BS: Movie lovers- Westerns

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: ard mhacha
Date: 04 Apr 08 - 04:31 AM

The Searchers, For a fistful of dollars, For a few dollars more, The good the bad and the ugly, They died with their boots on, this last picture was as close to the Custer legend as Bush`s take on the Iraq war.
I don`t like John Wayne but The Searchers was an exception, a classic western.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Slag
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 11:54 PM

Pancho Villa, Viva Zapata, The Professionals and even Vera Cruz, while good movies all and not Westerns per se. Si? Same for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

"3:10 to Yuma" had so many errors and impossibilities in it that I had a hard time staying in the story. Cliche and then some. Crow just filling out his resume'?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 11:18 PM

It had its moments...and some good characters here and there...but I feel that it just wasn't paced right somehow...or it wasn't edited right. It was really weird in that respect. So I tend to agree pretty much with the critics. I must say that I always enjoy Christopher Walken, though, and I liked the part he played in that movie.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 10:19 PM

One movie not mentioned so far is Heaven's Gate. I don't give a rat's what the critics and their followers said about it, I think it is a damned good movie. The cimetography is superb. The vision of the immigrants migrating west, and the paranoia and suspicion of the land barons was well portrayed. It captured and presented that point in American history very well.

One of my favourites.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 10:07 PM

Sierra Madre is one of my favorites. I would be reluctant to call it a Western.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: RangerSteve
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 09:54 PM

Yeah, Treasure of the Sierra Madre - how could I have forgotten that one. Should be mandatory viewing.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 09:14 PM

Smoke Signals! Yes, Art, if you mean the 1998 one based on Sherman Alexie's book. Wonderful movie and the book was great, too! And, soundtrack!

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 09:09 PM

The Lee Marvin "Monte Walsh" had a soundtrack theme song that was rather folk-like sung by, of all folks, Cass Elliott.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 08:50 PM

Yeah, the recent one done about the life of Pancho Villa was great, and Viva Zapata is a classic.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 08:45 PM

At the top of any list of great Western films would have to be: LONESOME DOVE


A close second would be MONTE WALSH ---the earlier one with Lee Marvin----not the recent travesty that Tom Selleck did.

followed by:

The Mountain Men (Charlton Heston)
Man In The Wilderness
Black Robe
Dead Man
Conagher
Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
Walk About
Ulzana's Raid
Adventures Of A Young Man (from Hemingway's NICK ADAMS stories)
Smoke Signals
Lone Star
Viva Zapata (written by John Steinbeck)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
Dead Man's Walk
Jeremiah Johnson (They shoulda left the liver-eating in though.)
Pancho Villa


There are more, but these are what come to mind.
Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 07:00 PM

Good one, L.H. ... good one !! LOL

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 06:57 PM

Making sure not to caste Paris Hilton (with her hair dyed black) in the role of Sacagawea....

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 06:51 PM

"Buckskins" good categorization L.H. :)

Most certainly could use a few more of those.

My favourite buckskin would have to be "Revolution" with Al Pacino.

I wish someone would make a good movie about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 06:37 PM

I think the movies about Daniel Boone, the Deerslayer, et al, should have a term all their own.

How about "Buckskins"?

We could use a few more good buckskins at the movies, I think. "Last of the Mohicans" was great. A really old buckskin was "Drums Along the Mohawk".

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: RangerSteve
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 05:37 PM

To answer Seamus Kennedy's question: "Last of the Mohicans" isn't a western, the action takes place in New York State, specifically the area between Albany and the Niagara River - the western part of the state, but that doesn't count. "Davy Crockett" is part western, since he ended up at the Alamo in Texas. Daniel Boon technically isn't a western either, the exciting parts of his life took place in Kentucky.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 04:27 PM

We just saw "3:10 to Yuma" this past weekend (the new one) and thought it worked quite well. I'm not an afficionado like astro though, so he'll have to chime in with the lists.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Rog Peek
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 03:26 PM

I've always been a great fan of westerns, it would be too difficult coose favourites, but if I had to, then Lonely are the Brave, Outlaw Josie Wales, and Unforgiven would be among them.

