Was one of these the one where the hero rides around on an easy chair, strapped to his horse, and a mean big guy who looks like and grunts/grumbles like Bluto?
Off the point,but anyone ever see “Blindman”? Ringo Starr as a mexican bandit
Two of my favourites haven’t been mentioned thus far…
The Long Riders - The story of the James Gang featuring the Keach, Carradine and Quaid brothers as the James, Younger and Miller brothers. Great soundtrack by Ry Cooder too.
Dead Man - Jim Jarmusch’s take on the genre starring Johnny Depp, and Robert Mitchum in his last role.
Another good Eastwood Western: Hang 'Em High. Seemed to me to show a believable picture of a lawman operating in a Western territory; when Eastwood is forced to shoot a man he’s trying to arrest (who drew a gun on him), he gets witnesses on the scene to write statements of what they saw. Pat Hingle, a great character actor, plays the territorial judge who doesn’t really like hanging men (some of them hardly more than boys), but is determined to maintain law and order in the territory so that they can achieve statehood. Oh, and there’s Bruce Dern as – you won’t believe this – a smartass lowlife creep!
The Professionals is a good “late period” Western (mostly taking place in rural Mexico, which was still pretty “wild” while the U.S. West was settling down).
And I’d highly recommend John Ford’s U.S. Cavalry movies, especially Fort Apaceh and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Note that for their time, they were pretty enlightened in depicting American Indians.
Another good comedy Western is Cat Ballou. (At least, I remember laughing as a child. I know Lee Marvin was funny.)
And one more John Wayne movie: Hondo. Good, lean story from a Louis L’Amour novel.
That was, of course, Fort Apache, not Fort Apaceh.
Definitely Lonesome Dove , and Deadwood, Season 1. And I’d recommend all of the Ford-Wayne “Cavalry Trilogy”, assuming they’re on DVD: Fort Apache, Rio Grande, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
“Tom Horn”…Steve McQueens, 2nd to the last movie before he died.
“Open Range”…Recent Kevin Costner Western, w/Robert Duvall
“China 9 Liberty 37” Obscure Western, probably not out on DVD.
“Junior Bonner”…Steve McQueen Rodeo movie (Sam Peckinpaugh)
I thought For a Few Dollars More was the best of the trilogy.
I also liked a couple of Sinatra’s westerns–Johnny Concho and the funny Dirty Dingus Magee.
John Ford’s *Wagonmaster *is kind of overlooked.
The Frisco Kid
Harrison Ford and Gene Wilder
Wilder is a Rabbi from Poland travelling to T/O/C San Fransico; Along the way he meets up and travels with bank robber Ford. Hilarity Ensues
It’s a B+ movie - nice but simple plot, “everyone’s my brother” theme, well acted, happy ending
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
Ride The High Country
Red River
The Searchers
McClintock!
Tombstone
Chisum
The Undefeated
Rustler’s Rhapsody
The Wild Bunch
Ulee’s Gold
That’s the one (first of the two).
All three are great, and I’ve thought Few Dollars and TGTBATU were the best at various times in my life. I’ve gone back to Fistfull as my favorite. It moves quickly, it’s original, and improves with each viewing. And i kinda like it’s low budget look and bad dubbing. That movie has great lines.
“The Rojos on one side, the Baxters on the other, and me in the middle. That crazy bell ringer was right… there’s alot of money to be made in this town.”
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a great movie. Eli Wallach is expecially great. My only conplaint is that it’s about 30 minutes too long. The long Civil War battle/ bridge demolition scene near the end of the film was completely unecessary.
And we still haven’t mentioned my favourite - Hombre starring Paul Newman from the novel by Elmore Leonard. One of the coolest characters in movie history.
“My mistake–*four * coffins.”
Richard Boone makes a terrific bad guy, doesn’t he?
Just funny? Lee Marvin was great!
One of my early, misplaced, and hugely unpopular threads betrays my gush level for Lonesome Dove. I just rented it and watched it again the weekend before last. Yep, it is still awesome.
What about Greaser’s Palace?
You’re right about that. I love that whole sequence, but I think it belongs in a different movie. It’s still probably one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time, though.
“When you have to shoot, shoot, don’t talk.”