# What's your favorite Western Film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680 "2016-04-09T19:00:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/21 "2016-04-10T00:48:17Z")
I’ll go with some of the original “Maverick” episodes such as the classic “Shady deal at Sunny Acres” episode. > **[Shady Deal at Sunny Acres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shady_Deal_at_Sunny_Acres)** > > "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres", starring James Garner and Jack Kelly, remains one of the most famous and widely discussed episodes of the Western comedy television series Maverick. Written by series creator Roy Huggins (teleplay) and Douglas Heyes (story) and directed by Leslie H. Martinson, this 1958 second season episode depicts gambler Bret Maverick (James Garner) being swindled by a crooked banker (John Dehner) after depositing the proceeds from a late-night poker game. He then surreptitiously ... Or these various “Gunsmoke” parodies as Ben Gage had James Arness down pat. “Ride the High Country” also. Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, introducing Mariette Hartley ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/22 "2016-04-10T01:02:54Z")
_[Support Your Local Sheriff!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065051/)_ with James Garner, Jack Elam, Walter Brennan, and Joan Hackett. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/23 "2016-04-10T01:12:18Z")
Lots of good stuff here. My pick was covered in Post 2 but I would really watch almost any of the films mentioned here. I guess I love westerns. I think maybe _Once Upon a Time in the West_ might be the best film of them all but if I were to be able to just call one up whenever I want to it would be _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly._ I’d need to be in the right mood to see _Once_ but I’m pretty much always in the mood for Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood and Lee van Cleef. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/24 "2016-04-10T01:16:31Z")
My favourite is one that’s not been mentioned yet, _Tombstone_. Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday is possibly the greatest character in any western, and the whole film is wonderfully operatic, just on the verge of being overdone but remaining epic. Plus it has some wonderfully quotable lines, and the faceoff in Latin between Holliday and Johnny Ringo has to be in the list of greatest ever scenes in a western. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/25 "2016-04-10T01:45:35Z")
I have two favorite Westerns: _High Noon_ _Unforgiven_ ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/26 "2016-04-10T01:49:09Z")
Thank you, I was shocked that nobody had mentioned **High Noon**. But I hated **Unforgiven**. I mentioned in another thread that I hated John Wayne movies because of his politics, but I think that \*\*McClintock \*\*is my favorite of his movies. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/27 "2016-04-10T01:51:41Z")
“The Long Riders” The novelty of all those real-life brothers in one film, plus Ry Cooder’s score, does it for me. “You’re a whore!” “At least I ain’t a cheap one.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/28 "2016-04-10T01:56:17Z")
Impossible to pick just one. Shane has to be on the list, as well as True Grit. Either version of True Grit, but I’d prefer the one with the Duke even though the remake may have been a better all around movie. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/29 "2016-04-10T02:01:18Z")
The three must sees at a Western film festival are Red River She Wore a Yellow Ribbon The Man from Laramie I agree Shane is excellent. But hasn’t everybody seen it multiple times? I’d try to introduce people to some classic westerns they haven’t seen. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/30 "2016-04-10T02:53:50Z")
_The Outlaw Josey Wales_ _Lonesome Dove_ - a miniseries not a movie, but any list of my favorite westerns has to include this. _Dances With Wolves_ ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/31 "2016-04-10T02:57:38Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Thank you, I was shocked that nobody had mentioned **High Noon**. I almost didn’t post because I pretty much expected for it to be mentioned a number of times already. It’s one of my three favorite films. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/32 "2016-04-10T03:17:19Z")
Another vote for _The Searchers_. To me, one of the defining characteristics of the traditional westerns was the expectation that its heroes would live by a code of moral behavior. In most westerns, the filmmakers added in something extra - they made the heroes likable. But Ford and Nugent avoided this in _The Searchers_. Ethan Edwards may have followed a code but he was not a pleasant person. He may not even have been an inherently good person. So the movie asked whether living by a code was enough or whether a person had to go beyond that in judging what was right. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/33 "2016-04-10T03:25:12Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I’ll go for a different Elmore Leonard story that became a movie, [Hombre](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061770/combined). It stars Paul Newman as one of the coolest characters in movie history and Richard Boone as one of the creepiest. A terrific ensemble cast deliver piles of quotable dialogue in a simple but compelling story. Years ahead of time in its attitudes it always strikes me as strangely overlooked. What I came here post. ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/34 "2016-04-10T03:32:38Z")
Little Big Man. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/35 "2016-04-10T03:50:51Z")
> [@ChickenLegs](#): > > Little Big Man. Excellent, as is DWW. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/36 "2016-04-10T03:52:08Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “The Long Riders” > > The novelty of all those real-life brothers in one film, plus Ry Cooder’s score, does it for me. > > “You’re a whore!” “At least I ain’t a cheap one.” Beat me to it. And David Carradine, of all people, _steals_ the movie from the rest of a most impressive ensemble cast. “I would throw that shotgun down.” Very close second place: “The Grey Fox” Richard Farnsworth’s greatest performance, in the best western most people have never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/37 "2016-04-10T04:26:50Z")
Once Upon A Time In The West After that, I’d probably jump the pond to Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai\* and then on to John Woo’s classic films, The Killer or A Better Tomorrow, except officially they aren’t Westerns. - I haven’t seen The Magnificent Seven ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/38 "2016-04-10T04:32:00Z")
Another great Jimmy Stewart western is Winchester 73. A bit unusual because it focuses a lot on obsession. Stewart really wants his rifle back. 😃 I mean \*\*really \*\*wants it back. The characters that come into contact with that rifle are very well drawn. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/39 "2016-04-10T04:40:04Z")
I have to throw in **McCabe and Mrs. Miller**. It had production problems like heck, but I love it anyway. More than I love Westerns as a genre. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680/40 "2016-04-10T04:53:24Z")
**The Big Country** with Gregory Peck and Burl Ives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-western-film/751680.md?page=3)