Your Favorite Westerns?

[Mennonite]

It seems like there are a lot of western fans around here. What are some of your favorite western movies? TV shows? Books? Songs? Radio programs? Video games?



Movies:

While I actually prefer what was known as the "psychological" westerns of the 1950s my top two favorite western movies are Lonesome Dove (1989) and Unforgiven (1992). Warlock (1959) is probably my favorite 50s western.


TV Shows:

Gunsmoke (fav. episode "Thirty a Month and Found" - Season 20)
The Wild, Wild West
Maverick
The Rebel (fav. episode "The Waiting" from season 2)
The Westerner (fav. episode 'Hand on the Gun")



Favorite western books:

The Searchers by Alan Le May
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Ramrod by Luke Short
The Unforgiven by Alan Le May (not related to the 1992 movie)
Death Ground by Ed Gorman


Songs:

El Paso by Marty Robbins
Big Iron by Marty Robbins or Johnny Cash
Cool Water by Hank Williams
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash
Cowboy's Lament by Burl Ives


Radio programs:

Gunsmoke

You may or may not know that the Gunsmoke tv series started out as a radio show. It starred William Conrad and ran for several years. It was excellent.


My Top 25:

02/14/1953 THE ROUNDUP
04/02/1955 BLOODY HANDS
04/30/1955 REWARD FOR MATT
10/02/1954 MATT GETS IT
09/27/1952 THE RAILROAD
07/19/1959 SECOND ARREST
09/19/1953 THERE WAS NEVER A HORSE
10/21/1956 TILL DEATH DO US PART
12/27/1952 THE CABIN
06/06/1953 SUNDOWN
11/10/1956 CROWBAIT BOB
03/20/1954 OLD FRIEND
08/08/1953 SKY
09/23/1956 BOX O' ROCKS
07/22/1956 LYNCHING MAN
02/21/1953 MESHOUGAH
02/26/1955 CRACKUP
03/06/1960 BLOOD MONEY
09/20/1954 THE F.U.
12/06/1959 BIG CHUGG WILSON
01/01/1955 THE BOTTLE MAN
07/02/1955 GENERAL PARSLEY SMITH
11/03/1957 BULL
05/06/1956 THE PHOTOGRAPHER

All those can be listened to for free at the Internet archive.


Video Games:

I'm old so I've never actually played any western games. I've heard good things about the Red Dead games though.

[Renegade]

Movies

The outlaw Josie Wales
Unforgiven
High Noon (I think that was the name of it with Gene Hackman)

Only Western themed video game I know of is Tombstone, but I am also old

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by Renegade

High Noon (I think that was the name of it with Gene Hackman)

Are you thinking of The Quick and the Dead (1995)? High Noon came out in 1952. There was a sequel called High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane made in 1980. It starred Lee Majors and David Carradine.

[Renegade]

Originally Posted by Mennonite

Are you thinking of The Quick and the Dead (1995)? High Noon came out in 1952. There was a sequel called High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane made in 1980. It starred Lee Majors and David Carradine.

You are correct, it was The Quick and The Dead

[Jenson71]

Originally Posted by Renegade

High Noon (I think that was the name of it with Gene Hackman)

I was going to say Brokeback Mountain, but didn't think it would compete with this level of trolling.

[DJ's left nut]

Movies (be prepared for lots of John Wayne):

Red River
The Searchers
Rio Bravo
Big Jake
Chisum (if only because they make murder on horseback seem so lighthearted)

Josie Wales and Unforgiven

The Magnificent 7

Blazing Saddles counts, right?

Modern era: Open Range, Tombstone, 3:10 to Yuma, The Quick and the Dead (Unforgiven is an Eastwood movie, not a modern western). Django isn't quite a western, I don't suppose, nor is The Last of the Mohicans, at least not by my calculus.

But if I'm picking one, it's Red River. Friggen love that movie. I'd have probably said The Searchers a few years back but nah - I was wrong. It's Red River.

[Mennonite]

I've already mentioned three of my favorite westerns (Lonesome Dove, Unforgiven, and Warlock) but there are a ton more. I'll break them up into various categories. Usually by the movie's main star but also into groups like Spaghetti westerns and comedies.




