The MoFo Westerns List

→ in
Tools    





Just pick the 25 westerns you think are the best.
Simple


Pretty sure Holden will allow partial lists closer to the deadline though, maybe a top 10. Most (if not all) MoFo lists allow partials when the deadline is getting close.



I'm struggling to understand how this works. For instance, I feel that I am overly harsh on westerns; Truly, I'm unfairly so.

But not because I hate them, but because the vast majority of them are flat out equal 6/10's with only one high score (IMO), and that's the cliched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That seems to disqualify me, but I'm not sure.

Honest question: Should I should abstain from voting then?
If you hate most all westerns then you probably should abstain. However anyone is allowed to vote so the decision is yours...see rules on 1st post of this thread for specifics.



Account terminated on request
If you hate most all westerns then you probably should abstain. However anyone is allowed to vote so the decision is yours...see rules on 1st post of this thread for specifics.
Well as I said, I don't hate them. It's just they never rise far above meh, except for GBU, which is stellar.

It's like having this for a rating list:

10
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6

....I'll just default to my gut reaction here and stay clear.
__________________
Rules:
When women have a poet, they want a cowboy.
When they have a cowboy, they want a poet.
They'll say "I don't care if he's a poet or cowboy, so long as he's a nice guy. But oh, I'm so attracted to that bad guy over there."
Understand this last part, and you'll get them all.



Well as I said, I don't hate them. It's just they never rise far above meh, except for GBU, which is stellar...
Just an idea: you could challenge yourself to watch a bunch of westerns before the countdown voting deadline is up. You might find some that you love.

Also you'd be welcome to join the Western HoF that just started...the movies that you'd be required to watch are on the third post of the thread. It would be great to have you....

Anyone else can join too as there's still some time left to join.



Account terminated on request
Just an idea: you could challenge yourself to watch a bunch of westerns before the countdown voting deadline is up. You might find some that you love.
It's not an issue of having watched enough westerns. It's just that none of them particularly wow me much. (Except for one).

However, when I look at the exceptions post of this thread again, I realize that I'm using a stricter sense of "western" than you all are. You're following IMDB definitions? Westerns as I learned are a strictly defined genre, ("classic western"?) one that cannot be added to now that the 70's have dried up.

Basically the stuff set primarily in the 2nd half of the 1800's, strictly made from 1920 through the 70's, centering on the gritty gunslinging west of the US and Mexico.

For instance, according to IMDB, Django: Unchained would perhaps qualify? I personally wouldn't have considered it. The original Django's though, yes.

To me the genre is closed, kaput, sealed, locked, no further admissions. Kind of a narrow viewpoint. I'll think through this again.

By the way, if you haven't seen this, and especially if you have music training in your background as I do, take a look at this:




It's not an issue of having watched enough westerns. It's just that none of them particularly wow me much. (Except for one).
I can understand that, I've seen a lot of westerns that I enjoyed because I do like westerns, but...they didn't wow me. On the other hand I've also seen some westerns that I would consider to be truly great films.

If you're a fan of TGTBTU, you might check out other Spaghetti Westerns, and/or westerns with Clint Eastwood. He made a lot of great westerns IMO.

However, when I look at the exceptions post of this thread again, I realize that I'm using a stricter sense of "western" than you all are. You're following IMDB definitions? Westerns as I learned are strictly defined genre, ("classic western"?) one that cannot be added to now that the 70's have dried up.

Basically the stuff set primarily in the 2nd half of the 1800's, strictly made from 1920 through the 70's, centering on the gritty gunslinging west of the US and Mexico.
People will have different definitions of what a western is. Personally I disagree that westerns were only made in the 1970s and earlier. They're still making great westerns today. In fact one of my all time favorite westerns, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was made in 2007.



Account terminated on request
I've seen a ton of spaghettis. Basically anyone growing up in the 70's when there was literally /nothing/ on TV, you lived and died by two genres:

1. Old westerns.
2. Old horror films (In the north east, it was via the locally famous "Creature double feature on channel 56".)



I've seen a ton of spaghettis. Basically anyone growing up in the 70's when there was literally /nothing/ on TV, you lived and died by two genres:

1. Old westerns.
2. Old horror films (In the north east, it was via the locally famous "Creature double feature on channel 56".)
I remember TV back then, we had our own late, late night creature feature host. The show came on so late I usually fell asleep before the movie even got half way over



Basically the stuff set primarily in the 2nd half of the 1800's, strictly made from 1920 through the 70's, centering on the gritty gunslinging west of the US and Mexico.
If you want to use the era in which the film is set as criteria for defining a Western for your own ballot, that's cool. But I don't understand what difference it makes when the movie was made.

Because movies "set primarily in the 2nd half of the 1800's... centering on the gritty gunslinging west of the US and Mexico" that were made after 1979 are somehow something other than Westerns. Wut?



Let the night air cool you off
I'm struggling to understand how this works. For instance, I feel that I am overly harsh on westerns; Truly, I'm unfairly so.

But not because I hate them, but because the vast majority of them are flat out equal 6/10's with only one high score (IMO), and that's the cliched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That seems to disqualify me, but I'm not sure.

Honest question: Should I should abstain from voting then?
What are some examples of the westerns you are giving sixes to?



Account terminated on request
If you want to use the era in which the film is set as criteria for defining a Western for your own ballot, that's cool. But I don't understand what difference it makes when the movie was made.

Because movies "set primarily in the 2nd half of the 1800's... centering on the gritty gunslinging west of the US and Mexico" that were made after 1979 are somehow something other than Westerns. Wut?
Because I tend to take into account the era in which things were made when identifying genres. It's just a definitions game at that point, no "Wut?" needed. Instead of "western", I see "classic western", or words to that effect.

What are some examples of the westerns you are giving sixes to?
I'm not going to get into justifying the movies I've seen nor my rating system. I came here in good faith wondering if I should opt out of it or not based upon the rules system.



Honest question: Should I should abstain from voting then?
That your #1 25-point choice is "only" a six or a seven or however in the Hell you are rating such things doesn't matter. Your top pick is your top pick. I don't care if you personally grade it 75% or a C- or purple. It only matters where it lands on your ballot.

Is that really complicated?

I am not a big horror fan but for the purposes of one of these lists I named twenty-five horror movies I like more than all the others.
__________________
"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



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
Hey animal lovers, be sure to research Bite the Bullet before you watch it.

Sam Clayton(Gene Hackman) Mister, did you ever see a horse run himself to death just to please the man on his back? What's the horse get out of it? Cracked bones? Colic? See his picture in the paper? Horse doesn't give a damn who wins a race. Me neither.

Despite it's flaws, I recommend this. Hackman's perform is terrific.



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
Please watch The Furies.


Video is a spoiler!

I hope by posting this scene it will generate interest in this underrated western.

The acting is terrific and confronts racism strongly.



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
I assume this is eligible:


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

Not #1, that'd be crazy.
If that counts, I'm voting for Knights Of Cydonia.


At 6:05, it's a short, right?



Please watch The Furies.


Video is a spoiler!

I hope by posting this scene it will generate interest in this underrated western.

The acting is terrific and confronts racism strongly.
I didn't watch the scene but I looked it up. Sounds good and I will watch it.



Television commercials and music videos are not eligible, however shorts are. Like this one featuring Nick Offerman's wonderful disembodied baritone...

The Gunfighter (2014, Eric Kissack)

*NSFW