95 replies to this topic

[MattPage]

I've heard numerous times of "the 5 great westerns", without ever really knowing what they are except that Shane is one of them.

I googled it and saw that the first site to list all five listed them as:

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,
The Searchers,
Shane,
Ride the High Country
The Wild Bunch

But then most of the following pages are all devoted to The Man from Laramie?

Whay are their only 5, and why aren't they that famous, and why are none of them by Leone or starring Eastwood?

Matt

[Christian]

I've never heard of any list of 5 great Westerns.

[Nick Alexander]

I've heard numerous times of "the 5 great westerns", without ever really knowing what they are except that Shane is one of them.

I googled it and saw that the first site to list all five listed them as:

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,
The Searchers,
Shane,
Ride the High Country
The Wild Bunch

But then most of the following pages are all devoted to The Man from Laramie?

Why are their only 5, and why aren't they that famous, and why are none of them by Leone or starring Eastwood?

Matt

Indeed. And why isn't _High Noon_ one of them? Or _Butch Cassidy_? Or _Dances with Wolves_ (don't wretch, I still like it)? Or even _Blazing Saddles_?

BTW, I saw _She Wore a Yellow Ribbon_ and found it a crashing bore.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Alan Thomas wrote:
: The Last of the Mohicans (1922) is listed as a Western? Ignorant Americans.

Hmmm. I have a book on westerns somewhere here that devotes a fair bit of time to the series of novels that that story belongs to. I don't think they are called "westerns", per se, but they are clearly seen as part of the evolution of the genre, and how it focuses on heroes who emerge out of the landscape and merge back into the landscape when the story is over -- that sort of thing.

[The Invisible Man]

For what it's worth (and because this forum is partial to lists lol), here's my top five:

1. Once Upon A Time In The West (no other Western comes close, in my view; this isn't just the greatest ever Western, it is also one of the greatest ever films)
2. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
3. The Wild Bunch
4. The Searchers
5. Unforgiven

[Jason Bortz]

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

And The Seven Samurai!!!

They're just further west.

Edited by Jason Bortz, 13 September 2005 - 01:08 PM.

[Overstreet]

Nick Cave's The Proposition.

Oh, wait... that's not out yet.

How about...

the entire series of Firefly?

[Jeff]

I don't know if I have a "Top 5 westerns" list, per se, because I haven't seen as many westerns as I ought. But some that I really like are Big Jake, Rooster Cogburn, The Man Who Shots Liberty Valance, and For A Few Dollars More (but that's a different topic altogether).

I liked The Missing a lot too, and Open Range was alright, but I wouldn't consider either of them classics.

Is Dances with Wolves all it's cracked up to be?

[Peter T Chattaway]

Alan, I don't get your Blade Runner reference. It's a detective movie, a film noir, not a western in any sense of the word I've ever seen.

Jeffrey, re: your Firefly reference, I have to say that this is one of the reasons that that show has taken longer to work on me than most other scifi shows. Star Trek was pitched as "Wagon Train to the stars", and Star Wars has elements of the western gunslinger movie, especially in the cantina sequence -- but Firefly is unique in that it actually uses many of the standard tropes of western movies throughout: horses, brothels, country-flavoured theme music, etc. Plus its social-microcosm-on-a-transport set-up is reminiscent of Stagecoach, perhaps the first definitive western of the sound era.

(Yeah, I'm probably repeating myself, but this is the first time I've made these points in THIS thread. )

[Michael Todd]

I have never heard of this list either but this journal has a good write up from a couple of years ago. Also, for those who would contest, Wikipedia cites Firefly as a western.

[Jason Bortz]

Does Yojimbo count?

Seriously.

[mrmando]

No, but Shanghai Noon certainly does.

[The Invisible Man]

Is Dances with Wolves all it's cracked up to be?

No, it's completely wishy-washy.

Edited by The Invisible Man, 14 September 2005 - 03:09 AM.

[MattPage]

More FWIW.

A Google search for "the 5/five great westerns" returns the following as the canonical list: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, Shane, Ride the High Country, and The Wild Bunch.

It also returns the following as a possible contender: The Man From Laramie

Ahem

I've heard numerous times of "the 5 great westerns", without ever really knowing what they are except that Shane is one of them.

I googled it and saw that the first site to list all five listed them as:

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,
The Searchers,
Shane,
Ride the High Country
The Wild Bunch

But then most of the following pages are all devoted to The Man from Laramie...

Matt

[Ron Reed]

Is Dances with Wolves all it's cracked up to be?

I loved it. But it's one of those films that has had an immense backlash against it. Don't know if that was part of the way the (critical) pack suddenly turned on Kevin Costner, or if it's political correctness, or if it really is a bad movie and I just didn't recognize that. But until I take a second look at the thing, I have to stick by my first impressions: very powerful depiction of Civil War fighting at the start provided a historical context that really shifted my perception of the events that followed. And the film continued reversing Western genre expectations when it showed a typical white "cowboy" hero suddenly forced to see events through "indian" eyes. I personally found it very atmospheric, and very involving.

Now, to completely undermine my credibility on this point, I suddenly realize that my own list of favourite westerns amounts to an embarassment of Guilty Pleasure riches. Here goes: have at me, one and all;

TOMBSTONE (for Val Kilmer's astonishing performance)
FISTFUL OF DOLLARS / FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (but I hated GOOD/BAD/UGLY)
OPEN RANGE (Costner was just fine, Duvall astonishing)
DANCES WITH WOLVES
SILVERADO
and, most shameful of all....
LEGENDS OF THE FALL

While I loved the novel, I absolutely couldn't find the greatness in SHANE. And THE SEARCHERS was a huge disappointment after the hype: a pair of interior door shots were not sufficient to counterbalance a prototypically wooden turn by John Wayne.

Two smallish bits from westerns that absolutely stand out in my mind. The final sequence in DEAD MAN, and the lynching story in GRIM PRAIRIE TALES (which also made the connection back to the civil war, now that I think of it).

[Ron Reed]

(UNFORGIVEN actually tops my list, but it didn't fit in with my Guilty Pleasures theme.)

[MattPage]

moi?

[Jason Bortz]

No one mentioned one of my gleeful faves, Duck, You Sucker!

[Christian]

No one mentioned one of my gleeful faves, Duck, You Sucker!

Jason: Be sure to ask Peter about this one!

[J.R.]

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Django

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Back to the Future Part III

Edited by J.R., 14 September 2005 - 11:40 AM.