is **The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada**. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/98 "2010-03-24T19:01:06Z")
Is this all of the Best Westerns? **ArchiveGuy** , what’s your thinking on a poll? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/99 "2010-03-24T19:08:04Z")
I’ll put it up tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237/100 "2010-03-24T19:08:47Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > I’ll put it up tonight. Good to hear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-western-movie/533237.md?page=6)