The single GREATEST Western movie of all time

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Poll question: The single GREATEST Western movie of all time

I own 35 classic Westerns on DVD, and this poll allows me to post 9 plus "other." So these are the nine personal favorites from my collection...the "repeaters," the ones I will NEVER get sick of watching.

If I missed yours, that's why there's an "Other" category.

My personal favorite out of that nine? "Tombstone," because I feel that there are more than a few life lessons in that movie (not to mention career-best performances from Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer).

[GOPisEvil]

1. I voted "Unforgiven" but I really like "Silverado" as well.

[knitter4democracy]

2. My dad would argue for Shane.

I like that one, personally. :)

[WCGreen]

21. That's the arch type of the American Myth...

One man comes to town and all the people project the solution for their troubles onto him...

He gets involved for the wrong reason, wanting to fuck his employers wife...

But has a revelation of sorts and takes on the bad guys only to leave because he is too violent, to volatile to enjoy the peace he brought...

Just like the Searchers...

John Wayne represented the old west, the shoot 'em up justice...

You know he was a changed man when he pulls Natalie Wood up close to him and let's her live, his prejudice conquered...

At least for the time being...

At the end, when he can't walk through the front door of the cabin, he is cast as the outsider...

His war is over, his way of life gone, there is nothing more for Nathan to give...

It moves me too tears every time I see it...

And I hate everything John Wayne stood for in his private life...

[Political Heretic]

50. .

wrong place

[knitter4democracy]

69. I thought the same thing when my dad made me watch it years ago.

It's so dang archetypal, but that's part of what makes it good. Kind of like "Cool Hand Luke" in a way. That archetypal masculine character who doesn't fit into the patriarchy and yet subverts it by being exactly what he was raised to be.

[Jade Fox]

81. Shane.....

Before he shows up he had made the decision to leave behind his life of violence, because he has become sickened by it. For the reasons you mentioned, he gets sucked back in.

[jeff30997]

3. Tombstone was great but...

I'll vote fore any Western movies done by Sergio Leone.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. The Leone movies are undisputed classics...BUT...

...Tombstone mirrored a few things that have happened in my own life, and a few choices I've had to make.

The true vote in this poll is "all of the above," because each has its own merits.

:toast:

[Hotler]

17. Hello! Anyone for Silverado???

Sam Pechinpah's The Wild Bunch,

[yellowdogintexas]

64. Silverado is one of my favorites! nt

[NewJeffCT]

5. Magnificent 7

Even though it was stolen from the Japanese movie 7 Samurai, it was a great take on another great movie.

I'm not a big fan of Westerns overall, though.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. You're 100% correct...

...and that's the conundrum.

Just as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones "popularized" American Music...blues, the rock and roll classics of Little Richard and Chuck Berry...

...how would America have "acknowledged" the works of undisputed master Akira Kurosawa without the borrowing and / or theft?

Eastwood got it. The creative team behind "Magnificent 7" got it. Would America have "gotten it" straight from the source?

:toast:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. The musical soundtrack of the Magnificent Seven is one of the greatest ever written

It has so much elan and feeling that it alone made me love this movie. I would also argue that Dances With Wolves, which has another all-time great soundtrack is one of the great westerns of all time. I loved Tombstone, but I liked Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp even more, because I felt it was more realistic and the Doc Holiday role was superb and stole the movie.

But I voted for The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. It is an amazing screenplay with a wonderful plotline and superb acting and directing and it's my favorite Western of them all (with another great musical score).

[Orsino]

73. All other pretend westerns can "ride on."

[Kingofalldems]

7. Hoppy Takes a Holiday

or any Hopalong Cassidy movie.

[begin_within]

8. Of those, I voted for The Searchers, but there are many other good ones, such as

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
Stagecoach
Rio Bravo
Hud
My Darlng Clementine
Dances with Wolves
Little Big Man
The Outlaw Josey Wales

I'd say the "greatest" is a three-way tie between "High Noon," The Searchers" and "Good, Bad & Ugly." I would choose "The Searchers" based on the cinematography - that one shot of the two parallel lines, one cowboys and one Indians, pretty much seals the deal.

