The MoFo Top 100 Westerns: Countdown

ANYway...

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A drought-ridden rancher agrees to transport a dangerous outlaw to the town of Contention for a train bound to Yuma and its prison. This is the original adaptation of that Elmore Leonard story with Van Heflin as Dan Evans, the desperate family man who needs the money, and Glenn Ford as Ben Wade, the charming but deadly robber. Glenn Ford, who much more often was cast as the straight lead or the hero, has an absolute blast playing the smirking, bemused antagonist who is sure his men (led by Richard Jaeckel as the loyal Charlie Prince) will dispatch anyone who stands in their way to free him, especially amateurs. Directed by Delmer Daves (#87 The Hanging Tree) with wonderful cinematography from Charles Lawton Jr. (The Lady from Shanghai, The Tall T) and a theme song sung by Frankie Laine (of course!) it is a tense, fun ride that eight MoFos voted for including a sixth place vote and somebody’s full 25-point first placer.




Howard Hawks and John Wayne re-teamed for El Dorado, which is a variation on their earlier extremely successful Rio Bravo and a precursor to yet another tweak of the same formula in Rio Lobo. This time out Robert Mitchum is the alcoholic sheriff who needs help from his old friend (Wayne), a gunslinger initially brought in on the wrong side of a fight over water rights. James Caan is a young gambler and Arthur Hunnicut the old coot who join them in their crusade. In Rio Bravo it was Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan filling the similar roles. This similarity is amusingly noted in Get Shorty when Delroy Lindo’s character tells Travolta’s Chili Palmer, “This time it ain't no John Wayne and Dean Martin shootin' bad guys in El Dorado,” referring to what was playing on television the night they first met, only to be corrected by movie buff Chili who says, “That was Rio Bravo. Robert Mitchum played the drunk in El Dorado, Dean Martin played the drunk in Rio Bravo. Basically, it was the same part. Now John Wayne, he did the same in both: he played John Wayne.” Enough MoFos liked this version to make it the first movie on the countdown to crest 100 points. It only got six votes but four of them were top tens: a seventh, a fourth, a third, and a second.

3:10 was my #20... 6th to make it.


I think I voted for it because of the lackluster remake with Bale and Crowe.
I'd not seen the original, but watched the remake about a year ago, then watched the original out of curiosity. Good movie, another that's often forgotten too, so it got my vote



01. Young Guns (1988) --- 61st
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06. The Cowboys (1972) --- 50th
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11. The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965) --- 100th

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18. Westworld (1973) --- 69th
19. Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973) --- 67th
20. 3:10 To Yuma (1957) --- 48th

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I watched 3:10 to Yuma several years back. I thought it was pretty good at first, but then came that stupid ending and the whole thing was ruined. It did not get my vote.

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3:10 To Yuma was my #12, the remake looks like it will probably finish higher on the list and is a decent enough film but I'm one that prefers the original. El Dorado was in the running for a spot but was beaten to the draw in the latter stages.

Seen: 29/54 (ride 'em cowboy)

Faildictions (yee-haw version 1.01):
46. Forty Guns
45. Drums Along The Mohawk

I can't remember either but saw both in 2015 and gave both a . I know I tend to like everything but that was high for that time for a western for me. I mean that's the same year I thought The Searchers and Winchester 73 were average at best. Definitely a couple of movies I should see again.

Do you think Eastwood will make a comeback? That's quite the lead Wayne has.

El Dorado is great!

The rum, that is. Haven’t seen the film.

I am the only one who knows the answer for absolute sure, but consider the raw numbers of it. Clint Eastwood starred in about thirteen Westerns that were eligible for our vote. Thirteen total. John Wayne was in about forty Westerns after Stagecoach in 1939 and over a hundred if you include the ones he made before '39.

Wayne made over 200 movies in his long career, most under the Studio System. Eastwood made almost all of his starring pictures after the collapse of the system or outside of it, so instead of a star routinely making three to five pictures a year he would make one or maybe two. And as he moved into directing that took even more of his time meaning one movie, and not every year, not always a Western. Eastwood has directed 38 films to date and made his last Western coming up on thirty years ago. Wayne directed only two movies, officially. They are by far the two biggest Western movie stars but even though they overlapped in the '60s and '70s they are from very different eras and had very different drives in the filmmaking process.

Oh man, yeah! These were all good. The High and the Mighty made a deep impression on me. I was 10 or 11 at the time, and had a paper route. During most of my route I'd whistle the catchy movie theme over and over. People probably knew when their papers were coming..

One nice thing was that Wayne's role --as typical-- provided a source of strength and calm. If made today, his character would probably be written as a transsexual drug addict!

Eastwood will have a good handful of films quite high on the list. All his movies with Leone and then some of those he directed himself and such. Those I’m pretty sure are thought very very highly of here and in general. So Eastwood will make a late comeback.

El Dorado is a good movie. Nice roles for Wayne and R. Mitchum, which they nailed.

Arthur Hunnicut as Bull Harris was outstanding, as usual. He was one of those great specialty actors who always mesmerized audiences, and forever seemed to be exactly the character he portrayed: wise + humor. In that way he was similar to the great Walter Brennan.

James Caan is a powerful actor. IMO he was not well cast in this film. You can take the actor out of The Bronx, but you can't take The Bronx out of the actor..

Seen both, liked both, voted for neither.

3:10 to Yuma has two of my favorite 1940s-50s actors: Glenn Ford & Van Heflin.

El Dorado of course always gets compared to Rio Bravo and that other one too El Dorado is a solid film with a solid cast. I couldn't vote for every Wayne film so this didn't make my list.
Glad to see both of these classic westerns, make the countdown.

Hud was my #3 so it looks like I was the high voter on that one. I saw it recently and just think it was an excellent film. Bleak but gripping, with a great performance by Newman as an undeniable villain, grappling witth ideas of family, loyalty, tradition and compassion (or lack thereof).

Didn’t get to either unfortunately, but I do love Hawks.

Seen: 10/54
- Slow West (#95)
- The Big Gundown (#85)
- The Furies (#84)
- The Shooting (#71)
- The Grey Fox (#66)
- The Great Train Robbery (#60)
- Meek’s Cutoff (#58)
- Red River (#56)
- Bone Tomahawk (#54)
- The Cowboys (#50)

My list:
19. Red River
21. Bone Tomahawk

3:10 to Yuma was my #15. It's great in all the ways the remake fails, as far as I'm concerned. Tightly constructed with well-defined characters and great moments of tension.

My List:

10. The Shootist (#58)
15. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)(#48)
18. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (#76)
19. The Naked Spur (#86)
20. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (#67)
24. Support Your Local Sheriff! (#89)

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I love 3:10 to Yuma and watch it all the time Glenn Ford and Van Heflin are awesome. Like many of these westerns, it rises to the level of biblical allegory. El Dorado is an easy watch if not all that great. It's the only chance you'll have to see Wayne and Mitchum together in a western. No points.

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I liked El Dorado better when it was Rio Bravo. Eh, not really. I'll take Robert Mitchum and James Caan over Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson.