Top Ten Greatest Westerns
I plan to lose most of the readers on this one because most of my generation thinks that any movie made over five years ago isn’t worth their time watching. Westerns may very well be my favorite movie genre. I always wanted to be a cowboy/gunfighter when I grew up and I thus have an extensive firearm collection. This is by far the hardest list I’ve ever done because it is so hard to rank movies you love. Try making your own top 10 list if you don’t believe me. Instead of my usual pictures after every pick I’m going try and find a video clip of my favorite part of each movie. Anyway let’s get into some gunslinging action.
#10 El Dorado- This was actually a remake of another film on this list. In fact, movie was remade three times with little variances in the plot. Even though only two of them made the list all three are worth watching. John Wayne stars as a gunfighter who has to come to the rescue of his friend who has become a drunk on account of a woman. Along with The Duke, the cast includes a young James Caan who went onto success in the Godfather, and Robert Mitchum who is in my opinion a very underrated actor.
#9 Fistful of Dollars- The first of Sergio Leone’s famous “Dollar Trilogy” launched Clint Eastwood’s career. Though Leone wanted Charles Bronson to take on the lead in all three he declined letting Clint take his place in western cinema history. The film begins with Clint riding into town on a mule and after killing 4 men in a gunfight earns his reputation as a the best gunfighter in town. He uses this reputation to play both of the two major powers in the town against each other. The movie ends with one final gunfight against Clint and his Colt .45 and Ramon with his Winchester rifle. This is a fantastic movie and made the “Spaghetti Western” a very profitable venture for film makers.
#8 Tombstone- Everyone who is reading this should be old enough to have seen this movie. My favorite part is at the beginning when Johnny Ringo translates what the priest is saying as a quote from the bible. “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him” Revelation 6:8. This of course would turn out to be Wyatt Earp played by Kurt Russell. But Val Kilmer Stole the show as Doc Holiday. As the Doc would say, “I’m your huckleberry.”
#7 The Outlaw Josey Wales- Clint Eastwood stars as a farmer who joins the Confederate Army after his family is slaughtered by Union Soldiers. Long after the war his group is still fighting but they are given the chance to surrender with no consequences with Wales being the only one who refuses to surrender. This turns out to be nothing but a plan to slaughter the guerilla fighters. Wales escapes and saves a mother and daughter from bandits as he runs from the group of soldiers giving him chase. The movie ends with Clint killing all the soldiers looking for him but being wounded himself. I left out a ton of details in this great western so you really need to see it.
#6 For a Few Dollars More - This is Clint Eastwood’s second appearance as the man with no name and he does not disappoint. Joining Clint this time is a retired Colonel played by Lee Can Cleef who was another famous spaghetti actor. The two play bounty hunters chasing the same outlaws and end up joining forces. This is a wonderfully made movie with an amazing sound track by Ennio Morricone who made the scores for all the “dollars” movies.
#5 Once Upon a Time in the West- Sergio Leone finally got his wish to use Charles Bronson in one of his movies. After the success of The Good The Bad and The Ugly American producers gave him the financial backing to make this movie happen. The story begins with a gunfight at a train station where we meet our anit-hero known only as Harmonica because he his constantly playing a harmonica. Much like all of the other Leone movies there is more than one main character. This is an epic western that will not disappoint you.
#4 True Grit- This is the only movie ever made for which John Wayne won an Oscar. Wayne’s character, Rooster Cogburn, is a notoriously rough and nasty US Marshall and is thus hired by a young woman to hunt down the man who killed her father. Wayne finds that this man has joined another outlaw that he had been hunting for sometime. Wayne starts the final gunfight with his famous quote, “Fill your hands you son of a bitch!” and cinema magic was made. John Wayne was born to play these kinds of roles.
#3 The Searchers- This was by far John Wayne’s most complex role as an actor. He also stated that this was the greatest western he ever made. He takes on the role of Ethan, an ex-confederate soldier in search of his kidnapped niece. Wayne goes deep into his role challenges what most believe is morally right and wrong. This western is very long and epic and must be watched. In fact, it named the greatest western of all time by the American Film Institute.
#2 Rio Bravo- This is was the original film that El Dorado and Rio Lobo were derived from. It was made entirely as a response to High Noon, a film which John Wayne and director Howard Hawks believed to be pro-socialist. Wayne stars as John T. Chance, a sheriff who enlists the help of his former deputy turned drunk, played by Dean Martin, and old half-cripple and a young gunfighter to guard a prisoner from outlaws while waiting the arrival of the US Marshall. This movie was almost number one on my list. I actually wrote the list on paper with this movie being number one but had a change of heart at the last second.
#1 The Good The Bad and The Ugly- If anyone reading this didn’t see this coming you weren’t paying attention. The only reason this beat Rio Bravo out for number one on the list is because it is little more dark a grittier much like the real Old West. This is the grand finale of the Sergio Leone’s “Dollar Trilogy” and he does disappoint. Clint Eastwood plays The Good and teams up with The Ugly to search for Confederate Gold buried in a grave. All three, Good Bad and Ugly, end up having an epic 3 way gunfight at the end to see who keeps the gold. I won’t spoil it for you but their is a twist. Also Ennio Morricone created probably the most recognizable theme in cinema history for this movie. If you have penis and haven’t seen this movie then please go shoot yourself because you are wasting my oxygen.
That’s my list but I wanted to include so many more. So since it is my list I’m going to have some honorable mentions.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Unforgiven
Pale Rider
High Plains Drifter
McLintock
Big Jake
The Shootist
The Sons of Katie Elder
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Winchester ‘73
10 Responses to “Top Ten Greatest Westerns”
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NK Flickr!
what’s a western?
WHERE THE FUCK IS BLAZING SADDLES!?
WHERE THE FUCK IS ADIOS AMIGOS!?
WHERE THE HELL IS “Boss Nigger” (That is seriously a black western I can’t make that up).
This list needs moar negras!
Very good list Roger. True grit is an instant classic and the first western I ever saw.
I don’t think it’s that the modern generation feels it isn’t worth watching, It’s more a relate-able basis. Modern Society kids tend not to want to grow up to be cowboys anymore, and the ones that do favors the western “Broke Back Mountain”. With the way cinematography and technology has evolved it really isn’t a shock. There isn’t much of anything exciting about a gun that you have to reload every time you fire off 6 shots, When the FN P90 fires off 900 rounds a minute. When they are riding around on single horse and we have Cars contain up to 1001 horsepower engines.
It’s a different age for an evolved people. It’s like taking a child now showing him a blue-ray film shot on Red Cam, verses a film on VHS shot on a Mitchell-Technicolor Beam Splitting Three-Strip Camera.
Things change.
Great List. Can’t really find fault with it. Im a little partial to some of the more modern westerns. ‘Young guns’ pretty much made me a rebel as a kid, ‘Tombstone’ was crazy when it first came out and ‘The Quick and the Dead’ was Fast and the furious with revolvers to me… Freakin sick…
Hopefully the upcoming “Jonah Hex” Film will revitalize an interest the genre despite also being a comic film…
No “Great Train Robbery”?
List could also include:
Duck You Sucker
3:10 to Yuma (both versions)
Shane
High Plains Drifter
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH WHEN CLINT EASTWOOD TALKS
Well done.
A good list, and well thought out.
I would have done a few things differently, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and High Plains Drifter would have been tops on my list, with Tombstone coming in third, but essentially, that comes down to personal preferences.
Nice list indeed.