Western films are hard to come by......

Western films are hard to come by......

In the last 10 years there have been no considerable uprises in the making of western films no films like ford and hawks made in the 30's up to the late 60's
fewer and fewer are being made those that are being made are very well done but to few films like tombstone, unforgiven and geronimo:an american legend these are by no means not good but it dosn't help the genre when people don't make films like once upon a time in the west fun outragous very well done and over the top features with hardly nothing to lose just a bit of money not a huge budget. It's almost like you have to make one that makes money before anybody will even spend time thinking about making one. That hurts because people in general are missing out on a great genre with undiscovered quilties and myths that havn't even been touched uponed and the longer they stayaway from this genre the more harder it will be to get back to it.

What do you guys think the Western genre isn't popular with todays audiences ?

What make the western genre such a none hot commodity?

What are some of your favorite Westerns ?

Here's my list (in no order)

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
Junior Bonner (1972)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Major Dundee (1965)
Ride the High Country (1962)
Stagecoach (1939)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
3 Godfathers (1948)
The Searchers (1956)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Red River (1948)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Rio Lobo (1970)
El Dorado (1967)
Winchester '73 (1950)
Bend of the River (1952)
The Naked Spur (1953)
Man of the West (1958)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
Fistful of Dollars (1964)
For A Few Dollars More (1965)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967)
High Plains Drifter (1972)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Pale Rider (1985)
Unforgiven (1992)
Big Jake
The Bravados
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Dead Man
Django
Geronimo: An American Legend
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Gunfighter
Hang'em High
High Noon
Joe Kidd
The Magnifacent Seven
Man without a star
Maverick
The Missouri Breaks
Monte Walsh
My name is nobody
The Ox-Bow Incident
Posse
The Quick and the Dead
Red Sun
The Scalphunters
Shane
Silverado
Tombstone
True Grit
Two mules for sister sara
Warlock
The War Wagon
Western Union
Wyatt Earp
The Shooting
The Undeafeated
Shenandoah
The Sons of Katie Elder
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
Little Big Man
Firecreek
There was a Crooked Man
Breakheart Pass
Jeremiah Johnson
The Return of Frank James
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Harmed by zoloft

Westerns ARE fairly expensive to make (long location shoots, horses, etc.), and there hasn't been a successful one at the boxoffice in quite a while. Those are the two main reasons the Studios don't make them anymore.

After the finacial and critical successes of Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven in the early '90s, plus the phenomenal popularity of the "Lonesome Dove" mini-series on television, there was a bit of a mini-boom in Western production during the first half of the last decade. But few of them caught fire at the boxoffice, and no other projects were critical and Award darlings, so they disappeared again.

Outside of Kasdan's Silverado and Eastwood's Pale Rider, the Western had all but died out in the '80s, thanks in large part to the epic failure of Cimino's Heaven's Gate in 1980, and the surge in popularity of different genres, like Science Fiction and a more modern Adventure film (from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Die Hard).

The Western had been weakening in the late '50s and into the '60s, a main cause being the over-saturation and extreme popularity of the serialized Western on TV. But the Revisionist movement, most boldly personified in the influential work of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, made the Western hip and vital again in the late '60s through to the most of the '70s.

While anything is possible and William Goldman's immortal line of "nobody knows anyting" is always applicable, I seriously doubt the Western will ever emerge again to the level of artistic importance in enjoyed in the '70s or the intense mainstream popularity of the Ford and Hawks era before TV's impact was felt.


I love Westerns, especially Revisionist Westerns. My Top Ten favorites of all time....

1. Once Upon A Time in the West (1969 - Leone)
2. Unforgiven (1992 - Eastwood)
3. The Wild Bunch (1969 - Peckinpah)
4. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (1966 - Leone)
5. Little Big Man (1970 - Arthur Penn)
6."Lonesome Dove" (made-for-TV 1989 - Simon Wincer)
7. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971 - Altman)
8. A Fistful of Dollars & For A Few Dollars More (1964 & 1965 - Leone)
9. The Professionals (1966 - Richard Brooks)
10. Lonely Are the Brave (1962 - David Miller)

OTHER FAVORITES (in no particular order): My Name Is Nobody (1974), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), High Noon (1952), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Ride the High Country (1962), Dead Man (1995), Hombre (1967), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969), High Plains Drifter (1972), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Searchers (1956), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Tin Star (1957), Winchester '73 (1950), One-Eyed Jacks (1961), The Gunfighter (1950), Death Rides A Horse (1968), The Long Riders (1980), The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) and on and on and on.

I think that's around thirty, and I could easily keep going and do thirty more. But, I'll spare y'all.

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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

I can't believe nobody has mentioned The Apple Dumpling Gang as one of their favorite Westerns.

I have to say the good, the bad, and the ugly is my favorite, but tombstone is a great movie.

