Top 5

Top Westerns

1.  Once Upon a Time in the West

2.  Unforgiven

3.  The Good, The Bad, & the Ugly

4.  The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

5.  The Proposition

Re: Top Westerns

Re: Top Westerns

Re: Top Westerns

Well, I just watched The Proposition with SkyPilot last night when I was in GR.  Afterwards he decided that he actually would have put Dead Man ahead of it.  It was enjoyable, but I'd hardly say among a top 5 list, unless you haven't seen many westerns.  I actually haven't seen too many myself, but like noir I usually like most of them, so I'm not sure why not.

Ok, if I had to make a strict top 5 list it would probably be nearly all Leone films, so I'm going to group them together as number 1 with my favorite, which is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, For A Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars.  (I have yet to see A Fistful of Dynamite)

2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  It's been a while since I've seen this, but I've had that poster of the final frame of the movie since college.  That image will always be one of the most iconic images in film to me.

3. Ravenous.  IMDB lists this as a western, but also as horror, comedy, and thriller.  It's as much as one as it is any other.  I love it for that.  And I LOVE the music, which Damon Albarn from Blur and Gorillaz had a hand in.

4. Dead Man. Also unusual.  Definitely a western, but a Jim Jarmusch western.  Also an unusual score.

5. The Outlaw Josey Wales.  Picking a number 5 was tough, although not because I was weighing  Josey Wales with Unforgiven.  I'm not a big fan of that movie.

Here's a couple more I've seen that I'd like to mention.

A few John Wayne flicks I've seen.  Stage Coach, Rio Bravo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

High Noon.  A statement being made in the era of McCarthyism.  Shown as if it were being played out in real time.  Lloyd Bridges is great.  Also Lee Van Cleef's first film appearance.

Ride With the Devil.  Less often explored aspects of the Civil War done very well by Ang Lee.

And honestly, Back to the Future Part III.  It's a wild ride, and has some references to Leone's man with no name trilogy.

Re: Top Westerns

Oh, and a couple more things I'd like to bring up.

What's the deal with The Searchers?  I don't think it's a bad movie, but why is it so often declared to be the greatest western.  I've even heard people argue it for contention of the greatest movie ever made.

Also, I remember seeing The Wild Bunch as one of the first R rated movies I rented when I turned old enough.  That must have been about 8 years ago.  Can't remember it well enough to rate it, but I imagine if I see it again it has a good chance of making the top 5.

I find it fascinating that movies about such a particular time and place have achieved their own major genre label.  It's not like video stores have sections just for movies about the ancient Romans, or Russian feudal societies, or 1920's Venezuela.

Re: Top Westerns

Re: Top Westerns

quint:

Just watched El Topo last weekend and I have to throw it in here. I love when westerns go after mythic themes. This has the facade of a western, but maybe all my favorites are just dressed that way. Jodorowsky is a delightful madman to put with Sergio Leone.

Woah, I've wanted to see that for a while.  I've seen a few clips of it.  Where did you get it from?  I'm sure there's a video store in Chicago that would have it somewhere.  Was it dubbed or subtitled or what?

I've never seen any of his films, but I know Fando and Lis is on DVD through Netflix.  You think I should try with that one first?

Re: Top Westerns

Re: Top Westerns

quint:

There is a recent rerelease on DVD that is both El Topo and The Holy Mountain. YouTube has a great intro video of Jodorowsky in all his glory. Check it out.

Holy cow!! That intro just fried my midwestern American mind. I don't know if it's seeing all these disturbing scenes flashing out of context or if it looks like one of the more violent and perverse westerns I've ever scene. Interesting but a little crazy.

Re: Top Westerns

Like Risselada, I enjoy most westerns so I'm sure I could make a more unique and intersting list if I wanted to, but these are the top 5 if you ask me.

1. Once Upon A Time In The West - a western opera, flawless

2. The Wild Bunch - rough and dirty, some of the most authentic looking cowboys on screen. The climax is superb

3. High Noon - tension never looked better

4. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - John Ford, John Wayne, James Stewart, Woody Strode, and Lee Marvin - what talent

5. The Magnificent Seven - "We deal in lead, friend". I saw this as a child and I wanted to be Steve McQueen

I'd also have to give credit to these for being superior for the genre - The Searchers, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Tombstone, The Professionals, Unforgiven, and Johnny Guitar

I never cared for Shane - actually, I've found over the years that I don't care for George Stevens direction in any of his pictures (except maybe A Place in The Sun)