Your 10 Favorite Westerns

[knitwit45]

Wagonmaster
Stagecoach
The Searchers
Westward the Women
Rio Grande
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Trooper Hook
Rio Bravo
My Darling Clementine
Wagonmaster
I know, it's there twice...could be listed five times, that's how much I love that movie! Thanks Wendy!!!

[Mr. Arkadin]

Ten favorite Spaghetti Westerns (in no order):

The Great Silence (1968)
The Big Gundown (1966)
The Hellbenders (1967)
Face to Face (1967)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
Django (1966)
...And God Said to Cain (1970)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
My Name is Nobody (1973)
Cemetery Without Crosses (1969)

[JackFavell]

Gosh, I want to be different, but you all have listed some GREAT movies here! I've added a few oddball favorites just for the sake of conversation. I did not include Stars in My Crown OR Treasure of the Sierra Madre, even though they are faves, as I somehow don't think of them as westerns.

Narrowing down to two is easy, but narrowing down to ten is impossible! So I will cheat as usual, since I've never been able to make up my mind:

My Darling Clementine
Wagon Master

The Searchers
...Liberty Valance
Shane
Three Bad Men
Devil's Doorway
Roughshod
Four Faces West
Go West Young Lady
The Wild Bunch
The Westerner
Way Out West
The Great Silence
The Big Trail
Angel and the Badman
Hell's Hinges
Westward the Women
The Vanishing American
The Ox Bow Incident
Decision at Sundown
Three Godfathers
Yellow Sky
The Last Hunt
Lone Star (1996)

These are not really in order except for the first 4 (which remain beyond compare). Any one of them could move around in this list at any time. For me, the secret to a good western, or maybe for a good movie in general, is that it must contain something that takes my breath away. It must surprise or shock, or be so beautiful ( physically, mentally or emotionally) that it grips me in some inexplicable, above-the-norm way.

[movieman1957]

Glad to see "The Last Hunt" on your list. I mentioned it to Grimes as one to watch. It's not one of my faves but I thought it enough under the radar that he might check it out.

[JackFavell]

I liked it, That's a prime example of the kind of shock I mean. It's so surprising to see Robert Taylor as a very flawed ...well, not hero, not quite villain. He's fascinating and I think it's one of the best of his acting jobs, along with Devil's Doorway. It's so dark, and then the actual buffalo hunt.... which is disturbing, and then there's the super great ending.

[Rita Hayworth]

Here is my TOP TEN in Random Order ...

Wagon Master
The Searchers
True Grit (1969)
The Westerner
Angel and the Badman
The Ox Bow Incident
Stagecoach
Westward the Women
Rio Grande
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

It is not an easy thing to select a top ten in any movie genre.

Honorable Mention
Decision at Sundown
Yellow Sky

[mrsl]

Greetings from my recent visit in the ICU - it's good to be home after almost a month away!
Here's my list, with a few added.


1. Westward the Women
2. Fort Apache
3. Two Rode Together
4. Trooper Hook
5. El Dorado
6. Chisum
7. No Name on the Bullet
8. Ride Lonesome
9. Westbound
10. Stage Coach

Added favorites:

1. The Big Country
2. The Searchers
3. Rio Bravo
4. Magnificent Seven
5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence

[movieman1957]

I wondered where you were. Glad you are home and, I hope, feeling better.

[JackFavell]

I hope you are feeling better, Anne!

[Western Guy]

1. THE SHOOTIST (John Wayne's finest hour and more of an Oscar-worthy performance than his Rooster of TRUE GRIT, IMO)
2. THE OX-BOW INCIDENT ('nuff said)
3. WINCHESTER '73 (Jimmy Stewart edging, convincingly, into tougher roles, plus a knockout supporting cast with Millard Mitchell as the quintessential saddle pardner)
4. SHANE (Jack Palance as the quintessential badman and a good turn by Ben Johnson as the bad-then-good guy. Love the score, too)
5. HIGH NOON (Lon Chaney's key scene with Coop is the picture's highlight)
6. DODGE CITY (just a fun, colorful Western)
7. THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (a fond farewell to a changing West - kind of a sad pic)
8. 3:10 TO YUMA (neat to see Glenn Ford as a baddie)
9. HOMBRE (Richard Boone never fails to please as a villain!)
10. THE MAN FROM COLORADO (neat to see Glenn Ford as a psychotic baddie)

I'd say that the last five are in no particular order. Of course there are numerous honorable mentions.

[JackFavell]

Nice to see Dodge City on your list. I love the colors! I also love Olivia and Errol together, any setting. This is classic western, exactly what you want to see on a Saturday afternoon, The Westerner also fills that bill for me. Why oh why, though, is there always a dumb brother?

[Rita Hayworth]

Anne and Stone,

Great Lists that you've both shared ... great movies on those lists!

Nice to see you posting Anne and I did not know that you've not been feeling well. I hope all its better now! ... I miss your comments and I enjoy reading them. You make me think in a different way.

[Western Guy]

Arrgghh -- how could have I forgot THE GUNFIGHTER??!!

And RAWHIDE with Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward (love that gal) and, in a somewhat atypical role, Hugh Marlowe. Terrific suspenseful oater. SHENANDOAH, the first Western I remember seeing and still love tremendously!

THE OKLAHOMA KID (great fun, despite the miscasting), THE LAST COMMAND, THE ALAMO (the Duke's version) --

Really, when you come right down to it, just too many faves to list. Such a satisfying genre.

BTW: Chio, on your list, I think you meant ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. Can't quite picture DeNiro and James Woods as cowpokes.

[ChiO]

Did I type "America"? Well, there, pardner...there are Westerns and then there are Easterns.

I'll correct that, but I am a Burt Young kinda guy.

[Western Guy]

Well, Chio, we can blame that danged Sergio Leone for not being more creative in his titles. Seriously, both are tremendous films.