Mine is Quigley Down Under. It may not count because it's set in Australia, but who cares? Why is it my favorite?
1. Tom Sellek. He's such a wonderful cowboy and the character he plays is the perfect mix of macho and teddy bear.
2. The love story. When he comes back to the cave and Cora just wraps her arms around him in relief...and he just hugs her right back. It doesn't get better than that!
3. Alan Rickman. He's the best villain and I think this is his best villain role. He was so absolutely despicable.
4. The ending. I won't spoil it, but the line "I said I didn't have much use for one..." is so perfect and fantastic.
5. That gun. A western is not a western without some good shooting. That is the coolest gun ever.
So tell me about some other westerns that I should see.
Posted by Susie Derkins (Member # 7718) on :
City Slickers.
Because it's funny and makes fun of Westerns, which suck. Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Have you SEEN Quigley Down Under? You would love it. Posted by Susie Derkins (Member # 7718) on :
Actually, I haven't. So I shall have to look it up on your reccomendation. Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
There is definitely some PG-13 violence, just to warn you, but I think you'll like the movie. And Tom Selleck is just so darn cute! Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Well, there's Once Upon A Time In The West...
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
The Good, the Bad and The Ugly - just for the last ten minutes of the movie.
Close runner-ups...
High Plains Drifter
Unforgiven
A Fistful of Dollars
For a few dollars more
-Trevor
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I LOVE Quigley Down Under. It's funny and clever and wonderful. Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
If ever I were to go into movie making, one of the movies that I absolutly, positively would make would be a western.
Not a typical western-- it'd be more along the lines of a 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' type western. Where the characters' abilities range on the supernatural, and the plot verges on the mythical.
My favorite western-- I really liked Quigly Down Under, too. And Dances With Wolves.
And Silverado. Boy, Silverado was a good movie. . .
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:Not a typical western-- it'd be more along the lines of a 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' type western. Where the characters' abilities range on the supernatural, and the plot verges on the mythical.
Sounds like Firefly...
I'm longing to add Serenity to this list.
[ April 16, 2005, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by Susie Derkins (Member # 7718) on :
Does Smoke Signals count as a Western?
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
On a not so serious note, I have to mention Blazing Saddles.
On a slightly less silly note, I nominate Giant. Well, I guess it's a western...
Feyd Baron, DoC
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
katharina! I've been fighting the urge! I've just been waiting for someone else to say it first so I don't appear overly Firefly leaning.
My favourite western is "Destry Rides Again" with James/Jimmy Stewart.
Posted by Fitz (Member # 4803) on :
Unforgiven is probably my favorite western movie. Lonesome Dove is not only my favorite western novel, but also one of my favorite books, period.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is also excellent. It's almost of a western. It makes me cry.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Annie - "cowboy", not "coyboy."
-Trevor
Posted by orlox (Member # 2392) on :
The Outlaw Josie Wales
by far
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
I second The Outlaw Josie Wales vote.
"It has a certain understated stupidity."
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.
Blazing Saddles, definitely.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Maverick . Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster. Priceless. The humor is wonderful.
And the old "shoot-em up's" in technicolor with John Wayne - any of them. Actually, I really like the old ones - it reminds me of rainy Saturdays snuggled up next to my dad rooting for the good guys.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
#1. Unforgiven Clint Eastwood playing the older version of nearly every classic Clint Eastwood character ever. Gene Hackman showing why nerve counts for more than aim. English Bob <- Nuff said.
#2. Silvarado Just great characters all around. Especially Kevin Kline's. "Where's the dog now?"
#3. Last Man Standing/Fistful of Dollars/Yojimbo They're all the same movie, and it's a good movie.
#4. Maverick Hilarious take on a great old show. Makes me want to play cards.
#5. Back to the Future 3 What? It's a western!
Slightly off topic, but on westerns: Has anyone else played Deadlands? I love that game.
--Enigmatic.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
What? No one mentions any John Wayne films at all?
Like McLintock Big Jake Rooster Cogburn How the West Was Won
The man made 175 filmsbetween 1926 and 1976 and no one has any of them in their list of favorites?
FG
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I will, Farmgirl.
One of my favorite Westerns is The Searchers.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Here are a few good ones:
1) "Will Penny" (1968), in which Charleton Heston plays an aging cowboy who takes up with a widow woman (Joan Hackett) and doesn't quite know what to do with his feelings.
2) "Tom Horn" (1980), Steve McQueen's next to last film. He plays a former army scout hired to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy killed while he's doing his job. Besides it being a great film, somehow the cinematographer managed to make it look like the whole cast jumped into a time machine and actually went on location into the past to film the thing.
