It crept up on me without me ever quite realizing it until it was too late. One day, I suddenly realized; I love westerns. I never planned for it, but there it is and I’m not ashamed.
Today, I’d like to share my top 5 favorite westerns. Before you click the “continue reading” I’m going to warn you that Unforgiven is not on the list because I think it’s boring (if Rich Valerius ever reads this, he is going to kill me). Maybe I need to give it another shot.
Likewise, Blazing Saddles isn’t on this list but I do love that movie.
Anyway, disagree all you like and I welcome disagreement and discussion.
5) Magnificent Seven
Yeah, it’s a remake of Seven Samurai, but there is nothing wrong with a story as cool as this one. A small town is being abused by robbers, so the people of the town find seven hardcore gunslingers to protect everyone. Before seeing this movie, I only thought of Yul Brenner as the King of Siam, and Steven McQueen as that guy that Sheryl Crow wrote a song about. This movie changed my mind.
4) Desperado
More of a modern western than a traditional one, Desperado gets the sentimental vote because it’s the first movie to get me into westerns. Furthermore, the majority of the movie isn’t all that great, but the infamous bar scene is enough to land this movie on the top 5. Avoid the original film El Mariachi and the sequel Once Upon a Time in Mexico at all cost, however.
3) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Paul Newman and Robert Redford had a rare chemistry with one another that doesn’t come around very often. The two seem natural as friends on screen together to the point where I have a hard time watching Cool Hand Luke because Redford should be there too. Butch and Sundance have an unforced charisma about them that captures an audience without forcing them to watch.
This film laid the foundation for every other buddy film afterward and is infinitely rewatchable.
2) True Grit
I know what you’re thinking, “which one?” I’m going to go with the easy answer and say: both. I can’t pick one over the other because they are equal in my mind, but for different reasons.
The John Wayne True Grit is classic because any movie (outside of Genghis Khan) is automatically a classic. He is so ingrained in the American ideal that to be against a John Wayne movie makes one a “filthy, stinking liberal” at the best, and a “pinko-communist-baby-eater-wife-beater” at the worst. I have been quoted as saying that John Wayne is a great actor, but what I meant to say is that “he is John Wayne.” He’s not really a great actor because he always just plays himself, but that’s okay because he is likable and charismatic unlike any other actor on the screen.
One could argue that the new True Grit is a better film in most regards. Matt Damon is certainly preferable to Glen Campbell and the 14 year old girl really carries the film. Let’s not forget the strong performances by Josh Brolin (the only actor today that I would truly consider to be a “western” actor) and Barry Pepper.
It seems that the only real complaint that anyone has about the new movie is that it doesn’t star John Wayne. Well, John Wayne is dead (or according to Denis Leary, he’s frozen) and if we could have got him to be in the film, then I’m sure the Coen Brothers would have loved to put him in their film, but let’s not forget how great Jeff Bridges is. A week before True Grit‘s release, he was playing not only Flynn, but also Clu in Tron: Legacy and a week later, he is playing a perfect drunk U.S. Marshall in a way that Wayne never could; with an element of sadness that lies just underneath. For all the laughs and all the comedy of Rooster Cogburn, he’s a broken, sad man who is just trying to find some amount of happiness in a horrible world. He played the character differently to the point of his eye patch being on the opposite eye. It’s a small change, but one that signifies that Bridges is not Wayne and he’s not trying to be because no one could possibly fill those boots.
John Wayne played John Wayne with an eye patch and while that was enough to make the original True Grit was amazing, I don’t think its enough to completely ignore how great the new movie is.
1) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
What other movie could possibly surpass Sergio Leone’s greatest film? The other two films in the Man with no name trilogy are good, but they are instantly forgotten once Leone settles in to some of the most beautiful cinematography ever. His wide shots are stunning and the color in the film really pops.
Once upon a time in the west could have been a great film if Clint Eastwood hadn’t turned it down. It might be a better story than the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but without Eastwood, it just can’t live up because Eastwood is the definitive face of westerns. John Wayne is an icon, but when I think of him, I think of my grandpa and while I love my grandpa dearly, I’m not ready to be my grandpa just yet.
I want to be Clint Eastwood.
With his grizzled voice and his death stare, Clint Eastwood is pinnacle of cool in the western genre. He never raises his voice when upset because he lets his guns do the talking. Eastwood is the ultimate stone-cold killer and while he may be heroic at times, he is certainly never a traditional hero.
