The MoFo Top 100 Westerns: Countdown

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¡Three Amigos! is the second spoof to make the countdown, this one helmed by John Landis and produced by Lorne Michaels starring ”Saturday Night Live” vets Chevy Chase and Martin Short plus ”SNL” hosting legend Steve Martin. They play three clueless Silent Movie stars on the outs with their studio whom a small Mexican town hires as protection from marauding bandits, having mistaken one of their adventure films for a newsreel. It was a box office dud at the time but it found its audience on cable and video and makes the MoFo countdown with a plethora of votes. OK, maybe not a plethora, El Guapo, but five votes and one of them was a 23-point third placer.

The Bravados ain’t no comedy. It is a tale of revenge where Gregory Peck tracks down the men he believes raped and murdered his wife. A nicely shot spectacle in Cinemascope, if you only know Peck as Atticus Finch you may be surprised by the righteous fury he portrays here, building to a redemptive conclusion. Lee Van Cleef is one of the marked men and it was supporting slimeballs in movies like The Bravados, The Tin Star, and High Noon as well as dozens of hours of television Westerns that attracted Sergio Leone to him and eventually turned him into an icon. The Bravados was only on three ballots, but two of them were top ten votes (a sixth and a seventh).

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Cannot stand Chevy Chase so ¡Three Amigos! was never in with a shout at making my ballot as I've never watched it and most likely never will. The Bravados on the other hand is a nice watch that was in with a shout for a little while but ultimately fell short of making the grade for me.

Seen: 9/20
My list:  

Faildictions (yee-haw version 1.01):
80. Bone Tomahawk
79. The Far Country



No idea why you've posted that as I won't ever click 'play' on it



I've seen ¡Three Amigos! as a kid for sure. Don't remember much but I'll consider it seen as I'm certain this time (I do remember not liking Chevy Chase in general and I suppose that hasn't changed). I'm quite sure I haven't seen The Bravados.

Seen 5(+2)/20

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¡Three Amigos! led to a famous-in-talkshow-history moment when Siskel & Ebert came on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" after Chevy had been there promoting the movie and where they promptly savaged the picture. With Chevy sitting on the couch next to them. That moment isn't captured in the video clip below, but another part of the segment where they rate Chevy more generally is.



Here is Siskel & Ebert's review of ¡Three Amigos! from their own show.



The on-air and backstage confrontation between Chase and the famous film critics also became fodder for "The Larry Sanders Show" with Gene Siskel playing himself and John Ritter standing in for all actors.




Three Amigos...not seen it and I'm not much into comedy westerns.

The Bravados...made my list!It was my # 6 choice. As usual I wrote something about it


The Bravados (Henry King, 1958)

Props: to an intelligent script that wasn't full of holes. By that I mean the actions that the people take, made sense. Sometimes movies make characters do gawd awful dumb things to make tension happen. Not here. Equally impressive is that the script dared to break the western myth of good guy vs bad guy. It's the very last act in this movie that makes it stand out.

Gregory Peck, is one of my favorite actors from the 1950s. I though he did an exceptionally fine job here. I liked the acting at the climax of the film when he crosses over into Mexico and realizes something very sobering. The way he plays that scene is heart felt.

And props: to the beautiful scenery shot in glorious Cinemascope and to the lovely Joan Collins too.




I had completely forgotten about ¡Three Amigos!. I haven't seen it since I was a kid and it never crossed my mind to watch it again so no vote from me.

I don't think I've ever heard of The Bravados.



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
The Bravados ain’t no comedy. It is a tale of revenge where Gregory Peck tracks down the men he believes murdered his wife. A nicely shot spectacle in Cinemascope, if you only know Peck as Atticus Finch you may be surprised by the righteous fury he portrays here, building to a redemptive conclusion. Lee Van Cleef is one of the marked men and it was supporting slimeballs in movies like The Bravados, The Tin Star, and High Noon as well as dozens of hours of television Westerns that attracted Sergio Leone to him and eventually turned him into an icon. The Bravados was only on three ballots, but two of them were top ten votes (a sixth and a seventh).

The Bravados was my number 7. It's a terrific tight movie with a twist ending.

This film had a huge influence on Sergio Leone, you can see it in For A Few Dollars More and Once Upon A Time In The West.

Here is Joan Collins talking about it...


...I must say she looks fine in her outfit and 82 at the time.



Seen both of these but didn't seriously consider either. Barbados has left my mind and Three Amigos was funny to me many moons ago at this point.
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Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.

Didn't vote for either, though both are good in their own way. I'll always remember the burning bush from ¡Three Amigos! and The Bravados is an easy watch once you turn it on - there are three different channels which play it all the time here.


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Yay... My first entry. I think I voted for Three Amigos somewhere in the lower middle half, I guess! Probably!
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I watched The Bravado's a couple of years ago, likey but no votey.

The Three Amigos is the first to show up that makes me cringe a little. I think there's a difference between comedic westerns and comedies that use other genres as a backdrop just for the purpose of it's comedy. It was eligible though so it's just my feelings. I saw it in the 80's as a teen when I sought out those types of movies, and I didn't like it then. That despite John Landis being the director of 4 of my all time favorite movies.

I watched The Ballad of Cable Hogue and surprisingly loved it. Jason Robards was exceptional as the title character and it had a very good supporting cast. I didn't think it was an odd movie, just a little quirky at times. Barely any action, but it was entertaining and surprisingly touching. I thought it was sweet as a love story. Good music and a perfectly chosen title. Sam Peckinpah really impressed me with this one because it was very different than his other movies that I love, kind of like The Straight Story for David Lynch. It may have made my ballot had I seen it in time, but more than that it has an endearing quality that I think would make it more of a favorite with multiple viewings over time. Cable Hogue is just trying to get by and make himself a better life, like the rest of us.
+

Now seen 16 of 20. If not many more show up that I haven't seen, maybe I can be at 100% by the end.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
great review of Cable Hogue, @cricket! Glad to hear you enjoyed it, and, yes, more viewings = more enjoyment of it.

I've seen Three Amigos back in the day, and while I get a kick out of such comedies, especially with Chase and Martin, it's Martin Short I truly can not stand, and therefore, cannot watch this film with his presence ruining it for me.

The Bravados is another for my Rectification List.


Movies Watched 8 out of 20 (40%)
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I should've known Three Amigos would count as a Western. I would have named it in my list.
As a kid, it was one of my favourite Martin Short movies, along with Clifford(Don't judge me for Clifford, I was a kid then).



Seen neither, heard of Three Amigos but didn't get around to it.

Seen: 3/20
- Slow West (#95)
- The Big Gundown (#85)
- The Furies (#84)

My ballot:
None
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