Favorite Audie Murphy westerns:

No Name on the Bullet (1959)
Seven Ways from Sundown (1960)
Hell Bent for Leather (1960)
Drums Across the River (1954)
Gunsmoke (1953)
Gunpoint (1966)

Randolph Scott:

Comanche Station (1960)
Coroner Creek (1948)
Decision at Sundown (1957)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Seven Men from Now (1956)
Carson City (1952)

Clint Eastwood:

Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo aka "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966)
Per un pugno di dollari aka "A Fistful of Dollars"(1964)

Fred MacMurray:

Face of a Fugitive (1959)
At Gunpoint (1955)


Glenn Ford:

3:10 to Yuma (1957)
The Fastest Gun Alive (1956)
Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
Jubal (1956)

Gary Cooper:

High Noon (1952)
Man of the West (1958)
Vera Cruz (1954) (Cross posted with Burt Lancaster)

Gregory Peck:

The Gunfighter (1950)
The Bravados (1958)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Billy Two Hats (1974)

Jimmy Stewart:

The Man From Laramie (1955)

Kirk Douglas:

Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)

Burt Lancaster:

The Professionals (1966)
Vera Cruz (1954) (cross posted with Gary Cooper)


Joel McCrea:

Fort Massacre (1958)
Colorado Territory (1949) (cross posted under "noir westerns")
Ramrod (1947) (cross posted under "noir westerns")


Charles Bronson:

Chato's Land (1972)
C'era una volta il West aka "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968)
La Bataille de San Sebastian aka "Guns for San Sebastian"(1968)


Comedies:
The Gunfighter (2014)
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Horses Collars (1935)
Lightning Jack (1994)
Three Amigos! (1986)
The Law West of Tombstone (1938)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) (Obviously not an all out comedy but a lot of it is pretty light)



Spaghetti Westerns (non Sergio Leone):

El chuncho, quien sabe? aka "A Bullet for the General" (1966)
Da uomo a uomo aka "Death Rides a Horse" (1967)
Une corde, un Colt... aka "Cemetery Without Crosses" (1969)
Il Grande silenzio aka "The Great Silence" (1968)
Bandidos (1967)

Noir Westerns:

The line between film noir and the new "psychological" western of the 50s blurred in the the late 40s.

Pursued (1947) (Robert Mitchum)
The Badlanders (1958) (Based on The Asphalt Jungle. Alan Ladd and Ernest Bornine.)
Colorado Territory (1949) (Based on High Sierra. Joel McCrea)
Ramrod (1947) (Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake)

Gregory Peck's "Yellow Sky" has noir-ish lighting but the plot is based on The Tempest
If you like these noir westerns you might also like Robert Mitchum's "Blood on the Moon" too. It's not one of my favorites but different strokes for different folks.





B Movies and Oddities:

Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) (Jimmy Cagney)
The Ride Back (1957) (Anthony Quinn and William Conrad)
Rough Night in Jericho (1967) (Dean Martin and George Peppard)
Hell's Heroes (1929) (An oldie. Starts slow, ends well)
Barbarosa (1982) (Willie Nelson and Gary Busey)
Relentless (1948) (Robert Young)
The Furies (1950) (Barbara Stanwyck)
Rebel in Town (1956) (John Payne)
Black Spurs (1965) (Rory Calhoun)
Fury at Showdown (1957) (John Derek)
Hardcase (1972) (Clint Walker)
A Day of Fury (1956) (Dale Robertson)
Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956) (Richard Long)
Three Hours to Kill (1954) (Dana Andrews)
Two Flags West (1950) (Jeff Chandler and Joseph Cotten)
Taggart (1964) (Dan Duryea and Tony Young)
He Rides Tall (1964) (Dan Duryea and Tony Young)
Barquero (1970) (Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, and Forrest Tucker!)
A Gunfight (1971) (Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash)
The Law and Jake Wade (1958) (Robert Taylor)
Gunman's Walk (1958) (Van Heflin and Tab Hunter)
Hannah Lee: An American Primitive (1953) (John Ireland and Joann Dru. Impossible to find uncut)


Semi-westerns:

I don't usually like westerns that take place after 1890 or so. There are some that still have a western feel so I'll include them anyway.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Walking Hills (1949) (Randolph Scott)






Seen every western ever made? Why not try some Easterns?
Yeah, they aren't the same, but some of them have a similar vibe imo.


Last of the Mohicans (1936)
Beau Geste (1926)
Beau Geste (1939)
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
The Four Feathers (1939)
The Deceivers (1988)
Northwest Territory (1951)
The Brigand of Kandahar (1965)
The Four Feathers (1939)
The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)
Brat Doktora Homera (1968)

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Movies (be prepared for lots of John Wayne):

Red River
The Searchers
Rio Bravo
Big Jake
Chisum (if only because they make murder on horseback seem so lighthearted)

Josie Wales and Unforgiven

The Magnificent 7

Blazing Saddles counts, right?

Modern era: Open Range, Tombstone, 3:10 to Yuma, The Quick and the Dead (Unforgiven is an Eastwood movie, not a modern western). Django isn't quite a western, I don't suppose, nor is The Last of the Mohicans, at least not by my calculus.

