Working through some of my DVDs that I’ve bought but not watched, I popped in The Outlaw Josey Wales. I didn’t really mean to buy it–it was in a 2-pack with Pale Rider, which I got after having to watch it for class and liking it. So my western collection is those two movies and The Magnificent Seven, which I got partially because it’s a good movie and also because it’s easier to watch than Seven Samurai, which I’ve also got. Anyway, I liked Josey Wales and have slowly started to have an appreciation for westerns. So, besides some of Eastwood’s other stuff (acting, directing, or both), what are some good westerns? Though they do have to be available on DVD.
Lonesome Dove
Deadwood: Season 1
My Darling Clementine
Tombstone
The Searchers
Gonna repeat a couple, but just for reinforcement.
Tombstone
The Searchers
Unforgiven
Open Range
Silverado
My Darling Clementine
High Noon is my favorite.
The Searchers (maybe best Western ever)
High Noon
The Shootist
Shane
the greatest of them all…Fistful of Dollars
Yep, “The Searchers.” Brilliant.
“Stagecoach” – quintessential John Ford Western.
“McCabe and Mrs. Miller” – Robert Altman’s revisionist Western.
“Treasure of the Sierra Madre” – not sure if it really counts as a Western, but it’s a great movie anyways in a Western-setting.
“The Three Godfathers”
“Red River”
“Rio Grande”
Oh! And if you’re in the mood for a comedic Western, try to find “Destry Rides Again” with Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich; not sure if it’s on DVD though. And of course Mel Brooks’s “Blazing Saddles.” Madeleine Kahn’s German accent in that movie is a parody of Marlene Dietrich in “Destry Rides Again.”
For a while the New York Times was running a feature where every week they’d take some actor or director and talk through a movie that meant a lot to them. Quentin Tarantino talked about this all but forgotten old B western that he thought was an overlooked masterpiece, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was now. Does this ring a bell for anyone??
At the movies tonight (saw “The Constant Gardener” – great stuff) there was a preview for Ang Lee’s new “gay Western” – that’s gotta be a first!
In the 50’s James Stewart had outgrown his boy next door image.He did a series of great and gritty adult westerns with director Anthony Mann . The Naked Spur,Bend in the River and I think, Winchester '73. Also,I have a weakness for Audie Murphy movies.He looked like a kid,but in reality he was the most decorated soldier of ww2.
If you want to see some Westerns that poke fun at Westerns, take a look at The Villain (Kirk Douglas) and Evil Roy Slade (John Astin).
Here’s a threesome of Jimmy Stewart films you might like:
The Man who shot Liberty Valance
Cheyenne Autumn
And, while not a western, “Shenandoah”, about a Virginia farmer trying to stay out of the Civil War.
So, what was I missing in this movie? I thought it was dreadful, even though I could see definite skill in its making.
Unforgiven is my favorite western, although Deadwood may edge it out. My favorite comedy western is Rustler’s Rhapsody a silly little parody in which a western hero has an existential crisis as he realizes the cliches in which he’s trapped. It’s pretty fun.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a great modern-day Western. Johnny Depp is a riot, as always.
And I know you said it had to be on DVD, but for a change of pace, consider the novel Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. It’s not an easy read, but it’s utterly riveting.
Daniel
I strongly disagree here, even if you’re just limiting it to that series. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was head and shoulders above the other spaghetti westerns, imo. Head and shoulders over most movies period, actually.
I’d also like to echo Red River (“Take 'em to Missouri, Matt”), Unforgiven, Tombstone, and Shane, all listed above.
Also Support Your Local Sheriff! and Support Your Local Gunfighter (James Garner), the former is better than the latter.
Definitely. I love the bit with the jail that has no bars and the bucket of red paint 
Ummm
Blazing Saddles is the comedy western. (besides Evil Roy Slade)
High Noon
Unforgiven
Dances with Wolves
Wayatt Earp (yes the Costner version)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Shane
The Cheyenne Social Club
True Grit
The Cowboys
(also note that The Magnificent Ambersons is not a sequal to The Magnificent Seven)
Wow…no one has yet mentioned Sergio Leone’s magnum opus, Once Upon A Time In The West. It may not be the greatest Western ever made (though it is a great one) but the 10+ minute opening sequence is one of the most memorable opening scenes in movie history, as is the camera panning up from the murderer of a child to show Henry Fonda. Not such a big surprise today, I guess, but then it was stunning.
I never really cared for Westerns as a kid or teenager, but I’m a big fan of anti-Westerns (Westerns that don’t follow the rules of the genre) like Unforgiven, and the undoubted king of these films, the one that finished off the genre for good (other than a couple of Brat Pack movies and the occasional Clint Eastwood offering) is The Wild Bunch. Sam Peckinpah, the director, was a real misanthropist, so it you liked this check out the Ride The High Country and the darkly grotesque Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia.
This bucking-the-genre trend really kicked off with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which slyly acknowledges the fact that most of what is thought about the Old West is a fabrication to make it seem more noble. This may be Jimmy Stewart’s finest performance, and it’s John Wayne’s second best, just short of The Shootist.
Also already mentioned, Shane is another one with several layers of things going on, and an ending where the hero might ride off into the sunset, but not without sacrifice. High Plains Drifter may not be Eastwood’s best film, but it is definitely not your typical Western, and you can’t beat a Western where he makes a midget the mayor and proceeds to burn down the town to save it. I’m kind of partial to Two Mules For Sister Sara too, even though it’s not on anyone’s Top 10 list of greatest westerns.
And you can’t get away without seeing The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Bogart may badly overact in this one (he’s much better in African Queen) but it’s a great film nonetheless. And of course, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a lighthearted anachronistic take on Westerns with a now-classic ending which has been both imitated (Thelma and Louise) and parodied (the entertaining Shanghai Noon).
While they aren’t Westerns per se, many of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai-era pictures draw heavily from the genre traditions of both Westerns and film noir, and in return serve as the germ for actual Westerns like A Fistful of Dollars (Yojimbo) and The Magnnificent Seven (The Seven Samurai). And I’m mortally convinced that Michael Mann was either deliberately or unconsciously remaking The Wild Bunch when he made Heat.
Anyway, enjoy.
Stranger
To those listed already, I’d add:
They Call Me Trinity (1971), and Trinity Is Still My Name (1972) Comedic, entertaining westerns both.
For good dramatic westerns, I’d add:
**Once Upon A Time In The West ** Maybe the best Sergio Leone spaghetti western, Henry Fonda as the bad guy, and Claudia Cardinale’s heaving bosoms.
The Ox Bow Incident 1943 Henry Fonda as a good guy. Not much action, but good drama.
I’m a big fan of quirky, highly sytlized Westerns.
So with that here is my list of favs:
Once Upon a Time in the West
**The Good, the Bad and the Ugly **
The Magnificent Seven
The Valley of Gwangi
Tombstone
Tsk. No love for Little Big Man or The Terror of Tiny Town?