Rog

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Midchuck
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 12:13 PM

City Slickers, also and what about the Ultimate "modern" Western...Star Wars!:-)

It is a modern western, but it is not "the Ultimate." It doesn't even come close to Firefly/Serenity. IMO. Not the least bit humble.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 12:04 PM

City Slickers, also and what about the Ultimate "modern" Western...Star Wars!:-)

I was going to post something here, but it was too long, so I started a new thread to show what an influence Westerns had on me as a child: click here!.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Midchuck
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 11:46 AM

"Lonely are the Brave" with Kirk Douglas....I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it, but it is worth seeing.

Yup, I saw it way back when. Excellent.

Based on an Edward Abbey novel, nicht var?

P.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 11:32 AM

"Lonely are the Brave" with Kirk Douglas is set in the 1960s, takes place in the big city, has freeways and fast cars, and is most decidedly a western in any sense of that word. It concerns a modern day cowboy's inablity to cope with the modern world. I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it, but it is worth seeing.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 11:06 AM

Thanks Seamus .... "cars and horses" ... excellent point. Pat Brady driving Nellybelle confused the hell out of me. ... in fact it almost destroyed the cowboy legend to me when I was 5 years old.

How about civil war movies? I wouldn't classify them as "western" movies.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 10:43 AM

Good question, number 6.
Would Revolutionary War-era movies - 'Last of the Mohicans', e.g., or Davy Crockett or Dan'l Boone be considererd Westerns?

How about 1940's Roy & Gene movies with cars and horses?


Seamus

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 10:20 AM

After watching "The Horse Soldiers" with John Wayne and William Holden you would think that the only men allowed to join the Union Army were concert quality baritones. UNLESS they are having their leg removed. Then they get very drunk to kill the pain and sing like scalded cats in heat.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,Vic at work
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 09:44 AM

Missouri Breaks

Texas across the river - Great spoof western.

However I am stunned that no one has mentioned the greatast of all-and its from my side of the pond!
          Carry on Cowboy.
Vic
(puts on black hat and sidles behind a rock)

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 08:13 AM

I also think a stagecoach with 6 horses running fast as the wind and the wheels turning backwards should also be included in that venn diagram ... the school marm is optional, but certainly helps in getting the stamp of certification.

Great explantion BTW weedrummer !

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 08:02 AM

If you had a venn diagram you could put inside the blob - horses, six shooters, cowboy hats...er thats it.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 07:50 AM

question here .... what classifies a movie as a 'western' ... is it any movie that is not bound from any specific time in history, where the charcters all wear stetsons and takes place anywhere west of West Virginia, east of the Pacific shores, south of Baffin Island and north of the Rio Grande?

Could "a River Runs Through it" be considered a 'Western' movie? I think not.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 07:45 AM

Cheyenne Autumn

there were sort of atrocity westerns at one time - A Man Called Horse, Soldier Blue, and I suppose Hang em high would fit into that category.

sadism seemed to be an important feature of these films.

I'm glad its more character based nowadays.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 07:24 AM

My Name is Nobody (aka Il Mio Nome e Nessuno) - with Henry Fonda and Terence Hill and a truly sublime Morricone score, sacrilegiously plundered for the UK sitcom Nighty Night.

And not forgetting El Topo of course...

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: fat B****rd
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 04:30 AM

And just for the sake of it, it's apparently the anniversary of Jesse James murder to-day. 1882.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 03:57 AM

The ultimate "western movie spoof" - at least in close competition with Cat Ballou, has to be The Villain." (1979?)

Kirk Douglas plays Wile E Coyote to the hilt. Arnold Swarzeneger is "Handsome Stranger" (named after his father), wears the white hat and carries a seven-shooter, and Kirk's horse is as good as - but a little different than - the similar role in Cat Ballou. (Both horses should have won the oscars.)

Ann-Margret plays Ann-Margret, but does it very well.

