Best Western Movie.

Vote for your favorite hotel..... errrr... western movie on this list.

You can vote for 3 movies.

This will be a floating poll, meaning that if an entrant does not receive any votes, they will be replaced and you can re-vote by clicking "cancel vote" at the bottom of the entry list at any time as often as you like.

This poll has no time limit.

Man, this list is severely lacking

Once Upon a Time in the West has to be Leone's near flawless film, every scene is just so perfect.

3:10 to Yuma (1957), The Shooting (1967), like all of Budd Boetticher's westerns, Django (1966), The Great Silence (1965), Johnny Guitar (1954), Hombre (1967) are just a few of my favorites and could probably be added to this list.

I voted for Wales but in reality I think Eastwood's best is probably High Plains Drifter (1973) or Unforgiven (1992). I think Magnificent Seven is definitely overrated just as a western and just completely fails when compared to Seven Samurai (1954). And as much as I love John Wayne, the Coen Brothers remake totally trumps the original.

Farrior_roirraW wrote:

Man, this list is severely lacking

Once Upon a Time in the West has to be Leone's near flawless film, every scene is just so perfect.

3:10 to Yuma (1957), The Shooting (1967), like all of Budd Boetticher's westerns, Django (1966), The Great Silence (1965), Johnny Guitar (1954), Hombre (1967) are just a few of my favorites and could probably be added to this list.

I voted for Wales but in reality I think Eastwood's best is probably High Plains Drifter (1973) or Unforgiven (1992). I think Magnificent Seven is definitely overrated just as a western and just completely fails when compared to Seven Samurai (1954). And as much as I love John Wayne, the Coen Brothers remake totally trumps the original.

Your suggestions have been added. Feel free to re-vote if you like.

Buddha Bus wrote:

Farrior_roirraW wrote:

Man, this list is severely lacking

Once Upon a Time in the West has to be Leone's near flawless film, every scene is just so perfect.

3:10 to Yuma (1957), The Shooting (1967), like all of Budd Boetticher's westerns, Django (1966), The Great Silence (1965), Johnny Guitar (1954), Hombre (1967) are just a few of my favorites and could probably be added to this list.

I voted for Wales but in reality I think Eastwood's best is probably High Plains Drifter (1973) or Unforgiven (1992). I think Magnificent Seven is definitely overrated just as a western and just completely fails when compared to Seven Samurai (1954). And as much as I love John Wayne, the Coen Brothers remake totally trumps the original.

Your suggestions have been added. Feel free to re-vote if you like.

Cool, thanks.

The Wild Bunch?

This list can't possibly be complete without Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

Suggest two to drop (that haven't received votes), and I'll add Wild Bunch and Butch Cassidy.

You can drop the second Once Upon a Time in The West (it's up twice)

What about Shane and The Long Riders?

I'm not suggesting these are missing from the list but among my favorite Westerns were some of Anthony Mann's. He made five great ones with Jimmy Stewart: The Naked Spur, Bend Of The River, The Far Country, and my two favorites The Man From Laramie (a superb revenge story) and Winchester '73 (where Stewart goes searching for his stolen rifle).

Before seeing those as a kid, my image of Jimmy Stewart was of a headstrong but pretty straight-laced guy like in his Capra movies or some other stuff I had seen like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But the Anthony Mann movies had him playing a tough inscrutable loner, and totally convincingly. The characters were slightly off balance too. They were violent movies. And Anthony Mann always had the best fist fights because they were real rough-and-tumble excursions (not the two-punch-one-quip set pieces that were typical in 50s Westerns).

Also if you have the luxury, try to see The Man From Laramie in its original aspect ratio (2.35:1, I think). It's beautifully shot. (I saw a pan-and-scan version once on TV and it looked like shit). And Winchester '73 looks perfect in B&W.

