The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ,Tombstone,Winchester 73,Stagecoach,The Searchers,Fort Apache,The Man from Laramie,Rio Bravo,Red River
SEVEN WAYS FROM SUNDOWN 1959 AUDIE MURPHY Venetia Stevenson
This is another Brilliant, Entertaining High Quality Audie Murphy Western with Class.
in no particular order, the wild bunch, ride the high country(excellent music), dances with wolves, the shootist, shane, high noon,shanandoah,gettysburg, glory ( also excellent theme music),heaven’s gate.
All Eastwood’s westerns (especially Unforgiven and Two mules for Sister Sara)
Duel at Dablo
The Tin Star
The Wild Bunch
Junior Bonner
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Flaming Star
The Last Hard Men
The Shootist
Bad Company
Soldier Blue
Hannie Caulder
Peace Hotel
Maverick
Tombstone
The Quick and the Dead
Treasure of Sierra Mandre
Need to see more John Wayne stuff and Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, also trying to track down Ralph Nelsons 3rd western - The Wrath of God , anyone seen it?
No, but would like to.
[quote=“chuck connors brother, post:64, topic:103”]All Eastwood’s westerns (especially Unforgiven and Two mules for Sister Sara)
Duel at Dablo
The Tin Star
The Wild Bunch
Junior Bonner
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Ride Beyond Vengeance
The Shootist
Bad Company
Soldier Blue
Hannie Caulder
Peace Hotel
Maverick
Tombstone
The Quick and the Dead
Treasure of Sierra Mandre
Need to see more John Wayne stuff and Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, also trying to track down Ralph Nelsons 3rd western - The Wrath of God , anyone seen it?[/quote]
I often see Treasure Of The Sierra Madre classified as a western. Why is that?
It was not thought of as a western when it was made, was it? I don’t know.
Of course we call movies like A Bullet For The General a western (over the protests of Damiano Damiani!) so I guess it follows that Treasure can be called a western but in the context of American westerns I find it harder to classify it in that way.
By the way Chuck’s Bro, I was not being critical of you for calling it a western. I am just curious what other people think about this…
I also never viewed Treasure as a western.
It’s btw also an highly overrated film for me, good of course, but far from being great.
Too much studio bound atmosphere, too much sentimentality, too much moral.
And Wrath of God was quite entertaining without being an event, but I don’t remember much of it, cause it’s a very seldom shown film here in Germany.
I love Treasure of the Sierra Madre. But I’ve never considered it a western. The famous scenes in the desert with the mexican bandits might leave that impression but this is strictly a 20th century film. And not just turn of the century either. The scenes where Bogart is in the city out of work place it squarely in a modern context.
But what the hell. Everyone has their own criteria for what is or is not a western. For example, I wouldn’t class Junior Bonner as a western either. It’s set in the west but it’s a contemporary film about a rodeo rider. And too many cars!! ;D
I don’t care if Sierra Mandre is classified as a western or not, but I think the mood and locations are very western-like and the dust, horses, guns, desert, etc.
Of course, there are many western elements in it, and it could took place without greater changes 70 or 80 years earlier.
In that case nobody would call it a non western.
There is a similar contemporary film directed by John Sturges called The Walking Hills. Don’t know why, but that’s a western for me.
Same goes for Pakula’s Comes a Horseman, which also is set after WW 2 (instead after the Civil War).
Maybe the difference is that they use horses in these films, whereas in Treasure they go by foot (or am I wrong?).
And their hats and clothes and their way to carry their guns are not so typical western like.
But in the other 2 the western feeling is much stronger, mostly you forget that they don’t took place in the 19th century.
Mine wold be:
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
- Unforgiven
- Vera Cruz
- One-Eyed Jacks
- Valdez is Coming
- The Missing
- Bite the Bullet
- The Wild Bunch
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (yes, it’s a western)
- Open Range
This was a hard list to put together. I like American Westerns but definitley not as much as Spaghetti Westerns.
My faves, so far [i like the first two the best, but apart from that in no particular order]:
The Wild Bunch
Little Big Man
High Noon
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Searchers
The Big Country
Dead Man
Tombstone
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Pale Rider
High Plains Drifter
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
El Topo
The Missouri Breaks
Quigley Down Under
Cimarron (1960)
Vera Cruz
Time for a new list
In bold are my real favourites
I have a preference for more thoughtful westerns, especially those concerned with the passing of time and the end of an era, be it the frontier, free grazing or the indian. I also like demythologising westerns, as long as they don’t try to be preachy.
