And the BEST Western of all time is...

[Jet Beetle]

-- Everyone here will have their own opinion, but for me it always comes back to one movie and it was the first western I ever saw on the big screen when I was a kid. I'd caught pieces of the Sunday afternoon cowboy flicks while at my grandma's -- my grandfather would sit in his lazy chair glued to the set, but it wasn't until I saw The Outlaw Josey Wales did i become a fan.

Eastwood simply kicking ass and taking names. Some of the best one liners (You gonna pull those pistols or whistle dixie?) topped with those cool smooth barrel guns that sounded like cannons from hell. An old crazy indian sidekick and his habit of spitting tabacco on the forehead of the men his just killed. As Charlie Sheen would say- "What's not to love"?

My grandfather and I went to see the movie three times together while in the theatre - he told me later in life it became one of his favorite movies because when he would catch it on tv it always reminded him of me when I was little. :love

So what's yours??

 

[testsqa]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The shootout at the end, in a graveyard no less and amazing.

 

[Alan Castillo]

Beat me to it testsqa. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hands down anyday.

 

[Risu]

I'm partial to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as well, but my dad would agree with Josey Wales.

 

[robn1]

The Villain.

 

[DarkHelmet]

"Once Upon a Time in the West" for this shot alone:

YouTube - Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) - Jill's Theme

Every component of filmmaking came together..music, actor, environment, camera move.....perfection

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

Well it's gotta be Leone and it's gotta have a Morricone score. Despite the lack of Eastwood, I'm going for Once Upon A Time in the West. For me the miracle of that film is this fact that it beats Leone's other work even with this ostensible handicap of being Eastwoodless, the Eastwood persona being an all-time favourite screen presence of mine. But it's just more profound, more moving, and has a deeper relationship with cruelty and death, while the electric combination of Robards, Bronson and Fonda certainly managed to wean this Eastwood fan from the teat. And it's filled with fantastic one-liners, superb caustic dialogue, imagery even more stunning than the Dollar and Ugly movies, and a perfect Morricone score in which El Maestro scales even greater heights of crazy inventiveness and depth of expression.

 

[EvilRocketeer]

Quick and the Dead....cant believe this movie didnt sweep the oscars

cough cough...im kidding of course

 

[Megamicrofish]

One more for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I can watch this over and over

 

[BTTFSpencer]

Back to the Future Part III.

I actually do like the movie "Wild Wild West", please don't hit me and do brake when you see me at a crosswalk.

 

[EvilRocketeer]

I have three favorite western films.....

Back to the Future 3.....this song screams best western: YouTube - Back to the Future 3 Soundtrack - Musique Far West



well, my best 3 is 310 to yuma the remake, tombstone, and the bravados

 

[terryhimself]

Magnificent Seven of course!

 

[Ood sigma]

this probably doesnt count, but Firefly!!

 

[cayman shen]

Good, Bad, and Ugly. A Greek epic western? Yes please. I can literally get to the end of that movie and press play again. Best in the genre, and one of my top five favorite movies ever.

Not even close to a fave, but worth commenting on: I also became fond of Unforgiven once I re-thought the message. I was initially a little put off by how didactic it is, but I wonder if it isn't deep down less pacifistic than it seems on the surface? After all, the main character CAN'T change in the end, and DOES resort to gunplay. And the little coda at the end is open for interpretation as well, regarding why the wife loved such a violent man...a seemingly preachy, pc film that I think maybe isn't.

 

[Apollo]

Ditto followed closely by True Grit

Magnificent Seven of course!

 

[Jannix Quinn]

I have a soft spot for the War Wagon.

 

[Solo4114]

Tough call, actually. Mostly because while there is the overall "Western" genre, there's a LOT of variation within that genre. I mean, you've got the kind of really old westerns from the '30s and '40s where people actually knew how to ride, you've got the difference between Ford's style and Leone's style, you've got the shoot-em-ups, and so on and so forth.

For the ONE best western, or rather my personal favs...probably a three-way tie between Josey Wales (liked it so much I read both the books), The Good the Bad and the Ugly, and Fistful of Dollars.

Others high on the list, however, include:

- Stagecoach
- Unforgiven
- Pale Rider
- High Noon
- The Road Warrior (yes, it's a western. It's practically a remake of Shane, only this time the kid isn't as annoying)
- The Long Riders
- Once Upon a Time in the West
- The Magnificent Seven

And, of course, Yojimbo and Seven Samurai.

 

[Darius Alucard]

"Once Upon a Time in the West" for this shot alone:

YouTube - Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) - Jill's Theme

Every component of filmmaking came together..music, actor, environment, camera move.....perfection

+1
Love it!

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

"Come back, Shane!" Gods, I hated that little *******.

I gotta agree with JB, Josey Wales was THE Western for me. Unforgiven was a very close second.

 

[Solo4114]

Both are actually "revisionist" westerns. Unforgiven moreso than Josey Wales. They take the conventions of westerns and upend them. I mean, compare those to, say, Stagecoach which is a straight ahead western. Even within the "Eastwood" style of western (including the Spaghetti westerns he was in and Hang 'em High and such), these films ultimately have a message that the violence inherent in the genre is a bad thing. Unforgiven makes it clear that Eastwood's character is at once embracing who he is and recognizing that he is irredeemable. Josey Wales ultimately rejects violence except as necessary to defend himself. Although he still finishes the "feud" with the redlegs.


One of the reasons I mention The Long Riders, though, is that it REALLY shows unvarnished violence in the west, and that violence is pretty brutal. The Northfield raid is a VERY bloody affair in that film.