Little Big Man is another slightly "different" one that I don't think has been mentioned. It's one that some like and some don't, and suffers from a few "disjunctions" in plot (assuming you accept that there is one), but is worth looking up, if not watching.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Slag
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 03:28 AM

I have to agree with much of what has already been said. However I would top my list with Eastwood's "The Unforgiven". Great movie, great realism and a nice contrast with the beginning of the fictionalization of the Old West and the reality of the brutality of the Old West. Second would have to be "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Two that haven't been mentioned but are a "must see" and #'s 3 and 4 in my list are the Lee Marvin version of "Monte Walsh" and Jason Robards' "The Ballad of Cable Hoag". Excellent films all.

I have to agree with the inclusion of "Cat Ballou" I laughed my self sick when I first saw that flick at the movie house. It was hilarious and Lee Marvin absolutely deserved the Oscar.

The question of John Wayne has recently been discussed (again!) in some other threads of late and it seems many folk either love him or hate him. I stated elsewhere that Wayne wasn't really an actor. He could only play himself. He was corny at times and his line delivery was, well, unique if nothing else, pilgrim. But there was just something about him that many folk loved. "Liberty Valance was probably his best western and he had some great immortal lines in that story. Well, done and well acted by all. Shane has to go in there around the 5 or 6 position. "Open Range" with Bob Duvall and Kevin Costner is a good story, well acted and believable. I only discovered "Silverado" a few years back and I was very impressed by the work as a whole and by Costner in particular. One of his finest efforts.

If you can find them get and watch "The Ballad of Cable Hoag" starring Jason Robards and I believe Connie Stevens. It is funny, sad poignant and it too has a ring of authenticity to it. Lee Marvin's "Monte Walsh" is head and shoulders above the Tom Selleck remake. The song in it is haunting: "Good Times Are Coming", I believe, is the title and the very last scene is worth the whole movie. It works on so many levels that you could call it "literature of the cinema".

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 01:51 AM

The Left-Handed Gun with Paul Newman and John Dehner.

Not a movie, but I have the boxed set of all the 'Deadwood' episodes.
Pure brilliance!

And I agree with pretty much all the selections in everybody's posts.

Seamus (the closet Western buff)

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 01:34 AM

Legends of the Fall is in some respects a western, Jack. It centers around a strongly traditional and rather patrician family who live on a ranch in the American West and who have numerous adventures there (as well as elsewhere). It features one or two Native American characters also. Yes, I'd say it's a western, but it's definitely not what you'd call a typical western. I'd call it sort of a Victorian melodrama, but one that takes place around an American family who live out west instead of an English family in Great Britain. It's at the cusp of the end of the world of the 1800s and the beginning of the 20th century and the horror of the First World War...the beginning of what we could call the "modern" world. In the modern world war became transformed by the machine. It became an exercise of mass mechanized armaments rather than the more formalized and bloody pageantry that had occurred in previous centuries, when formations of men in brightly colored uniforms faced off at very short range with muskets or made splendid cavalry charges across open ground.

It was the end of a great many romantic illusions and a plunge into something far deeper and colder that kills not just men's bodies, but perhaps something in their very souls. It was what gave birth to the writings of people like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. It has bred despair in people.

That's what we're facing now. We have all been witnessing a gigantic fall from grace these last hundred years or so. We are now living in a world where many people believe in virtually nothing anymore...except material things, and momentary material advantages. Machines could live as well as that, but we are not machines.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: mrdux
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 01:14 AM

that is, here's my ongoing list of twenty:

Destry Rides Again
Stagecoach
My Darling Clementine
Red River
The Cavalry Trilogy:
    Fort Apache
    She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
    Rio Grande
Winchester '73
The Searchers
The Magnificent Seven
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
Ride the High Country
Cat Ballou
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Wild Bunch
Valdez is Coming
Little Big Man
The Outlaw Josie Wales
Silverado

most have already been mentioned, new additions being Rio Grande (the third and least known of John Ford's trilogy), Valdez is Coming (with a screenplay by Elmore Leonard), and Silverado. interestingly, seven of them are by John Ford, and seven feature John Wayne (who isn't a particular favorite of mine).

