comment #1

Intense Guy III says ...

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"

-Never considered this a Western

"Tombstone"

-Yikes. Never been a fan. After Unforgiven and Dead Man the 90's are essentially a wasteland.

IG III's Top Eleven(no particular order other than #1): The WIld Bunch, The Searchers, Unforgiven, The Ox-Bow Incident, Once Upon A Time in the West, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Open Range, Ulzana's Raid, Ride The High Country, The Assasination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

Also got soft spots for One-Eyed Jacks, The Long Riders and The Culpepper Cattle Co.

Jeff, have you seen Broken Trail?

comment #2

lipranzer says ...

Yeah, any list that has McCABE AND MRS. MILLER all the way down at number 99 deserves to get slammed. Plus, whatever you think of Michael Mann's version of LAST OF THE MOHICANS - I love it myself - it's not, strictly speaking, a Western.

I agree with you, Jeff, about VALANCE, although I think Wayne's performance makes up for his being too old for the part - I think it's one of his best.

I don't know what my top ten would be exactly, but they'd include THE SEARCHERS, HIGH NOON, RIO BRAVO, WINCHESTER 73, McCABE, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, STAGECOACH, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, and THE WILD BUNCH.

comment #3

K. Bowen says ...

Any list with McCabe and Mrs. Miller at #99 has a problem. But generally, it's not a bad list, as lists go.

comment #4

Fien Print says ...

The absence of "Johnny Guitar" is a real problem for me...

"Dead Man" is obviously too esoteric, but it would have made my list.

As would "Lone Star" and "Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" if we're taking newer stuff...

I'm sure I can think of others. But there's four I really miss...

comment #5

Carl LaFong says ...

If we count HUD and TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, then I'll throw NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN in there, too.

On the more traditional front, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is my favorite Leone, if only to see Fonda play and out and out bastard.

Comedic westerns are the red-headed stepchild of the genre, but I'll add CAT BALLOU & BLAZING SADDLES into the mix.

Lastly, if you wanna get your freak out, they don't come any freakier than Bob Evans mumbling his way through THE FIEND WHO WALKED THE WEST, a flick that has to be seen to be believed.

comment #6

Geoff says ...

The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford is one of my favorites. I hate ranking anything.

comment #7

Terry McCarty says ...

I'd probably throw in a few left-field choices such as Robert Benton's BAD COMPANY (1972), Sergio Corbucci's DJANGO and a guilty-pleasure-of-sorts, Henry Hathaway's FIVE CARD STUD.

comment #8

LYT says ...

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. No contest for me.

comment #9

BurmaShave says ...

I'm glad some people can get behind the rich absurdity that is TOMBSTONE, probably my third or fourth favorite film of the 1990s. Not necessarily best, but favorite.

comment #10

BurmaShave says ...

"Sergio Leone's westerns have too many portentous close-ups."

Also, sorry, but that sounds as bad as something DZ would say.

comment #11

jjgittes says ...

Open Range is not one of the 100 best Westerns of all time much less one of the top 10.

Sure as heck ain't better than every Leone film or McCabe & Mrs. Miller .

comment #12

Arizona Joe says ...

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, my favorite and arguably the last great Western.

The beautiful Mexican/ New Mexican landscapes cry out for a Blu Ray release. The settings are stunning.

I loved Coburn. I thought Kristofferson was at his best. I thought Dylan's strummy sound track was really cool, and his laconic acting was neat. And all the character actors topped it off.

Chill Wills with his hat pulled down over his eyes, "Garrett, I done had a bowel movement in my britches. I ain't never gonna forgive you for this."

comment #13

K. Bowen says ...

Definitely Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. I prefer it to The WIld Bunch.

comment #14

Rich S. says ...

The Last Picture Show? Maybe they should have called it "Top 100 Movies Set West of the Mississippi."

Figures they would completely overlook The Proposition, which is the best western to come out since Unforgiven.

comment #15

Chase Kahn says ...

I agree, jjgittes. For the life of me, I don't understand the appeal for OPEN RANGE. Personally, I think it's more of a bad movie than a good one.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES mops the floor with that trash...

comment #16

MarkVH says ...

It's not a contemptible list or anything. It just reads really...old. Like they didn't poll anybody under 50. They eventually get around to naming most of the greats, but that Top 10 is comprised of all the usual safe, boring choices, with Tombstone and Open Range laughably thrown in (ahead of Unforgiven?) to make it seem more modern.

Wells, I think you were onto something with that suggestion back at Oscar time that people over a certain age should be banned from voting - I think the same should apply for listmaking.

