The MoFo Top 100 Westerns: Countdown

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Oh no. What an absolute legend. A humongous talent. The pieces of music he has written are masterful and often groundbreaking in how they are composed. He did so much new stuff and helped not only define Leone’s westerns through his sound but also define cinema in so many ways. I loved him.

I was fortunate to experience this man’s genius live with a grand orchestra when he was 88 years old and traveling the world with his music. It was an experience I will never forget.

Rest In Peace.



I was fortunate to experience this man’s genius live with a grand or orchestra when he was 88 years old and traveling the world with his music. It was an experience I will never forget.

Rest In Peace.
I also saw one of his concerts last year. What a great man, may be rest in peace



I thought The Searchers might be top 3. Pleased to see it isn't, but I probably won't like two of the top 3 so it doesn't really matter.
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We've gone on holiday by mistake
This countdown has taught me there's a lot of Westerns I need to watch.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra




“Who are those guys?”

In 1969 The Wild Bunch (#9) wowed the critics and True Grit (#38) won an Oscar for its star, but the unquestioned, runaway box office champion not only among Westerns but among all movies was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. George Roy Hill’s megahit follows the title affable outlaws, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, as they rob banks and trains. That is until the railroad hires a super posse to pursue and kill them. Instead of leading to a showdown they decide to run away. Far away. To Bolivia. William Goldman’s Oscar winning script is still taught in screenwriting classes. The megawatt charm of the stars, the wit of the script, the Oscar winning cinematography by Connie Hall, and Oscar winning music by Burt Bacharach all added up to an irresistible bit of fun. The critics pretty well dumped on it during its initial release but in time most have come around to acknowledge the influential Butch & Sundance as the classic it is. That obviously translated to MoFo votes, crossing the 600-point barrier, appearing on thirty-eight ballots with twenty top ten placements: four first place, three second, two third, a fourth, a fifth, three sixth, a seventh, four eighth, and a ninth.




I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid back in 2014. I remember liking it quite a bit but couldn’t remember it well enough to properly rank it and never got around to rewatching it. Ultimately I decided not to vote for it and figured it probably didn’t really need my help anyway. Looks like I was right.



Lovely movie but I didn't vote for it.

Seen: 61/97
My list:  

Faildictions (yee-haw version 1.12):
3. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly



Butch Cassidy was on my list!!! A great movie that I'm glad I watched for the countdown.

Seen: 37/97
- Slow West (#95)
- The Big Gundown (#85)
- The Furies (#84)
- The Gold Rush (#78)
- 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)
- Rango (#41)
- The Gunfighter (#40)
- Open Range (#36)
- Hell or High Water (#35)
- The Great Silence (#34)
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (#33)
- Johnny Guitar (#30)
- Tombstone (#28)
- The Revenant (#25)
- Stagecoach (#23)
- True Grit (#22)
- Blazing Saddles (#21)
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (#20)
- The Ox-Bow Incident (#19)
- For a Few Dollars More (#18)
- McCabe and Mrs. Miller (#17)
- A Fistful of Dollars (#16)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (#15)
- There Will be Blood (#14)
- Django Unchained (#12)
- The Hateful Eight (#11)
- Rio Bravo (#10)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (#8)
- High Noon (#6)
- The Searchers (#5)
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (#4)

My list:
1. There Will be Blood
5. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
7. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
8. Blazing Saddles
9. The Searchers
10. Rio Bravo
11. For a Few Dollars More
12. Johnny Guitar
13. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
14. Hell or High Water
15. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
16. The Revenant
17. The Lone Ranger
18. A Fistful of Dollars
19. Red River
20. The Gunfighter
21. Bone Tomahawk
22. The Hateful Eight
23. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
24. Stagecoach
25. Django Unchained
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I was fairly entertained but wasn’t overly impressed with Butch Cassidy...

Some elements felt rather dated to me. Especially the montage. Didn’t work at all imo. But I admire the different approach to it.

Perhaps I also just had some big expectations for this one after hearing so much about it and seeing some impressive bits and pieces.