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: mrdux
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 01:08 AM

here's my ongoing list of q

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 12:55 AM

Is Legends of the Fall a Western?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 12:35 AM

Yeah, it's heavy, Don, but SO well done and such a lesson to be taught and learned.

Has anyone mentioned Legends of the Fall?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 11:34 PM

I agree with ya 100% L.H. ... it was a damned good movie... with a damned good music score by Gustavo Santaolalla.

... biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 11:29 PM

Heh! ;-) For me, Number 6, everything in that movie was darned good except for that one little problem....I can't relate to men getting sexually turned on by other men. I certainly CAN relate to men loving one another deeply for their whole lives, dying for one another, etc...it just doesn't work for me on a sexual level.

"Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I have witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged higher
And though it hurt me so bad then
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me, my brothers in arms."

Yes, a love like that between men I can surely understand. Friends will die for friends.

I sometimes think that we human beings could love one another with less conflict and confusion if we didn't even have the sexual aspect playing its part in our lives. It seems to cause tremendous confusion in people, not to mention terrible jealousies and insecurities, and there are so many other ways to love a person deeply besides those that revolve primarily around the sex drive.

I'm simply theorizing, of course. The sexual aspect is an inescapable fact of life for anyone born in a physical body and past puberty. I remember how I loved people before I was old enough to be concerned about sex....and frankly, I think it was a better form of love then. It was less confused and conflicted in its nature, because it stemmed wholly from the heart. Sexual love stems partly form the heart, partly from the loins. That often leads to conflicts and misunderstandings.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 11:04 PM

"Brokeback Mountain" ... music score was good.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 11:01 PM

No mention of the Sheepman starring Glenn Ford and Shirley MacLaine.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 11:00 PM

You mentioned Brokeback Mountain, Rapaire. I wouldn't say it "sucked" at all. I'd say it was a very intelligently scripted and well-acted and convincing film. Everyone in it acted very well. Be that as it may, it wouldn't rank as any kind of favorite of mine or one I wish to see again, because I simply can't relate much to a serious film like that about two men having a sexual relationship. I don't object to it, I just can't empathize with it, that's all. If it was two women having such a relationship I could relate to it fine, but two men having a passionate physical relationship just does not compute in my brain for some reason...it's a little like watching two trucks having a sexual relationship, sort of. I go blank. I just don't personally get it. I can't imagine being there.

But I will say this. The acting was great. The script was great. The characterizations were great. It was a very well done movie. And as a story of a genuine (and tortured) love affair between two people over many years? Convincing.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 10:51 PM

I also liked Silverado. Good movie.

One I enjoyed as a kid, but it would probably seem rather dated now, was "Night of the Grizzly" with Clint Walker.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: kendall
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:41 PM

No one has mentioned "A bride comes to Yellow Sky" Robert Prston.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:36 PM

Whoa!

"The Ox Bow Incident" (1943), starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn.

Heavy!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:15 PM

Brokeback Mountain? (I didn't see it; heard it sucked.)

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 08:43 PM

Nobody's mentioned 'Nevada Smith". If you saw it on a big screen at an impressionable age, you never forgot it.

Also worthy of mention: "Tom Horne".

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 08:32 PM

Its amazing how many of these I've seen...........Here's a few more that I haven't seen listed yet:

The Cheyenne Social Club---Far from the classic or authentic types but just a fun movie. Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, two old friends together again.
Broken Lance---Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark, Katy Jurado, and a good plot.
Bad Day at Black Rock---a modern western tale with Spencer Tracy and one helluva' supporting cast!
Winchester '73---Perhaps the definitive Jimmy Stewart Western; no list is complete without it.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns TONITE NOW on TCM
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 08:27 PM

As I write Turner Classic Movies is showing Santa Fe w/ Randolph Scott.
Then they are showing The Long Riders; then (a favorite of mine) Colorado Territory, which is a western remake of High Sierra starring Joel McCrea. Jack, you couldn't have started this threads more fortuitously.
Please forgive my adding to your thread title, but I wanted to emphasize that this is now.
JotSC

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: pdq
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:57 PM

"The Hanging Tree" had some early work by George C. Scott, whom I also think of at the same time as Lee J. Cobb.

