Some good westerns? (1 Viewer)

[Randall Dorr]

I'd like to suggest Heaven's Gate.

(flame suit on)

It's true that many consider it to be one of the worst films ever made, but so few people have actually seen it. It was released in 1980 at 219 minutes, but only played for three days before United Artists withdrew it. Cut down to 149 minutes and released several months later, Heaven's Gate died a quick death and was remembered by the public as the film that cost $44 million and only made one or two, thus putting UA out of business.

But viewing the film away from the controversy, it's easy to see that Heaven's Gate was the predecessor to Unforgiven. (I invite comments)

MGM released a non-anamorphic movie-only, but it is the proper 219 minute version.

 

[David Lambert]

Randall, you intrigue me. It certainly is film history, if nothing else. I might have to hunt down a copy and see it for myself.

Also, I see noone else has mentioned it, but I have always been intrigued by Burt Lancaster's The Kentuckian. One of only a couple of films he directed, he also starred in this one and I've heard it listed among the "classic westerns".

Any opinions out there on this one, since we're on the topic of westerns?

 

[Justin Doring]

I don't think that The Professionals has been mentioned yet. It's an underrated, incredibly tight Western with a great cast and a great Maurice Jarre score. Columbia's DVD looks and sounds superb as well.

If you haven't seen Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers, Red River, Rio Bravo, and The Wild Bunch, they are among the best Westerns ever made. Silverado and Tombstone are the most recent, decent Westerns, and they're great fun too.

 

[Terry H]