Thompson's outrage is kind of justifiable mostly because of the people making the choices aren't the usual AFI buffoons - it's Western writers, people who are supposed to know their shit. In what universe are Last of the Mohicans, The Last Picture Show and The Grapes of Wrath considered westerns? True Grit and The Shootist both in the top 20? And My Darling Clementine is a million times better than Tombstone in the Wyatt Earp category.

Oh and lastly, Jeff, your constant heralding of High Noon is about on par with the AFI refusing to budge Citizen Kane from their #1 film of all time slot. It dates you. History has revealed it to be preachy and kind of confused. I'm with Glenn Erickson a.k.a. DVD Savant - The Gunfighter is infinitely better.

comment #17

ElstonGunnAICN says ...

Nice to see THE OX-BOW INCIDENT make any list.

comment #18

Strolzy says ...

Deadwood. Any way you slice it.

comment #19

Mgmax says ...

"Sergio Leone's westerns have too many portentous close-ups."

Bach's organ fugues have too much counterpoint.

comment #20

K. Bowen says ...

Last Picture Show was written by Larry McMurtry (I think) and it is Western Writers of America. Last of the Mohicans is an interesting call. How about The New World, then? I think you could call each of those Westerns, in a way.

comment #21

Mgmax says ...

Mgmax's:

1. The Searchers
2. Ride the High Country
3. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
4. Rio Bravo
5. Seven Men From Now
6. Winchester '73
7. The Westerner
8. Three Bad Men (1928, John Ford)
9. Hell's Hinges (1916, William S. Hart)
10. Go West, Young Lady (1941, Frank Strayer)

comment #22

K. Bowen says ...

My top 10:

McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Unforgiven
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Searchers
Rio Bravo
The Naked Spur
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Seven Men from Now

comment #23

atticusrex says ...

Top 10 Westerns in no particular order... Don't want to strain the brain... lol.

1. Ox-Bow Incident
2. Shane
3. The Westerner
4. Winchester '73
5. The Naked Spur
6. The Magnificent Seven
7. Villa Rides
8. High Plains Drifter
9. Vera Cruz
10. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence

Next 10

11. The Searchers
12. The Professionals
13. Night Train
14. Ride The High Country
15. The Wild Bunch
16. Fistful of Dollars
17. Once Upon A Time In The West
18. The Great Silence
19. Tombstone
20. The Unforgiven

comment #24

T. S. Idiot says ...

Tarantino, no doubt, is upset by the lack of love for William Witney.

Having My Darling Clementine at 22 and Rio Bravo at 24 is shocking, as is the relatively little regard for Mann and Boetticher.

My top ten
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
My Darling Clementine
The Searchers
Rio Bravo
Little Big Man
Duel in the Sun
Ride the High Country
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
The Professionals

comment #25

gruver1 says ...

Wells to MarkVH: High Noon may be a preachy western, but it delivers a very eloquent, well-ordered and well-rooted sermon, and I will always stand by this film body and soul. Because of the Carl Foreman script, Gary Cooper, Hardy Kruger and Lon Chaney, Jr.'s performances, the Dimitri Tiomkin score, because of what it is & what it does to you deep down, and because it kicks Rio Bravo's sorry ass every time it is shown or seen with one hand tied.

The bottom line is that there aren't enough films in the world that say what High Noon says loud and clear, which is that average small-town people are mostly fair-weather sheep -- decent and friendly as far as it goes, but scared silly when push comes to shove, the heat's on and the chips are down. I love that High Noon isn't a true "western" as much as a parable about individual heroism and community cowardice. I love that tin star being dropped into the dust. Yes!

Say it again -- most people are no damn good & lack the necessary backbone when a threat is hovering and their financial security may be threatened. If nothing else, may each and every person on the planet understand that in the end you have to depend on yourself and no one else to do the hard thing. Tell me of another film that conveys this basic reading of human nature with more clarity or force.

If standing by this film dates me then to hell with the concept of "dating" now and forever. Some things are eternally so, and the people who never seem to get this are the ones who say "hey, your tastes are dated!"

comment #26

Roman says ...

I loled at "Tombstone".

Still, when I was a kid a saw it for the first time I kinda dug it.

comment #27

Roman says ...

Get it?

comment #28

atticusrex says ...

Hey Gang... After going back and re-reading everyone's lists... What has struck me is that we all for the most part love the same westerns.
Some more than others... yet look at how many of the same titles pop up on each of our lists.

For me the best over all western film directors nbased on output:

Ford, Anthony Mann, Eastwood, Leone, Boetticher and Peckinpah and just for fun Burt Kennedy.

comment #29

tonyg says ...

As a long time, avid western fan, I was mostly surprised by the following movies NOT being on this list:
1) Wagon Master (worth it for Ben Johnson)
2) The Beautiful Country
3) Major Dundee (reconstruction)
4) Geronimo: An American Legend (possibly the most beautiful western ever filmed)
5) Pat Garret and Billy The Kid (Dylan nearly ruins it, but they consider "Young Guns" better?!?!)