The theme song is sung by Marty Robbins.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,Terp
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:39 PM

Hombre and One Eyed Jacks are probably my two favorites with Lonesome Dove (the first series with Duvall and TL Jones) and Silverado a not too distant second.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:36 PM

Absolutely "Quigley Down Under."

I fell madly in love with Crazy Cora. When Quigley is beaten to within an inch of his life and left to die out in the desert, Crazy Cora finds him and says, "Don't worry, on a new job it's quite common for things not to go well at first."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Sorcha
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:35 PM

Comes a Horseman
Man From Snowy River (ok, maybe not a 'real' Western)

And I SWEAR I've seen The Cossack and the Cowboy....or maybe it's the other way round?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:27 PM

I have a fairly long list of favorites that come to mind:

For A Fistful of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Dances With Wolves
Little Big Man
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Robert Ford
Cat Ballou
The Magnificent Seven
Red River
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Hud
Hombre
The Big Country
Unforgiven
High Noon
The Alamo (the recent one)
Son of the Morning Star
Windwalker
The Long Riders
Wyatt Earp
McClintock
Hang 'em High




I usually don't care much for John Wayne movies...but I make an exception where "Red River" and "McClintock" are concerned.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:19 PM

Correction: Cobb not in Hanging Tree.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:18 PM

Ranger Steve---
The Hanging Tree - Maria Schell, Gary Cooper, Lee J. Cobb
posted @ 3:14 Shane - A knight errant in the frontier west.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: RangerSteve
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 06:59 PM

Mostly I'm going to second other movies mentioned above. The Shootist has a cast that you'll never see again. Steward, Wayne, Lauren Bacall, bit parts by Hugh O'Brien and Richard Boone.

High Noon - A previous poster said he was bored watchin it at the age of 9 - it wasn't made for kids.

Liberty Valance - another film with a western fan's dream cast.

Cat Balou - can't mention this one enough.

In another thread about movies, someone mentioned "Quigley Down Under" - not really a western, about a cowboy sharpshooter in Australia - worth watching. thanks to whoever mentioned it in that other thread.   Oh, yeah, it has Alan Rickman as the villain - that's all the recommendation a movie needs.

The Hanging Tree - Ingrid Bergman and I forget the male lead.

Stagecoach - sadly, I've never seen the original, only the remake, which was still good.

Westward the Women - about mail order brides in a wagon train - a forgotten classic, in my opinion.

Also mentioned above - The Big Country - the poster forgot to mention that it has one of the best musical scores in movie history.

Shane - I didn't see this one mentioned above. What's wrong with you people?

Recently saw "3:10 to Yuma" - should become a classic.

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Robert Ford" - takes the prize for the longest title around - really really good movie.

Maverick - the movie version of the TV show with Mel Gibson - back before he became annoying.

The Outlaw Josie Wales - best group of supporting characters in any movie.

More later.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 06:37 PM

First, alanabit.....If you're ever over here, we'll do a Western Marathon.....same movies my friend.

And that's pretty well true for most named on this thread. Western or not, Blazing Saddles is one of my favorite movies period. A few I haven't seen so far (I don't think)............

Once Upon a Time in the West---Henry Fonda playing against type
Firecreek---ALSO has Henry Fonda playing against type
The Unforgiven
Night Passage (Audie Murphy and Jimmy Stewart as brothers)
Junior Bonner---Sam Peckinpah goes to the rodeo; McQueen is great
The Wild Bunch---Sam does the violence thing
The Big Land---Alan Ladd sleeper
Sons of Katie Elder---Real schlock but I still love it
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid---Did I miss this one above?

