Vote for Your Top 20 US Westerns

The Saloon Western board
21

@ John: okay, in the right order:

  1. High Noon
  2. Fort Apache
  3. Rio Bravo
  4. The Man who shot Liberty Valance
  5. The Gunfighter
  6. Warlock
  7. Monte Walsh
  8. Ride the High Country
  9. Colorado Territory
    10.Man of the West
  10. Ride Lonesome
  11. Blood on the Moon
  12. Shane
  13. Butch cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  14. The Man from Laramie
  15. Little Big Man
  16. Jeremiah Johnson
  17. Tell them Willie Boy is Here
  18. The Paleface
  19. True Grit (2010)
22

Iā€™ve only seen the new version. Not my favorite American western, but a great piece of nostalgia.

23
  1. My Darling Clementine
  2. Bend of the River
  3. Ride Lonesome
  4. El Dorado
  5. The Searchers
  6. Ride the High Country
  7. Rio Bravo
  8. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
  9. Man From Laramie
  10. Naked Spur
  11. The Tall T
  12. Seven Men From Now
  13. Forty Guns
  14. Winchester '73 (not the remake, although frankly Iā€™m not sure whoā€™d think it would be!)
  15. Day of the Outlaw
  16. Stagecoach
  17. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
  18. Red River
  19. Comanche Station
  20. Man Without a Star *
  • Iā€™m honestly prepared to admit this isnā€™t that good, but thereā€™s something** about it that I really enjoy.
    ** OK - Itā€™s the really over the top romance scenes that I really enjoy.

(Iā€™ve assumed that despite about 5 minutes of Monument Valley, Once Upon a Time in the West is not allowed on this list :wink: )

24

@ John Welles, the original 3:10 to Yuma. The other one sucks balls in my opinion.

25

Hereā€™s my list, donā€™t laugh at number 20, I love Lee Marvin in that movieā€¦

  1. Unforgiven 1992
  2. The Wild Bunch 1969
  3. McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971
  4. Jeremiah Johnson 1972
  5. The Outlaw Josey Wales 1976
  6. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
  7. Two Mules for Sister Sara 1970
  8. Hombre 1967
  9. Pale Rider 1985
  10. Wyatt Earp 1994
  11. Ride the High Country 1962
  12. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid 1973
  13. The Ballad of Cable Hogue 1970
  14. Hang 'Em High 1968
  15. True Grit 2010
  16. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 2007
  17. High Plains Drifter 1973
  18. Barquero 1970
  19. The Searchers 1956
  20. Cat Ballou 1965
26

Two Mules for Sister Sara has a bit of love then.

27

Itā€™s my wifeā€™s favorite

28

My favorites:

  1. The Outlaw Josey Wales
  2. The Searchers
  3. The Professionals
  4. The Wild Bunch
  5. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
  6. Unforgiven
  7. Pale Rider
  8. The Magnificent Seven
  9. Shane
  10. High Plains Drifter
  11. True Grit (2010)
  12. Open Range
  13. Tombstone
  14. Jeremiah Johnson
  15. The Missing
  16. Ride Lonesome
  17. Tom Horn
  18. Bite the Bullet
  19. 100 Rifles
  20. Quigley Down Under (Selleck plays a good saddle tramp)

Honorable mention - Seargeant Rutledge, El Dorado, The Train Robbers, The Quick and the Dead (1995), and, of course, The Valley of Gwangi (filmed in Spain)

29

Thanks. I almost put Fort Apache in, but I prefer She Wore a Yellow Ribbon to it.

Bad Lieutenant Quote:

@ John Welles, the original 3:10 to Yuma. The other one sucks balls in my opinion.
I wouldn't go quite so far... but it certainly isn't as good as the original.

Commissioner Quote:

** OK - It's the really over the top romance scenes that I really enjoy.
Don't worry - I nearly put [b]Duel in the Sun[/b] in my Top 20 :P.
30

Here goes. Difficult list to make because thereā€™s so many classics I havenā€™t seen and so many Iā€™ve only seen once many, many years ago.

