HF Westerns

[Booklady]

Add: The Shootist.

 

[Virginia Dave]

My own "top 10" but it's not enough (a top 50 might be necessary to be honest), I may add that it's a bit disapointing the way you (american audience) seems to forget the genre Golden Age , I mean the 50's, there was at the time the best directors, actors, stories, etc...

1 "The law and Jake Wade" (50's style archetypal Western, great playing from R.Widmark and R.Taylor, great director, wonderful places...)
2 "Winchester 73" (the best character collection from that era, great story, acting...)
3 "The last hunt" (about the insane slaughtering of the buffalos, Robert Taylor at his best
4 "Two flags West" (USCW era, best fort attack ever, even better than The Alamo's one)
5 "The Searchers" (what else can be added)
6 "Comanche Station" (you can see there the most effective action scene ever seen in a Western, the moment Randolph Scott fells from
his horse, throws his saddle to a running indian, and narrowly avoid an arrow by using a foe to protect)
7 "Guns in the afternoon" (Randolph Scott and Joel Mc Crea goodbye to the genre)
8 "Man of the West" (Gary Cooper was great, so was Anthony Mann, maybe their best film for each one)
9 "The Unforgiven" (1960 John Huston's film)...even if the way Kiowas indians die by dozens is a bit exagerated...but it stars
B.Lancaster, very good as usually and the late Audie Murphy in one of his best performance
10 "Westward the women" (most characters are women, it's greatly directed by William Wellman)

They don't make them like they use to.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

I'm guessing Bruce Dern.

I guess I was too obvious. Cause you guessed right.

He might be the only one left that still acts though.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Here's my favorite westerns. In no particular order as which one is my favorite, really depends on my mood:

1. Shenandoah
(Not really strictly a western, but I love it)
2. Lonesome Dove
3. The Quick and the Dead
(With Sam Elliot! Not the garbage one that was the only western watched by some of the yahoos who destroyed my stuff on the recent set. How can anyone think that garbage Leo DiCaprio and whoever else thing was a western to my eyes!)
4. The Mountain Men
(A masterpiece!)
5. Comanche Moon
6. Mitchner's Texas
7. Rooster Cogburn and the Lady
8. Rio Lobo
9. El Dorado
10. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
11. Streets of Larado
12. Maverick
(How can anyone NOT love Mel Gibson's try at a western! )
13. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
14. Seraphim Falls
15. Joe Kidd
16. Buffalo Soldiers
17. Geranimo: An American Legend
18. Custer of the West
19. Big Jake
(I've wanted one those Reo cars ever since seeing that movie as a kid!)
20. Crossfire Trail
21. Tom Selleck's Monte Walsh
22. Frank and Jesse
(History wise, it's a travesty, but I like that movie)
23. Cheyenne Autumn
24. The Horse Soldiers

And those 24 are the only ones I can think off the top of my head that I absolutely love.

A lot of folks probably be thinking something is wrong with me not including Tombstone, but I've seen that movie SO many times growing up. It just doesn't catch my attention anymore.

My stepdad would play that movie several times a day. I still got most of the lines memorized. He still watches it. Heck the other day he gifted me a replica of Johnny Ringo's gun rig for that movie. Which I'll admit, has been making me want to watch it again to see how good a replica it is.

 

[Kurtlg]

I guess I was too obvious. Cause you guessed right.

He might be the only one left that still acts though.

A couple of the kids from The Cowboys still act I think. A. Martinez was in the series Longmire and I think the Carradine guy may still do things. If you haven't seen it there is a YouTube channel called Word on Westerns . The host interviews old western actors and their families. Very interesting. Dern purposely stayed in character during the filming of The Cowboys in order to get reactions from the kids while filming. It worked. Most of them were genuinely afraid of him.

 

[Kurtlg]

Here's my favorite westerns. In no particular order as which one is my favorite, really depends on my mood:

1. Shenandoah
(Not really strictly a western, but I love it)
2. Lonesome Dove
3. The Quick and the Dead
(With Sam Elliot! Not the garbage one that was the only western watched by some of the yahoos who destroyed my stuff on the recent set. How can anyone think that garbage Leo DiCaprio and whoever else thing was a western to my eyes!)
4. The Mountain Men
(A masterpiece!)
5. Comanche Moon
6. Mitchner's Texas
7. Rooster Cogburn and the Lady
8. Rio Lobo
9. El Dorado
10. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
11. Streets of Larado
12. Maverick
(How can anyone NOT love Mel Gibson's try at a western! )
13. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
14. Seraphim Falls
15. Joe Kidd
16. Buffalo Soldiers
17. Geranimo: An American Legend
18. Custer of the West
19. Big Jake
(I've wanted one those Reo cars ever since seeing that movie as a kid!)
20. Crossfire Trail
21. Tom Selleck's Monte Walsh
22. Frank and Jesse
(History wise, it's a travesty, but I like that movie)
23. Cheyenne Autumn
24. The Horse Soldiers

And those 24 are the only ones I can think off the top of my head that I absolutely love.

A lot of folks probably be thinking something is wrong with me not including Tombstone, but I've seen that movie SO many times growing up. It just doesn't catch my attention anymore.

My stepdad would play that movie several times a day. I still got most of the lines memorized. He still watches it. Heck the other day he gifted me a replica of Johnny Ringo's gun rig for that movie. Which I'll admit, has been making me want to watch it again to see how good a replica it is.