3) "Junior Bonner" (1972), another Steve McQueen film (not that I'm a fan or anything ), directed by Sam Peckinpah, this is a modern-day western about a dysfunctional rodeo family. I happened to see this one a few months ago on TV after a lot of years (I saw this one in the theatre when it first was out) and was pleased to see that it holds up well.
4) "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941), Raoul Walsh directs Errol Flynn as George Armstrong Custer. Custer comes out looking rather better than history treats him, but the politicians and the businessmen don't look so hot. History takes a backseat to storytelling (translation: don't expect historical accuracy here) but it's a good story, well told and beautifully photographed.
5) "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), No explanation necessary. "Who are those guys?"
6) "Little Big Man" (1970), Dustin Hoffman plays Jack Crabb, a very old man looking back on his life as a boy raised by Indians, as a gunslinger, as a scout for General Custer. This is a really good, really funny, really sweet movie.
7) "Ride the High Country" (1962), Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in another Sam Peckinpah-directed western. McCrea and Scott run into trouble while guarding a shipment of gold.
8) "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969), in which James Garner hires on as sheriff in a town that has been through three sheriffs in the past two months. There are those who believe this movie is funnier than "Blazing Saddles", and I tend to agree with them.
Great. Now I'm going to have to go out and rent movies. Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
I can go along with Farmgirl on McLintock, but Hatari is by far my favorite John Wayne movie. We watch it twice a year.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Well, I have to confess that I'm not really a big John Wayne fan, but "Hatari!" (yes, I think there is actually an exclamation point in the title) was a pretty good movie. So was "North to Alaska".
Edited to add: Isn't "McClintock" the one where he ends up down in the big mud puddle with Maureen O'Hara? Liked that one, as well.
[ April 17, 2005, 01:52 AM: Message edited by: littlemissattitude ]
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Oh I LOVE 'Support Your Local Sherrif!'
And I think Back to the Future 3 counts! It so counts!!
I need to watch some of these other ones.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Silvarado was awsome.
I also really liked Tombstone.
Outlaw Josie Wales too, and Pale Rider.
For pure cheese factor, The Man from Snowy River.... Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Yay! Another Australian western! Posted by Ryoko (Member # 4947) on :
I'd like to second "Once Upon A Time In The West"
Not only is this my favorite western, it is one of my favorite movies, period.
It has its flaws, but overall...wow. The opening alone is one of the all time great scenes in cinema.
From the water drops to the fly...unbelievable tension...
Also, Jason Robards performance is wonderful.
Absolutely love that film...
Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
I was going to post Firefly , because it totally fits the bill. Except for being set in the West, per se. But Kat beat me to it!
Which is the John Wayne western where the baddie calls him a "one-eyed fatman" and JW says, "Fill your hands, you son of a *%$@!"?
I loved that one.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Olivetta - that would have had to be either "True Grit" or its sequel, the name of which escapes me at the moment.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
In no order:
The Outlaw Josie Wales
Unforgiven
The Quick and the Dead
From Unforgiven: Gawker:You just shot an unarmed man! Clint: He shoulda armed hisself.
Olivia, it's Rooster Cogburn. Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
See, I like The Quick and the Dead with Sam Elliot and Kate Capshaw. I haven't seen the other one with Sharon Stone and Kevin Costner (right?) but it looks LAME in comparison. Am I right?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"Not a typical western-- it'd be more along the lines of a 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' type western. Where the characters' abilities range on the supernatural, and the plot verges on the mythical."
A story I actually started here on Hatrack turned into this story, Scott. It's about a man and his estranged brother, both almost supernaturally-good shooters, who take different career paths and are both headhunted -- in both senses of the word -- by the personification of Death, who catches up to both of them ourside Omaha.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
quote: And the old "shoot-em up's" in technicolor with John Wayne - any of them. Actually, I really like the old ones - it reminds me of rainy Saturdays snuggled up next to my dad rooting for the good guys.
Jeesh, Farmgirl! I talked about John Wayne - just two posts ahead of you!
*sniffs and pouts*
Just cause I can't name a favorite . . .
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
I remember really enjoying Tall in the Saddle when I was little.
And I'm a sucker for Bonanza, cheesy as it is Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
quote: Not a typical western-- it'd be more along the lines of a 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' type western. Where the characters' abilities range on the supernatural, and the plot verges on the mythical.
Sounds more like Roland of Gilead to me.