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"Who comes at 12:00 on a Sunday night to rent Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid?"
-Hollywood Video rental guy to me

It's a good thing we're not cross-comparing lists of Worst Westerns. I'll hold my tongue, Pard'ners.

Pike I love the list I forgot to put The Professionals just watched it for the first time about two weeks ago and I loved it also The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean Paul Newman rocks. A couple that I've been trying to rent that were on your list are 3:10 to Yuma and The Tin Star.

Have you seen DJANGO and if so what did you think I'm really intrested in what you think about it.

and please please put down the other 30 or more that you love cause I'm always wanting know about ones that I love that others do too and movies that I should keep on the look out for thanks buddy.

Oh, I don't want to bore with more lists. I have so many other ways to bore people.


I like Django O.K. and even own it on DVD, but I think it's overrated in the Spaghetti Western canon. For me, when it comes to the Spaghettis there's Leone, then there's a wide gulf, then there's everybody else. I do like a few non-Leones, such as Death Rides A Horse, Sabata, and Day of Anger (probably no coincidence they all star Lee Van Cleef), and the first couple Trinity flicks are fun, plus a few various others. But in general I've never gotten into that sub-genre and don't think any of them come close to what Sergio Leone accomplished. I've seen quite a few of 'em over the years, but I'm pretty selective.

The Professionals is a great flick. It's basically The Wild Bunch minus the poetry, just a truly fun actioner.

John Huston's The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean is a real favorite of mine. My best friend and I took it on Spring Break with us years ago and watched it like six times in less than a week - couldn't get enough of it. I was obsessed with that one for a while. It's not a perfect film and has some flaws, but I'd put it behind only My Name Is Nobody and Little Big Man as an intelligent parody of the genre that also works on true Revisionist levels.


To be honest, I really flat-out hate a handful of the movies on your list. Then there's another small group I think are very average and hardly special. And with a few major exceptions, I have no use for John Wayne. BUT overall our lists have a lot of the same films noted.

I'd take my top three, Once Upon A Time in the West, Unforgiven & The Wild Bunch, and stack 'em up against anything and everything. They're the best of the best for me.

My top 3 would be

The Outlaw Josey Wales
Once Upon A time In The West
The Wild Bunch


The Outlaw Josey Wales

The approuch in filming The Outlaw Josey Wales was different from many other westerns and Eastwood films that were made before and after. the use of the hand held camera was explosively cinematic in producing a completely different look for the film it help shape the films style in which it was presented. no other westerns have made such a uniqic imprestion to me on the western genre which is to say that this was new territory for the western genre and for clint Eastwood films in general.

The picture also has a griddy fell with a large scale back drop and even remeans beautiful when presented in full screen format and that in it's self is a major asset for any film. to say it wasn't unconventional would be to say the least about this breakthough film that put the western into hybernation until Eastwood made another great western some 16 years later called Unforgiven

The usual western has either a very low production or is so over budget that no matter how good the actors are they come off feeling like carboard characters in outrages situations and the cameraseems to always stay still so that the actor can show his or hers stuff and get that all important close-up that the studio is paying the big bucks for or at least that's how it was in the old days.

In the Outlaw you get some creative acting in some parts of the film that help. Much of the film has a tongue in cheek way of doing things that are pefect for the actors and give them some real character.

Clint Eastwood had a change of mind at the begining of the film he started off acting and producing the film with Phillp Kauffman as the director but he change his mind threw the first few weeks of film and decided to direct , act and produce which meant he had almost full control over the way the film was to be made. this strong feeling that he had to make the film his way. which gave the Outlaw Josey Wales an unsteady pace and the feeling of unpredictabilty. shotouts are carried out and conducted differently than basic western when they hit they hit hard and in the process leaving out as little as possible for your imagnation.

A strong point within the movie is the fact that he wasn't afraid to use documentary style filming which gave the film an up,down ,left,right movement that open up the space in the frame and lets the audience take a good look around also the use of the hand-held camera in selective scenes plays a major roll for an example when Josey Wales gets smoked on the head at the being of the film trying to save his family you get this amazing hand-held camera shot bringing you right into the characters feelings and point-of-view from this you get a better understanding of what position and to what extend of a predicument he's in. The surounding threats , the horses could stomp on him,the man on the horse could kill him easly and his house is on fire and could collapse at any minute all this is hypre-extanuated by the simple use of a hand-held camera.

The film is realistic and well directed with some classic touches from John Ford's silhouettes to some Spegetti western type acting.The ending carries undertones of Shane and I think a lot of Josey Wales character has a lot Shane in him, it's like a Shane for the 70's with some Clint Eastwood attitude and his big persona.