Of those movies listed, I've always found the following painfully unwatchable:

1) Giant
2) Young Guns
3) Liberty Valance
4) High Noon
5) The Shootist
6) Butch Cassidy

Finally, any group that lists "McCabe" below all the films listed above, has their collective heads up their butts. It is one of the best movies (let alone Westerns) ever made. Just thinking about it makes me want to watch it tonight.

comment #30

SFJohn says ...

No Pale Rider?

comment #31

StoneFan1 says ...

These lists are worthless and shouldn't even be
talked about.

comment #32

Rich S. says ...

atticus, I don't see how you could leave Howard Hawks off that list. In my mind, he gets included based on Red River alone. The rest are solid choices, though.

comment #33

lipranzer says ...

Forgot about THE PROPOSITION. Yes, that definitely is the best Western I've seen this decade.

Jeff defended HIGH NOON better than I could, so I'll let it go at that.

And sorry, Tonyg, but I can't share the GERONIMO love. Yet another film about a non-white person told through the eyes of a white person, and horribly told at that - this may be Matt Damon's worst performance, and it wasn't until COURAGE UNDER FIRE that I thought he was worth a damn again. Plus, you have two of our finest character actors in the cast - Duvall and Hackman - and the one scene they have together is completely flat.

comment #34

renorambler says ...

I'm glad to see the love on this list for The Assassination of Jesse James.... One of those movies that I enjoyed watching more the second time around because I was so anxious the first time through it.

And, FWIW, Wells is DEAD ON about High Noon. I couldn't agree more.

comment #35

f.bush says ...

Am I the only one who is tired of seeing "The Seachers" as the number one western of all time? It's a good film, but has too many flaws to be considered the best of all time. Ethan Edwards was probably the best performance John Wayne's career(he was certainly robbed at the 1956 Oscars) but it's not the best western of all time. It's certainly not in the class of "Unforgiven" or "High Noon".
Putting aside the fact that no settler would live in Monument Valley with no water or any way to grow crops, the film is terrific when it focuses on the Martin Pawley/Ethan Edwards part but when it goes back to Ken Curtis and the Jorgensons, and Mose Harper those scenes are an embarressment. There's also the breathing dead Indian, and (see Jeff's critiscism of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence"), scenes like the killing of Futterman that were obviously done on a sound stage and are just out of syc with the rest of the film. This may be heresy but "The Seachers" is overratred.

comment #36

atticusrex says ...

RICH S: Your right of course... I should have included the Hawk.
I did think of him though... not sure why I didn't include him.

LIPRANZER: OMFG! I too forgot about The Proposition. It was a great modern spin.

STONEFAN1: LIsts are great! Simply because it jump-starts discussions like this here thread. It makes us think about film and genres... It shines a light on some we may have forgotten about or haven' seen. Remember though lists are very, very subjective and no-one's is better or worse than any other... unless someone has a title like DIrty DIngus Magee on their top 10 best westerns... then maybe I have to think... what's a matter with that person? lol.

comment #37

tonyg says ...

Lipranzer:
Regarding "Geronimo" - yes, you are correct, but what lingers in my memory and why I've watched it many times are:

1) The shoot-out in the Cantina and Duval's death scene;
2) The confrontation on horseback between Jason Patric's LT and the Indian;
3) Wes Studi's magnetism
4) The whole "look" of the movie

For all its faults, it's certainly a better western than "Young Guns", "Tombstone", etc.

comment #38

Mgmax says ...

You know, it bored me to put The Searchers at the top of my list, too, but I knew it was just.

There are currents running deeper in The Searchers than Unforgiven or High Noon could dream of digging.

The two most important events in the civil rights movement were Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, and John Wayne taking our national sin of racism upon his holy body, and carrying it away with him to roam forever in the wilderness at the end of The Searchers, so that we could be forgiven.

comment #39

dixiedugan says ...

I like Tombstone...for Buck Taylor and Harry Carey Jr. I'm their huckleberry.

*gasp* No love for Stagecoach? My list would have to be, in no particular order mind you, is of course Stagecoach, The Wild Bunch, The Iron Horse, 3 Godfathers, The Grey Fox, The Spoilers, Destry Rides Again, McLintock!, Red River, My Darling Clementine, Once Upon A Time In The West, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Duck You Sucker, Rio Grande, Quigley Down Under, The Furies, Ride The High Country, and just for fun Support Your Local Sherrif because of Walter Brennan.

I think High Sierra and Border Incident would could be considered Westerns, but that might be personal opinion. One I haven't seen in donkey's years and would like to again is Blood on the Moon.

comment #40

George Prager says ...

