Interesting question; I wonder if there’s really any way to answer it? The Western is the way American Culture has chosen to mythologize itself, and subsequently to export that mythology to other cultures. Western movies are the American analog to the myths and legends of any ancient culture. As such, I wonder how relevant realism could ever be.
And what aspect would be realistic? I’m sure the Western experience for most people was more about fencing and farming than about gunfighting or robbing banks. Maybe Little House on the Prairie is a realistic Western. McCabe and Mrs. Miller feels realistic. I think Peckinpah’s intention in emphasizing the brutality in The Wild Bunch was to remind audiences that getting shot is not as insignificant as most movies would have you believe; this is what it *really *looks like. Of course, in emphasizing it he exaggerated it. I know there was a lot of effort to get the historical details right in Jeremiah Johnson. But how realistic was the story? In Cowboy, the Jack Lemmon character’s romantic ideal of the life of the cowboy is rudely shattered by the brutal reality. But again, was that really about the literal reality, or just a comment on mythologizing? Yeah, a difficult question to answer.
My favorite Eastwood western is For a Few Dollars More. As I mentioned above, it’s mainly because Van Cleef is in it. But I also love the humor in it. (The hat shooting scene is a riot. Incredibly unrealistic, but so what?) A Fistful of Dollars is O.K., but the plot is too hard for me to follow. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a good movie, but I still prefer For a Few Dollars More.
Even though Once Upon a Time in the West is my favorite western, there are many films mentioned in this thread that I haven’t scene. I plan on watching a lot more westerns once I finish building my HT in the basement.
Seven Brides For Seven Daughters. I know it’s not a western it’s a musical. I wish it would come back as I have not seen it in ages. I just saw the 1939 movie with Henrty Fonda called “Mohawk Mountain”? It wasn’t very good. Lots of action and indians though.
A Fistful of Dollars
For A Few Dollars More
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Hang 'Em High
High Plains Drifter
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Unforgiven
Blazing Saddles
Big Jake
Dances With Wolves
Heaven’s Gate
High Noon
How The West Was Won
Jeremiah Johnson
Little Big Man
Lonesome Dove
The Long Riders
The Manificent Seven
Once Upon A Time In The West
Paint Your Wagon
Silverado
Tombstone
The Wild Bunch
Young Guns
The Young Riders (TV series)
Big Jake is being shipped and I don’t have it yet. I should have checked my DVDs, because Unforgiven is also on its way. I already have it. (I used Amazon sellers, so both DVDs were cheap.)
Well put; the gunfighter, good or bad, is the American Robin Hood/Perseus/Beowolf/47 ronin. It’s almost like asking what’s the most realistic superhero, perhaps a better queston would be what’s the most believable western.
Although not univerally liked, I’ve always loved High Plains Drifter, in part because it caters to the myth. I always bought the ghost story explanation, in fact, I didn’t know there was any other until years later.
The pig farming opening to Unforgiven isn’t what sold the tickets, is it?
I wouldn’t suggest starting with this, but Ride in the Whirlwind is a little known gem. You want harsh reality and inexplicable calamity? You’ll find it here. It’s a typical Monte Hellman, slow paced and understated, but yeah, it’s worth it.
Yes, written by the man who wrote the Monkee’s Head, and directed by the guy who directed Silent Night, Deadly Night III. True, but said in jest: Hellman also directed the masterpieces Two Lane Blacktop and Cockfighter, and one of my favorite existential Westerns, The Shooting, also starring a barely legal Jack Nicholson.
As you can imagine, Hellman gives the material some texture. It’s not a much a camp hoot as SNDN1, but it’s more watchable than you would ever imagine a movie of that title would be.
I always loved James Stewart reinventing himself in the Anthony Mann westerns. Winchester '73 is a who’s who before they were famous. Edward G. Robinson and Glenn Ford made a classic one in The Violent Men. Robert Wagner and Spencer Tracy were good in Broken lance
QUOTE=Johnny L.A.;12433678]Here’s a list of my Western DVDs:
A Fistful of Dollars
For A Few Dollars More
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Hang 'Em High
High Plains Drifter
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Unforgiven
Blazing Saddles
Big Jake
Dances With Wolves
Heaven’s Gate
High Noon
How The West Was Won
Jeremiah Johnson
Little Big Man
Lonesome Dove
The Long Riders
The Manificent Seven
Once Upon A Time In The West
Paint Your Wagon
Silverado
Tombstone
The Wild Bunch
Young Guns
The Young Riders (TV series)
[/QUOTE]
Great collection, I’m jeaolous. I forgot about Young Guns and the new westerns.
This fact was spoofed pretty well in Rustler’s Rhapsody. Half the villains are “singing cowboy” henchmen and the other half are long-duster-spaghetti-Westerners with accents…and they team up.
There’s no love for Have Gun-Will Travel? It’s got my vote. It ran for 6 seasons in the fifties and early sixties. They shot 225 episodes, and hardly a sour note among them. It was amazing how much depth they got into a 30 minute script. You should at least get some familiarity with the show.
It set a lot of previous conventions on their ear. Paladin was not pretty or fresh-faced, he dressed in black for business and like a dandy when not on the clock, he charged by the job, and usually collected, although a pretty face or a sob story would purchase his services as well.
He didn’t hesitate to shoot someone if the situation demanded it. He didn’t like to do it, but if only one person was coming away alive, it was going to be him. None of that “shoot the gun out of his hand” stuff like the Lone Ranger. Paladin was a center of mass kind of guy.
