For a Few Dollars More was my
#2. My (slightly altered) write-up from the 60's Countdown:
For a Few Dollars More seems to get overlooked sometimes for being the middle child, but I think it's the best of the trilogy. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is a staggering achievement, but I think it suffers from pacing issues. Lee Van Cleef might be "The Bad," but the true villain in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is greed, which is interesting and all, but it lacks the emotional gravitas of familial vengeance that makes For a Few Dollars More so much more engaging. Plus I simply think it's more fun watching Van Cleef and Eastwood as unlikely allies than enemies. The scene where they first test each others' mettle -- essentially a dick-measuring contest, spaghetti western style -- making their hats dance in the air with bullets, is one of my all-time favorite moments. The climactic duel involving the pocket watch is another. One of the coolest, most entertaining, bad-ass westerns ever made.
Rio Bravo was my
#3. Tarantino has gone on record numerous times to express his adoration for Hawks's optimistic counterpoint to
High Noon, and it's easy to see the influence that the two-and-a-half hour western has played on Tarantino's career. In fact, I'd say that
Rio Bravo has likely shaped QT's approach to cinema more than any other film.
Rio Bravo has plot and action and romance, but like most QT films, the movie's much more focused on the downtime in between. Just prop your feet up and hang out with the characters. Maybe string a nearby guitar or play a few hands of poker. No need to get in a hurry; we've got all afternoon. In lesser hands, such an approach would likely be boring and feel like bloat, but there's magic in
Rio Bravo. Just my rifle, my pony and me, hanging out with a Sheriff, his drunk deputy and a handsome young crooner.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was my
#7. It's surprising to see how many of you don't view it as a western. I saw it featured highly on several "best westerns" lists when I was first getting into the genre and looking for recommendations, so maybe that's why I've never thought of it as anything else. (Yet I didn't vote for
There Will Be Blood despite the many similarities, even though it's a five-star film, so I'm not at all consistent with these genre designations.)
Sierra Madre served as my introduction to Bogart. He's since become one of my absolute favorite actors, and I've grown to appreciate his performance as the greedy prospector much more after realizing how against type it was for him. Even when playing gangsters and heavies in his early roles, Bogart exuded class and coolness, so it's striking to see him so dirty and unkempt, playing a character who reeks of pathetic desperation. Countless films have dealt with greed and moral corruption, but very few of them have mined those themes as well as this one.
The Outlaw Josey Wales was my
#17. As others have mentioned, the humor and supporting cast -- Chief Dan George, in particular -- help to transform this already great western into something special. The movie features many of the usual ingredients that draw me to the genre -- the rebelliousness, the violence, the machismo, the hard living, etc. -- but there's also a genuine softness here that is absent in the other westerns Eastwood directed. Anti-war, pro-family. Also features some of the most iconic lines in movie history ("Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy."), in addition to some sweet tobacco spitting. I've watched this numerous times, but it's been several years since my last viewing, which likely cost it a few spots on my ballot.
Django Unchained was my
#22. Even though only a few points separated them, I'm still a little surprised this placed lower than
The Hateful Eight, as
Django Unchained has always seemed more popular among the two. I re-watched
Hateful Eight earlier this year for the first time since seeing it in the theater. It was better than I'd remembered, but the confined setting and unpleasant characters make it the least re-watchable Tarantino for me personally.
Django Unchained, on the other hand, is just immensely entertaining. A little bit of Corbucci, a little bit of blaxploitation, a whole lot of Tarantino being his messy, overindulgent self in grand, violent, quotable, hilarious fashion. I still have a few issues with it -- I've never been a fan of Jamie Foxx, and I think his performance is dwarfed by all the larger-than-life characters around him; and the section involving QT and his mangled Australian accent has always struck me as the weakest part of the movie at the worst possible time; but those are nitpicks that don't detract much from the overall experience.
My List:
#2) For a Few Dollars More (1965)
#3) Rio Bravo (1959)
#4) The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
#5) Johnny Guitar (1954)
#7) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
#9) The Gunfighter (1950)
#10) Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
#11) 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
#12) High Plains Drifter (1973)
#13) The Great Silence (1968)
#16) The Big Country (1958)
#17) The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
#21) Winchester ‘73 (1950)
#22) Django Unchained (2012)
#23) Stagecoach (1939)
#25) True Grit (1969)