[Turbineguy]

14. El Dorado

Allen. Bedilian. Trehearn. aka Mississippi.

[caty]

9. My husband

would say that "Lonesome Dove" was the best.

[Faygo Kid]

10. Rio Bravo

Nothing says, "Western," like Dean Martin AND Ricky Nelson.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. Yep, that's one of the DVDs I own...

...and I even bought it twice to get the recent remastered version. It's one of Wayne's best, but I defaulted to "The Searchers."

:toast:

[jgraz]

105. Great movie

[jpgray]

12. No love for High Noon? That was a timely and timeless use of the Western mythos.

[WCGreen]

22. The Duke tried to stop it from being made because the writer was

a supposed red, Carl Foreman, refused to testify...

Gary Cooper, every bit as conservative as Wayne, took a stand for free speech and used his power to get the movie made...

[alphafemale]

71. I also voted for "High Noon"

Those emotions that cross like ghosts on Gary Cooper's face as he is walking down the street to confront evil - alone. That is one of the most remarkable film moments I've ever seen.

The ominous way the "bad guys" were filmed was also riveting.

[Fenris]

13. "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is pretty good.

[devilgrrl]

47. One of my favorite films in general

easily my favorite Eastwood picture. Great movie.

[NewJeffCT]

59. One of the great movie lines, too

Senator, don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

[Richardo]

"Endeavor..to persevere."

Chief Dan George was great. :)

[Richardo]

87. .

.

[Blue_In_AK]

114. Oh, there you go.

I listed it below.

[CGowen]

15. No love for Kevin Costner in Open Range?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0316356/



I voted for "Once Upon a Time in the West" by Sergio Leone & Ennio Morricone

[EFerrari]

18. OMG. Red River.

Everybody knows that. :)

[WCGreen]

19. The Searchers,....

Then the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and then...

Shane...

[Burma Jones]

118. Exactly..........

[sarge43]

20. OK putting on the body shield, -- John Wayne's best

Stagecoach, The Searchers, Fort Apache

[Faygo Kid]

60. His best may have been his last - The Shootist. A must-see Western.

He was just great in that movie - very affecting.

[sarge43]

77. Yup. He left the stage gracefully. n/t

[swag]

23. Tie between "The Searchers" and "Shane"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

24. Two somewhat obscure westerns that I like

are Rio Conchos and Valdez Is Coming.

Rio Conchos had a very good performance on the part of Richard Boone (of Have Gun, Will Travel fame) in the lead role and a Golden Globe nomination for co-star Anthony Franciosa. Valdez Is Coming (AKA Viva Valdez) has been called the last conventional western and had a wonderful performance by Burt Lancaster, with a screenplay by Elmore Leonard. I wouldn't put these two in the top ten, but maybe in the top 20 of greatest westerns. And you almost never see them on television.

[existentialist]

25. uh,

Blazing Saddles ? ? ? ? ?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

65. I own it, and I love it, but the nine films I listed come first

"Blazing Saddles" has its own place in cinema history, but for the purposes of this poll, there's no way I could have put it on the list.

:toast:

[Greylyn58]

26. I love the Searchers, but I voted for The Magnificent Seven

as it has been my favorite for years. Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Robert Vaughn are some of my favorite actors and to have them all in one movie sold it for me.

Incredible movie, plus I love Elmer Bernstein's music.

[Blue Fire]

27. Not a big Western fan, but I really liked

Silverado!

[WinkyDink]

28. "Red River"~~~John Wayne, Montgomery Clift.

[rucky]

29. It's no joke, Tuco, it's a rope.

Now I want you to put your head in that noose.

[Perry Logan]

30. The Missouri Breaks

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074906/

[GigiMommy]

31. I love "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"...

and second, "Two Mules for Sister Sara" just because.

[NashVegas]

32. The Quick and the Dead

I was never much of a Western fan, but I loved how Sam Raimi took the genre and turned it on its side while still being somewhat faithful.

