The MoFo Top 100 Westerns: Countdown

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Nice write-up on "Fox" and Farnsworth both. This was one of my favorite films of all time, not just in the western mode. I have ranked it all the way up at #3 in this poll.

There simply were no weaknesses in this picture: writing, directing, actors, story, cinematography, settings, and especially its phenomenal music-- mostly by The Chieftans, the Irish traditional music group. If one can't get excited by that music, then excitement is probably not possible for that individual.

When I saw this movie in the theater I felt its allure in a deep and ancestral way. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and was profoundly impressed at its conclusion. It was the role of a lifetime for Richard Farnsworth, and no one could have played it anywhere close to his depth. Such class, style, finesse, and nuance!

I'd heard that it won the Oscar for best foreign film that year, but they didn't have that category then. It did win multiple awards internationally.
It's a special movie, alright.

As for Oscars, the Best Foreign Language Film has been a competitive Academy Award since 1956 (changed to Best International Feature Film this year). Seeing that The Grey Fox is in English it wasn't eligible. Denys Arcand's three features The Decline of the Western Empire (1986), Jesus of Montreal (1989), and The Barbarian Invasions (2003) were the first Canadian nominees for that Oscar and to date Barbarian Invasions is the only Canuck flick to win. Four others have been nominated since, including Denis Villeneuve's Incendies.

The Grey Fox was nominated for two Golden Globes: Best Actor Drama for Farnsworth (Robert Duvall won for Tender Mercies as he would win the Oscar, too) and Best Foreign Film. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association added the language component in 1987. Bergman's Fanny & Alexander won the Globe and the Oscar.
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El Topo was my #2, and I think The Grey Fox was somewhere in the middle of my list, or near the top of the bottom half.

The Grey Fox was a very subtle but smart film. I think some people will find it boring, but it's a really good movie overall. It's also a nice change of pace, and not like a typical Western.

El Topo is in my opinion an artistic masterpiece, and Jodoworsky is one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived. But his movies are too insane for most people, and most people don't care about art. El Topo is really about Jodoworsky's life, and his identity. I think it was a very personal film and has many layers of depth to it. El Topo is one of the most bizarre Westerns I've ever seen. I get some mixed feelings about the cinematography though. Sometimes I notice really interesting camera positions and angles, but the framing doesn't always seem well composed. The sets can be set up artistically like material for a painting, but then other times the set looks a bit messy, sloppy. It's like a very gritty and messy art film. I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it. I think I'll have a clearer understanding after I've watched it a few more times over the years. So far I've seen it twice.





Spoiler alert, but Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery is the oldest film on the countdown. If anybody was holding out hopes for your 1901 or 1899 favorites you can extinguish them. The 1903 12-minute film is credited as the first narrative in the Western genre. It was among the first of the Silents to use real locations rather than just sets, and perhaps apocryphal stories have existed for over a hundred years that unsophisticated moviegoers still experiencing the artform for the first time would scream or duck when they saw the most famous shot of the bandit looking right into the camera, lowering his pistol, and firing “at” the audience. The film may have been inspired at least partially by one of the real Butch Cassidy’s actual train robberies. The Great Train Robbery garnered five votes here, three of them top ten spots: an eighth, a fifth, and somebody’s first-place vote.

The true legend among Western movie legends, John Ford enters the countdown at number fifty-nine with She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, the second of what was dubbed his Cavalry Trilogy wedged between Fort Apache (1948) and Rio Grande (1950). John Wayne plays Captain Nathan Cutting Brittles, who is in his sixties (Wayne was 41-years-old) and nearing retirement stationed at Fort Starke, Utah. Following news of Custer’s death at Little Big Horn the nearby reservations are riled up and there is feared danger of an all out Indian War developing. While dealing with that potential crisis Captain Brittles also has to see to the safety of his commanding officer’s wife and niece. Besides Wayne it features several of Ford’s familiar stable of actors including Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen, and Harry Carey Jr. The fort was built right there in Monument Valley and the familiar formations are seen constantly throughout. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon got six votes including one ninth place and two tenth place on way to its 81 points.