Can anyone explain why people admire The Searchers or Red River? I actually like both right up to the end where, in my view, both are ruined by stupid, sloppy, sentimental endings. In The Searchers, Wayne devotes his life to finding that girl and when she reaches and age he knows she would be taken as a squaw he determines he will kill her if he finds her. Yet, when he does find her he suddenly and inexplicably changes his mind, she is rescued and everyone lives happily ever after. HuH? Why the change of heart? I never figured it out but would love to know. I have the same problem with Red River. He was a first class turd the entire movie and is suddenly a good guy at the end and we get a happy ever after ending. Were happy endings dictated by the studios or something? It wouldn't bother me if I had not liked the movies right up to the point where (it appears to me) they were deliberately ruined.
It could be that I am alone in seeing it this way. It would not be the first time.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Many of these have already been mentioned, and many haven't, but I can vouch for these Westerns~~~
Currently available on Region 1 DVD (or coming soon):
THE SEARCHERS
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
RIO GRANDE
RED RIVER
RIO BRAVO
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
THE PROFESSIONALS
THE MAN FROM LARAMIE
SHANE
HIGH NOON
VERA CRUZ
THE WILD BUNCH
QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER
UNFORGIVEN
HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER
HANG 'EM HIGH
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF!
MAVERICK
THE SHOOTIST
THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER
THE BIG COUNTRY
JEREMIAH JOHNSON
TRUE GRIT
WILL PENNY (coming in 2002)
SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (coming in 2002)
THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES
RIDE WITH THE DEVIL
PAINT YOUR WAGON
Not yet on DVD, but worth catching on TV (TCM, Fox Movie Channel, Encore Westerns, etc.):
YELLOW SKY
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT
MONTE WALSH
FOUR FACES WEST
RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY
MAN OF THE WEST
FORT APACHE
DAY OF THE OUTLAW
HELL'S HEROES
THREE GODFATHERS (1936)
THREE GODFATHERS (1948)
THE LAW & JAKE WADE
3:10 TO YUMA
JUBAL
WESTWARD THE WOMEN
WAGON MASTER
ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO
TEXAS
COLORADO TERRITORY
THE GUNFIGHTER
RIDE LONESOME
THE SHEEPMAN
RANCHO NOTORIOUS
THE BADLANDERS
THE SCALPHUNTERS
LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL
STATION WEST
BLOOD ON THE MOON
BEND OF THE RIVER
THE FAR COUNTRY
THE FURIES
FORTY GUNS
BUFFALO BILL
ANNIE OAKLEY
A BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK
THE TIN STAR
THE DEVIL'S DOORWAY
Some of the better "Spaghetti Westerns":
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY
DJANGO (to be remastered soon by Anchor Bay)
THE GREAT SILENCE
A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL
KEOMA
MY NAME IS NOBODY (on DVD in Canada)
DEATH RIDES A HORSE (on DVD, but in horrible Pan & Scan)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (not yet on DVD)
A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE/DUCK YOU SUCKER (not yet on DVD)
THE BIG GUNDOWN (not yet on DVD)
A MINUTE TO PRAY...A SECOND TO DIE (not yet on DVD)
SABATA (not yet on DVD)
THE MERCENARY (not yet on DVD)
~~~Have fun, pilgrim!

 

[Rob T]

Tombstone
The Quick and The Dead
and The Magnificent Seven
are my 3 favourite westerns.

 

[Steve_Ch]

This has to be the most overlooked GREAT Western:

The Unforgiven - One of John Houston's very best with an unbeleivable cast: Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy, Lilian Gish, Joseph Wiseman..

Some other ones that might have been mentioned:

Duel in the Sun(Greg Peck and Jennifer Jones)

Big Country(CHeston Heston, Burle Ives, Jean Simmons and Chuck Connors)

Gun Fight at the OK Corral (Burt Lancaster as Wyatt and Kirk Douglas as Doc)

The Gunfighter (Young Greg Peck as Jimmie Ringo)

Warlock (Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Richard Widmark and Dorothy Malone)

Last Train from Gun Hill

Western "Heist"

War Wagon(Duke and Kirk Douglas)

MacKenna's Gold(Greg Peck)

Not sure where this one falls, but it's kind of fun:

There was a Crooked Man (1970, Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda)

Finally, "Rat Pack" Westerns:

4 for Texas - Frank and Dean got drunk, fist and gun fights in the west(pretty much the same as the old Ocean 11, Robin and Seven Hoods,..., this time in western clothes).

Texas Across the River (Dean Martin AND Alain Delon!!!!)

 

[Robert Crawford]

Members,
I just want to commend you all for having a great listing of westerns. Frankly, it's a film genre that's been given the short end of the rope in not only new film production but as well as in dvd releases. Like some of you, I grew up in the 1960's, watching western films and television series all day long on tv to my heart's content, so the absence of film productions with western themes does make me sad for days that will never come again.
Crawdaddy
Terry H,
Please start a thread in the Movies section about "The Searchers" and "Red River", I will then give you my take about both films appeal. I'm sure other western film buffs will offer their opinion as well. For now, I will tell you one thing and that is Howard Hawks and United Artists almost ruin a great film with a weak ending.

 

[Jim_K]

StephenA,
Everyone here mentioned some great Westerns so I don't have anything to add to your massive list. Just a word of warning from a Western junkie, be prepared to be hooked as there are many great films in this overlooked genre.
TerryH
As for the SEARCHERS I don't agree that it has a happy ending at all:

In the final scene Nathan is forsaken to wander the West without family or home.

besides:

Did you really want the Duke to blow Natalie Wood away? The main conflict of this story was Nathans struggle with hatred and his redemtion at the end.

Now I do agree with you about RED RIVER. I always feel cheated and agrivated by the ending of this film. IMO it's one of the greatest Westerns but with the weakest ending of all time.

The difference between the Duke's characters in these two films are the exact opposite. In the SEARCHERS John Wayne was the flawed hero struggling with himself. In RED RIVER the hero was Montomery Clift and John Wayne was the protagonist which makes his sudden change of heart at the end a big Hollywood sellout.

I don't know if they had another ending planned for RED RIVER. Maybe Crawdaddy knows the details.
Jim

 

[Bob Graham]

Some of my favorites available on DVD

THE WILD BUNCH (but it's got a lackluster presentation on DVD)

THE SEARCHERS

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

VERA CRUZ

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

THE GREAT SILENCE

and even though it's not a western in the "conventional" sense I would recommend THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.

 

[WilliamG]

Question:

Are most of these westerns presented in OAR? Specifically - The Magnificent Seven and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly?

And what about the quality of the transfer?

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Magnificent Seven looks great, GB&U is pretty good, all things considered, plus has bonus deleted footage, though it's in Italian.

I would note that many of MGM's westerns have pretty shoddy transfers, Vera Cruz and Hallelujah Trail among them. If it doesn't indicate anamorphic, chances are it is an ancient transfer they used.

 

[Sean Conklin]

My favorites are:

Tombstone

The Quick and the Dead

The Outlaw Josie Wales

Young Guns 1 and 2

Man with no Name(A Fistful of dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good the Bad and the Ugly)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

 

[Andrew_Sch]

I believe we've all forgotten Lonesome Dove. With a cast which includes Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and Danny Glover and a running time of 6 hours, don't make any plans for a few days if you're planning on watching this one. It's not action-packed, since it's more story driven, but what a great story it is. Don't miss out on this one for anything.

 

[Tim RH]

If you want a western musical, try OKLAHOMA!
My Top 3 favorite Western classics:
THE SEARCHERS
HIGH NOON
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
and TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE if you can count it.

 

[Steve_Ch]

>>I believe we've all forgotten Lonesome Dove.

 

[Chad Ferguson]

Maybe it's just me but I feel Way of the Gun fits into the Westerns catagory. I think this show was so underrated. It desevers a look. Anyone else agree?

Thanks

 

[Phil Florian]

Andrew, glad you brought up "Lonesome Dove." I read the book first, which was my first and only Western novel. If you think the Western film genre is underrated, I must assume that the Western novel is even moreso (beyond a few authors like L'amour, etc.). This was one of the better translations of book to film with standout performances and great, understated direction. Outstanding. I like many of the lists presented, but one missing that I remember liking as a kid (but haven't seen in 15 years or so) is "Warlock." I think, if I remember, it was one of the cooler westerns with "grey" characters, not the typical "black hat/white hat" variety. It had Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark and Anthony Quinn (and, to my youthful surprise at the time, a leaner and younger DeForest Kelley). Really nifty flick. Am not sure if it is out on DVD, though...but the tapes I am sure are around.

Phil

 

[Robert Crawford]

Phil,

The film "Warlock" is played several times on the Fox Movie Channel. I've also seen it on other channels like Encore's Western Channel. It is a Fox film so maybe there is hope one day for it's dvd release.

Crawdaddy

 

[Steve_Ch]

>>but one missing that I remember liking as a kid (but haven't seen in 15 years or so) is "Warlock."