[Spirochete]

33. Silverado n/t

[Common Sense Party]

45. Silverado. Magnificent 7. Quigley Down Under. Josey Wales.

All good. All favorites.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

34. The Sheepman with Glenn Ford is also another great western

It has a great cast, with Glenn Ford, Shirley MacClaine, Leslie Nielson and Edgar Buchanan. Although made back in the 1950s, it's still very fresh, mainly because of its humor. It's a very funny film where the hero depends on his wits more than violence. Glenn Ford wins a herd of sheep in a poker game and has to contend with the hatred he meets from the local cattle barons. There's a great scene in the movie where he puts his cigar out in the coffee cup of one of his enemies. This is another one you rarely see on TV.

I would also suggest that The Misfits belongs on a list of the all-time great westerns. With that cast (Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Eli Wallach, and Montgomery Clift) it doesn't get much better.

[Kucinich4America]

35. Blazing Saddles!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDICYjC8S28

[knitter4democracy]

70. I love that movie!

It breaks all the rules. :D

[sarge43]

83. "It breaks all the rules."

A might have been rule breaker. Brooks said he sent the script to John Wayne, was he interested in playing the Waco Kid. Wayne told him he loved the script, but he just didn't think he'd be accepted in the role. I don't know; I would have paid good money to hear the Duke growl, "Then the little bastard shot me in the ass."

My other dream casting that might have sent that movie into the stratosphere -- Hank Fonda as Hedley Lamarr.

[knitter4democracy]

85. Ooh, recasting "Blazing Saddles"! Sounds like fun!

Henry Fonda would've been a real casting coup. I wish the studio had stuck with Richard Pryor, who wrote much of it. That would've been hilarious. :)

[sarge43]

90. He certainly would have brought an edginess to the role.

I do like the visual of Young Mr Lincoln/Mr Roberts shouting at the thugs, mugs, buggers, muggers, etc "Now go do that voodoo that you do so weelllllll!"

(typo)

[Danger Mouse]

36. No question, 'Once Upon a Time in the West'

[captain beyond]

37. Tombstone

Tombstone is one of my favorite films.
Anyone like, "The Oxbow Incident"?

[Catsbrains]

38. Does Dances With Wolves count as a western?

[quip]

39. Dances With Wolves

Great book, great movie, great soundtrack.

Not your typical western, but that's a part of why it is great.

[Lucinda]

40. "I'll be your Huckleberry"

Too hard to pick a favorite movie. But Val in Tombstone is one of my favorite performances.

[The Magistrate]

41. Other, Sir: Nothing Comes Close To 'McCabe and Mrs. Miller'

[Jade Fox]

82. Yeah, baby!

Some movie was lurking in the back of my mind as I was reading this thread, and that was it!

[Forkboy]

42. Maybe not the best, but The Proposition was excellent.

Great performances from Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) and Guy Pierce (Momento, L.A. Confidential), and a great soundtrack by Nick Cave, who also wrote the screenplay.

Samuel Stote: What's a misanthrope?
Two Bob: A misanthrope is a bugger who hates every other bugger.
Samuel Stote: Are we misanthropes?
Arthur Burns: Lord no! We're family.

[Itchinjim]

43. "The Long Riders" or " Going South"

Two excellent but overlooked films. "The Long Riders" featured the Keach, Quade, and Carridine brothers in a great Jessie James bio, and "Going South" featured Jack Nicholson at his best. It is also one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

[Richardo]

88. I always liked 'The Long Riders"

Great casting concept and well-made. Excellent cinematography.

I didn't like 'Going south', however. Nicholson sounded like he either had a cold or a noseful of coke the whole movie. That one was a miss for me.

[Godhumor]

44. Tombstone is not just my favorite Western; it is one of my favorite movies, period

Great, great film.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

67. That's one of the reasons I love the movie so much...

...it actually does "transcend the genre." It's a great Western, but first and foremost, it's a great film.

I still shake my head in disbelief when I realize that the director of Tombstone is George P. Cosmatos, the same guy responsible for Cobra, one of the worst stinkers in Sylvester Stallone's catalog of films.

[Alexander]

46. Many would disagree with my claim that The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is the best.

They would be wrong.