But if I'm picking one, it's Red River. Friggen love that movie. I'd have probably said The Searchers a few years back but nah - I was wrong. It's Red River.

I know we’ve discussed John Wayne movies before but, I don’t recall if it was with you that I discussed Red River with or not. It is ALMOST a perfect film, right up until JoAnne Drue shows up. I don’t know if it was her acting or the script but man, she just ruins it. When we first meet her is when Matt and the others ride to the wagon train’s rescue. He’s in the middle of a gunfight and she’s all up in his business asking him why he’s mad. And then that is immediately followed with the typical rushed romance and more bad, writing? I tend to lean that direction because she was fine a year later in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. I still watch it from time to time but, I just cringe when she makes her appearance and for much of the rest of the film.

Speaking of SWAYR, over the past two nights I watched the “Cavalry Trilogy” in order (plus Stagecoach last night). I don’t was kind of fooling around on line during the watch looking for any thoughts people might have had as to the importance of the three films. I didn’t really find that but, what I did learn is the general consensus is that Rio Grande is the weakest of the three. That shocked me, I have it pegged as number two behind Fort Apache. And I by no means find Yellow Ribbon to be weak, quite the opposite, just a bit weaker than the other two. Of course, I tend to March to the beat of a different drum, so…

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Raiderhader

I know we’ve discussed John Wayne movies before but, I don’t recall if it was with you that I discussed Red River with or not. It is ALMOST a perfect film, right up until JoAnne Drue shows up.

I could see that.

She's a pretty shitty character, for sure. Stupid and inexplicable motivation (not surprising for female characters of the era), grating persona at times and faaaaar too important down the homestretch.

Here's my biggest gripe about Red River -

Spoiler!

what the hell happened to Cherry Valance? He's a super-important character, suddenly Matty's best friend and certified badass.

Dunson shoots him, he rolls off-screen and that's it! That's all we know.
Does he die? Matt watching his buddy get blown away seems to have exactly no impact on him at all. WTF? Feels like something got cut that could've resolved it a bit.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I could see that.

She's a pretty shitty character, for sure. Stupid and inexplicable motivation (not surprising for female characters of the era), grating persona at times and faaaaar too important down the homestretch.

Here's my biggest gripe about Red River -

Spoiler!

what the hell happened to Cherry Valance? He's a super-important character, suddenly Matty's best friend and certified badass.

Dunson shoots him, he rolls off-screen and that's it! That's all we know.
Does he die? Matt watching his buddy get blown away seems to have exactly no impact on him at all. WTF? Feels like something got cut that could've resolved it a bit.

Spoiler!

Yeah, he does just kind of disappear but, that is some what believable to me with the obvious affection that Dunson and Garth are [hamfistedly] shown to ultimate have for one another.

I guess the whole ending would be another aspect that keeps it from perfection for me. Still, I should qualify that on a singular level, it is easily one of Duke’s best performances. It was this role that helped convince Ford he could cast him as Ethan Edwards. “I didn’t know the big son of a bitch could act.”

[EPodolak]

McCabe and Mrs Miller
Stagecoach
The Searchers
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
My Darling Clementine
Red River
Once Upon a Time in the West
High Noon

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by EPodolak

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

Years ago there was a fanedit combining a couple of different cuts of my favorite part of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. It began with James Coburn recruiting Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado and ended with the "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" scene. Those two scenes are so good and tell such a complete story they can stand alone as its own movie, imo.

[EPodolak]

Originally Posted by Mennonite

Years ago there was a fanedit combining a couple of different cuts of my favorite part of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. It began with James Coburn recruiting Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado and ended with the "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" scene. Those two scenes are so good and tell such a complete story they can stand alone as its own movie, imo.

The scene she tearfully watches her husband leaves this life as he looks back at her is heartbreaking...Dylan's song playing, one of those indelible moments. Peckinpah was brilliant sometimes.

[Easy 6]

While not technically a western for obvious reasons, I believe Last of The Mohicans belongs as a great in this genre… at one point the Wild West wasn’t in the west, it was in the eastern third of the country

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Easy 6

While not technically a western for obvious reasons, I believe Last of The Mohicans belongs as a great in this genre… at one point the Wild West wasn’t in the west, it was in the eastern third of the country

Since this is a fairly recent reference, this video inspired me to revisit an all-time favorite again. Still holds up, and portions, particularly the ending, makes it one of the enduring classics in all of cinema. I've seen it 10+ times and it still stirs and enthrals me.



I'm going to spoiler the ending, so it doesn't get ruined for those who have never experienced it.

It's a historical classic novel, so it's not a big 'spoiler' in the traditional sense, but the ending as great as it is deserves the full context of the entire film preceding it. But I put it here so those who know what it is can enjoy it again.

Spoiler!