I LOVE Unforgiven. Definitely one of my top Westerns, if not the top.
Buffista Movies 6: lies and videotape
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Westerns aren't usually my thing, but I'm always up for another viewing of
Destry Rides Again
Silverado
The Misfits
Red River is on the want-to-see list.
I did see Appaloosa (with my dad, of course!). It was all right as a character study, and it did have the Viggo factor I referred to above, but it's not in my top ten Westerns. It just moved too slow for my taste.
The portion of the doc "A personal journey through American movies with Martin Scorcese" that covers Westerns is priceless.
Prior to Marty's catechism on cinema, it never occured to me that the only indigenous film genres are Westerns, Gangster films (Westerns with suits and Tommy guns rather than horses and revolvers) and Musicals.
Though I suppose early martial arts films could be classified as gangster movies with robes and hand-to-hand combat versus cowboy hats and gun fights.
At any rate, I have to agree with the blurb on the back cover: A film course with one of the world's most passionate teachers...required viewing!
I"m not much for westerns as a rule but I love Silverado, Tombstone and, believe it or not, The Quick and the Dead.
My dexh LOVED Lone Wolf McQuade, a copy of which I keep in his honor and for it's baditude of badness.
edited because I'm actually literate.
Last week, I saw a PBS show on those actors and filmmakers who escaped Hitler's Germany (and the countries he later invaded) and fled to Hollywood. They pointed out the way that the German directors/cinematographers/writers created film noir out of the German Expressionist movies such as M and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
Waits for Corwood to come in with the obligatory Wild Bunch praise
Not that I disagree with that. Also love Rio Bravo, El Dorado and The Searchers.
Plus any of the Leone Westerns, except possibly for Duck You Sucker!
Really almost anything by Ford or Leone would be on my list.
Favorite Westerns:
My Darling Clementine
Fort Apache
The Searchers
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
A Fistful of Dollars
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Once Upon a Time in the West
(Claudia Cardinale in a Western = hot)
High Noon
Rio Bravo
Unforgiven
3:10 to Yuma
(either one)
Westerns I love for inexplicable reasons:
Duel in the Sun
(provided one of my dissertation chapter names)
Shane
Shalako
(Bardot and Connery in a Western = awesome cheese)
Johnny Guitar
(Joan Crawford in a Western!)
Pseudo-Westerns that I love beyond reason:
Lone Star
(Sayles)
Oklahoma!
Giant
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Wild Bunch? Moi? I don't know, man. That doesn't much sound like me.
Following Megan's lead...
Best Traditional Westerns:
Stagecoach
My Darling Clementine
Red River
The Searchers
Rio Bravo
Ride Lonesome
Seven Men From Now
Bend of the River
Best Revisionist Westerns:
The Wild Bunch
Ride The High Country
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
A Fistful of Dollars
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Once Upon A Time In The West
Best Pseudo-Westerns:
Dead Man
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Ride with The Devil
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Deadwood, you cocksuckers
I'm not much for Westerns, but I do love:
Silverado
The Cowboys
Cat Ballou
and... Young Guns
What can I say? I was in college and it was prettttttty.