I hate these threads. It gives everyone an excuse to put up their own worthless lists, like the Desert Island Discs lists in Tower Records Magazine.

comment #41

dixiedugan says ...

Holy Mother of Pearl, I forgot one of my all time favorite watch-it-every-damn-time-and-am-never-sick-of-it-films - Westward The Women.

Sorry George...I guess just don't read these threads then. I enjoy lists...sometimes I'll be reminded of a film I haven't seen in a long time and want to rewatch it, or films I haven't yet seen and should take a peek at. They serve their purpose. I'd rather read lists of films people here love than that AFI shit.

comment #42

tonyg says ...

Vera Cruz - did I miss it on this list. How can it not be on a Top 100 western movie list?

comment #43

Mgmax says ...

11. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
12. Rancho Notorious
13. Bite the Bullet
14. Trail of the Vigilantes
15. The Outlaw Josey Wales
16. Colorado Territory
17. Water For Canitoga
18. The Tall T
19. Pursued
20. Terror in a Texas Town

comment #44

lipranzer says ...

RANCHO NOTORIOUS is a strange but fascinating film. I need to watch it again. Someone also needs to put it on out DVD in a cleaned up print.

Tonyg, I've never seen YOUNG GUNS, but I will concede GERONIMO is better than TOMBSTONE.

comment #45

filmfestivalgeek says ...

"The Searchers" rule!

It marks the death of the traditional western and the beginning of the modern, anti-hero one.

When you can get John Wayne to admit he was playing a psychotic...

It rules!...case closed!

comment #46

Deth Rules says ...

I was thirteen years old when I first saw Unforgiven, it was just on TV in the middle of the day. Like a shot in the heart.

My favorite movie at the time was Spaceballs. I can't tell you how Unforgiven rocked my world. Since then I've come to love westerns, but nothing comes close. I can understand hating it, but not under-rating it. Screw that list.

comment #47

Griff says ...

What’s even more interesting than the commonality of Westerns, is the love for them.

What is it about the structure of the Western that so calls to us, so resonates with us?

Would it be a defensible statement to suggest “The Western is America’s version of Greek Tragedy, the art form that is about our lives, our souls, our relationship with fate and the gods?"

(For what it’s worth, High Noon rocks. Outlaw Josie Wales is masterful. And while it’s not a film, per se, Lonesome Dove was pretty damn good.)

comment #48

Rain says ...

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comment #49

Richardson says ...

1) The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
2) McCabe and Mrs. Miller
3) Unforgiven
4) The Magnificent Seven
5) High Noon
6) Little Big Man
7) High Plains Drifter
8) The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert etc.
9) The Missouri Breaks
10) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

I think 'Rio Bravo' ould make my list if I finished it. I've never cared much for 'The Searchers', and I think 'Red River' falls completely apart in the climax.

comment #50

lionsfan says ...

Let's throw a few curveballs into the mix:
"The Unforgiven," which continues Alan LeMay's fascination (he wrote the novel of "The Searchers") with race relations in the West; The Man From Del Rio." with a good Anthony Quinn; 'Ride Vaquero," with an even better Quinn and his odd relationship with Robert Taylor, plus Ava Gardner at her most stunning; "Warlock" for the oddest (gay-est?) Quinn of all and Henry Fonda in a role which prefigures his later total turn to villainy for Sergio Leone; "Duck You Sucker," Leone's beautiful meditation on revolution and personal loss; "Ten Wanted Men," especially for Richard Boone's lovelorn rancher who turns to outlawry after being spurned; "Three Violent People," sturdy early Charlton Heston but also the only western ever made with Elaine Stritch in it; Tony Anthony's two "Stranger" movies (three if you count the hard-to-find one where he winds up in Japan), ripoffs of the Man WIth No Name concept but enjoyably brutal in their own right; the collective sum of all versions of "The Virginian," because Owen Wister's novel as source material is simply the perfect version of the ranchers-rustlers conflict; "The Deadly Trackers" for its utter hopelessness and fine RIchard Harris performance; "The Bravados" for being suffused with Catholicism and thus with guilt overthe resort to violence, a rare thing indeed in movies of any kind; Allan Dwan's "The River's Edge" for its composure and beauty and still another great job by Anthony Quinn; and "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia," which is Sam Peckinpah at his most essential and purest, free from studio interference for once.

Plus some mention for all those movies from Mexican makers about a) the days of Pancho Villa which turn a brutal revoilution into rollicking and roistering, coupled with great familial sacrifices, and help feed Mexico's sense of mythmaking; and b) the modern ones about "narcostrafficantes" which turn them into heroes.

There are so many good westerns out there. And so much great material remains to be mined in westerns if filmmakers would but dare.