Westerns are admittedly not my favorite genre but I have seen 43/100 (including the top three - a wild guess, I know). Here's my cruddy little list:

1. Probably will make it
2. The Shooting (1966) #71
3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) #8
4. Probably will make it
5. Dances with Wolves (1990) #7
6. Tombstone (1993) #28
7. True Grit (1969) #38
8. Django (1966) #64
9. Probably will make it
10. True Grit (2010) #22
11. The Ox-Bow Incident (1942) #19
12. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) #4
13. Django Unchained (2012) #12
14. Stagecoach (1939) #23
15. Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) Probably a no at this point
16. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) #17
17. Bone Tomahawk (2015) #54
18. Three Amigos (1986) #82
19. Vera Cruz (1954) guessing, no
20. Rio Bravo (1959) #10
21. Buck and the Preacher (1972) not looking good
22. The Searchers (1956) #5
23. For a Few Dollars More (1965) #18
24. Maverick (1994) #72
25. 3:10 to Yuma (2007) #29

I should've had a better list but I got burned out watching westerns for this. According to NF, The Outlaw Josey Wales was delivered on 4-10 and I still havent seen it.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is my #2.

Thie stylish western is filled with wonderful technique. I especially like the way it begins with a silent movie playing over the titles, and turns sepia to introduce the leading characters in highly-stylized scenes. William Goldman's script is a showpiece to exhibit the charm and wit of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Even with all the wonderful comic and action highlights, the heart of the film is the long trek trying to escape the posse doggedly on their trail. After all is said and done, I still believe my fave part is the shootout ending in Bolivia with its pumped-up sound and editing.



My List

1. Little Big Man
2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
4. The Outlaw Josey Wales
5. Dances with Wolves
6. Friendly Persuasion
7. One-Eyed Jacks
8. The Professionals
9. Barbarosa
10. Red River
11. Oklahoma!
12. Hud
13. The Big Country
14. Giant
16. The Searchers
17. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
19. The Ox-Bow Incident
20. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
22. Support Your Local Sheriff!
23. The Revenant
24. There Will Be Blood
25. High Noon





Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was always going to be in my top ten. It has been since I was about eight-years-old. I slotted it at number eight on my ballot. As a kid I thought it was the coolest, funniest thing I had ever seen. Four decades or so later and it is still one of the coolest, funniest movies I have ever seen…with a much, much larger sample size. Redford and Newman have such effortless charisma, and from the Silent Movie credits sequence to the sepia-toned intro to the characters, the no rules in a knife fight, Woodcock, “Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch”, and on and on until they come shooting out of that café in freeze frame I just love, love, love this movie. Never tire of watching it. I knew it would finish well on the countdown but I am very happy it got this high.

"If he'd just pay me what he's spending to make me stop robbing him, I'd stop robbing him!" is one of my all-time favorite lines in a movie that is chock full of 'em.

I have my top two remaining in the collective top three.

HOLDEN PIKE'S LIST
3. The Wild Bunch (#9)
4. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (#17)
5. Little Big Man (#38)
6. The Ox-Bow Incident (#19)
7. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (#83)
8. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (#4)
9. Dead Man (#26)
10. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (#52)
11. Lonely Are the Brave (#104)
12. The Great Silence (#34)
13. My Name is Nobody (#79)
14. The Grey Fox (#66)
15. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (#8)
16. Hombre (#88)
17. The Big Country (#27)
18. Pursued (#73)
19. Jeremiah Johnson (#37)
20. The Outlaw Josey Wales (#13)
21. One-Eyed Jacks (#32)
22. Zandy’s Bride (DNP)
23. The Professionals (#45)
24. The Revenant (#25)
25. Support Your Local Sheriff! (#89)



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
...and Oscar winning music by Burt Bacharach all added up to an irresistible bit of fun.
On the day Ennio Morricone dies, the worst Western soundtrack shows up. I have to turn the volume off during some scenes. F@#k Burt Bacharach and his bebop crap!

What makes the hatred so deep is I'm from Las Vegas. This lounge lizard sh#t played constantly.



I have tried and tried to like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but I've never been able to groove to it at all. I certainly don't dislike it, but I'm always underwhelmed. Anyway, the only movies on my list that didn't place are Lone Star,The Man from Laramie, which I really thought would make the list, and The Sisters Brothers which just missed the cut at #102.

My List:

1.
2.
3. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (#17)
4. The Outlaw Josey Wales (#13)
5. High Plains Drifter (#31)
6. Little Big Man (#39)
7. Jeremiah Johnson (#37)
8. The Wild Bunch (#9)
9. The Big Country (#27)
10. The Shootist (#58)
11. Rio Bravo (#10)
12. The Ox-Bow Incident (#19)
13. The Gunfighter (#40)
14.
15. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)(#48)
16. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (#8)
17. The Sisters Brothers (#102)
18. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (#76)
19. The Naked Spur (#86)
20. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (#67)
21. Lone Star (DNP)
22. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (#33)
23. The Man from Laramie (DNP)
24. Support Your Local Sheriff! (#89)
25. Johnny Guitar (#30)
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