Anthony Mann also made a great Western with Gary Cooper called Man Of The West. I haven't seen it in years but remember it was pretty bleak and violent. What was striking to me about Mann's movies was not just the depth of the characters but also how violence was depicted. It wasn't in body count like say Leone, or blood and squibs like Peckinpah, but it was really stark and intensely emotional. I was a big fan of Westerns as a kid, and I love all the Leone Westerns (even Fistful of Dynamite) but I always had the sense that the Man With No Name was in control and would take care of business. But in these Mann films there was a constant and looming sense of danger and uncertainty even for the leads. Good stuff.

skipJennings wrote:

I'm not suggesting these are missing from the list but among my favorite Westerns were some of Anthony Mann's. He made five great ones with Jimmy Stewart: The Naked Spur, Bend Of The River, The Far Country, and my two favorites The Man From Laramie (a superb revenge story) and Winchester '73 (where Stewart goes searching for his stolen rifle).

Before seeing those as a kid, my image of Jimmy Stewart was of a headstrong but pretty straight-laced guy like in his Capra movies or some other stuff I had seen like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But the Anthony Mann movies had him playing a tough inscrutable loner, and totally convincingly. The characters were slightly off balance too. They were violent movies. And Anthony Mann always had the best fist fights because they were real rough-and-tumble excursions (not the two-punch-one-quip set pieces that were typical in 50s Westerns).

Also if you have the luxury, try to see The Man From Laramie in its original aspect ratio (2.35:1, I think). It's beautifully shot. (I saw a pan-and-scan version once on TV and it looked like shit). And Winchester '73 looks perfect in B&W.

Anthony Mann also made a great Western with Gary Cooper called Man Of The West. I haven't seen it in years but remember it was pretty bleak and violent. What was striking to me about Mann's movies was not just the depth of the characters but also how violence was depicted. It wasn't in body count like say Leone, or blood and squibs like Peckinpah, but it was really stark and intensely emotional. I was a big fan of Westerns as a kid, and I love all the Leone Westerns (even Fistful of Dynamite) but I always had the sense that the Man With No Name was in control and would take care of business. But in these Mann films there was a constant and looming sense of danger and uncertainty even for the leads. Good stuff.

Give me the three that you would most like to vote for and I'll add them to the list for you. I'm not a major western movie buff, but I like some and thought people may like to vote on some.

It's time I switch some out with some fresh ones anyway.

Buddha Bus wrote:

Give me the three that you would most like to vote for and I'll add them to the list for you. I'm not a major western movie buff, but I like some and thought people may like to vote on some.

It's time I switch some out with some fresh ones anyway.

Oh man, there are so many great Westerns. To be honest, I loved them as a kid but haven't seen most of them that I loved in years. I only mentioned the Mann movies because to me they have a real character all their own, and seem to fly under the radar whenever I hear people mention great Westerns.

I think you've got a good list here though. If I had to choose three that aren't on it, it'd be pretty arbitrary. I'd throw in a Mann-Stewart movie, probably Winchester '73 just because it's the most popular one. Also maybe a Sam Peckinpah movie. My favorite was Ride The High Country, but I'm sure lots of folks prefer The Wild Bunch or The Ballad of Cable Hogue.

Others just off the top of my head would be The Ox-Bow Incident and Rio Bravo, which I really dug as a kid. John Carpenter did a modern-day take of it with Assault on Precinct 13, which is a killer movie.

So I guess my three picks would be:

Winchester '73 (1950)
Ride The High Country (1962)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

They're just random favorites, but also to me they're examples of unique takes on the genre, as opposed to say a great example of a Western with a typical theme. By that I mean something like the gunfighter who wants to retire but can't escape his reputation: The Gunfighter, The Shootist, Unforgiven. Or the lone rider, who drifts into town, defeats some corruption, and then rides away unceremoniously: Shane, Will Penny, Pale Rider. Those are all great movies, but they have similar stories that are just updated for their eras.

But like I said, I don't really watch Westerns like I used to. Horror is the only genre that I've consistently loved since I was little. Anyway, that's longwinded reply. I never thought I'd be talking about movies on a Steelers message board, but it's great to shoot the shit about other things too.

This list is incomplete without Cat Ballou.

I'm not big on westerns myself. My three faves would have to be Silverado, Tombstone and Unforgiven.

What about The Cowboys? John Wayne was the man. Even among boys.

Voted Tombstone. One of the greatest Westerns I've ever watched.