Probably as a result of the upcoming game Red Dead Redemption, I’ve given the genre another look. Previously I never really considered the genre, never saw any of the films beyond a vague awareness, viewed it as kind of old-hat and having a ‘Sunday afternoon’ feel.
But I think I’ve misjudged the genre. I’ve seen The Proposition, which I thought was brilliant (although not technically a Western, since it’s set in Australia). Just working my way through Leone’s Dollars trilogy, although did it a bit bass-ackwards since I watched The Good, The Bad & The Ugly first, fortunately it’s more of a prequel, so I wasn’t too confused.
What other films (modern or classic, although being spoiled cinematography wise these days I generally prefer more modern films) should I take a look at?
Although the Leone/Eastwood fims are often called a trilogy I don’t think they have anything in common with one another character-wise or plot-wise. Clint wears the same poncho in each - I think that is the extent of the continuity.
As for your question, investigate the names John Ford, Howard Hawks, Budd Boetticher, and Sam Peckinpah. That’s a good start.
Too many for me to go through right now, to see which I liked. But off the top of my head you can add these to the list:
The Oxbow Incident
Tombstone (if you can stand Dana Delany’s acting in it)
Pale Rider (Not one of my faves, but a lot of people like it.)
Heaven’s Gate. Most people hate it. I hate the Graduation scene and the Roller Skating scene, but I love the rest of it. And Isabelle Huppert is nekkid.
Straight To Hell. Hey, I’m a Pogues fan.
Young Guns
Greaser’s Palace. Seriously weird.
Jeremiah Johnson. One day I’ll get me a .50 caliber Hawken.
Well, too bad you’ve already watched the best western in existence.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a close second.
Red River is good, but quite older. True Grit is good . . . in a way . . . it gets better towards the end but the first 3/4ths of the movie is almost more of a parody of a western than a western. John Wayne had his moments of unbelievable awesomeness on screen, but it always nags me that he seems to have been such a dick in real life.
Unforgiven is good.
The Magnificent Seven is good.
Django is good.
Tombstone is damn good.
Now here’s where a lot of folks may disagree with me, but I think Young Guns is real good.
Well in addition to being good films, many Westerns are simply beautiful to look at, even really crappy ones in terns of story and character can be startlingly beautiful. “The Searcers” and “Silverado” being two great examples, but the point is, even a bad Western can be worth watching.
My favorites are True Grit, The Shootist, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and even though it’s not set in the classic time period, Hud.
Can you tell I spent a lot of time watching TV and going to the movies with my grandfather as a kid?
For a more modern take on the classic western, I have to suggest The Quick and the Dead. It’s not the world’s greatest movie or anything, but it’s a good time.
Honestly, though, the best western of the past few decades was, for my money, the series Deadwood on HBO. Well worth checking out. Not your normal horse opera.
