Which Movies Don't Belong on the 100 Greatest Westerns List?
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| By Staff |
| Published Online: December 04, 2008 |
Poster for Jesse James. Copyright 20th Century Fox Film Corp. Courtesy Everett Collection. This film's considered a classic; some others about Jesse don't fare as well.
The Weider History Group asked 10 experts to compile a list of the 100 Greatest Westerns for a special publication of the same title. Any list of this type will elicit cries of How did that get on the list?
We want to know: Which movies don't belong on the list of 100 Greatest Westerns? Tell us in the comments section below. No sign-up required.
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Last of the Mohicans? How is a tale set in upstate New York a western, even if it does include Indians and gunfights?
As good a movie as it was, The Last of The Mohigans is NOT a western!
These films are NOT Westerns!
Bad Day at Black Rock
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Jeremiah Johnson
The Last of the Mohicans
The Mark of Zorro
Comedy westerns are not true westerns
Laural and Hardy Way out West
Blazing Saddles
The Paleface
While they are entertaining, they should not be included in the top 100.
Let add John Ford western to that!
Some of these films are not westerns but contemporary movies.
Movies that may take place out west but in modern times for when they were made and not in the 19th century.
All such films should be removed from the list.
Cat Ballou,
Way out West,
The Mark of Zorro
Quigley Down Under
Ruggles of Red Gap
Support Your local Sheriff
Blazing saddles
The Pale face
Somes times experts are just high paid. No real lovers of the old west and that life style from that era, put these on a list of top 100 western movies and left off Wyatt Earp, Lonesome Dove, Silverado, and otheres. These listed above are comedies and have nothing to do with life as it was in the 1800's.
The Alamo (2004)???????????????? I've had root canal that was less painful. Just because a movie purports to be "accurate" doesn't make it good.
Agree completely that comedy westerns should not be included, however, I might make an exception for Maverick and Support your Local Sheriff.
How in blazes did you ever come up with the idea of designating The Last of the Mohicans as a western?
The Last of the Mohicans is technicality a western as it takes place on the frontier of the colonies.
Thrse are not true westwerns
1. Gene Aruty
2. Roy Rogers
3. 90% of the "B" westerns
Jeremiah Johnson is most definitely a western-there was a lot more to the West than Colt Peacemakers and Stetson Hats.
This is the reason that I stated in another post that The Long Riders should have been included.
Quigly Down Under and Man From Snowy River are Outbacks, not Westerns.
Blood Simple
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Just plain bad moviemaking. Peckinpah's worst.
Any western made after 2000. No way to tell if they will stand the test of time.
True Grit, even though I live only a few miles from where it was filmed. Baaad acting.
Whitch one there were three 2 with John Wayne and the last with ? I forget who it was. The language was so formal that my grandson and I had a hard time understanding it .
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dave
Will Penny is certainly a Western, just a terrible movie: pointless, with no plot development, wooden acting by Heston (who admittedly specialized in this), and a surprise ending where he professes his love for the woman to whom he has paid no attention.
Should certainly not be on the list of top movies.
Normally I wouldn't post to a site but there are some obvious errors for the best 100 westerns – as follows:
While John Wayne was outstanding most of his movies were not – the only Wayne movie that should be on here is The Searchers
I must agree with the above posts about the comedies – they are not westerns
Silverado NEEDS to be on this list
You must be kidding on the following:
Hang Em High
Treasure of Sierra Madre (not a western)
3:10 to Yuma 2007 – Nope replace it with the original
Last of the Mohicans
Little Big Man
Quigley
The Alamo (2004) bad acting
Maverick
Josey Wales
Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (horrible acting and boring)
The War Wagon
The MArk of Zorro (You're kidding right?)
The Man from Snowy River
Cat Ballou (good movie but…)
El Mariachi (you MUST be kidding)
Most of the comedies here are comedies in Westerns drag, but "Support Your Local Sheriff" is at least 50% Western and qualifies for consideration.
"Bad Day at Black Rock" is no more (or less) a Western than "The Last Picture Show" or "Hud."
