Best Western Movies
From LoveToKnow Movies
The best western movies have long held a special place in the heart of moviegoers. That’s not surprising, considering they were all born long after the mystique of cowboys, bandits, and dancehall girls had quietly slipped into the pages of history and legend. When you think about it, this era—perhaps more than any other—represents the American counterpart to England’s Knights of the Round Table. Rugged heroes, virtuous schoolmarms, sage geezers, and, of course, trusty steeds have the added advantage of being based on, or inspired by, the exploits of real men and women who peopled the burgeoning landscape west of the Mississippi during the years immediately following the Civil War.
Is it any wonder that during the 1950’s, film directors were wildly enthusiastic to bring this brand of adventure to movie screens throughout the country and to offer viewers escapist fare from the pervasive anxieties about Communism, racism, and whether aliens in outer space were watching everything we were doing? During 1954 alone, every one out of five films was about a man and his horse and a slow ride into the sunset.
Looking for some vicarious excitement set in the days of the Wild West? Here are some of the best western movies to get you started, Partner.
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, 1969 classic starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross, ignited what would come to be popularly known as “the buddy film”. Based on the real-life story of Butch, Sundance and the Hole in the Wall Gang, it humorously shares the adventures of two charming bandits who rob one train too many and are suddenly forced to flee to a new life in Bolivia. Unfortunately, neither of them is really suited to anything except divesting others of their hard-earned money and very soon they’re back to their old habits. The Bolivians are not amused.
High Noon
One of the indelible images that a lot of us have regarding the confrontation between good and evil against a western backdrop is the sight of a twitchy-fingered villain staring down a white-hat hero in the middle of an abandoned street. The determination that the town isn’t big enough to accommodate both of their interests has brought both men to this juncture; when the dust has settled, only one of them will be left standing. A scene oft repeated in western movies, none have quite matched what Gary Cooper brought to High Noon with Grace Kelly in 1952. In this film, Cooper plays a lawman who just wants to hang up his guns and settle down to domestic bliss with his new bride. An outlaw he once sent to prison, however, has different plans. Cooper attempts to rally support amongst the townsfolk but they are all basically weenies. When you want a job done right, sometimes you just have to do it yourself.
The Magnificent Seven
Who are you gonna call when bandits are ruthlessly overrunning your village, terrorizing your womenfolk, and scarfing up all of your food? The elders of this particular town decide that the only solution is to go northward and start advertising for hired guns. They’re in splendid luck, of course, as their search yields seven macho men, each with his own secret agenda for wanting to strap on a firearm, head to Mexico, and kick some serious butt. The Magnificent Seven (1960) is actually the American remake of a 1954 foreign film called The Seven Samurai and stars such legends as Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.
Tombstone
Wyatt Earp ranks among the top ten real-life heroes most often portrayed in movies (Buffalo Bill Cody holds the #1 slot). Certainly the best representation of Wyatt, however, was the performance turned in by Kurt Russell in 1993's Tombstone. The famous lawman’s plans to retire in Tombstone are disrupted when a band of baddies led by the Clanton brothers decides to stir up trouble. The Earp boys and their gambler pal Doc Holliday (portrayed brilliantly by Val Kilmer) determine that it’s time to end things once and for all in a shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.
Rio Bravo
What would a best western movies article be without mentioning the likes of John Wayne? As early as the 1930’s, he was upholding justice on the frontier and performing all of his own stunts. While it can be argued that he essentially played the same role over and over, audiences never seemed to mind. In 1959's Rio Bravo, Wayne is cast as a sheriff and paired with the unlikely combination of Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson. Did I mention that they’re also his deputies? This film is essentially the flip side of High Noon in which Wayne and his cohorts are offered more help from the locals in dispatching bad guys than they really want or need.
Shane
Alan Ladd rode onto movie screens in 1953 in Shane and right into the midst of an ugly cattlemen’s dispute. With a cast that includes Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Jack Palance, and Brandon De Wilde, this movie is perhaps most famous for its poignant closing scene in which little Joey Starrett whimpers after his departing hero, “Shane! Come back!”
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
A successful string of films referred to as “spaghetti westerns” came on the scene in the 1960’s, a number of which were directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone. Europeans, it seems, were as enamored with the American West as Americans were. Filmmakers were excited about shooting movies in Spain and Italy because not only did much of the landscape lend itself to plausible backdrops, but it was also cheaper than shooting in Hollywood. At the core of these flicks were a strange breed of heroes who—left to their druthers—wouldn’t have gotten involved with anyone. The most popular of these cool loners, of course, was Clint Eastwood.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a rollicking treasure hunt that pairs a loner gunman with a quirky Mexican bandit. Complicating their quest for buried gold is the Civil War equivalent of a hit man. It soon becomes every man for himself.
