Westerns Movie Log Journal & Recommendations

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Nice, I haven't really been around as other stuff in my life has occupied me, but I come back from time to time
I know how it is, I've been real busy too with work. Mainly I just do the HoFs and that's about it. Good to see you around and I'll do a write up of those recommendations you gave me as soon as I watch them.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Thought I'd keep a log of the western movies that I watch for the upcoming Westerns Countdown List I don't log my movies anywhere else, so it's either here or I'll forget what I watched when it comes time to send my voting ballot in!

So if you have a western recommendation, post it...and I'll try to watch it and enter my varied thoughts into my log journal here. And I'll be posting the westerns that I watch on my own, so maybe you'll find a western or two here that's worth watching.

Last night, I watched The Ballad of Josie (1967) starring Doris Day as a widow who decides to raise sheep in a town where everyone else raises cattle. It might not make your list, but I liked it.
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Last night, I watched The Ballad of Josie (1967) starring Doris Day as a widow who decides to raise sheep in a town where everyone else raises cattle. It might not make your list, but I liked it.
Thanks that sounds like fun and I've not seen it before. I'll look for it and hopefully I can find it somewhere.



Before watching Rio Lobo or El Dorado, watch Rio Bravo. When compared to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it's pretty underrated; it's hands down the best John Wayne western.



Before watching Rio Lobo or El Dorado, watch Rio Bravo. When compared to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it's pretty underrated; it's hands down the best John Wayne western.
You have excellent taste, I love Rio Bravo and I'm glad you mentioned it so I don't forget to include it on voting ballot. I also seen Rio Lobo pretty good and El Dorado which was OK.

You're likely to get a lot of recommendations so I'll just give you 2, both of which I think you'll enjoy-The Shootist and The Iron Horse
Ha, I guess I never did get around to watching The Iron Horse. But I will check out The Shootist. I've seen once but like decades ago so you might as well say I didn't see it.




The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Coen Brothers, 2018)

Movie: #1
Suggested by: @ahwell

Very impressive movie! The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is composed of six different western stories, all of them tied together by one theme: the violence of the old west....With it's ironicisms the film reminded me of the 1980s TV show Tales From the Darkside, a show I use to love. As one would expect from a Coen's film it's well written, clever & intelligently handled with great attention to details. A big plus there's some really beautiful shooting locations...All done up with a slight twist and the Coen's flair for uniqueness.

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
@Citizen Rules,
Another movie that I'd recommend is A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966). It's a comedy western about a high stakes poker game. I watched it for the 1960s countdown, and I liked it enough that it made my list.



@Citizen Rules,
Another movie that I'd recommend is A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966). It's a comedy western about a high stakes poker game. I watched it for the 1960s countdown, and I liked it enough that it made my list.
I see it stars Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards...good enough for me Thanks and I see if I can find it. BTW I did find the Doris Day film you mentioned and so will be watching it real soon.




The Hanging Tree (Delmer Daves, 1959)

Movie: #2
Suggested by: @Miss Vicky

I've watched a lot of 1950s westerns recently, that's by far my favorite decade for movies. And in all of those 1950s westerns, I've not seen a film quite like The Hanging Tree. Some might call this movie slow paced, but I found it to be very introspective, as we spend a lot of time seeing how the outcast doctor (Gary Cooper) treats people in his debt. The doctor is a conundrum, both gentle and a man of violence with a penchant for controlling those who owe him.

It's a strange (but cool) movie that seems to be saying a lot but never spoon feeds the message to the audience. It's so subtle that for most of the film I was hooked by just trying to figure out what the motives of these people were. It's based on a novel so I'm guessing there were things that just couldn't be discussed openly in 1959, so the film hints at the darkness of the doctors past.

Filmed in my state! Washington, though filmed in eastern Washington which is geographically very different than where I live on the wetter, west side.

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Before watching Rio Lobo or El Dorado, watch Rio Bravo. When compared to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it's pretty underrated; it's hands down the best John Wayne western.
You have excellent taste, I love Rio Bravo and I'm glad you mentioned it so I don't forget to include it on voting ballot. I also seen Rio Lobo pretty good and El Dorado which was OK.

You're likely to get a lot of recommendations so I'll just give you 2, both of which I think you'll enjoy-The Shootist and The Iron Horse
Ha, I guess I never did get around to watching The Iron Horse. But I will check out The Shootist. I've seen once but like decades ago so you might as well say I didn't see it.

Thank you, sir.



Last Train From Gun Hill (1959)

Movie #3
Suggested by Chypmunk

See that photo? That's the way the movie looked when I watched it, everyone was very tall and thin Though I quickly figured out that someone had had saved the movie file in the wrong format. Last Train From Gun Hill is a wide screen VistaVision picture and yet the movie file was a 4:3 'square' aspect ration. No big deal I just fixed it on my TV by stretching the picture, then it looked good.

Last Train From Gun Hill is pretty highly rated at IMDB but I didn't care for it. At no point did anything seem serious. It was as if the actors and director treated it like movie making by the numbers, so I never bought into the story. I guess the director is to blame, but the script was pretty lackluster being not much more than a pale copy of the successful 3:10 to Yuma from the year before. Though the movie itself is based on an early novel, one wouldn't know if from this movie. There's next to no character development or exploration of themes. OK so maybe this is an all wall to wall action flick? nope. There's not much action except for the last train scene. But what really drove me bonkers was the dialogue...there was like one one thing that anybody said in this movie, over and over....'you're not going to make it out of town alive' or some form of that.

One cool thing is the use of Paramount's back lot town set, which looks great and as a huge bonus they built a 600 foot long working railroad track right through the town just for this picture. The sight of a steam locomotive driving down main street is odd but kinda cool too.



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This is my watchlist so far, plus the few from the current westerns list that I haven't seen yet. Magnificent 7 and the 3 Clint's towards the bottom will all be repeats-

The Proposition
Quick and the Dead
The Three Burials
The Hunting Party
Cheyanne Autumn
Ballad of buster Scruggs
The Misfits
Vera Cruz
Duck you sucker
Open Range
The Sons of Katie Elder
Navajo Jo
The Mercenary
Day of Anger
The four of the apocalypse
Keoma
High plains drifter
Hang em high
Jose Wales
Meeks cutoff
Magnificent 7
Last train from gun hill



I'll read up on those westerns that I haven't seen and try to watch some of them, and then post here.

This is what I've seen from your watch list:

I liked all of these:
Quick and the Dead
Ballad of buster Scruggs
The Misfits
Open Range
Magnificent 7

Loved these:
High plains drifter
Hang em high
Jose Wales
Meeks cutoff

Looks like you have a solid watch list.