Posted by mimsies (Member # 7418) on :
I Will Fight No More Forever AND Cheyenne Autumn (both made me cry, but still my favorites) Powwow Highway Hawmps Oklahoma! A Good Day To Die Unforgiven
Posted by ChaosTheory (Member # 7069) on :
I'm a lifelong fan of John Wayne
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Big Jake El Dorado McLintock Fort Apache The Train Robbers The Sons of Katie Elder True Grit Angel & The Badman
(I seriously own at least 50 John Wayne movies)
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
Lonesome Dove (not a movie, but still a western) Open Range (I love it!) McKenna's Gold (blew me away when I saw it at age 16) Last of the Mohicans (kinda more Eastern than Western, but never mind the geography) Dances with Wolves (but I've only been able to watch it once, it's so sad) Streets of Laredo (see above, Lonesome Dove) Little Big Man
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote:Jeesh, Farmgirl! I talked about John Wayne - just two posts ahead of you!
Sorry Shan! Guess I wasn't reading as carefully as I thought I did! Even though I browsed the list twice to see if any mention was made......
Sorry 'bout that.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Mine is "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalie" set in the Uttermost West and...
Wait.. Maybe that's a little TOO West... Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
Paint Your Wagon
Posted by Kasie H (Member # 2120) on :
How has no one mentioned Shane yet?!? Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Blazing Saddles!!
And as for TV shows:
Firefly Deadwood (or ****sucker as we call it.)
Posted by whiskysunrise (Member # 6819) on :
I liked the John Wayne movies too.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Woohoo...now we know what it takes to coax Whisky into posting.
Although John Wayne is a pale imitation of the very personification of the Western we find in Clint Eastwood.
-Trevor
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
Hmmm... Some of my favorites:
Shane Rio Bravo The Big Country Unforgiven True Grit The Magnificent Seven Silverado Rustler's Rhapsody Blazing Saddles Red River High Noon The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Lonely Are the Brave Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
Deadwood
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
TV: Frisco County JR.
Humor Movie: Blazing Saddles (though I am a big fan of "Support Your Local Sheriff" and "Support Your Local Gunfighter")
Serious Movie: Rooster Cogburn (I'm a big Hepburn fan)
I have a problem with a couple of John Wayne's movies, (just saying that has marked me for Homeland Securities investigation I am sure) and his treatment of women in them.
McClintock is a long movie that boils down to one moral message--beat your women or they'll run out on you. I liked the movie except for the ending where beating his wife is how he reawakens her love for him, as his daughter had gotten spanked by her new husband.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:TV: Frisco County JR.
Freudian slip?
Posted by whiskysunrise (Member # 6819) on :
quote: Although John Wayne is a pale imitation of the very personification of the Western we find in Clint Eastwood.
I liked Hang 'Em High
But I prefer John Wayne to Clint Eastwood.
[ April 18, 2005, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: whiskysunrise ]
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
John Wayne is Superman. Clint Eastwood is Batman.
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
quote:quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TV: Frisco County JR. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Freudian slip?
Only if it had been you who said it, kat. I didn't even get that it had been changed from Brisco County, Jr. until you said something. I think maybe Dan put the Frisco part in on purpose.
What's really funny about all these Westerns is that only saxy mentioned the Really Super Big One: High Noon. Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly. A man who, when everyone else deserts him, faces up to his responsibility. It set the ground rules for the cowboy honor code, all the ones that Unforgiven became famous for breaking.
As a few people have already mentioned, Tombstone. Val Kilmer was freaking awesome in it!
Edit: because I'm a maroon, an ignoraminus, and saxy is the bestest, and darn it I should be more careful! Thanks, Mike!
[ April 18, 2005, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: JonnyNotSoBravo ]
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
quote:What's really funny about all these Westerns is that nobody mentions the Really Super Big One: High Noon. Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly. A man who, when everyone else deserts him, faces up to his responsibility. It set the ground rules for the cowboy honor code, all the ones that Unforgiven became famous for breaking.
I also feel compelled to point out that not everyone would agree that High Noon is a good Western. Howard Hawks made Rio Bravo specifically as a rebuttal to High Noon, with John Wayne's John T. Chance trying to protect people by not letting them get involved, whereas Gary Coleman's Will Kane runs all over town asking for help, only facing down the bad guys after all other avenues have been exhausted.