Geez............I could go on and on with this. I loved the old westerns as a kid too. Buck Jones, Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Tim McCoy, Bob Steele, etc.......And I waited for each new one from Jimmy Stewart, Audie Murphy, and especially Alan Ladd............***sigh***.........very happy days. I could list a hundred and still have more.

Let me give you a freebie bonus selection. This one is just plain entertaining for the cast alone but the plot is at least half-assed and keeps your attention as well. Hannie Caulder is worth the price of admission on several levels. Robert Culp as the philosophical gunfighter that wears glasses, Raquel Welch showing just a bit of skin, and then the villainous brothers who have killed Hannie's husband----This group is worth the price of 20 admissions all by themselves-Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, and Strother Martin......You have to see this one just for them!

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 05:33 PM

Another movie worth mentioning in this thread is the "Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" starring Paul Newman.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 05:30 PM

Hardly a movie but I picked up a box set - season one of Steve McQueen in "Wanted: Dead or Alive"

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,Jack The Sailor
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 05:20 PM

I picked up "Trinity is still my name" a while ago in a Dollar bin. It was a funny as I remembered.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: ranger1
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 05:05 PM

It's kind of cheesy, but I was always partial to "River of No Return" with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. And does "Dances With Wolves" count?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 05:02 PM

There are a lot of other people who've posted about the Cowboy and the Cossack, wishing it would be made into a movie. I would love to see that, too. According to one posting here Warner was going to but wound up not doing so.

What was the recent one of the cowboy who raced his horse against some of a sheik? Ah, Hidalgo. That was a fun one!

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:52 PM

Surprised no-one has mentioned the Sam Peckinpah film..'The Wild Bunch' which I bellieve was the first film to use the body blood spurts caused by amorces.....very bloody film.
Fistful of Dollars, For a few dollars more and another Spaghetti western starring Lee Van Cleef....but I can't remember what it was called and what it was about....that's age eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:48 PM

Wow this thread has grown....
Jack the Sailor....having watched this a few years back for the I don't know how many'th time...yes it would be a good rental now, in spite of being dated...my opinion anyway....Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Sorcha
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:31 PM

I think somebody did make a movie of Cossack and the Cowboy. Pretty sure I've seen it. Others I like:

Pale Rider/Clint Eastwood
Frisco Kid/Gene Wilder
Two Mules for Sister Sarah/Eastwood
The Long Riders/Carradines,Quaids, others

Might think of more....

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:23 PM

And of course
Billy the Kid and Pat Garret
and They Died with their boots on

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:21 PM

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Wyatt Earp
Eldorado
Oklahoma
The Man from Laramie
For a Few Dollars More

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:20 PM

I would definitely put "Cat Ballou" on the "must see" list. I don't know if a purist would consider it to be a genuine Western, but it was one of the more memorable movies I've seen. I've heard that Lee Marvin, after seeing the movie before it was released, went and hid under his bed, saying "My God, what have I done? Nobody will ever take me as a serious actor again!" But his shame and humiliation was pretty well alleviated when he won an Oscar for his role as the drunken gunfighter. I'd seen Lee Marvin in a lot of movies where he played detectives, crooks, etc., but it was in "Cat Ballou" that I first really noticed him.

My nomination for The Greatest Western Ever Made is "The Big Country." Plot set-up from Internet Movie Data Base:

Retired, wealthy sea Captain James McKay (Gregory Peck) arrives in the vast expanse of the West to marry fiancée Pat Terrill (Carroll Baker). McKay is a man whose values & approach to life are a mystery to the ranchers & ranch foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) takes an immediate dislike to him. Pat is spoiled, selfish & controlled by her wealthy father, Major Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford). The Major is involved in a ruthless civil war, over watering rights for cattle, with a rough hewn clan led by Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives). The land in question is owned by Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) & both Terrill & Hannassey want it.

It has everything that a good Western needs to have—all the clichés you've ever seen in Westerns—but it handles them with a slightly new twist, such as the shoot-out between Gregory Peck and Rufus Hannassey's cowardly bully of a son (Chuck Connors). McKay (Peck) insists that it be fought "like gentlemen;" with a brace of single-shot dueling pistols. Jean Simmons plays the purty school marm (single, of course) who owns the land—and the water rights—that everyone else wants.

