I have a super busy weekend coming up including going out of town so you get a whopping
six reveals today.
The first truly iconic cinematic rendering of the gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona’s O.K. Corral was appropriately composed by the master, John Ford. No Wayne this time rather it is the laconic Henry Fonda who portrays lawman Wyatt Earp, with Victor Mature as the tubercular Doc Holliday. It is based on a not particularly accurate biography about Earp that was the basis of two earlier flicks in the 1930s, both called
Frontier Marshall, the second of which starred Randolph Scott as Earp. While the book may have much more bluster than history Ford adds his own brand of Western mythology into the story. Ward Bond and Tim Holt are Morgan and Virgil Earp while Walter Brennan leads the Clantons including John Ireland. The basic story is so very well known now, even if you aren’t a hardcore Western devotee, but through Ford’s lense and set against his glorious Monument Valley it is a must see.
My Darling Clementine was on thirteen ballots, though with only two top ten votes: a tenth and a second.
Speaking of icons
Shane wanders onto the countdown at 43. Alan Ladd was about to turn forty when he played the character he would forever be identified with, a quiet if affable loner who doesn’t want trouble but is lightning fast with a gun. Director George Stevens (#51
Giant) wanted to cast Montgomery Clift but he was unavailable, which was the best thing that ever happened to Ladd. Shane happens upon a modest spread in Wyoming run by the Starrett’s: Joe (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur), and their young son Joey (Brandon deWilde). He takes an instant liking to the curious boy and Marian is drawn to the handsome stranger. Joe hires him on to help with the ranch where he soon learns the individual homesteaders are being harassed and threatened by a cattle baron who has a pack of enforcers led by the vicious Jack Wilson (Jack Palance). Guess what that leads to?
Shane was on eight ballots with a healthy five top ten nods: a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, and a tenth.
After Sam Raimi made his mark with low budget Horror but before he was given the keys to
Spider-Man he got a decent budget and some big names to appear in a hip, stylish riff on Spaghetti Westerns with
The Quick and the Dead. Sharon Stone stars as the nameless gunfighter known only as The Lady who rides into the town of Redemption. The town is known for its annual quick draw tournament, a single-elimination excuse for lots of gunplay in the street. There are rules and a champion, but mostly it is a reason to have twenty showdowns instead of one. Gene Hackman runs the town and the tournament and some of the other colorful participants include a former gunslinger turned preacher (Russell Crowe) and a young cocky Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio), with the likes of Lance Henriksen, Tobin Bell, and Keith David adding their brand of fun. The Lady is there for revenge but all of that hardly matters in this exercise of style.
The Quick and the Dead received ten votes, six of them top tens: a fourth place, two fifth, and three tenth place nods (are you all in a club or something?).
The vote totals are jumping at a greater rate, now.
El Dorado (#47) was the first with over a hundred points (102) and just a few spots further we are already in the high 120s and jump right into the 140s! We are starting to hit the true consensus picks, not just two or three or even six MoFos voting for them but double digits and some high-value top votes.
Rango did well at the box office, as most decently budgeted animated movies for children do. But while it finished behind other animated fare that year like
Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, and
Rio what it does have going for it is a smart and fun spin on the Western using anthropomorphic animals voiced by some good actors. Johnny Depp stars as the title character, a chameleon who accidentally falls from the car he was being transported in by his owner. He is in the punishing desert outside of Las Vegas and happens upon an Old West style town inhabited by turtles, lizards, mice, moles, bats, and other assorted critters, all representing the genre's common characters. After lucking out and killing a menacing hawk he is made sheriff. There’s a fight over water rights, a notorious gunslinging rattlesnake (Bill Nighy), an iguana love interest (Isla Fisher), a possibly corrupt mayor (Ned Beatty), etc. Alfred Molina, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone, and Stephen Root also lend their voices, and Timothy Olyphant shows up as The Spirit of the West/The Man with No Name. With references to a dozen Westerns plus
Chinatown, Raising Arizona, Singin' in the Rain, and
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas this clearly isn’t “just” for kids.
Rango was on eleven ballots including third, fourth, sixth, and ninth placers.
See you Monday, Kids!
Reply to Topic
, a very young Leo, Gene Hackman chewing up the scenes, Gary Sinise, and a badass leading lady. I had it at #5. 
I feel like giving Shane a higher rating because it covers so much more ground than the average western ever even attempts. Shane is mostly seen from the viewpoint of the youngest person in the film, Joey (a terrific Brandon de Wilde; go ahead now and stick him in the Bakers Dozen Thread as an annoying kid 
). However, there are other perspectives, and one of my favorites is the perspective of the Grand Teton Mountains. I've been to the Tetons three times, and it's a massively impressive sight to behold, both in real life and in Shane.