Your three favorite Westerns

[Kinsman]

1: El bueno, el Malo, y el Feo

2: Lonesome Dove

3: Looky here....we got us the outlaw Josey Wales.....

Honorable mention: Tombstone. The characters were great, even if the story was a bit Hollywooded- How 'bout the scene where Wyatt runs Johnny Tyler (Madcap!) outta the Oriental?

 

[Keith]

3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

2. Lonesome Dove

and 1......... Open Range - I just saw this movie last night and what a terrific film! Good guys and bad guys, humor, believable characters, believable plot and (mostly) realistic gun play and handling. Unexpected plot twists. Great movie!

As for the gunplay: the guns actually make smoke (blackpowder loads...). The characters generally look down their sights when shooting. People shot don't just drop dead unless they're hit in the head. The characters choose rifles and shotguns instead of handguns, and use them until they're empty - what a concept! And not everyone uses a Colt SAA - Duval (for example) uses a Remington revolver and a number of other period guns are seen throughout the movie. And the guns are LOUD, and LOUDER when shot indoors.

There is great attention to detail throughout the movie! The town looks and "feels" like a real town instead of the standard cookie-cutter version of a Hollywood western town. People get tired and dirty and grouchy and hungry. They make decisions on real world issues - somebody has to "stay with the wagon' so it doesn't robbed, etc.

If you like westerns and haven't seen this one, you should. This one goes on my list of DVD's to buy and keep forever.

Keith

 

[STW]

If only because they should be mentioned by someone though an argument could be made that they are too closely related to be considered three different movies.

Fort Apache
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Rio Grande

Director, John Ford
Location, Monument Valley

John Wayne, Maureen OHara, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen, etc.

How can you go wrong?

 

[J.BELLINO]

1. Lonley Are The Brave(Kirk Douglas)
2. The Rounders(Glenn Ford & Henry Fonda)
3. The Honkers(Steve McQueen)

 

[Orthonym]

Only Three? Now that's a problem, lemmee see here....

1. High Noon. Very suspenseful, with all sorts of moral and ethical issues too. And Grace Kelly in a corset..... sorry.

2. True Grit. Talk about gun-related! That Walker Colt Pam Darby carries all through the movie, including into the courthouse, is a character itself! The language is accurate, too; back then educated people were not afraid to speak the same way as the authors of the books they'd read, and use big words too. Besides, I liked Rooster's cat, and the cat's name. (I have a Quantrill t-shirt and think Gen'l Price was pretty cool too )

3. The Unforgiven. Revoltingly realistic. The first assassination ended up with a tummy shot. (Ow ow ow ow ow!). All of us THR guys are perfect, surgically precise, humane snipers, right? Snork! The gun control in the town. The moral ambiguity- Do whores have moral authority? Do people who hire whores have moral authority? Do people whom whores hire have moral authority? Does the head cop have moral authority? What about English Bob, who had made his living shooting Chinamen for the railroad?
Well, I could go on and on, but

I THINK I CAUGHT AN ANACHRONISM!

IIRC, There's a scene toward the end in which Hackman asks the assembled townsfolk if they have enough 30-30 cartridges. Now, I thought the movie was referring to ca. 1890. As far as I know, that cartridge wasn't invented until 1895! (Orthonym buffs nails on vest, smirks, displays annoying attitude)

Just got a msg-length warning, so I'll quit soon, but let me put up Missouri Breaks for Hon'bl Mention.
McGraw: Why do you have so many guns?
Nicholson: I'm a sportsman.
McGraw: Why do you have a sawed-off shotgun?
Nicholson: I'm a sawed-off sportsman.

 

[pistolwhipped]

The Searchers
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Lonesome Dove

 

[Mornard]

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Rio Bravo
3. Texas Across the River

 

[Dollar Bill]

Only three? That's going to make it tough but here are my choices:

1. Shane
2. Monte Walsh (1970 version with Lee Marvin)
3. True Grit (Gotta have a John Wayne in the top 3)

There are so many others which I like for historical authenticity and/or just a good story. Tom Horn,Tombstone, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Stage Coach (1939), Conagher, The Searchers, The Cowboys, The Shootist, Outlaw Josie Wales, Unforgiven are all up there and there are many more I like. My favorite cavalry film is "The Son of the Morning Star" which is a good tv movie about Custer's life...and death.