Most people assume that Burl Ives got his Oscar for playing "Big Daddy" in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), but not so. He was great as "Big Daddy." But he was awarded the Oscar for Rufus Hannassey in "The Big Country" (also 1958). He was bloody brilliant in that role!

One of the really great things about this movie is that there are no clear-cut lines as to who the "good guys" and the "bad guys" are. The two people who display real integrity are McKay (Peck) and Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives).

Great sequence:   Steve Leech (Heston), ranch foreman in love with the rancher's spoiled daughter, challenges McKay (Peck) to a fist fight. Later, they meet in the corral in the dead of night and beat the crap out of each other for about an hour. No clear winner. As they both lay there in the dirt, bruised and bleeding and no longer able to move, Peck lifts his face out of the dirt and says, "Tell me Leech, what did we prove?" No answer. Then, they both crawl painfully to their feet and stagger off in opposite directions.

I think there's a metaphor there.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Beer
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:05 PM

Thanks biLL, that's the one.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:58 PM

Agreed on Johnny Guitar. Maybe that's why it made the list.

Now - Somebody needs to make a film of Claire Huffakers "Cowboy and the Cossack". Properly filmed it would end up on this list.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:49 PM

In no particular order:

McClintock
Cat Ballou
Rooster Cogburn
True Grit
High Noon
Cheyenne Social Club (a wonderful film!)

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:48 PM

WesleyS - I just looked at the IMDb list. Pretty decent. Unlike many recent lists, it's not heavily skewed to newer product, although one could argue that there isn't a lot of newer product.
But 'Johnny Guitar' at #50? It is one of the most overwrought films of any genre; it makes 'Duel in the Sun' or 'Lust in the Dust' seem like high art!

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:29 PM

The Audie Murphy version is "Destry".

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:29 PM

Oxbow Incident with Henry Fonda.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:28 PM

JtS - When I was a lad we had two theaters (Hollywood and Beverly Hills) called the Hitching Post. They showed only B-westerns for the kiddie set. Kids would go there wearing hats and chaps, and the Roy or Gene six-shooter. My favorite B-Westerns were the Gilbert Roland, 'Cisco Kids' series. I have seen 5 of the 6 of them as an adult; some of them had Tom Joad-like dialogue.

I think we folk, herein, have given you a terrific cross section of A westerns.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: alanabit
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:22 PM

I forgot to mention "Destry Rides Again". The one that Stewart made with Audie Murphy was also quite watchable. The title escapes me.
I found John Wayne quite entertaining. So I enjoyed "True Grit" and practically anything he was in. That said, I think "The Shootist" was a cut above anything else he did. Of modern Westerns, I reckon we will have a long wait until anything nearly as good as "Unforgiven" emerges.
Of Western spoofs, my vote also goes to "Support Your Local Sheriff".

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: jacqui.c
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:15 PM

I'd watch High Noon again just about anytime. It's a great movie.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:14 PM

My list would include--pretty much in order of my esteem:
The Searchers - My nominee for best western ever.
My Darling Clementine - A take on the OK Corral mythos; you can almost
                        feel the dust of Tombstone
The Man Who Shot Libery Valance - ditto other posts.
The Professionals - Terrific caper film. Worth it just for the final
                   exchange between Lee Marvin and Ralph Bellamy.
Red River - Mutiny on the Bounty in the west.
Warlock - Very underrated to my mind. What happens to a town that
          hires a professional town marshall.                        
Ride the High Country - Terrific performances by Randolph Scott (his
                        last) and Joel McCrea (his last real role).
The Gunfighter - Gregory Peck as a retired gunfighter.
Shane - A knight errant in the frontier west.
Support Your Local Sheriff - Great spoof of western film conventions.
Fort Apache - A take on the Custer myth...not about Custer tho.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: kendall
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:12 PM

True Grit
Rooster Cogburn

best of all time, Lonesome Dove and High Noon.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Riginslinger
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:02 PM