[leftofthedial]

48. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

or

Stagecoach

[abq e streeter]

56. I was gonna say both of these too--especially Liberty Valance

I know you're a Southern NM resident. If you recall, the Stagecoach was on its way to Lordsburg, which you must have at least passed through(?)

[Enrique]

62. you hit the nail on the head, Pilgrim

:toast:

[Poiuyt]

101. Liberty Valance is my favorite too

It always makes me hungry for steak

[LanternWaste]

111. Man Who Shot Liberty Valance would be my vote, too

Man Who Shot Liberty Valance would be my vote, too (but then again, I'm biased-- as I've always thought Jimmy Stewart to be one of the two greatest big screen actors...).

[elshiva]

49. Which is the one with Walter Brennan and John Wayne

where they drive cattle? They have to cross some rivers? Father and son thing?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

58. Probably Red River

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040724/

[EFerrari]

80. It is RR, the GREATEST Western of all times. n/t

[Paladin]

86. Walter Brennan Is John Wayne's Sidekick.....

....and the cook on the cattle drive. The "father and son thing" is provided by Wayne and Montgomery Clift. A true masterpiece.....

[Political Heretic]

51. Every episode of Deadwood.

Yeah, its to a movie, but I don't care. Best Western ever.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

76. DEADWOOD!

Nothing beats Deadwood!

[ellisonz]

52. The Searchers.

[mtnester]

53. I am partial to spaghetti westerns, and High Plains Drifter

is great fun...in the most bizarre of way..Brutal, weird, and definitely my favorites

[FloridaJudy]

54. What? No "Shane"?

Shame on you. I voted "High Noon" - it's a very close second.

[Crabby Appleton]

55. Lonesome Dove nt

[Enrique]

63. oh, yeah

beautiful movie, Lonesome Dove. :thumbsup:

[Bennyboy]

57. Butch Cassidy, My Darling Clementine

are my faves.....

[Enrique]

66. "Clementine" has it all

a chick named Chihuahua, Walter Brennan playing a villain, Henry Fonda dancing, and a totally random Shakespeare recital.

and "Butch Cassidy" has the freaky Burt Bacharach songs. :thumbsup:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

68. "Clementine" is a genuinely superb piece of filmmaking.

It also has Linda Darnell, one of the most underrated actresses of all time. Victor Mature did a nice job with Doc Holliday. And Walter Brennan as a pure, unadulterated S.O.B.? Un-be-fikkin'-LIEVABLE.

:toast:

[two gun sid]

61. High Noon

[Paladin]

72. "Red River," With "The Wild Bunch" A Close Runner-up...... (n/t)

[mulsh]

74. Blazing Saddles is by far the greatest Western ever made

the original, silent movie The Spoilers has the greatest fight scene, it last 2 whole reels. but Blazing Saddles captures the true spirit of the west. in spades. (pun intended)

[Tikki]

75. WESTWORLD......

Tikki

[alphafemale]

78. And has no one heard of "Evil Roy Slade?"

I'm shocked, miffed and deeply, deeply disappointed.

;)

[Bluzmann57]

79. I like "The Outlaw Josey Wales"

I just really got into it the first time I saw it and have never gotten tired of it.

[skygazer]

84. I was just talking about High Noon the other day

Great, great movie. Can't say enough good things about it. Now I'm going to have to watch it again.

[Richardo]

89. "The Grey Fox"

Richard Farnsworth in a quiet little tour-de-force as a stagecoach robber released from jail in the early 20th century, who, finding no more stagecoaches, turns to train robbery.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

93. Farnsworth was a gifted actor...it's a shame that he took his own life.

Supposedly things got pretty bad for him at the end. He left behind a pretty impressive body of work.

