# Just getting into Westerns **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249 "2010-05-04T03:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/21 "2010-05-04T19:08:21Z")
Another that I just thought of is _The Sons of Katie Elder_. It has some cheesy moments, but I’ve always liked it. You really can’t go wrong with an old John Wayne western. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/22 "2010-05-04T19:25:37Z")
A double feature: Yojimbo For a Fistful of Dollars Another double feature: The Seven Samurai The Magnificent Seven These are the Japanese originals/American remakes. Kurosawa’s cinematography is nothing short of astonishing. You may re-evaluate your preference for modern film makers. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/23 "2010-05-04T19:34:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _Pale Rider_ (Not one of my faves, but a lot of people like it.) And is, of course, a spiritual successor to the Leone movies. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/24 "2010-05-04T19:39:41Z")
I always thought of _Pale Rider_ as the spiritual successor to _Shane_. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/25 "2010-05-04T20:02:29Z")
Yeah, but Shane has a name. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/26 "2010-05-04T20:35:07Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Not only a classic, notable for being the only movie where John Wayne didn’t just play himself. Check out _The Quiet Man_ and _In Harm’s Way_. Wayne was definitely capable of acting when the part required it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/27 "2010-05-04T20:53:47Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > _In Harm’s Way_. Patricia Neal! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Negative\_Lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Negative\_Lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Negative_Lite)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/28 "2010-05-04T22:20:48Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#): > > _Open Range_ (2003) is a great, great movie. A terrific film, massively underrated. On a different note, I always recommend Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man (1995) with Johnny Depp for a great modern reinvention of the Western. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/29 "2010-05-04T23:39:55Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > I watched The Cowboys last night. Worth watching in my opinion. > > Rio Bravo is good. > > What’s the black and white one with John Wayne and the baby in the desert? I like that one. Three Godfathers. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/30 "2010-05-05T02:10:10Z")
> [@Negative\_Lite](#): > > On a different note, I always recommend Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man (1995) with Johnny Depp for a great modern reinvention of the Western. Loved _Dead Man_. But then, I’m a Jarmusch fan. So many good scenes. Drawing on Robert Mitchum’s portrait, Lance Henriksen’s dinner, ‘Sally’… My ex-fiancée hated it. She said she watched the whole thing just to see if the guitarist (Neil Young) would be shot at the end. But when we talked about it, she admitted the movie itself was good. She just didn’t like the music. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/31 "2010-05-05T06:37:12Z")
I have to admit that The Shootist is my absolute favorite John Wayne movie, and western movie. I am not a big fan of John Wayne, but something really resonates with me in the movie. Nobody mentioned The Cheyenne Social Club? That is my second favorite cowboy movie =) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/32 "2010-05-05T07:11:38Z")
My own favourite is _Sergeant Rutledge_. Dad’s was _High Noon_. Middlebro almost had a heart attack when he discovered that his bride had never watched _Stagecoach_; this was particularly surprising given her father’s love of Westerns - until you realized that watching anything with him in the room was closer to torture than pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/33 "2010-05-05T08:47:46Z")
Just thought of another: _Calamity Jane_. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/34 "2010-05-05T08:48:44Z")
Wow, thanks for all the replies fellas. Just finished _A Fistful of Dollars_, watching _For a Few Dollars More_ next. Got to say that I’ve always prefered Clint Eastwood to John Wayne as an actor, but might try _The Shootist_ next. For connoisseurs, how’s that pronounced? I’ve heard from purists that it should be ‘shot-ist’, rather than ‘shoot-ist’. > [@Cisco](#): > > Well, too bad you’ve already watched the best western in existence. Well, I figured that if I couldn’t get into the seminal work of the genre my nascent interest might be rather stillborn, fortunately it was brilliant stuff, so time to delve a bit deeper I think. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/35 "2010-05-05T10:37:18Z")
**Deadwood** , **Deadwood** , and, of course, **Deadwood**. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/36 "2010-05-05T11:40:37Z")
I’d suggest _The Quick And The Dead_. It’s relatively recent, and not what I would call a “real” western, in fact the entire film is pretty much an excuse for Gene Hackman to eat the living shit out of the scenery while shooting at people, but it’s highly entertaining if you’re into that :). Oh, there’s also DiCaprio, Sharon Stone and Russell Crowe in it. But it really is Hackman’s show. As for more classic westerns, well, _Rio Bravo_’s cool even if you’re not really into John Wayne (but then, I’m a Dean Martin fan) and of course _Once Upon a Time in the West_ is nothing short of brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/37 "2010-05-05T21:14:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [List of Western films](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Western_films). > > 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. Dana isn’t there for her acting… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/38 "2010-05-06T03:44:51Z")
There are different types of westerns including comedy westerns, musical westerns, and drama westerns and actions westerns. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/39 "2010-05-06T03:49:26Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > Dana isn’t there for her acting… 😃 I don’t recall her being nekkid. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249/40 "2010-05-06T03:50:30Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > and of course _Once Upon a Time in the West_ is nothing short of brilliant. I don’t like westerns in general (although, like the OP, it may be a mix of unfamiliarity with perhaps a dose of unfair preconceptions thrown in), but this film is nothing short of brilliant. The opening scene of this movie is my favorite cinematic opening scene, and the movie itself ranks somewhere in my personal Top 20. Do not miss this movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-getting-into-westerns/538249.md?page=3)