 

[Litlman]

1. Outlaw Josey Wales.
2. Lonesome Dove.
3. High Plains Drifter.

It is tough to pick only three!!!

 

[BamBam-31]

Lonesome Dove
Unforgiven
Three Amigos.

 

[Silver Bullet]

Can I change my vote ? You guys are right: Josey Wales and Unforgiven are both better than Butch Cassidy.

Butch Cassidy has a lot of fun scenes strung together in a sequence, but Josey and Unforgiven are much better stories.

So, if I'm limited to three:

#0: McCabe and Mrs. Miller
#1: Jeremiah Johnson
#2: Unforgiven
#3: Josey Wales

 

[shooten]

In order:

1. The Magnificent Seven

2. El Dorado or Rio Bravo

3. The Outlaw Josie Whales

Number two can go either way although I'm partial to El Dorado and the sawed off shotgun that James Caan uses.

Scott

 

[45crittergitter]

1. Quigley
2. Quigley
3. Quigley

hon mention:

Monte Walsh

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

far country
they died with their boots on
shane
good movies also , searchers ,horse soldiers, wore a yellow ribbon and red badge of courage.

 

[garrettwc]

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

Any of the Eastwood "Spaghetti Western" series

Any John Wayne movie with "Rio" in the title.

Close tie with Butch & Sundance would be "Big Jake" (I think that's the right one) Some cool guns in that one. Early scoped rifle and semi auto pistol.

 

[MeekandMild]

High Noon
Shane
The Alamo

I anted to say Paint Your Wagon, but it is clearly about New York and just pretending to be a Western.

 

[Cosmoline]

Rio Bravo
True Grit
Silverado

 

[HadEmAll]

Hombre-Paul Newman
True Grit-John Wayne
McKenna's Gold-Gregory Peck

 

[NIGHTWATCH]

Way of the GUN (modern day western)
Unforgiven
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

[Hazwaste]

1. The Searchers
2. Shane
3. The Wild Bunch
4. The Magnificent Seven

 

[Abominable No-Man]

Hmmmm. I'm not such a big Western fan, but I like Silverado, Quigley, and the one that had Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, and Brad Pitt in it(name is escaping me right now.......). The last one wasn't a dyed-in-the-wool Western, I guess, but it had a Western-style theme to it, even through the WWI battle scenes.

If I can't pick that one (boy, I wish I could remember the name......), I guess I would have to go with the Quick and the Dead- kind of a dumb plot, but it was interesting. After finding out what Cling Eastwood's stance on gun control is, I refuse to watch anything he's done. Maybe that's hypocrytical of me, but for someone who has made the amount of money he has doing shoot-em-up movies, I really can't stomach him. Same goes with Stallone........

Ooops, better close THAT can of worms.......

ANM

 

[gino]

1. Silverado
2. Any John Wayne western
3. Any Clint Eastwood western
4. Quiggly Down Under

Any of these on TV gets me watching. Strange, but I don't think I've ever seen Silverado on TV.

 

[citizen]

ALL excellent choices; an incredible anthology of Western American History. Undoubtedly the most romantic theme of Hollywood.
And as I write this I am watching the conclusion of a film I have yet to be able to NOT watch in it's entirety. I am completely seduced by it EVERY time I view it. IMHO one of the absolute greatest, most esthetically pure films ever created; and The Best Western Ever. An INCREDIBLE cast; completely; with the weakest character being on for less than 15 seconds at the end. The cadet's "pa" providing closure actually for the entire film. The following scene was an addendum; strongly resisted by either the star or the director but being demanded by the studio IIRC. Even #2 is not at all close; though equally powerful dramatically. Beyond them; it's tough to decide.....

#1. The Searchers

#2. Outlaw Josie Wales

#3. have your pick..........

 

[Sparky]

1. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

 

[Shooter 2.5]

Abominable No-Man,

Legends of the Fall.


Mentioning three that are favorites that no one has mentioned.
1. The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
2. Valdez is Coming
3. Little Big Man

Not a favorite because it's too realistic:

Ulzana's Raid