"High Noon" is possibly the most over-rated film of all time. The cast, with the sole exception of Katy Jurado, is variantly bad, with Cooper at his most wooden (which is really saying something).
"Jeremiah Johnson" IS a Western, the mountain man film being as legitimate a sub-genre as the early 20th century Western.. The 18th century frontier New York genre is arguable, but probable; however, no version of Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans" is particularly good.
Wrong version of "3:10 to Yuma" beyond debate. The original is better than so many films which ARE here that the presence of the recent remake PROVES a chronological bias on the part of the panel, which was suggested by several other titles already.
"El Diablo" (1990) was made for premium cable's HBO channel. If you understood that, then it must be said that several other made-for-TV Western features are better than many films here, starting with the same channel's "The Tracker" starring Kris Kristofferson. If you did not, it should be removed.
Basically, the panel and by logical extension the list have little credibility.
What belongs or does not depends on your definition of a Western. Since contemporary westerns are included, thei broadens the selection. I cannot understand a Laurel and Hardy picture regardless of what form is accepted. To Leave out classics like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon for Blood Simple leaves one scratching his head. So many disagreements. So little time.
In my opinion these do not merit being on the top 100 list.
Paleface–Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid–Laurel & Hardy–Cat Ballou–El Mariachi– Johnny Guitar–Open Range (TV Movie) if this qualifies certainly does Lonesome Dove–Ruggles of Red Gap–Blazing Saddles– Blood Simple (definite drama set in a town in the west, not a western as you are describing them to be.)
I suggested some to add earlier. I know out of 4600 movies it was very difficult to get to 100. There were so many very good ones you could not have in the top 100, you made a good try. I grew up with a western every Saturday at the theater.
Are you going to try and list the top 100 actors in a western movie? Good luck!
The Alamo-boring, too long
Paleface-just a farce. Indians are wearing panties under their breechclouts, for goodness sake.
Any set in the twentieth century.
Or with jeeps.
Or with Gabby Hays, or Andy Devine.
The Wild Bunch is not a western. To coin a phrase, it is a "Mexican" , just like Rory Calhoun in "Treasure of Pancho Villa" or "The Professionals."
No automatic machine guns. but Gatlings are OK.
"Maverick" 1994
It put late 20th century values and the audience's knowledge of James Garner to great effect, but it was not represenative of the period to which it refers.
Maverick
Quigley
Laurel and Hardy
El Mariachi
Major Dundee
Two excellent movies, but not Westerns:
Blood Simple
Ride with the Devil
Western movies not on list. Apache with Burt Lancaster. Indian Fighter with Kirk Douglas, Last Wagon with Richard Widmark.
Exclude:
The Last of the Mohicans (not a western to me)
The Mark of Zorro (what about the Tyrone Power version?)
Ruggles of Red Gap
Support Your local Sheriff
Blazing saddles
The Paleface
Laural and Hardy Way out West
Blood Simple (great movie, but not a western in any way, shape, or form)
Apparantly nobody mentioned "The Shootist" here, but I just recently viewed it again. I thought it was a good movie, but I wouldn't include it as a "Western" just because the main character resided in WY and they showed just a very few minutes of some mountain scenes that were supposed to be where he lived.
It is a modern day setting in D.C. for most of the movie and it is about an assination by a sharp shooter that happens there. Hardly a western in my book!
I agree with others that "Lonesome Dove" should truly be on this list.
I never saw the original "3:10 to Yuma", but I do believe the new one was a good western and deserves to be on the list.
The "3:10 To Yuma remake, the original was much better in every way.
"The Alamo" boring
"High noon" boring and Cooper in his usual wooden style.
"Blood Simple" bah.
Any Spaghetti Western, they were all bad.
Any comedy Western, even the ones I like.
Obviously, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" doesn't belong on the list. It is a bad movie even for Eastwood. It has no saving grace, and isn't even a decent revenge tale. It doesn't make a bit of sense, and there are no characters worth caring about. Total bomb.