The Sons of Katie Elder, North to Alaska, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and Pale Rider



The Great Train Robbery is ok but much like the pre-30s list was never in contention for my ballot. Would have seen She Wore A Yellow Ribbon once or twice in my youth but I don't think so since and sadly didn't get round to revisiting for this so won't even count it as 'seen'.

Seen: 20/42
My list:  

Faildictions (yee-haw version 1.01):
58. The Baron Of Arizona
57. 3:10 To Yuma (2007)



She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was a contender for a low rank slot on my list early on, but it quickly got bumped off. I liked it for it's charm, but it didn't excite me. It was pretty decent for a propaganda film.



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Saw both. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a fine Ford film, not among my favorites of his but certainly a decent Western.

The Great Train Robbery just plain belongs mainly for historical purposes.

Neither made my actual list though.



It's a special movie, alright.

As for Oscars, the Best Foreign Language Film has been a competitive Academy Award since 1956 (changed to Best International Feature Film this year). Seeing that The Grey Fox is in English it wasn't eligible. ...
Actually, Canadian is almost a foreign language, eh?...



As a Canadian, I must say, I've never heard that accent in my life except in youtube videos. Canadians don't talk like that. The most common Canadian accent is the mid-western accent which is also common in the United States. My brother lives in Nova Scotia and has a bit of a weird accent. They're like our version of red necks. But the accent in the video sounds more like a sad parody of a Newfoundland accent. It's certainly not typical of Canadians in any general sense.



I’m glad to see The Great Train Robbery make the list and I respect its historical value but I don’t actually like it so it never had a shot at making my ballot.

I’ve seen bits and pieces of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, but being a John Wayne movie I never had any desire to see all of it and obviously didn’t vote for it.



Despite Cricket's attempts to get me to watch The Great Train Robbery I still haven't seen it, but I really should. Glad it made the list though.



She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949)

The second in director John Ford's cavalry trilogy. The trilogy wasn't planned, it just kind of happened and it's not an on going story of the same characters. In all three films (Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande) the subject is the lives of the U.S. cavalry men and their families who are stationed in a remote southwest fort, surrounded by hostile Apaches. And all three films have a fair amount of personal interactions and drama with a liberal dose of comedy (ha, sorry John Wayne)...and of course a climax with a big battle.

This one is shot in technicolor which should be a plus. But on the DVD I watched the colors were all faded out, leaving mainly oranges, reds and yellow. Which is lucky as the single girl being courted by two young troopers, wears a yellow ribbon...the troopers do too, well not ribbons but they do wear yellow. To me the script felt unfocused and I never felt like I was involved with the story or it's characters. Maybe it was just me, as I was distracted somewhat by the poorer video quality.
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Despite Cricket's attempts to get me to watch The Great Train Robbery I still haven't seen it, but I really should. Glad it made the list though.
It's only 12 minutes long and it's on YouTube. Easy fix.



It's only 12 minutes long and it's on YouTube. Easy fix.
Only 12 minutes? I must have been thinking of another silent western film that Cricket mentioned as it was full length. I just can't remember what it was called? Anyone, guesses?



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Neither made my list. The Great Train Robbery should be seen by all film buffs and in some ways it's surprisingly sophisticated. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ls a good 'un with some great cinematography and one of Wayne's best performances.
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I'm pretty sure I haven't seen The Great Train Robbery. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon sounds really familiar but I don't think I'm sure enough to consider it seen.

Seen 14(+2)/42

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Only 12 minutes? I must have been thinking of another silent western film that Cricket mentioned as it was full length. I just can't remember what it was called? Anyone, guesses?
Hell's Hinges perhaps.



Sounds familiar, but I don't think that was it.
3 Bad Men or The Iron Horse perhaps then?