Tombstone was another very inaccurate Western but is one of my favorites. Kilmer's Doc is a great performance.

 

[A. Roy]

Some great movies have been mentioned here! I would say the standouts for me would be:

High Noon
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Stagecoach (the B&W version with John Wayne)
True Grit (both versions)

I would also add the Maverick TV series, which I used to watch with my dad (sentimental value there). Recently, I started re-watching the series from the beginning streamed on Prime (still only part way through season one). One thing I've picked up on is the Civil War backstory of Bret and Bart, who had been galvanized Yankees serving in the West. Several actors played leads in the series over the years, but I would have to say James Garner is my favorite.

I also recently watched the first season of Lawmen: Bass Reeves with David Oyelowo, which I found gripping.

ARB

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

When I was a little kid I was crazy about Hopalong Cassidy on early tv. It would be fun to watch one of those episodes now to see how dopy it really was.

 

[James R.]

Lots of good choices here with Unforgiven and Josey Wales being my favorites. Lonesome Dove is a favorite novel as well.

One movie I didn't see mentioned is a comedy called Goin' South, starring Jack Nicholson. Worth a watch, IMHO.

 

[donna]

Some others I enjoy:

The Treasure of Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart
Gun Fight At O.K. Corral and Apache with Burt Lancaster
Annie Oakley (1935) with Barbara Stanwyck and Preston Foster, a real classic.
Broken Arrow and The Naked Spur with James Stewart. Naked Spur also has Audie Murphy.
The Westerner and The Hanging Tree with Gary Cooper.

 

[Sheltowee]

Three pages in………and still no mention of They Call Me Trinity.

 

[Pollaco]

Ever notice 3 of John Wayne's movies had a "Rio" in the title? 4 if you count Red River.

 

[Pollaco]

If I were being interrogated by two cops who looked like Leo Gordan and Henry Fonda in "Once Upon a time in the West" , I'd be spilling my guts out pronto.

 

[Booklady]

Though not a Western in the traditional sense, "Seabiscuit" is partly a lovely look at the West and its old culture of wildness, freedom, and horses. Chris Cooper does excellent work ( as he always does, dating back to his early role in Lonesome Dove).

 

[Pollaco]

I read that Clint Eastwood is allergic to horses.

 

[damYankee]

What's the definition of a Western? Does a Western cover a specific time period in our history? The Professionals is set in the early 1900's and is a classic with a great cast (Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance and others).

OH My, Do I have a personal story about the cast of the Professionals! I was just a teenager working at a famous Palm Springs area country club where the cast stayed and had some play time..., As it would happen, I was sent to deliver diner to one of the guest one evening, and, well, Lee Marvin was a big tipper and I'm still a big fan of Claudia Cardinale's,

 

[damYankee]

I read that Clint Eastwood is allergic to horses.

I grew up in the Palm Springs area, we weren't rich by any stretch, my dad was a marshal my mom an insurance agent, we lived in an alcove where many screen writers, directors, Hollywood types of all kinds, Frank Capra lived a few blocks away, Shirley Booth lived across the street. It was a different time, many of my moms clients were famous actors, some of the people dad did business with were as well!
Anyways, Clint Eastwood had been a health nut since the Rawhide days, never smoked, seldom drinks, and has crazy diet routine.

 

[archieclement]

Kinda surprised Brad Pitts brooding portrayal of Jesse hasn't been mentioned. Casey Affleck nailed the unlikable Robert Ford.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Kinda surprised Brad Pitts brooding portrayal of Jesse hasn't been mentioned. Casey Affleck nailed the unlikable Robert Ford.

That movie is an interesting one. Probably the most historically accurate portrayal, but it's not the most entertaining movie. Kind of drags on and a bit too quiet for me.

But it's got its strengths. I love how it shows what happened to the Fords afterwards.

I did read in an article that Brad Pitt purchased the guns he used in that movie.

 

[Lincoln56]

I grew up in the Palm Springs area, we weren't rich by any stretch, my dad was a marshal my mom an insurance agent, we lived in an alcove where many screen writers, directors, Hollywood types of all kinds, Frank Capra lived a few blocks away, Shirley Booth lived across the street. It was a different time, many of my moms clients were famous actors, some of the people dad did business with were as well!
Anyways, Clint Eastwood had been a health nut since the Rawhide days, never smoked, seldom drinks, and has crazy diet routine.

Interesting regarding Eastwood as far as smoking. Think for many, Clint smoking a Cheroot Cigar is iconic.

Hard to believe that at one point in 1959 there were 30 western themed TV shows. In March 1959 8 of the top 10 shows were westerns; western toy sales that year were $125 million, roughly equivalent to $1,318,947,594.50 today (955.2% increase due to inflation).

Some favorites:

TV Shows
Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Deadwood, and Lonesome Dove miniseries

Movies
The Shootist, Open Range, Unforgiven, The Searchers, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,
Rooster Cogburn, Once Upon a Time in the West, Outlaw Josey Wales, Hang 'em High, Pale Rider, Tombstone, Ulzana's Raid,
The Ballad of Lefty Brown

Comedy
The Cheyenne Social Club, Support Your Local Sheriff

Probably not necessary to say but one can see from above, liked for entertainment value over historical accuracy.