Also, all the spaghetti westerns were garbage. Again, no identifiable characters, or even anyone to care about. All of them are one dimensional cardboard cutouts with no believable motivation, not to mention stupid scripts and clownish action.
Other terrible films include "Little Big Man", just too one sided even for my liberal standards. Completely ridiculous.
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and "Support Your Local Gunfighter" are corny even by adolescent standards. If I want a comedy, I'll take a rip roaring one like Saddles or Ballou.
"Ulzana's Raid" was an attempt at a good movie, but I felt that even though it covered three characters thoroughly, for a full length movie, that doesn't qualify. In contrast, "The Commancheros" explores many characters to great extents. In fact, for me, it is the minor characters that make a movie.
Which is why I'm glad to see some great movies on the list. Obviously, "Ride the High Country", "Union Pacific", "Hombre", "Shane", and "Gunman's Walk" belong on any list. I think one or two of these were omitted. That's a monstrous oversight.
"Western" Comedies, are technically westerns but do not belong on a list of the greatest westerns:
Ruggles of Red Gap
Support Your local Sheriff
Blazing saddles
The Paleface
Laural and Hardy
Way out West
"Westerns" that actually are not westerns:
Blood Simple
Bad Day at Black Rock
El Mariachi
Quigly Down Under
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Last of the Mohicans
Lonely Are the Brave
Westerns that are just bad or not worthy of inclusion:
Posse!
Johnny Guitar
One-Eyed Jacks
Dead Man
Ride With the Devil
3:10 to Yuma-Remake was great, but why no inclusion of the original???
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
This movie just doesn't make the grade as a top Western movie. It is a stylized Hollywood dark drama whose only relationship to the Old West is the set.
I don't think that Maverick, Mcabe and Mrs. Miller, The Alamao (2004) were good enough to be on the list. The Silence (never heard of it) should not be on the list. Blood Simple was not a Western; you must be on crack cocaine to believe that it was a Western. Last of the Mohicans was very good, but it was not a Western.
But I do think that the hilarious Support Your Local Sheriff should be on there!
Cat Ballou should be taken off the list and replaced with Silverado.
Thank You
"The Paleface", "Blazing Saddles", "Way Out West" and "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" should NOT be anywhere near the list.
I think that The Paleface, Blazing Saddles, and Cat Ballou are comidies not westerns.
My favorite and what I think is the most accurate is Steven Spilberg's "Into the West"
How the heck POSSE made it on this list is still a mystery to me. I do commend you, though, for putting movies that would not be conventional westerns on the list like BLOOD SIMPLE and BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK.
These movies are not w westerns and shouls not be consideredwestersns Blazing Saddles
The Paleface
Quigly Down Under
Man From Snowy River
Silverado
Last of the Mohicans
Little Big Man
Cat Ballou
El Mariachi
Laural and Hardy Way out West
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (THIS MOVIE SUCKED)
The Following is other kind of cinema:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Blood Simple
Thanks
The Shootist is one of the worst movies of all time and a truly lousy western.
310 to yuma 2007 remake was terrible and so was the actor crowe.
No wonder the list is Weirder than Wieder. The 10 experts…looks like they know very little about movies (read their bios)…being a history professor or a writer about culture isn't the same as a movie critic, someone in the film industry, a film archivist or a diehard fan. Movies that definitely DON'T belong here:
1) Support Your Local Sheriff (how did that make the list??)
2) Quigley Down Under (Australia…and it is a good movie, but short of great)
3) Blood Simple
4) The Alamo (2004)
5) Last of the Mohicans (not a western)
6) El Mariachi (good but not a western, a modern Mexican thriller)
7) Add 3:10 to Yuma original…
Personally, although some say comedies don't belong here, I think some do. Notably Blazing Saddles…and Cat Ballou, only because of Lee Marvin's wonderful role.
Too many to list but the comedies and pre-western era and colonial movies don't belong in my opinion
She wore a yellow ribbon should be included. Comedies like Laurel & Hardy, Pale Face, etc. should not.
"The hanging tree" should be on here.
The number of crap films on this list is too numerous to count.