Pale Rider
Yes, it’s Clint again, this time in the role of a shadowy preacher with a big secret in Pale Rider. The secret? He’s very, very good with a gun. This comes in handy when he intervenes on behalf of plucky California goldminers who are intimidated by a greedy land baron. Picture Dirty Harry in a clergyman’s costume, and you know right away that the villains are going to be toast.
The Searchers
What are The Searchers searching for, you ask? The protagonist’s niece was abducted by the very same Indians who killed the rest of the family. John Wayne, in the lead role of Ethan, is determined to bring her back no matter how long it takes. He also has assistance in the form of his nephew, Martin. Martin just happens to be a half-breed. Their relationship, suffice it to say, is strained for the majority of their journey into Indian country.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance teams up John Wayne with another box-office favorite of the 1960’s: James Stewart. Stewart portrays a senator who returns to one of his former haunts to attend the funeral services of Tom Doniphon, the character played by John Wayne. While there, he’s encouraged by a reporter to share the story behind his reputation as the man who shot the outlaw Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). It seems, however, that with the passage of years, the truth may have been somewhat embroidered.
Cheyenne Autumn
Director John Ford is said to have used the 1964 epic Cheyenne Autumn about the harsh treatment of Lakota and Dakota Indian tribes as a way to atone for his earlier depiction of Native Americans as a minor footnote in history. Oddly, he chose to cast Latin actors Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland in significant Indian roles rather than recruit participants from the actual ethnicity he was attempting to defend in the plot. While the pace and structure are quirky at times, it provides an interesting peek into Ford’s head and his assessment of this period of American history.
Dances with Wolves
The enormity of Kevin Costner masterpiece, Dances with Wolves, galvanized audiences worldwide and made him an instant Hollywood darling as both an actor and a visionary director. While it was a momentum he inevitably wasn’t able to sustain, what he brings to the screen as the disillusioned Civil War officer is truly Oscar-worthy. Animal lovers be warned, both the wolf and the horse are killed.
Where to Find More Best Western Movies
Cast lists, memorable quotes, trivia and links to reviews for these and other western films can be enjoyed at Internet Movie Data Base. The archives of The Movie Spoiler will yield complete summaries of some of the more recent entries in the western genre. You can even download complete Movie Scripts for free at such websites as Script Crawler, Drew's Script-o-Rama and Script Pimp.
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Comments
Wow, thanks for all of that info! You really love your Westerns.
-- Contributed by: CrystalSchwankeBecause of space, I can't get into specifics with long explanations and proper citations; hence, this has to be an authoritative list. With this being said, Bad Day at Black Rock and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (and others of that type) do not fit into the purist sense of the look and feel of the Western genre. We all know what the Western genre encompasses and I don’t want to get into a long philosophical discussion on this subject (by the way, both of those movies are in my personal top 100 all-time). One thing is for sure, as Ernest Borgnine stated in his introduction to The Wild Bunch, great movies have to fulfill two requirements to achieve greatness: 1. stand the test of time and, 2. warrant repeated viewings. All of the following movies fall into that category. As a Western fanatic, I know which movies I have left off of this list. I hope my list spurs on dialogue and I hope you take my comments with the same reverence I put into writing them. Enjoy.
10. The Magnificent Seven It's so easy for the top nine; the tenth spot was tough to fill. There are so many great Westerns and you’ve seen the lists and you’ve seen those movies, but when a movie is part of the American iconographical landscape, it's tough to let go. Let's start with a classic story that is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. The cast is incredible (except of course Horst Buchholz). Good usage of humor combined with a straight forward dialogue, kept the cornball factor to a minimum. The plot also explores the end of the era of the gunfighter and the modernization of the old west. And who could forget one of the greatest motion picture scores of all time. Elmer Bernstein's score is instantly recognizable and makes the soul soar every time we hear it! Ask any couch potato/western loving real man if he had his choice between The Magnificent Seven and Dances with Wolves, we all know what will be the answer!!
