Comments on: 100 Greatest Western Movies

By: Dearg Doom

Dearg Doom — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:30:03 +0000

Shane – am I the only person on the planet who believes Shane to be just an ok ‘good-guy-versus-bad-guy’ movie? Alan Ladd annoys me – he’s one of the most wooden, expressionless actors ever. IMHO, not a great or ‘classic’ film. But I DO like the part where he falls off his mount at the end – pity it wasn’t having a sneaky horsey-poo at the time ! AVERAGE.

Rio Bravo – utter, utter, utter, utter drivel – as is ANY film with Angie Dickinson. AVOID !

El Dorado – now you’re talkin’. Very, very watchable, time and time again – not least because Charlene Holt (Maudie) was simply babe-a-licious! And no pointless singing either, thank-you-very-much.
Great cast, great script, great acting, GREAT FILM.

Tombstone – SUPERB ! One of the more accurate portrayals of the Earp/K Corral shootout (note it’s NOT totally accurate by any means – for example the Holliday/Ringo showdown DIDN’T actually happen).
Having said that, Val Kilmer (Doc Holliday – “I’m your huckleberry”) out-acted everyone, much like Alan Rickman in ‘Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves’. BRILLIANT !

Quigley Down Under – one of the very best westerns (set in Australia) -featuring Tom Selleck & Alan Rickman – check it out if you haven’t already. Included In my ‘Top Five Best Westerns’ list.

Pale Rider – simply a remake of ‘High Plains Drifter’, which was a much, much better film OK movie but HPD is worth viewing instead.

High Plains Drifter – the Bridges gang using them there whips – OUCH ! The Jim Duncan supernatural element added greatly to the movie. Watch it again, THEN tell me Pale Rider is ‘better’ !

How many remember ALIAS SMITH AND JONES (the 1970’s series)? Let’s not forget how good the (pilot) movie actually is. Great series (with only one dreadful episode – season 2 “Journey from San Juan” – truely awful). The rest ranged (no pun intended) from good to excellent.

Blazing Saddles – bear in mind it’s a pretty decent western, as well as being an acceptable musical and a TERRIFIC comedy (up there with ‘Life of Brian’ as one of the best comedies ever).

A Gunfight – Johnny Cash and Kirk Douglas. I reckon one of the best, yet most under-rated westerns ever. As with ‘High Noon’, the action is kept ’till the end. Watch it all the way through !

Lawman – Burt Lancaster – an original ‘how-far-can-the-Law-go’ premise. Very highy recommended.

There’s also a bunch of B-westerns well worth viewing – example – ‘Dead for a Dollar’ (John Ireland) – no major stars, dodgy camerawork, nonsense script(s), no real budget BUT all these elements made them more authentic, in certain ways, than the biggies. ENJOY !

By: Western Towns

Western Towns — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:52:03 +0000

I could use some help here. We plan on bulding a Wesetrn Town wih 44 buildings. What I’m looking for , The size & how they were build, color. I would like to work with some of the Western Movie Production folks who all ready worked on some. this will be a town that folks can live in year around. If you know where I can get in touch with someone, Then I would like to hear from you.

Richard

By: 100 Greatest Westerns Revisited « The Official Blog of the Western Literature Association

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:43:40 +0000

[...] Click here to see the full list of Wild West’s 100 Greatest Westerns. [...]

By: david schaffner

david schaffner — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:31:11 +0000

Enjoyed your 100 great westerns but you sure missed the mark on quite a few of them.Blazing Saddles?Y ou got to be kidding.What about 1947’s “Ramrod” and 1948’s “Four faces west”.Culpepper cattle company and Monte Walsh with Lee Marvin.Man of the west with Gary Cooper was far superior to “High noon”Is “High Noon’ a poliitical move.Surely doesn’t deserve to be number one.John Waynes “Rio Grande” and “She wore a yellow ribbon”,”Three Godfathers” and 1942’s “The spoilers” and “In old olkahoma” with Albert Dekker and so many old charactor actors.Although it was a tv mini-series “Lonesome dove” is my top pick along with “Pale rider”You writers don’t belong in the same page with the films I mentioned.Sorry.

By: Cliff Hitchcock

Cliff Hitchcock — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:23:00 +0000

The Bravados (1958) with Gregory Peck and Joan Collins should make the list. It is not the best but should be in the middle of the pack and certainly before some of these “new” western movies. Judges take a look.

By: Sil

Sil — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:08:57 +0000

i search the name of a movie. that i’ve seen years ago.
the only thing I remember: it was a western. and the father of a kid was in prison, and because there was a fire the kid must shoot his own father dead.
can anyone help me?

greetings Sil ( The Netherlands)

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:42:41 +0000

The fact that Lawman with Burt Lancaster, is not on the list makes me wonder if any of you really know what a great western is.

How could anybody say The Outlaw Josey Wales was not a great western?

Open Range was not a good western.

Lonesome Dove should be in the top 20

Tombstone definitely top 20

Ulzana’s Raid definitely top 20

Quigley Down Under definitely top 20

Major Dundee Top 20

The Professionals top 20

By: Aaron Kreltszheim

Aaron Kreltszheim — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:30:07 +0000

Also one forgotten, is a great film “Angel and the Badman” (1947)
John Wayne, Gail Russell, Harry Carey Sr, Steve Cabot

By: Aaron Kreltszheim

Aaron Kreltszheim — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:12:46 +0000

I agree with most of these coments, soem of those western shouldn’t be spoken about, let alone written down, 310 to Yuma (2007) what was this person thinking. The Alamo 2004, Hell Wayne’s Alamo is awesome, still to this day bringing money on DVD sales.

Support Your Local Sheriff (Is the only one out of this bad list of films added, because it is fun to watch)
Blazing Saddles (It’s funny, but again, catch sit through it again and again, like traditional westerns.)
The Unforgiven (watched that once)
Maverick (watche dit once was enough)
The Alamo (2004) WHY in deed!
3:10 to Yuma (2007) not even close to being a western
Who made this list, did they just open a book and pick out a 100 westerns, unseen and unknown??

MY favorite top ten.

RIO BRAVO (1959)
Tombstone (1993)
Gunfight at OK Corral (1957)
The Shootist (1976)
Unconquered (1947)
The Alamo (1960)
Open Range (2003) (one of the best gunfight scenes)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
The Unforgiven (1960)
Pony Express (1953) Charlton Heston Forrest tucker, (May be a B Western, but it’s a great film.

By: Mardy

Mardy — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:19:10 +0000

Is there an older western movie, prior to ” The long riders”. That has similar dialogue, “because you’re a whore”, or am I thinking of the same movie?

woman: do you think the town respects me?
man: no!
woman: why not?
man: because youre a whore!
woman: do you respect me?
man: no.
woman: why not?
man: because youre a whore!