Anything cowboy produced overseas by an overseas production company, sucks. The absolute worst cowboy movies, ever, were made in Italy. Some people actually find these exploit movies to be entertaining. But there is one thing for positive, any Italian western, is pure crap. Just one example of the Old West, Italian-style put the 1735 Mohawks in 1880s Arizona. Italian westerns hired big name American stars to be in the movie to get people into the theatre, the rest was crap, Italian-style.
Like one I saw; the railroad station was half built looked like it was jset thrown togather no doors, wall had cracks big enough to ride a hourse thru etc. IN A WORD TERRIBLE
dave
You can say that again all Italian movies are crappy. Every thing looks Eoropean the trains, landscapes, the people, the music, rverything.
What are the standards used to select the listed films? They seem to be on a weak foundation,, thus the list of 100 certainly is void of acceptable validity and/or reliability. A reasonable number are correct as contenders. i am a director of a simple but successful Film Forum in long Beach, Ca. and if I included BLOOD SIMPLE in a best western series my tenure would be seriously compromised by our patrons who are purists by nature with a wealth of movie.viewing experience. 15 years, 50 films a year, and still going strong with the finest free volunteer movie going program in the country. You should do better.
Blood Simple, Lonely Are The Brave, Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, Blazing Saddles, Last Of The Mohicans, Paleface, Bad Day At Black Rock, Laurel & Hardy Way Out West, Man From Snowy River, El Mariachi, Riders in the Sky, Mark Of Zorro, Lone Star, Viva Zapata, Giant, Drums Along The Mohawk should not be eligible candidates for a valid list of " Best Western Movies".
Maverick was not a good movie period, Duel in the Sun was a sexy movie and fun,but it was just good trash not a good western. Also some of these films while good were not westerns.
I would also like to comment on a statement made by an earlier post by David M(texan) he said the John Wayne was outstanding but most of his movies were not, (except the Searchers) this guy must be losing it, Stagecoach(1939) was one of the first great westerns ever made, Rio Bravo in my opinon is the best western ever made, Red River the best cattle drive movie that was ever done. That is the reason when anyone brings out a list like this those films (along with the Searchers) arealways on them.
The Last of The Mohigans was a great movie, but NOT a western!
I totally disagree with those who believe that the Glenn Ford version of 3:10 to Yuma is superior to the Russell Crowe. It ain't. Glenn Ford is unconvincing as a villain. Ford is just too likable.
Last of the Mohicans does not belong. Yed, it has Indians and I think it was a great movie but, it is about the French and Indian war– not exactly what we think of when we think 'western.'
Worst western of all time? My Darling Clementine. Wyatt aw shucksing all over the place; Doc Holliday being addicted to mashed potatoes and desserts instead of booze and looking oh so thin in those tight Levis with the turned up cuffs; people in places where they weren't-including Monument Valley and Doc not dying in a hotel in Glenwood Springs, CO but in the "actual"OK Corral which is the size of the entire town of Tombstone. And Old Man Clanton actually rises from the grave to put in an appearance at the gunfight. I think John Ford wore that patch over his eye to keep his brain matter from dripping out. Not very successful this time.
so many lousy movies.
paleface?
blazing saddles?
If I didn't know they were serious, I'd thought they were joking.
I read the list here can,t believe a lot of the movies here . not westerns, try again
I agree with many of the people about which movies should NOT have been put on the list. Lonesome Dove, in my opinion, is the best western ever made. Even if it was a made for television, it was one of the highest rated miniseries in television history. It won seven Emmy Awards. Not bad for a movie (miniseries) that never made it to the list.
I also noticed that no one mentioned that the movie Maverick had an error in it. The magazine refers to the $30,000 stake needed to enter the game. The stake was actually $25,000.
Also, I found at least eight (8) mistakes in the table of contents. It seems like the errors starts once you get to page 90. Example: No 100 – The Man from Laramie (1955) is NOT on page 95. It is on page 98. Poor proof reading.
terrible:
missing
alamo
possee
yuma
and i still have not forgiven eastwood for unforgiven. i just dont get the hype and ive tried to watch several times.