McCabe and Mrs. Miller was good. Somehow I didn't remember it as a western.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: bobad
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:02 PM

I just watched "My Darling Clementine" a couple of weeks ago and I highly recommend it. Filmed in 1946 it was directed by John Ford and stars Henry Fonda, Victor Mature and Walter Brennan and portrays the Wyatt Earp in Tombstone saga which culminates in the shootout at the OK Corral. A true classic of the genre.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:02 PM

Beer ... Cat Balou ... Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda ... it was hilarious and worth mentioning here in this thread.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:01 PM

Rather than me typing what the movies is all about ... and probably making a mess of it in doing so .... here's the wikepedia link

BTW ... it mentions it has been selected as one of top 25 movies of all time and in some circles considered the best movie of all time.

the searchers

Jack ... I agree, it was "the life".

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:56 PM

IMDB List - top 50 movies by vote

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Beer
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:54 PM

On the lighter side.
Blazing Saddles and the one with the horse leaning against the building . Damn but the title escapes me.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,Jack The Sailor
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:53 PM

Where I grew up they used to have Western Movies at lunch time on Saturday. Get up at eight, play for a few hours then watch John Wayne or Roy Rogers while eating tomato soup and egg salad sandwiches. That was the life!

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:50 PM

We haven't mentioned "Stagecoach" yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:49 PM

If you haven't seen the Searchers and your a fan of westerns I suggest you check it out ... to me it's definately one of the all time classic western movies. It's very well done.

If your also one of those who is turned off by John Wayne (as I know msome people are) don't let that prevent you from seeing it.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: GUEST,Jack The Sailor
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:41 PM

Liberty Valence is a good one.
I liked Rio Bravo as well.

Some of the others I don't remember so well. Why are they good?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:35 PM

My favourite is also "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance" but when I think about it, I'm always reminded of Lee Marvin who was one of my favourite actors.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Riginslinger
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:28 PM

"The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance," would have been a classic in any genre, it seems to me. The story line was a little deeper than most westerns.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: alanabit
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:18 PM

I particularly like "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance", because it is a really good moral film too. James Stewart was someone who could almost make the filming of a Virginia Woolf movie bearable... No... I exaggerate. I could watch him in almost anything though and among his Westerns, "Broken Arrow" and "The Shootist", also with John Wayne, were well worth watching too.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: pdq
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:12 PM

Was it "Rio Bravo"?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Midchuck
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:10 PM

(In addition to many already mentioned):

Shane
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Tombstone
McClintock

and what was the one that John Wayne did with Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson?

P.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: pdq
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:10 PM

Do "Paint Your Wagon" and "Cat Ballou" count as 'westerns'?

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: number 6
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:09 PM

The Searchers

High Plains Drifter

The Misfits ... if this can be classified as a western

and mark another fav for Little Big Man

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:08 PM

Georgian,

Do you think that High Noon would be a good rental now? Or would it be dated. I remember being bored with it when I was probably 9 years old, so I don't remember it very well.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:08 PM

OOPS - I forgot "Red River", "The Searchers" and "The Shootist" which was almost ruined by Ron Howard being miscast.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:05 PM

You've got a good start. I'd also include "Gunfight at OK Corral" and "Lonesome Dove" the miniseries. Perhaps "Silverado" too.

Subject: RE: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:01 PM

Clint Eastwood in 'Hang 'em High' and 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly' are my two favourites.....and of course 'High Noon' when I was just a lad.

Subject: BS: Movie lovers- Westerns
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 01:52 PM

The Ten films that got it wrong thread seems to be petering out, I got some good info from it but it has left me wanting more.

Little Hawk mentioned his favorite western movie and that got me to thinking. We are considering putting in some extra buck and upping our netflicks so that we can see more movies per month. But then, what to see?

We already own my two favorite Westerns, Tombstone and Little Big Man, but what else is out there? What are your favorite westerns? and why?

Can I count Seven Samurai as a Western? We also already have it and Magnificent Seven.