Official HTF Western Appreciation Thread (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

This popped up in my feed today. Lots of good choices here.

The 50 Greatest Western Movies Ever Made

A hard look at one of cinema’s oldest genres.

www.vulture.com

Lots of bad choices too.

 

[Tino]

This popped up in my feed today. Lots of good choices here.

The 50 Greatest Western Movies Ever Made

A hard look at one of cinema’s oldest genres.

www.vulture.com

I’ve seen 32/50. Good list. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Not a terrible list, but I was bit surprised at the absence of The Big Country. But of course, these lists can't contain every film as the article notes.

- Walter.

 

[Tino]

Also missing was the tremendous Dances With Wolves.

 

[Tino]

Up next

Showdown in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S.Marshals, and Jessica Drummond, the iron-fist rancher who controls the territory.

 

[RICK BOND]

Last Train From Gun Hill (1959) and The Alamo (1960) Need Bluray releases !

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I’ve seen 32/50. Good list. Thanks for sharing.

I've seen them all and it's an interesting list that seems to be intentionally pulling titles from all over the place to give a sampling from the different eras and different stylistic excursions. I would love a Blu-ray of The Left Handed Gun and thought it was fun to see this on the list. It was originally meant to be a vehicle for James Dean but of course Newman stepped into the part and he seems to almost be doing a Dean impression. It's a fun picture though and deserves a blu.

You titled this thread Classic Westerns and so the question I have, Tino, is in your mind does this pin this discussion down to any specific era of western filmmaking? I mean guys like Robert and I probably think of pre 1960s westerns when you say "classic" because that was when all of the parameters of what a western is were essentially established.

However as we move forward in time does the bar move as well and do films from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s now qualify as "classic" simply due to their age now?

People probably have different opinions of this and what defines "classic" as Clint Eastwood, a huge western name, did not make his most well known pictures until post 1960. Peckinpah makes his presence felt post 1960.

Hell. many people see Eastwood's Unforgiven as a classic and that is 1992. So with "classic" are we talking time period the pictures were made or genre defining films or both?

 

[Robert Crawford]

A classic movie doesn't have to be released prior to 1970. A movie like 'Unforgiven' is already thought of as a classic film in my opinion as the movie has too many classic lines of dialogue and film sequences to not be a classic movie. I'm saying that without taking in consideration the Oscars and other awards that movie won.

 

[Tino]

I mean guys like Robert and I probably think of pre 1960s westerns when you say "classic" because that was when all of parameters of what a western is were essentially established.

That was my thinking when I originally created this thread.

 

[RICK BOND]

That was my thinking when I originally created this thread.

My Favorite Westerns that I own and Love on Bluray Start with....1939's Dodge City and End with....1969's The Wild Bunch. I have 37 Westerns on Bluray and maybe 10 more on DVD.

 

[Walter Kittel]

FWIW, which along with which $2.00 will get you coffee at Starbucks, I've always thought that classic Westerns pre-date most of the '60s. This is mostly because of the changes in cinema that occurred in the 1960s. The emergence of the anti-hero, the 'spaghetti' Westerns, and relaxed standards for violence on screen are, for me, a fairly clear line of demarcation between the older forms of Westerns and what was produced during that period.

(There are some pretty terrific 'traditional' Westerns during this period, such as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Magnificent Seven, El Dorado, and True Grit to name a few, but the landscape was changing.)

- Walter.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I know this isn’t radical or genius or anything but it’s still amazing to me to think that Unforgiven is older now than movies like Star Wars and The Godfather were when I saw them as a kid in the 80s/90s.

 

[TravisR]

I know this isn’t radical or genius or anything but it’s still amazing to me to think that Unforgiven is older now than movies like Star Wars and The Godfather were when I saw them as a kid in the 80s/90s.

Unforgiven is basically is as old now as Psycho was when I first watched it.

 

[Sam Favate]

Unforgiven will be 29 this year. For comparison, that’s how old From Russia With Love, Hud, Charade, The Pink Panther, The Great Escape and The Birds were when Unforgiven was released. A Fistful of Dollars was only 28.

 

[JimMiller]

Up next

Showdown in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S.Marshals, and Jessica Drummond, the iron-fist rancher who controls the territory.

View attachment 86510

And the Criterion blu-ray is beautiful!

 

[AshJW]

Also missing was the tremendous Dances With Wolves.

Well, everyone has ones own top list.

It would be interesting to see a combined list out of everybody’s lists.
An HTF Western top 50 list.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, everyone has ones own top list.

It would be interesting to see a combined list out of everybody’s lists.
An HTF Western top 50 list.

I'm up for this but should we do it in this thread or start another. Reading this thread I did come across some westerns I had not seen which was exciting so I am attempting to watch those.

My goal in this thread was to try to point out some westerns that were bit more off the well travelled trail so to speak. Tino has been making his way through most of the well known classics, which are all must see, but there have been a lot of westerns made and because I have watched so many it is very exciting, for me, when someone lists a western I have not seen. The lists people made here for Tino include many of the great westerns you have to see but there are many great westerns that don't get mentioned as much primarily because they have not been as easy to see over the years.

With Blu-ray though a lot of things that don't have the big names attached have been coming out.

Western fans all know Ford, Wayne, Hawks, Eastwood, Mann, Boetticher, Peckinpah, Scott, Stewart, Fonda, Cooper, Leone...I mean just that small collection of names will give you a collection of classic westerns that will keep you busy for some time. I think you should start with those names but then branch outside of them too because there is some great stuff out there.

 

[Cranston37+]

I would love to see some top lists for the genre, but might I suggest not going to 50 - maybe 20 to 30

 

[Tino]

How about a Top 20?

Ive got to give this some serious thought. I’ll include all the westerns I’ve seen so far to draw from.

 

[Sam Favate]

I would also love to read everyone's lists of the top 10 or 20 westerns. I'd offer my own, but I am afraid it would seem like amateur hour.