1FF's 71 favourite westerns.

[SALTIRE]

Had to leave out a few westerns as too many of them have that idiot John Wayne in them. I had to include one through gritted teeth though but was there ever a more useless actor, coward and downright arse hole as him in all of cinema?

Was in two minds on True Grit (the remake as of course I hadn't seen the original for the reason given in my first paragraph ), it was a bloody good film and the wee lass was superb in it, but it just fell short of my list in the end.

 

[Craig]

Not sure why your disdain for an individual would affect whether or not you enjoy their art. If I took that stance I'd be missing out on a lot of things I love.

 

[SALTIRE]

Not sure why your disdain for an individual would affect whether or not you enjoy their art. If I took that stance I'd be missing out on a lot of things I love.

Its just the same with Julia Roberts, can't watch a film she's in or if I do I look away when they come on. Wayne was just dreadful and a dickhead off-screen too so any film with him in it I just cannot abide (with the exception of one which I think hasn't been listed yet).

 

[Craig]

Joint 10th
The Wild Bunch (1969) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065214/

Rio Grande (1950) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/

The Proposition (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421238/

 

[Craig]

9th - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056217/

Joint 8th
For A Few Dollars More (1965) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059578/

The Magnificent Seven (1960) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/

 

[Aber gas]

Joint 10th
The Wild Bunch (1969) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065214/

Rio Grande (1950) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/

The Proposition (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421238/

The Proposition is one of mine, I wasn't sure whether it would count being ya know Australian but I'm glad it's made it into the top ten.
A brutal, unflinching story about the beginning of Australia it has everything a western should have, revenge, moral uncertainty, dubious redemption and a conflicted lawman. The film is also beautifully shot, has a classy cast and a brilliant soundtrack. If you haven't seen it, watch it immediately.

 

[Craig]

7th - Hud (1963) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057163/

6th - Soldier Blue (1970) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066390/

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Joint 14th
Forty Guns (1957) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050407/

Spoiler: TLDR

#5. Brilliantly off kilter slice of Sam Fuller. Feels like his noirs and war films are better remembered now, but I think this is his best picture. Barbara Stanwyck as domineering cattle queen (a "high riding woman with a whip", according to the theme song....) surrounded by her titular forty guns (or "forty pricks", according to Fuller....). Fantastically ribald, almost vulgar, with a tremendously queer bath house scene, and lots of deeply unsubtle chatter of the "may i see feel gun / yes but it might go in your face" (!) variety. It's not infantile nonsense a la The Outlaw though, but sly and pulpy; knowing but still a slap round the chops. Stanwyck strides around, exuding power and sexuality like a big cat, and the widescreen photography is exceptional (there's a lot of proto Leone-isms in it as well). The ending is a let down, disappointingly conventional, but to let the last 2 mins spoil the previous 80 odd would be daft.

 

[Craig]

Joint 5th
Django Unchained (2012) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853728/

Bone Tomahawk (2015) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2494362/

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Joint 12th
Fort Apache (1948) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #3. Cavalry Trilogy #1. Henry Fonda as a vainglorious martinet out west and out of his element as a thinly veiled Custer stand-in. Probably Ford's most complex and nuanced political statement to that point, and something of a dry run for Liberty Valance, an explication of his relationship to myth, its creation, perpetuation and refutation. A great character piece and all the other stuff around the edges is endlessly charming too... the domesticity of the frontier, the chaste love story between Shirley Temple and John Agar, Ward Bond's quiet pride, the pished up slapstick Irishmen....

Wagon Master (1950) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043117/

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #2. Ford at his most lyrical. Almost a musical or a poem. A slim little 90 minute thing, stocked with the players from his rep cast but absent a headline star. Not much plot, even less action, but such ease and naturalism, such economy of visual storytelling. Not unlike the Boettichers to do something this simple and low key is many magnitudes harder than it looks, one small tonal misstep and it'd collapse like a house of cards. Overlooked back in the day but now rightly regarded as one of his masterpieces.

 

[Craig]

4th - The Last of the Mohicans (1992) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104691/

The Wild Bunch, Soldier Blue, Bone Tomahawk and The Last of the Mohicans were all on my list. A violent ode to the last days of the wild west, a violent revisionist western painting the cavalry as the savages they likely were, a violent western/horror hybrid that was probably my favourite film of 2015 and a love story set on my old favourite north eastern frontier circa the French and Indian war of the 1700's.

 

[Craig]

3rd - Unforgiven (1992) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105695/

 

[SALTIRE]

Both Unforgiven and Last Of The Mohicans are masterpieces. Multi-layered, well acted (the last thing imo Day-Lewis was great in before all the unnecessary methodical overacting nonsense he does now), dramatic and as near perfect examples of the genre there could possibly be. If anyone on here seeing this list hasn't watched these films, watch them, WATCH THEM NOW!!!!

 

[Craig]

2nd - Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064116/

 

[Craig]

And so we reach our final entry. Officially 1FF's favourite western. Appearing on all but one of the 6 lists sent in......

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060196/

Big thanks to all who took part, I think we can all agree it was a monumental success in every possible way. Keep an eye out for my next countdown, 1FF's 100 favourite Yorkshire set films, books and TV series, coming soon.

 

[mowgli]

I told you this would be number 1.

 

[SALTIRE]

Dunno how many times I've seen The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, probably in the hundreds (used to have it on VHS and with that along with the other 'man with no name' Clint & Leone collaborations, I used to watch them almost daily). Just great fun throughout and that masterful score thundering alone at every opportunity, it is just about the perfect film.

 

[Stevencc]

Great stuff Craig.

 

[SALTIRE]

Aye cheers Craig for running this; there is some films I haven't seen before that I may look out due to this (well apart from the John Wayne ones!! ). I know I skewed up the list as well with my picks and odd number of choices!!

 

[Aber gas]

Top stuff Craig, I've enjoyed this list immensely and feel slightly less ignorant. I'm already looking forward to the great things made in Yorkshire list.

 

[ZianfrancoGoal]

i didn't enter because I've worked so hard for martino's respect these past years and didn't want to embarrass us both

but very well done crag, have a million likes