9. High Plains Drifter Critics and audiences made a huge deal over Unforgiven as being innovative and being a modern Western. Clint Eastwood did this in 1973 with High Plains Drifter. With set designs harkening back to German Expressionism and filming techniques that employ Surrealism, this film was lost in the 70's cynical treatment of the Western as a genre and never got its just dues. Those of us who love the Western will never pass up a chance to watch it in reruns. This was a Western that pulls no punches and all of the characters are despicable. Innovative, provocative, and uncompromising, High Plains Drifter was way ahead of its time for its filming technique, treatment of the anti-hero and the forerunner of many "revisionist" Westerns to come.
8. The Ox-Bow Incident "Hangin' is any man's business that's around." Henry Fonda's father took him to the site of a lynching that occurred the previous morning and told young Henry that statement, and that line was used in the movie at Henry Fonda's insistence. It's hard to watch movies like this because it exposes the soul of every man. At a tight 75 minutes, the plot and dialogue move along at a good pace. Beautiful performances by Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn along with the reaction shots of the mob after the final realization of their lynching leave an indelible mark on the watcher. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and in 1998 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
7. Stagecoach
Relegated to B-movie status, the Western was Hollywood's stepchild and was never thought of as a serious movie. Stagecoach changed all of that and movie history was made. Moral ambiguity abounds as a cast of disparate characters are put together in claustrophobic environments and forced to deal with each other in the ultimate road trip movie (still used today: Rain Man, Little Miss Sunshine). Orson Welles watched Stagecoach over 40 times while filming Citizen Kane and incorporated scenes with ceilings (a practice rarely used). Akira Kurosawa was inspired so much by this movie he went on to make The Seven Samarai. Stop and think about this for a minute, Stagecoach was responsible for two of the greatest movies ever made!! Combine this with being John Ford's first talking film, his first time filming in Monument Valley and John Wayne's star-making role makes this not only an influential Western genre film but also one of the most influential films of all time.
6. The Wild Bunch It's long and the whorehouse scene really bogs down the narrative flow, but no Western's best list can be complete without this movie. Hitch... has nothing on Peckinpah when it comes to editing a movie. The Academy made one of the biggest mistakes in history by not at least nominating this movie for best editing. Of course the moral ambiguity themes, the demystification of the West and the end of the era of the aging gunfighter are themes that have been explored before, but it's the controversial handling of violence, slow-motion bloodletting and the parallel with the Vietnam War that makes this a provocative Western that stands along with other great movies. Bloody Sam comes through in living color.
5. Shane This movie has it all…action, family values, gunfights, fist fights, great humor, great dialogue, incredible editing (saloon fight and final shootout), beautiful Teton locations, breathtaking cinematography, incredible cast and incredible acting. As a Librarian, I usually say that the book is better than the movie, however, the book comes nowhere near the character development or having the reader visualize the locale. George Stevens accomplishes this and more. This movie operates on so many levels that it takes repeated viewings to understand all of the subtleties (especially in the actor's choices). Just like The Searchers, the sexual tension between the main character and the female lead contributes to a multi-layered screenplay that would make Freud proud. There are so many great moments in this film (Stevens is a master of great movie moments): Dixie on the harmonica, Shane's first dinner and the reaction of Joey when Shane gets jumpy, the stare-down between Shane and Jack Wilson when they meet for the first time, the fist fight in the saloon, Stonewall's death scene in the horse ... and mud and the subsequent scene at the Reb's funeral and his dog at the gravesite (the crew wept while filming this scene) and of course the final scene. In 1993, Shane was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly An epic masterpiece of tremendous proportions. Sergio Leone is a genius at directing this movie and employed innovative usage of extreme close-ups, unusual camera angles, extended sequences and amazing action that changed how films were made after that. What keeps us coming back to this movie time and time again is the wry humor and the MUSIC!! Along with Jaws, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly elevates itself to the level of the greatest motion picture score of all time. It has become a cliché now when the opening whistle melody embodies the Western shootout in movies, TV, commercials, you name it. Keep in mind, before this, the western ideal for music was always the large orchestral scores with sweeping melodies ala Copland, Korngold, Moross, Elmer Bernstein, etc. Ennio Morricone used electric guitars, whistling and hyena howls!! Talk about innovative!! The Ecstasy of Gold sequence is a cinematic clinic on how to unite editing with music.