[regnaD kciN]

98. As I understand it, he had cancer, and only had a few weeks left...

[Amerigo Vespucci]

99. Yes...here's the Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Farnsworth

Farnsworth was married to Margaret "Maggie" Hill for 38 years. She is the mother of his two children, Diamond and Missy. She passed away in 1985. Toward the end of his life, he met Jewly Van Valin on the bridle trail, a stewardess 35 years his junior. Farnsworth and Van Valin started riding together, and were engaged. He was well liked and busy in his community of Lincoln, New Mexico, where he had a sixty-acre ranch, and moved after his wife's death. Farnsworth was the spokesperson for the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium, an annual event in Ruidoso, NM. He made a video with cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell called Buckaroo Bard. He also helped with the Last Great Cattle Drive of This Millennium in 1999. Shortly before his passing, he was presented with an award from the Governor of New Mexico for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts.

Farnsworth was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in the early 90s. By 1999, he had been diagnosed as having terminal bone cancer. He made the movie The Straight Story while in considerable pain.

Farnsworth—no longer able to bear the physical pain of the disease—shot himself with a single bullet at his ranch in Lincoln, New Mexico. He is interred with his wife Margaret in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

[doc03]

91. I vote for the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and

the comedy western Cat Balou.

[ellie]

92. The Searchers

is the best movie ever, western or not. I do love Tombstone and the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But The Searchers is fantastic.

[EstimatedProphet]

94. Other - Paint Your Wagon

[A-Schwarzenegger]

95. Hired Hand.

Peter Fonda, Warren Oates.
Fine & heartbreaking.

[Hardrada]

96. Destry Rides Again.

Hilarious and great too and it had Marlene Dietrich (Marwena Deetwick)

[MrSlayer]

97. High Plains Drifter.

Hell, all of Clint's westerns are great.

[Rosco T.]

100. Come on now .... Silverado is the best.

The world is what you make of it, friend. If it doesn't fit, you make alterations.

[HamstersFromHell]

102. The Shootist

Not much into westerns, but loved this movie.

[krispos42]

103. kicking

great suggestions here... need to come back and add stuff to my NetFlix later...

[pinniped]

104. That's easy. "Four for Texas" by a landslide.

I really voted for the Blondie in the Leone flick.

[Rabrrrrrr]

106. The Wild Bunch; High Plains Drifter; Spectre of the Gun; Star Wars: Episode V

[liberal1973]

107. I choose Once Upon A Time

I also like Young Guns and Wyatt Earp. James Garner movies too.

[Sanctified]

108. I have to go with True Grit.

Probably one of the first western movies I had watched as a kid and still my favorite.

[IndianaJones]

109. Will Smith...Wild Wild West. nt.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

110. I see no one mentioned Vera Cruz or Gunfight At The OK Corral

Two great westerns with one of America's greatest actors, Burt Lancaster. One film teamed him with Gary Cooper and the other with Kirk Douglas. Maybe they're not among the very best but they certainly are of great quality and should be in the DVD collection of any fan of westerns. Another film I like for its intensity is Chato's Land, with Charles Bronson.

[Blue_In_AK]

112. The Outlaw Josey Wales

is one of my personal favorites ... I loved that old Indian guy with his "endeavor to persevere," which has kind of been my life motto. But I picked The GB & U in your poll because I love all of Clint Eastwood's westerns.

[chieftain]

113. The Ford/Wayne three pack of::

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
Ft.Apache
Rio Grande
All 3 have strong characters, gret plots and fantastic photography.

[judaspriestess]

115. I love Tombstone

You are right about the performances of Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell. Val Kilmer was so incredible.

I really thought Powers Booth was an incredible bad guy in the movie too. So sinister.

[demnan]

116. Blazing Saddles

Best. Movie. Ever.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

117. Flame away but I think Heaven's Gate was a masterpiece

Some people find it slow. Others just parrot the critics. I like the film's pace and I think it's one of the most realistic-looking westerns ever made. The cinematrophy is breathtaking. The acting is superb. And I feel that the movie was panned by the critics largely because it was too subversive for an American audience. This is a radical film, about how the west was stolen by groups of cattle barons, with the Johnson County War as a backdrop. And it shows a side of the anti-immigrant attitude that is hard to look at and accept. Heaven's Gate is one of my favorite films, and I know I'm in the minority on this.

Another film that doesn't receive enough credit in my opinion is Man In The Wilderness. This is spectacularly beautiful film and one of Richard Harris' best performances.