Hands down, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is better than all other westerns because it is the total package: grizzled, horrible men compete with one another for a treasure in a well-shot, well-acted film that transcends a typical movie and is elevated to mythical/historical significance.
Right on man! Three of my faves are up there, too (Mag Seven, Desperado, and G,B,Ugly).
I love “Cowboy” (and Samurai) movies because of the feeling that the world around the main character is so filled with danger, and the main character(s) are totally alone in an against-all-odds situation. There’s also something way cool about the dusty man walking into town and righting wrongs, like in Yojimbo.
If you ever want to see another good samurai flick turned western, check out “Yojimbo” by Akira Kurosawa that was later remade into “A Fistful of Dollars”(Eastwood) and “Last Man Standing”(Bruce Willis, prohibition era)
Great list. Couldn’t agree more.
Good choices. I love “Magnificent Seven”. Some of my favorites also include “Silverado”, “Tombstone” (although this is mainly for Val Kilmer’s performance), and I have recently seen James Stewart in “Broken Arrow.” It was rather good.
I’m sure my wife will have many things to say on this topic.
What? No Outlaw Josey Wales starring none other than Clint Eastwood. How can you not pick that one.
My top five would be:
5. Fist full of Dollars
4. Rio Bravo
3. Outlaw Josey Wales
2. They Died with their Boots On
1. Grue Grit
Sadly I can only agree with your top pick. I’m one of those “filthy, stinking liberals” I guess, but the only movie I have ever liked him in was The Quiet Man. Everything else he just plays himself and it bores me.
As for the Magnificent Seven, the only part i like about that is that theme, but i loved the TV show remake with Ron Perlman, as short lived as it was.
On the whole I’ve never really been a big classic Western guy, Maybe its because my dad likes them so much and i’m striking out, but part of it was they never entertained me. I love spaghetti westerns though, and the even wackier Japanese spaghetti westerns.
Blazing Saddles is great, but that’s because it’s an amazing parody. And I seriously think you need to rewatch Unforgiven, because it really is amazing.
Yet two of my favorite television shows are Firefly, but more importantly The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., but they are both sci-fi westerns so, i guess they don’t quite count.
And I love Red Dead Redemption and Gun. I guess my problem isn’t Westerns in general, just the time period and actors involved with them.
1. Good the Bad and the Ugly
2. Unforgiven
3. Sukiyaki Western Django
4. Blazing Saddles
5. Back to the Future Part III
Though Cowboys and Aliens looks frelling amazing.
Robot Master – I actually watched Yojimbo and Sanjuro first before I started watching westerns.
POP – Though I love Outlaw Josey Wales (the first Western movie I ever watched because my dad made me) I can only go with a one movie per actor rule and Good, Bad, and the Ugly is the greatest Clint Eastwood Western ever.
Joe – My wife HATES the Quiet Man because she says it makes Irish people look bad (she’s Irish) and she also hates how sexist it is.
I haven’t forgotten things inspired by Westerns. Wait until next week . . . 😉
Hard to argue. Number 4, Desperado, is the only weak link in your list, but you did provide an acceptable excuse. I suppose under that same defense of sentimentality, mine would be Young Guns because I still like to say “reap the whirlwind” on occasion, but I’m sure if I rewatched it today I’d think less of it.
More obscure competitors for slot #4 might be The Proposition, which sports some really hauntingly great music by, in part, your buddy Warren Ellis, and Hidalgo, which was Viggo Mortensen’s most Disneyesque turn, in sort of a feel-good cornball story that I nonetheless really enjoyed and that everyone else nonetheless forgot immediately. I keep waiting for it to show up in the $5 DVD bin and it NEVER DOES.
Oddly enough, breed these two movies and you get The Road, sort of.
Funnily enough my mom is Irish and loves that movie. Granted she’s 65, so it might be a generational thing, or it might just be she loves the scenery.
She also shares my opinions on John Wayne, in that it is probably the best example of him as a good actor, because it is so different from his usual fare, and he doesn’t come off as trying to sound like the ultimate grizzled bad-ass, when (in my opinion) he just sounds silly.
I don’t really see the sexist parts of it. Especially in comparison to McLintock! Then again its been a while.
Anyone else want to try to raise a few million dollars to fund an Edgar Wright directed western?
Did you know that Butch and Sundance actually made it to Australia?
Anybody who says otherwise is a monster… and a robot.
A robot-monster.
Great Movie, but I’d have included Lonesome Dove.