Greatest westerns ever made? Pick your top five. | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Greatest westerns ever made? Pick your top five.

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Okay, two more Epic Westerns that haven't been mentioned, and why it's so difficult to pick just five. These two depict the end of the era of the Old West

THE WILD BUNCH An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them. All Star cast includes William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O'Brien, Warren Oates. Several different versions have been released, but look for the Sam Peckinpah Director's Cut.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID Who can resist Paul Newman and Robert Redford together? One of the best and most-liked films of the 1960s, this is still a fun movie to watch today. When I saw this on DVD on a nice flat-screen set, I was amazed how good this looked.

One remembers this western for several things: the two leads looking over their shoulders incredulous that their pursers seem to be always there; Paul Newman riding a bicycle to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," the beautiful Katharine Ross, the chemistry of Newman and Robert Redford as a two-man team, on and on.
 
So many great westerns. hard to name just 5.

Anything with Clint Eastwood
Mackenna's Gold
Quigley Down Under
Quick And The Dead (with Sharon Stone).
Sacketts and The Shadow Riders.

honorable mention.....Open Range, Jeremiah Johnson, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Once Upon A Time In The West.
 
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I realize this is blatantly cheating but…upon further consideration….
The Searchers
Stagecoach
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Tie-Dances With Wolves/Tombstone
Tie-Open Range/The Outlaw Josey Wales

Josey Wales would be higher if not for the execrable acting of Sondra Locke who single-handedly managed to turn this from an all time classic into a merely good, to very good film!
 
My "go to" Internet Movie Review Site is IMDb (Internet Movie Database). Here is their list of Top Twenty Westerns, based on reviews. Follow the links for Descriptions

Top 20 Greatest Western Movies of All Time (The Ultimate List)​

1. Unforgiven (1992)

2. The Searchers (1956)

3. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)​

4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)​

5. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)​

6. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)​

7. Winchester '73 (1950)​

8. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)​

9. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)​

10. True Grit (1969)​

11. Django Unchained (2012)​

12. Dead Man (1995)​

13. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)​

14. High Noon (1952)​

15. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)​

16. Stagecoach (1939)​

17. Red River (1948)​

18. The Wild Bunch (1969)​

19. Johnny Guitar (1954)​

20. Tombstone (1993)​

 
Aluminny69 said:
Okay, two more Epic Westerns that haven't been mentioned, and why it's so difficult to pick just five. These two depict the end of the era of the Old West

THE WILD BUNCH An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them. All Star cast includes William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O'Brien, Warren Oates. Several different versions have been released, but look for the Sam Peckinpah Director's Cut.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID Who can resist Paul Newman and Robert Redford together? One of the best and most-liked films of the 1960s, this is still a fun movie to watch today. When I saw this on DVD on a nice flat-screen set, I was amazed how good this looked.

One remembers this western for several things: the two leads looking over their shoulders incredulous that their pursers seem to be always there; Paul Newman riding a bicycle to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," the beautiful Katharine Ross, the chemistry of Newman and Robert Redford as a two-man team, on and on.
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Both outstanding picks, Aluminny69, and have been noted often earlier here, especially Butch Cassidy. Agreed, Newman/Redford seems so perfect in retrospect but apparently producers wanted Steve McQueen instead of Redford. Fortunately for us, he didn't want the role.
 
Hoops66 said:
Thanks. Check out #5 above. I like your idea of Western movie theme songs....maybe that plus Drama movies combined?
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Thanks, yes I missed several previous posted movies. My bad. Perhaps at the end, some ambitious Boneyarder can tabulate all the votes and see the most popular overall. May take a lot of work, though.
 
Hoops66 said:
Shane
High Noon
River of No Return
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Stagecoach
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I was going to include "Treasure" but it was just too atypical to be a true western.
 
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f1f1ferrari said:
My favorite is definitely The Outlaw Josey Wales. Four others in no particular order would be Unforgiven, Silverado, High Plains Drifter, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. You might have guessed I'm an Eastwood fan.
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Silverado.
 
If I saw the movie and then went back to read the book, I consider that " special"
so.... 1. Shane (I read it 3 times), 2. True Grit.... a spunky little kid... try reading the BOOK to get
an extra picture of this unique girl!
3. Lonesome Dove. so realistic, maybe Larry McMurtry at his best (I met him in Tuscon!)
Not read, but enjoyed: High Noon, and Treasure of Sierra Madre. I must add a #6
Butch Cassidy etc
 
I never considered “Treasure of Sierra Madre” a western.
Main characters weren’t cowboys.
Treasure hunters- prospectors.
Bandits were bandits.
Villagers weren’t cowboys.
One of my all time favorites- very accomplished main characters.
Not stating it isn’t- just not to me.
 
In order:

1) Shane ……… not just a great western but one of the greatest movies ever made, period.

2) High Noon… not too far behind Shane as an all round great film

3) She Wore A Yellow Ribbon….
Wayne’s best by a nose over Stagecoach

4) Stagecoach

5) Westward The Women
Certainly the most underrated western ever made with a stunning performance by Robert Taylor. Great direction by William Wellman from a story by Frank Capra. The horse chase through the painted canyon is the best ever filmed.

Honorable mention:
Unforgiven
Red River
The Searchers
Dances With Wolves
 
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Shane
Unforgiven
High Noon
Once Upon a Time in the West
True Grit

Wow can easily rattle on 6-20 through 30 etc! Lot of great ones.
 
Somewhat surprised --though not really due to the year-- that nobody dropped Dodge City. This film has everything including the saloon scene that Blazing based theirs on. Great cast in their prime. It ends with a gunfight on a burning train car. Young E.Flynn and O.dehavilland

1. OUATITW - what a sound track
2.Shane
3.High Noon
4.Gunfight at Ok Corral
5.Dodge City
#I love Red River but the ending was awful and while it didn't ruin the film, major flaw in the script that hurt it.
 
clint eastwood
james stewart
james garner
clark gable
henry fonda.

if its a 'western,' and one of these guys has a big role in it, i'd watch it.
and brad pitt. always. legends of the fall, a river runs thru it? that's old timey Montana, which is in the west, which makes them westerns, to me.
 
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Zarathustra said:
If I saw the movie and then went back to read the book, I consider that " special"
so.... 1. Shane (I read it 3 times), 2. True Grit.... a spunky little kid... try reading the BOOK to get
an extra picture of this unique girl!
3. Lonesome Dove. so realistic, maybe Larry McMurtry at his best (I met him in Tuscon!)
Not read, but enjoyed: High Noon, and Treasure of Sierra Madre. I must add a #6
Butch Cassidy etc
Expand ...
Ohh crap- I forgot Lonesome Dove. Wow - what a Western.
 
I would add two by Sam Peckinpah- McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Ride The High Country.
 
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