[ April 18, 2005, 06:49 PM: Message edited by: saxon75 ]
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
*offers saxy a cough drop*
Posted by Fitz (Member # 4803) on :
quote: Lonesome Dove (not a movie, but still a western)
Though I guess not technically a movie, there was a Lonesome Dove miniseries on tv in the 80s. It's definitely as good as any movie western released in theatres, with some real star power (Robert Duval, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover and Diane Lane, just to name a few). There was also a television adaptation of both Streets Of Laredo (which sucked) and Dead Man's Walk (which also kind of sucked). In all cases, though, the books were better than the movies.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
The books are good - Larry McMurtry is a great author! The Lonesome Dove series was good, too. I have the miniseries on VHS.
**********
Do you like L'ouis L'Amour, Farmgirl? I spent many hours curled up with grandpa reading LL.
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
The Lonesome Dove miniseries (I got it on dvd now!) is the best western ever, as good as the book. And I liked Streets of Laredo. James Garner made a good Woodrow Call. But Robert Duvall! Man, what an actor. He's the main reason I liked Open Range so much, along with the incredible shootout at the end.
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
Has no one yet mentioned the two movies "Support Your Local Sherrif" and "Support Your Local Gunfighter"? The first is the better of the two, IMO.
Posted by Lost Ashes (Member # 6745) on :
quote: Slightly off topic, but on westerns: Has anyone else played Deadlands? I love that game.
Hehe, I wrote for that game, at least some of their website adventure work. Somewhere out there Fever Pitch is probably still on the web.
Deadlands was a hoot and still is.
"The spaghetti western with real meat." Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
quote: I also feel compelled to point out that not everyone would agree that High Noon is a good Western. Howard Hawks made Rio Bravo specifically as a rebuttal to High Noon, with John Wayne's John T. Chance trying to protect people by not letting them get involved, whereas Gary Coleman's Will Kane runs all over town asking for help, only facing down the bad guys after all other avenues have been exhausted.
Whatchutalkin' bout, Willis?
Posted by Lost Ashes (Member # 6745) on :
Favorite westerns:
Big Jake El Dorado Tombstone Once Upon A Time In The West (for the opening...wow) El Diablo (I think that was the name of it with Louis Gossett, Jr. and Anthony Edwards). The Scalphunters Ravenous
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
What, you didn't see the remake?
In my defense, I once saw Buffalo Bob make the very same mistake.
Buffalo Bob: Who could forget all those magic moments in High Noon? Gary Coleman: Um, wrong Gary.
So what if his was scripted?
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Has no one yet mentioned the two movies "Support Your Local Sherrif" and "Support Your Local Gunfighter"? The first is the better of the two, IMO.
*clears throat* First page. I definitely mentioned "Support Your Local Sheriff", and I would have added "Support Your Local Gunfighter", but I'd gotten to number eight on the list already and I thought it was getting kind of long. While I don't like it as much as "Sheriff", "Gunfighter" (which is not a sequel, by the way, as many people think) is a good film.
By the way, have any of you seen another James Garner western, "Skin Game"? It wasn't bad, either.
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
They played golf in a western?
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:They played golf in a western?
No, no, no, no. It doesn't have anything to do with golf. In this 1971 film, James Garner and Louis Gossett, Jr. play two con men before the abolition of slavery. Their game is that Garner sells Gossett as a slave, then springs him from his new owner and they move on to another town to do the same thing all over again. Then things get complicated in messy and funny ways.
Edited to add the year the film was made.
[ April 19, 2005, 12:03 AM: Message edited by: littlemissattitude ]
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
Duel at Diablo (Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis)
Posted by Misha McBride (Member # 6578) on :
quote: Slightly off topic, but on westerns: Has anyone else played Deadlands? I love that game.
*raises hand*
I can't think of any other movies that you guys haven't already listed. But some of my favorites are-
Ravenous Support Your Local Sheriff Blazing Saddles True Grit The Outlaw Josie Wales Tombstone The Missing Lonesome Dove (the miniseries) Johnson County Wars They Call Me Trinity A Man Called Horse
Posted by Choobak (Member # 7083) on :
Unforgiven by Clint Eastwood
It is my favorite because of the darkness of this movie. And Clint is so so strong in his silence. In french the title is "Impitoyable" (pitiless).
Another Western i like too is Pale rider. Clint Eastwood again. I like very much his work.
[ April 19, 2005, 05:22 AM: Message edited by: Choobak ]
Posted by Wussy Actor (Member # 5937) on :
I can't believe this has gone to two pages and no one has mentioned The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Marvin, in a classic story, this is maybe the best ever.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Holy Cow, you're right. That is an awesome movie.
Posted by Lost Ashes (Member # 6745) on :
The Sons of Katie Elder Deadman (really tough to watch, really really tough) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid The Wild Bunch
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FG
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