  1. Pat Garret and Billy the Kid
  2. One-eyed Jacks
  3. Dead Man
  4. Ballad of Cable Hogue
  5. El Dorado
  6. Gunfight
  7. Wild Bunch
  8. Unforgiven
  9. Rio Bravo
  10. Shooting
  11. Pale Rider
  12. Vera Cruz
  13. Man who shot Liberty Valance
  14. Johnny Guitar
  15. Django Unchained
  16. Barbarosa
  17. Young Guns
  18. Outlaw Josey Wales
  19. High Noon
  20. Gunfight at OK Corral

I didnā€™t include pure comedies like Blazing Saddles and Way Out West.

31

Itā€™s nice One-Eyed Jacks is so high - itā€™s a pity itā€™s only film directed by Brando, as it is damn good. And I see I gotta view Ballad of Cable Hogue.

32

Post your own Top 20 and get it even higher!

33

Iā€™d better post only Top 10, havenā€™t seen many classics from this genre and Iā€™m not very keen on westerns made before 1964.

  1. Dead Man
  2. Jeremiah Johnson
  3. The Wild Bunch
  4. One-eyed Jacks
  5. Ride the High Country
  6. Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
  7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  8. Pale Rider
  9. Unforgiven
  10. The Professionals
34
[b]Commissioner Quote:[/b] [quote] ** OK - It's the really over the top romance scenes that I really enjoy. [/quote] Don't worry - I nearly put Duel in the Sun in my Top 20 :P.

:slight_smile: Indeed. Itā€™s not a bad film; it just isnā€™t really top 20 material. Still, we all have our (slightly) guilty pleasures, and sometimes itā€™s worth owning up to them for the sake of variety, or something.

35

Narrowing my list down to 20 has been hard enough. Putting in order of favourites is proving nigh on impossible.
Have to ponder a little longer I think. :-\

36

Iā€™m going to have to be ruthless, Iā€™m afraid, and not count any lists with less than twenty films :(. Sorry. When youā€™ve seen more, post again! As for pre-1964, might I recommend the Westerns of Mann, Boetticher and Ray, directors, in particular the first two, who influenced Spaghetti Westerns a lot, especially in the formative years of the genre.

37

Ok, then:

1 The Wild Bunch
2 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
3 Little Big Man
4 Hombre
5 Yellow Sky
6 High Noon
7 Major Dundee
8 Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
9 One Eyed Jacks
10 40 Guns
11 Ulzanaā€™s Raid
12 Man with the Gun
13 True Grit (1968)
14 Ride the High Country
15 The Professionals
16 The Naked Spur
17 Union Pacific
18 Santa Fe Trail
19 Wagonmaster
20 Fort Apache

Instead of the last 5 I could have chosen 20 or 30 others. Like some of these:

My Darling Clementine
The Shooting
Rio Bravo
El Dorado
Rio Conchos
Bad Company
Jesse James
Day of the Outlaw
Rawhide
Red River
Man of the West
Blood on the Moon
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

38

Will post it tonight, just have to see The Assassination of Jesse James.

39

U.S list is easy for me as have seen most I want to see, so:

  1. The Wild Bunch
  2. High Plains Drifter
  3. Chatoā€™s Land
  4. Lawman
  5. The Hunting Party
  6. The Outlaw Josey Wales
  7. Ulzanaā€™s Raid
  8. Pat Garret and Billy The Kid.
  9. The Cullpepper Cattle Company
  10. Deathhunt
  11. Doc
  12. Soldier Blue
  13. Monte Walsh ( Lee Marvin version)
  14. Posse (1975)
  15. Something Big
  16. Spikes Gang
  17. The Stalking Moon
  18. Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here.
  19. Time For A Killing
  20. Welcome To Hard Times[size=2][/size]
40
Narrowing my list down to 20 has been hard enough. Putting in order of favourites is proving nigh on impossible.

Had the same problem. Still it was a useful exercise. I have no special favorite among the American westerns, that one movie that rises above the rest, in fact thereā€™s not too much light between the first seven or eight movies on my list, theyā€™re all particularly fine. In the end it was a bit of a surprise to discover that High Noon is my favorite. Of this group of very fine movies, High Noonā€™s the one I like best and return to most often.

My list wouldā€™ve looked differently if I had entered more titles of directors like Hawks, Walsh, Boetticher or Peckinpah, but i decided to limit myself to one title. Therefore thereā€™s no Wild Bunch, Red River or El Dorado. Only Ford and Mann have two because I like their work best.