Western Movies

[Star-Shadow]

My picks are:

McKenna's Gold

Once Upon A Time In The West

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good, Bad, Etc. is arguably the best damn western Clint Eastwood ever made -- and as we all know, that's saying a lot.

Once Upon A Time is a film-making masterpiece. One of Charles Bronson's very best roles -- again, saying quite a bit. Also ... the musical score in this film is as hauntingly beautiful as Henry Fonda is thoroughly evil.

And McKenna's Gold is my all-time favorite Gregory Peck vehicle. A great story line mixed with a dash of mysticism and fantasy. To this day, it still makes me wish I were a gold prospector.

And what, pray tell, are your favorite three?

(credit to a recent post by Jon for this idea)

[jdverte]

I think any Western list ought to include Unforgiven...a more realistic look at the old west. Although I recently read a report that stated that most westerns were actually incorrect in the level of gun violence-the theory being that everybody had them and knew how to use them so actual gun battles were few and far between...I actually think the pro-gun people wrote that one...lol...
JON
P.S. you relize we could start one of these for almost any genre out there....hmmmmmmmmmmm!!! :rotfl:

[Star-Shadow]

For Jon --

Oh sure, ~Unforgiven~ was great. I was just merely considering the overall ‘fun value’ I personally have with each flick. Both ~Tombstone~ and ~The Magnificent Seven~ were pretty darn good films, too!

[jdverte]

<understatement>True the fun value was certainly low on Unforgiven</understatement>...lol... and I certainly agree with the Magnificent Seven...can't count how many times I've watched that! my memories failing me now one of the others- Kirk Douglas, wagons headin out west...hmmmmm...it won't come. LOL...payin for the 80's here...

[mlski]

The Sons of Katie Elder - seen that movie I don't know how many times!

Unforgiven & Magnificent Seven - both great

The Cowboys (I read the book twice as a kid) and have the movie on video - seen it many times on TV, too.

[Star-Shadow]

For Jon --

Cool, I'd forgotten -- The War Wagon! :)

[steve]

:D Hi Folks,
I agree with MLski about The Sons of Katie Elder and just about everybody else about The Magnificent Seven, and I'm mildly frustrated that the Shad's original question limited us to three movies.

Anyway, I guess I'll go with High Noon. It has a great cast: Grace Kelly!! Katy Jurado!! Thomas Mitchell!! Lloyd Bridges!! Oh yeah, Gary Cooper. Also a bunch of other high-caliber talent. I love Tex Ritter's performance of the theme song. Maybe not the deepest of plots, but the movie did what it set out to in a very classy manner.

Whenever I get involved in a discussion (with myself, or with other people as well) and the subject is Westerns I remember the possibly apocryphal, but certainly believable, John Wayne comment:

"Maybe it wasn't like that, but it should have been". (I've seen different versions of that quote, but they all mean the same thing). :thumbsup:

Have fun,
Steve

[Star-Shadow]

For Everyone --

Oh wow, how could I have forgotten? Shane!

By the way, to whom it may concern ...

John Wayne made so many great westerns that, quite frankly, I simply went nuts when trying to place some over others, while still wanting to include my all-time favorite non-Wayne films. So I reluctantly skipped all of 'em.

My apologies to The Duke, and his countless fans.

Touching upon what Steve said, next time around, perhaps the question should be -- ‘What are your 10 favorite so-and-so movies?’ -- that would make for far easier choosing, yes? If not 15 ... or 20 ... whatever! :D

PS --

Steve ... ‘High Noon’ ... hell yeah!

Miski ... ‘Katie Elder’ ... damn right!

[jdverte]

To Star..."War Wagons"??? lol...that doesn't ring a bell actually...(Gawd am I payin for those 80's)I'll have to think about it and see if I can find a Kirk Douglas movie compendum...
Duke film-his last of course..the one that should have gotten him an Oscar...sigh a mind is a terrible thing to lose..."The Gunfighter"??? He's a gun-fighter dying of cancer..Ron Howards in it and...hmmm was it Bacall??? Can't remember Howards mother either...I think I subscribe too much to the Holmes theory of the mind as a pidgeon-hole desk...I just seem not to retain things that I figure I can look up easily and then I lose my search ability...lol...ahhh well should be back to normal tomorrow if Segrets right...
JON

[steve]

:D Hi folks,
Jon, you're thinking of The Shootist with The Duke, Lauren Bacall as Ron Howard's mother, and a really strong cast. One of John Wayne's best movies, IMO. Given a good script, he was actually a pretty fair actor.