Signs of a smart western

Josey Wales is resourceful in handling problems an devising strageties that get his friends and more importantly himself out of impossible situations.The Character is played very direct and honest.It's more than just a western it's got War,Cival War,Drama,Action,Love,Adventure and lots of tougue in cheek comedy as said before .A personal Favorite scene in the movie is when Josey Wales and Chef Dan Geotge's character's are mounting an ambush on some thugs that are hurting some settlers the Chef gets caught but Josey Wales gets away unnoticed as the thugs move throught the desert Josey Wales is the only thing that stands in their way and all of a sudden he comes out of the desert like a merage one second he's not there the next he's there and right than and there he becomes Mythical and bigger than life .His character to me and hopefully for the audience is thought as a stand up guy for what he does and for what he fights for.there's no glamerization or gloification he's just one mean son-of-a-bitch.

I love this film it's my favorite western and it just keeps on getting better and better.
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Sunset Boulevard Residence Prathumnak

Jeffries, I think it's time I introduce you to another board I've been posting on for the past three years: all things Eastwoodian. Enjoy.

hey thanks bud I'm all over it big time just join up as well thanks again Pike.
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property in Pattaya

i'm just not a fan of western's.....but i respect that many people love em'. gotta' question though, would you'all consider the richard harris flics "man in the wilderness", "a man called horse" westerns? if so, i choose them as favorites. if not,...why not?

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on dance seul, on dance seul.....

Sure, Man in the Wilderness and all of the A Man Called Horse flicks are Westerns.

I love the over-the-top style of Wilderness, especially John Huston and the image of the boat stuck in the frozen riverbed, but I wouldn't say it's one of my all-time favorites.

A Man Called Horse is a good one too (though I started caring for the sequels less with each entry), but for a film showing things from the perspective of a White man among the Injuns, I'll take the satirical epic Little Big Man every time. I do think A Man Called Horse is much better than the woefully overrated Dances with Wolves, but again, not one of my all-time favorites.

Quigley Down Under is one of those films that a lot of people say is a western, but geographically it is kind of hard to say that. I say it has a western like feel, but is not really a true western. Now I am not asking if you like it or not, although any feedback is great. I just want to know if you think it is a western or not? Thanks.

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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

Personally, i feel Westerns have declined as they fail to offer the same escapist thrills that an epic sci-fi like Star Wars could, and their historic roots limit CGI action set pieces. Perhaps another reason is with the new evidence which counters the trusted Indian/Cowboy binary opposition used to create the memorable Western genre codes. I did a lot of work on this for me A Level exams, yet seem to have forgotten it all. There are some interesting Western post-modern hybrids like Tears of a Black Tiger, which i thoroughly recommend, it's not a particularly fantastic film, just really whack.

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Our lists are nearly identical with the exceptions of The Professionals and Lonely Are the Brave, both of which I have yet to see, and that the order is different. In their place I'd put Red River (yes...say something ), and maybe...High Noon or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

I need to see more classic Westerns. Over the last couple of years I've gotten more and more into them...and old classics. Since so many great westerns are considered old classics...I'm in luck.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Westerns are hardly my forte (I am only now starting to get through the man with no name trilogy) but what about OpenRange? It feature's some beautiful shots and one of the best gunfights I've seen in a movie recently. I understand it’s a Kevin Costner movie and a lot of people harbour much hatred for the man but I like him!

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Kevin Costner may have been good in The Untouchables and Dances with Wolves wasn't that bad......but the man stole Scorsese's Academy Award and that isn't cool.

BTW Open Range wasn't that good

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"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans a nice Chianti."

Don’t hate the guy for trying. It’s the academy’s fault.

Not only is Kevin Costner a favorite of mine, but I like Open Range

I don’t think it’s perfect because of the out of place story-arc with the Costner/Bening love affair, but I still like the film. The dialogue of the romance was clunky and out of character, especially with Costner. It pretty much bogged down a gripping story, and it was a real waste of Annette.

What I like most about it is the final gunfight. It had amazing sound (editing?), making it seem like I was listening from only a few feet away. It was also pretty damn intense and started fantastically. It is one of my favorite gunfights ever filmed.

There’s also the strong cast who help make Open Range better than the near fatal error of Craig Storper (Into the West), the screenwriter, who I can only assume is at fault since I have never read the original novel. Maybe I’m being unfair…who knows?

Michael Gambon and Diego Luna both show their stuff, Bening does well despite the writing, and Robert Duvall shows once again why he is considered one of our living masters.

Good capable cast, spectacular gunfight, and Costner perfectly cast make Open Range a pretty damn good western.

But…maybe it’s just me.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hands down for me.

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I'm not much into Westerns, but I do like Holden and Lordslayton's list.

When I think of all the westerns I've seen, here's what's off the top of my head:

High Noon
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Blazing Saddles
Support Your Local Sheriff
Once Upon a Time in the West