The MoFo Westerns List

Two movies I'm interested in, but haven't seen yet:



The Belle Starr Story (1968)



They Call Me Hallelujah (1971)

Hock dang diggidy dawg I didn't see this until now. Was started when I was offline.



Will work on a list

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Just checked the OP on eligibility, couldn't see if Desperado (1995) would be ok?

Not seen anyone recommend A Man Called Horse yet

I remember studying that at school.


So is There Will Be Blood eligible then?

Also, don't forget about Young Guns

Oh, shout out for:


The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965)
The Quick And The Dead (1995)
The Cowboys (1972)

I was pleasantly surprised by One-Eyed Jacks. I felt like it was such a perfect film. The best possible representation of everything you want a Western to be. It had so many great concepts that are just so ideal and rolled them perfectly into one package. It's actually the kind of movie that I felt should exist. It was so pure. It's hard to put something like this into words, but it's the kind of thing that I think I've often fantasised when I've thought of the Western genre as a concept. The bank robbery, the jail breaks, the revenge, the romance... the bad boy making the girl fall for him, and then the girl winning his heart over. The revenge... I mean everything about that movie... I don't want to go on and mention every single detail, but everything in that movie perfectly matched with a concept I already had in my head that I had been waiting to see. It had the feeling of something I've always known existed, but just hadn't seen until now. Like I was waiting my whole life to see it. I was hesitating between giving it 4 and 4.5 stars. It was a perfect movie. I ended up giving it 4 stars, but I think it could easily deserve 4.5. There was just something that held me back a little. I guess it's just that with the amount of artistic masterpieces I've seen I can't really give it 4.5, because even though it deserves 4.5 on some levels, it doesn't on every level. Movies like El Topo raised the bar very high, and One-Eyed Jacks doesn't reach that level in my opinion, but it was still a perfect movie in it's own right.

Pretty much got my list together... but at the risk of giving away a couple of my votes, I still need to know if There Will Be Blood and Desperado (1995) are eligible or not @Holden Pike

Love One-Eyed Jacks, it's on my all time , all genre favs list;
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...08#post2028108

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I don't think there's any question that Robert Rodriguez's Desperado is a modern Western in form and intent. Totes eligible.



Eligibility Debate
There Will Be Blood


Very loosely based on the 1926 Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (2007) is the intense story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a silver prospector at the turn of the 20th Century who turns his attention towards black gold using the adopted boy of a killed worker to frame his ruthless endeavors as a family business. He presents himself as controlled and agreeable but if his authority or claims are questioned the rageful beast within comes erupting to the surface. While attempting to acquire drilling rights in rural California, Plainview is forced to deal with the Sunday family, headed by a young fire & brimstone preacher named Eli (Paul Dano). Both men inherently mistrust the other and sense and expose the other's hypocrisies, ultimately leading to a bloody confrontation (it's right there promised in the title, folks).

Day-Lewis rightfully won the Oscar and virtually every other acting prize on the planet that year and it took P.T. Anderson's work to the next artistic level. There is no doubt it is a singular masterpiece. But is it a Western? Should it be included for consideration on our MoFo ballots or excluded as a one-off that isn't clearly enough rooted in the cinematic genre?

The IMDb lists its only genre as Drama.

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I don't consider There Will Be blood a western.

Voting yay or nay is good, but everyone should also try to expound a bit on why they believe it is or isn't a Western. Especially those who do believe it should be included as the IMDb does not (though Wikipedia does).

It has been many years since I've seen City Slickers '91, forgot most of it.
I've got two questions about it;
- Is it a Western/eligible?
- Is it worth a re-watch for the list?

I assume this is eligible:


Please confirm so I can make it #3 on my list.

Not #1, that'd be crazy.

There Will Be Blood, tough one, reminds me a bit of Giant, there is Oil / A Cowboy Hat and the typical Landscape but is that enough..

Television commercials are not eligible.

Yes, City Slickers (1991) is eligible. It's a funny movie.

As for any eligible movie, just because you can doesn't mean you should (same basic rules as for genetically engineering dinosaurs). It is up to the personal taste of each voter if they think comedies or modern-set Westerns or anything else is something they want on their list. You do not have to put anything on your list, even if objectively it is a movie you revere or enjoy, if it doesn't meet your personal definition of a Western. If you think The Treasure of the Sierra Made is brilliant but you don't want it on your list because it isn't enough of a Western for you, don't include it. If you think Blazing Saddles is one of the funniest comedies ever but you don't want it on your ballot, don't include it. If somebody else has The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Blazing Saddles, and High Noon on their ballot that is up to them, they are all eligible.

I think City Slickers is worth a rewatch whether you include it on your list or not.

What qualifies it as a Western? It's set in the right time-frame, but are there any other qualifiers for There Will Be Blood? Does it involve cowboys, guns, and is it set in the American "West?" I mean, location is also a factor right?

Cool, thanks Holden, I'll be watching it soon, and now that you mention it I'll give Blazing Saddles a re-watch as well.

Well, I asked about There Will Be Blood due to its date, setting and content.
Late 1800s, early 1900s, set in and around mining and prospecting initially, then after it moves to oil drilling it stays within the realms of a wild west setting.
It's got the Western trope of a person moving in on someone else's land and not paying them too. Isn't like, every Western ever made, about someone taking property and land from someone weaker than them?


Just my thoughts.