Western Movie Discussion Thread

What western do you consider to be the best of all-time? Do you consider Star Wars to be a western? What should every fan of the genre see? For classic westerns I would have to say High Noon. As far as the modern era Tombstone is pretty untouchable.


Changing this a bit to make it fit in the forum better.

 

I'd say it was a dead heat between The Outlaw Josey Wales or Unforgiven.

 

Sounds great, just remember to dicuss, not list.


You might be surprised by the fact that I live in Texas and don't watch many Westerns!

Of the few I've seen though Magnificent seven was pretty good. It wasn't like most Westerns that have no point and just have a whole bunch of people shot. It made sense, and In my mind was a pretty good movie.

I recomend it.

 

its a toss up.

between 'Paint your Wagon' and 'Blazzing Sadles'

 

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is the best.

Also, the other two "Man with no Name" movies:
A Fist Full of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More

The Magnificent Seven is also great.

As is Blazing Saddles.

 

Just to try and keep this on topic, let's kick up a discussion. First off, I've never seen any of these movies... so why are the ones listed better than the others..? What characteristics make them more "realistic", and how does the directing and screenplay help it flow more naturally?

 

I think the Western has a tremendous potential to just be reduced to formula, more than almost any other genre. Hence, I appreciate the Westerns that break with that formula slightly.

Like, The Searchers, Dances with Wolves, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Unforgiven, High Noon, The Wild Bunch, etc.

For a western to really have resonance, it needs the same things any other film needs: good characters, a good story and, more than anything else, it must involve your emotions.

During the 'Golden Age of Hollywood' Westerns were churned out much, much too often and they basically became cliched and trite. Usually, when a Western starts, one can see every thing coming. You've got your hired gun, your cattle baron, your railroad man, your drifter, your kindly saloon girl, your brawl, your shootout in the street, your good guy death, etc, etc, maybe an indian attack or two.

I think for a Western to really survive and really suceed, it needs to tweak that formula just a bit, like the films I've mentioned above.

Be it with suspense, like High Noon, or character development, like Searchers, Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven, or violence, like the Wild Bunch, or even humour, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, these films played with the audience's expectations of what a Western was. And they have become classics because of it.

 

The reason why I rate The Outlaw Josey wales so highly, is that it covers so much ground. It incorporates the end of the civil war, the arrival of carpetbaggers in the south, dislocated native americans, and the classic plot device, a wronged man trying to avenge his murdered family.
It's well acted, Chief Dan George, who couldn't remember his lines, ad libbed his way through most of the film, and does a wonderful job, Eastwood is very good, and John Vernon turns in a good performance as Fletcher. There are plenty of dramatic moments in the movie, but it balances these quite well with a sprinkling of humour, in the shape of the shady salesman, trying to flog his wonderful elixir with a variety of outlandish claims.