3. The Outlaw Josey Wales "Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?" To some of us, we quietly get together in closed-door sessions and hushed tones and truly believe that this is the greatest western of all time. It certainly is Clint Eastwood's favorite movie. However, for the sake of our classic western fans, I put it in third place. It has stood the test of time and true Western fanatics quote lines from this movie. "Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes." Eastwood runs the full gamut of his emotions and turns in a great job of acting including spittin' chaw on everything that moves. Rottentomatoes.com has a perfect 100% score on the critics "Tomatometer" with Roger Ebert stating, "Eastwood is such a taciturn and action-oriented performer that it's easy to overlook the fact that he directs many of his movies -- and many of the best, most intelligent ones. Here, with the moody, gloomily beautiful photography of Bruce Surtees, he creates a magnificent Western feeling." It was also one of the few Western movies to receive critical and commercial success in the 70's at a time when the Western was thought to be dying as a major genre in Hollywood. Jerry Fielding was nominated for an Oscar in the best motion picture score category. In 1996, this film was placed in the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. "Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy."
2. High Noon Before I even start, one thing has to be set straight from the get-go. Howard Hawks and John Wayne hated this movie and made Rio Bravo as a right-wing response to blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman and the film's message to Hollywood for the failure of the Hollywood people to stand up to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy era. Wayne and Hawks hated that Will Kane ran around town like a "chicken with his head cut off." Wayne's political views aside, the plot stands up. Spineless townspeople is a Western staple, Kane could not run away because the killer would catch up to him and kill his new wife, too (is it really so terrible that the hero is not super-human?). So, after calling in favors that didn't come through, he stands alone in one of the most famous shots in cinematic history (the crane shot of Kane standing alone in the middle of the street). Shot in real-time, Fred Zinnemann created tempo and mood with the ever-present ticking clock and Dimitri Tiomkin’s Oscar-winning song "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin.'" Add to this, Gary Cooper’s Oscar-winning performance (when everybody thought he was all washed-up) makes High Noon one of the great movies of all time (AFI’s list of "America’s 100 Greatest Movies", High Noon is ranked #33). Registered as a national treasure by the Library of Congress.
1. The Searchers
Monument Valley never looked better in VistaVision's three strip filming process. Roger Ebert stated, "John Ford's The Searchers contains scenes of magnificence, and one of John Wayne's best performances. There are shots that are astonishingly beautiful." The only Western in history to be placed in the top 10 Sight & Sound Poll as among the greatest films of all time. AFI ranked The Searchers #12 in their all-time list and in 1989 the United States National Film Registry’s first year of selecting films for preservation, chose The Searchers as one of the first 25 films to be deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." The Searchers has influenced films as diverse as Star Wars, Taxi Driver, Hardcore, Dances with Wolves, Saving Private Ryan, The Wind and the Lion and Apocalypse Now. David Lean studied The Searchers in preparation for Lawrence of Arabia and as a result movie history was made with that famous shot of the across-the-desert entrance of Sherif Ali. Sergio Leone listed The Searchers as one of his favorite films. Much has been made of the film's racist overtones, but both sides were equally represented and based on historical fact. The basis of Ethan Edward's obsession is clearly stated when Debbie hides next to a tombstone that states the massacre of Ethan’s mother at the beginning of the film. Not so obvious is John Ford's hidden subtext about Ethan's affair with his brother's wife and that Lucy or Debbie could possibly be Ethan's children. The thirst for vengeance makes total sense especially with the prospect that Debbie's been "living with a Buck." So many great scenes (the wedding scene, the letter reading scene) and lots of comic relief ("That'll be the day!"), keep the viewer's interest throughout. As far as I'm concerned, this is John Wayne's greatest acting triumph. When Ethan has to explain to Brad that Lucy was dead and he says, "What do you want me to do? Draw you a picture? Spell it out? Don't ever ask me! Long as you live, don't ever ask me more," is delivered with such harrowing conviction by Wayne, it gives me goosebumps. Then there is the scene when Ethan sees two white women who were raped by Indians and regressed to their childhood, Ethan says, "They aren't white. Not anymore." As Ethan exits we are given one of the greatest close-ups in movie history (seen over and over again in motion picture retrospectives). John Ford was sparse with camera movements and so when he employs camera movements, there is a heightened sense of drama. Ford's camera rapidly tracks in on Wayne's face to that close-up and reveals Ethan's total contempt—a chilling moment. Every shot is framed. I've never seen a movie that did this so effectively and with such beauty. It's like Frederic Remington painted each shot. Keep in mind, this is all before CGI. The cinematography is stunning. Then there is that incredible final shot, perfectly framed again with awesome cinematography and John Wayne's personal tribute to Harry Carey. I am in awe every time I watch this movie.
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