1947 - Angel and the Badmen
1948 - Fort Apache
1948 - The Paleface
1950 - The Gunfighter
1953 - Escape from Fort Bravo
1953 - Shane
1954 - Johnny Guitar
1955 - Day of the Outlaw
1956 - The Searchers
1957 - Forty Guns
1958 - Man of the West
1959 - Warlock
1960 - Comanche station
1962 - The man who shot liberty Valence
1966 - El Dorado
1968 - Hang 'm High
1969 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969 - The Wild Bunch
1970 - Monte Walsh
1970 - Little Big Man
1972 - Ulzana’s Raid
1974 - Blazing Saddles
1990 - Dances with Wolves
1995 - Wild Bill
2006 - Three Burials
What about 1939 (Stagecoach) -1946 
I wanted to limit my list to 25 entries, this means I had to make choices
There’s nothing wrong with Stagecoach, and it’s an important film in the history of the genre.
If I had to make a list with ‘essential’ westerns, it would be on it, but we’re asked to name our favourite films here, and it’s not a special favourite of mine
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:73, topic:103”]Time for a new list
In bold are my real favourites
I have a preference for more thoughtful westerns, especially those concerned with the passing of time and the end of an era, be it the frontier, free grazing or the indian. I also like demythologising westerns, as long as they don’t try to be preachy.
1947 - Angel and the Badmen
1948 - Fort Apache
1948 - The Paleface
1950 - The Gunfighter
1953 - Escape from Fort Bravo
1953 - Shane
1954 - Johnny Guitar
1955 - Day of the Outlaw
1956 - The Searchers
1957 - Forty Guns
1958 - Man of the West
1959 - Warlock
1960 - Comanche station
1962 - The man who shot liberty Valence
1966 - El Dorado
1968 - Hang 'm High
1969 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969 - The Wild Bunch
1970 - Monte Walsh
1970 - Little Big Man
1972 - Ulzana’s Raid
1974 - Blazing Saddles
1990 - Dances with Wolves
1995 - Wild Bill
2006 - Three Burials[/quote]
All good films of course but just for the sake of discussion I have made a list based on the same years as yours but offering an alternate title which could rival those chosen by Scherps.
1948 - Red River
1948 - Yellow Sky
1950 - Broken Arrow (or Winchester '73 maybe?)
1953 - Vera Cruz
1953 - Hondo
1954 - The Far Country
1955 - The Man From Laramie
1956 - The Last Wagon (Or maybe 7 Men From Now)
1957 - 3.10 to Yuma
1958 - The Bravados
1959 - Rio Bravo
1960 - Magnificent Seven
1962 - Ride the High Country
1966 - The Shooting (In truth this was a terrible year for U.S westerns. Such a contrast to how it was for the italians)
1968 - Will Penny
1969 - True Grit
1970 - Two Mules for Sister Sara
1970 - Valdez is Coming
1972 - Jeremiah Johnson
1974 - Another terrible year so can’t offer any alternative here.
1990 - Young Guns II (tenuous I know, but it’s all I could think of)
1995 - Dead Man
2006 - Seraphim Falls
This list still leaves off a number of my real favourites but that will have to come in another list. These are just some alteranives to stir up an argument 
Some nice ones that didn’t get mentioned:
1940 - The Return of Frank James
1952 - The Duel at Silver Creek
1957 - Raiders of Old California
1958 - Terror in a Texas Town
1959 - Last Train from Gun Hill
1962 - Sergeants 3
1967 - Hour of the Gun
1969 - Mackenna’s Gold
1970 - Three Bullets for a Long Gun
1971 - Zachariah
1972 - Dirty Little Billy
1974 - Viboras cambian de piel, Las
1979 - Cactus Jack
@ PHIL
Untill '62 : nearly all great films, could all have been on my list ( haven’t seen Yellow Sky - shame on me, several people told me it’s great); from then only Jeremiah johnson could ever make to my list, even though I only dislike The Shooting (I just don’t dig those Hellman westerns).
Can’t think of anything for '74 either; for '66 The professionals or Nevada Smith would be a decent choice
Here’s another alternative for '74: Lee Marvin and Ron Howard in “The Spikes Gang”
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:78, topic:103”]@ PHIL
Untill '62 : nearly all great films, could all have been on my list ( haven’t seen Yellow Sky - shame on me, several people told me it’s great); from then only Jeremiah johnson could ever make to my list, even though I only dislike The Shooting (I just don’t dig those Hellman westerns).
Can’t think of anything for '74 either; for '66 The professionals or Nevada Smith would be a decent choice[/quote]
Yes, fair call. To be honest after '62 I was struggling big time to come up with any alternatives although I genuinely like Jeremiah Johnson a lot and also think Will Penny is a fine western. Of course, I was only offering westerns from the same years you selected. I’ll offer some other favourites from the years you missed out soon. This exercise is interesting as it really highlights how the U.S western had lost its way by the mid sixties. My collection is full of great films up to that period and then is totally dominated by spaghettis from then on until the seventies when they too die away and we have the sporadic U.S ones taking over again.