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OK, trying to catch up on some of these eligibility questions.
No Country for Old Men was the last one we had officially up for debate. By my count there were six MoFos who thought it shouldn't count and four that believed it should (or at least didn't strenuously object).
We can keep batting it around, but for anything that close I'd err on the side of caution and simply exclude it. Unless somebody wants to make an impassioned plea why Joel & Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men absolutely must be included I'm going to add it to the no-no side of the list. I feel like an NFL ref unpholding a call. Had the IMDb already listed it as a Western I don't think I would kick it off, but since it wasn't included by them and the vote is split pretty evenly we'll keep it ineligible.
As for some of the others that were mentioned in passing over the past several pages, these are the obvious ones I don't think warrant serious discussion. YES, The Revenant, The Frisco Kid, City Slickers, Hud, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and Back to the Future Part III are Westerns for the purposes of this exercise. NO, there is no chance How Green Was My Valley is a Western and I'm not even sure why somebody would ask unless they are confusing it with another title?
Some of the others we can look at more closely. Starting with two of these Civil War set titles...
Eligibility Debates
The Beguiled
Film set during the Civil War would by in large be ineligible. Movies such as Gone with the Wind and Glory are clearly not Westerns. There are certainly Westerns set at the end of the war, impacted by the lasting spectre of the war, or even during the Civil War, including The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Dances with Wolves though all of those titles clearly move their narratives away from the East coast and to the frontier. Whether we are looking at Don Siegel's The Beguiled (1971) starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page or Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled (2017) starring Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, neither are set on the frontier. The 1971 version is set in Mississippi while the 2017 remake in Virginia. Most obviously the story is a Southern Gothic piece. Had the wounded soldier found a secluded girl's school in Missouri or Montana I could see arguing for sneaking it in as a Western. As is I don't think it qualifies.
If anybody can lay out their reasoning for why it should be included, other than Clint Eastwood has an old-timey revolver in it, please do. My instinct would be to disallow both versions of The Beguiled.
The IMDb lists the genres as Drama, Thriller, and War for the 1971 version, Drama and Thriller for the 2017 version.
The General
As for Buster Keaton's 1925 classic The General, again we have a movie set during the Civil War. Right at the outbreak of the War, actually, in Georgia. Keaton's locomotive engineer must steal his train and save his fiancée, based loosely on an actual event known as The Great Locomotive Chase. It is an undisputed masterpiece, funny and thrilling, placing all the way at number two on the recent MoFo Top 50 Pre-'30s list. But other than having a choo-choo train speeding through wilderness and a little gunplay and canon fire I'm not sure why it should qualify as a Western? It was filmed in Oregon but is set in Georgia, which is not the American West.
Again, unless somebody can clearly explain why it belongs to the Western genre I would probably lean towards excluding it.
The IMDb lists its many genres as Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, War, and Western.
What thinkest thou, MoFos?
No Country for Old Men was the last one we had officially up for debate. By my count there were six MoFos who thought it shouldn't count and four that believed it should (or at least didn't strenuously object).
We can keep batting it around, but for anything that close I'd err on the side of caution and simply exclude it. Unless somebody wants to make an impassioned plea why Joel & Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men absolutely must be included I'm going to add it to the no-no side of the list. I feel like an NFL ref unpholding a call. Had the IMDb already listed it as a Western I don't think I would kick it off, but since it wasn't included by them and the vote is split pretty evenly we'll keep it ineligible.
As for some of the others that were mentioned in passing over the past several pages, these are the obvious ones I don't think warrant serious discussion. YES, The Revenant, The Frisco Kid, City Slickers, Hud, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and Back to the Future Part III are Westerns for the purposes of this exercise. NO, there is no chance How Green Was My Valley is a Western and I'm not even sure why somebody would ask unless they are confusing it with another title?
Some of the others we can look at more closely. Starting with two of these Civil War set titles...
Eligibility Debates
The Beguiled
Film set during the Civil War would by in large be ineligible. Movies such as Gone with the Wind and Glory are clearly not Westerns. There are certainly Westerns set at the end of the war, impacted by the lasting spectre of the war, or even during the Civil War, including The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Dances with Wolves though all of those titles clearly move their narratives away from the East coast and to the frontier. Whether we are looking at Don Siegel's The Beguiled (1971) starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page or Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled (2017) starring Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, neither are set on the frontier. The 1971 version is set in Mississippi while the 2017 remake in Virginia. Most obviously the story is a Southern Gothic piece. Had the wounded soldier found a secluded girl's school in Missouri or Montana I could see arguing for sneaking it in as a Western. As is I don't think it qualifies.
If anybody can lay out their reasoning for why it should be included, other than Clint Eastwood has an old-timey revolver in it, please do. My instinct would be to disallow both versions of The Beguiled.
The IMDb lists the genres as Drama, Thriller, and War for the 1971 version, Drama and Thriller for the 2017 version.
The General
As for Buster Keaton's 1925 classic The General, again we have a movie set during the Civil War. Right at the outbreak of the War, actually, in Georgia. Keaton's locomotive engineer must steal his train and save his fiancée, based loosely on an actual event known as The Great Locomotive Chase. It is an undisputed masterpiece, funny and thrilling, placing all the way at number two on the recent MoFo Top 50 Pre-'30s list. But other than having a choo-choo train speeding through wilderness and a little gunplay and canon fire I'm not sure why it should qualify as a Western? It was filmed in Oregon but is set in Georgia, which is not the American West.
Again, unless somebody can clearly explain why it belongs to the Western genre I would probably lean towards excluding it.
The IMDb lists its many genres as Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, War, and Western.
What thinkest thou, MoFos?
__________________
"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
"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
Last edited by Holden Pike; 05-13-20 at 06:54 AM.
