Best Western -- The Resurrection.

Cafe Society
1

The “I’m your huckleberry” thread reminded me of the “What is the best Western?” thread.

Here’s what I have in my Western collection (in no particular order):

The Wild Bunch
Jeremiah Johnson
The Mountain Men
How the West was Won
Paint Your Wagon
The Long Riders
Young Guns
Lonesome Dove
Heaven’s Gate
Silverado
Dances with Wolves
Tombstone
The Magnificant Seven
A Fistful of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Hang 'Em High
High Plains Drifter
The Outlaw Josie Wales
Unforgiven
Tom Horn
Bad Company
Dead Man
Straight to Hell
Greaser’s Palace

I’m leaving out the Kurosawa samurai films, although they’ve been remade as Westerns (The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars) because they’re not actually Westerns.

Last time I voted for Lonesome Dove as the best Western. The story is good, the acting is good, it’s not a “shoot 'em up”, and I like the character development.

Which is the single best Western in your opinion? That is, I’m not looking for a list of your favourites; but what is the one Western film that you think is the best of the genre?

So far… One vote for Lonesome Dove.

2

It’s a common and cliche choice, but i have to vote for Unforgiven. I’m not sure what to make of Lonesome Dove, which was not a “movie” in the sense I would define the term, althought it was great.

I also loved “The Searchers,” “A Fistful of Dollars,” and… heck, I love all Westerns.

3

Unforgiven. Hands down.

4

Unforgiven was good, but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s the best.

My favorites are (at the moment):
The Cowboys (John Wayne and Bruce Dern)
The Magnificent Seven (samurai or not) and
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.

I haven’t seen as many as I’d like to, but those are the ones I like best so far.

5

What I don’t understand is how you can have a western collection without a single film by John Ford. (Well, Ford DID direct a segment of “How the West Was Won”) Because while I’m hard pressed to say whether the BEST western is Stagecoach or My Darling Clementine or Fort Apache or the Searchers or the Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, all of those films were directed by John Ford.

p.s. If pressed, I’d give it to My Darling Clementine.

6

Well, I don’t understand how you could have a western collection with no films by Anthony Mann (who I’ll gladly take over Ford). Or Howard Hawks. Or Budd Boetticher (well, he is kinda hard to find on video).

Essential viewing for any true western fan: The Far Country, The Tall T, The Naked Spur, Decision at Sundown, Red River, Comanche Station, Rio Bravo, Ride Lonesome, Bend of the River, Seven Men from Now, Winchester '73, Buchanan Rides Alone, Man of the West

My vote: The brilliant The Man from Laramie

7

Stagecoach all the way. Has all the classic elements of a great Western done as well as they’ve ever been, plus the introduction of John Wayne. My senior year of high school I did an AP U.S. History term paper on Westerns as American mythology, and I had several pages of analysis on Stagecoach alone.