"John Wayne Movies" could be a category all by itself. I was about to write that Rio Bravo is my favorite JW western and then all those others flashed before my eyes: Fort Apache, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers (with the elegant Vera Miles) and on and on.

Oh well,
Steve

[tinkerbell]

Just about any movie John Wayne was in.
:) :thumbsup:

[jdverte]

Originally posted by steve@Nov 9 2003, 01:37 AM
:D Hi folks,
Jon, you're thinking of The Shootist with The Duke, Lauren Bacall as Ron Howard's mother, and a really strong cast. One of John Wayne's best movies, IMO. Given a good script, he was actually a pretty fair actor.

"John Wayne Movies" could be a category all by itself. I was about to write that Rio Bravo is my favorite JW western and then all those others flashed before my eyes: Fort Apache, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers (with the elegant Vera Miles) and on and on.

Oh well,
Steve
Thanks Steve that would have bothered me all night...lol..
JON

[Star-Shadow]

For Jon & Tinkerbell:

Tinkerbell -- right on, sister! :)

For Jon -- The War Wagon starred John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. The movie begins with Duke being released from a 3-year prison stint, for something he didn't do. He spent that time plotting his revenge -- the robbery of a heavily fortified stage coach, called the War Wagon -- which transpored large quanitites of gold on behalf of the corrupt land baron, who had framed him years earlier.

Kirk Douglas was a freelancing ‘gun for hire’ who the evil land baron had paid to kill John Wayne. Yet money talks, and The Duke offered Kirk 100 grand from the upcoming heist to join him instead. So naturally, Kirk played both sides of the fence! You may take the story line from there.

Also had a toe-tappin' theme song.

[jdverte]

Ahhhh OK...that's not the one...settlers heading west to Washington or Oregon...Kirk in charge of the wagon train...gorgeous scenery...great mini plots and characters...lots of action...can't think of it though...there goes tonights sleep...lol..like I was gonna get any anyway.
JON

[steve]

Originally posted by jdverte@Nov 9 2003, 04:05 AM
Ahhhh OK...that's not the one...settlers heading west to Washington or Oregon...Kirk in charge of the wagon train...gorgeous scenery...great mini plots and characters...lots of action...can't think of it though...there goes tonights sleep...lol..like I was gonna get any anyway.
JON
:D Hi folks,
Jon, I think you're thinking about Kirk Douglas in The Way West featuring Richard Widmark (another favorite of mine), Robert Mitchum, and Lola Albright.

Most of the movies we've talked about in this thread have really great supporting casts behind Big Star Power stars. Now the Superstars are computers and digital effects. Don't get me started... :(

I hope you can get some sleep now :lol:

Have fun,
Steve

[Star-Shadow]

For Steve --

Special effects and CGI, ya say?

I would like to see a good, non-cartoon-type film that's nothing but a two hour long special effect. I say dump human actors all together. None of the bums are worth $20 million per picture. However, I would make an exception to the ‘no people’ rule when the scene involves some pretty young gal in various stages of undress (including very advanced stages) -- but only if the director honestly believes that this is of great importance to the story line, which I'm sure is most always true.

[steve]

:rotfl:
:rotfl:
:rotfl:

Steve

[jdverte]

For Dan
Final Fantasy the movie-entirely CGI generated...check it out...at times you can almost forget they arn't real...also a special episode of Tales from the Crypt used CGI to recreate Bogart albeit only in mirror reflections and whatnot style shots but very convincing...
JON

[Star-Shadow]

For Jon --

Oh yeah, I've seen that ‘Final Fantasy’ flick several times. Incredible animation. Yet the movie flopped so big, the company that made it went bankrupt. I have no idea why. But it certainly couldn't have been due to the animation. I should think the public would've gone wild. Go figure.

[jdverte]

I thought it would have been better received also, if for no other reason then the CGI generation effect...but for some reason the none Final Fantasy fans didn't come out to it...and the Final Fantasy game fanatics panned it big time not helping to draw a crowd over time...perhaps what's needed is a more broad based genre/plot...
JON