Top 3 Westerns

I've started watching Westerns with my sons. It got me thinking about my favorite Westerns. And I'd be curious to hear other people chime in.

My top 3:

Unforgiven
The Searchers
McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Lonely Are the Brave
Johnny Guitar
_______, I'll get back to you with a third choice later....

The Outlaw Josie Wales
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Unforgiven

Wow. So many phenomenal Westerns. Hard to arrive at a top three.

To the above mentioned Westerns, I'll add:

Once Upon a Time in the West
High Noon
Shane

For modern Westerns take a look at:
3:10 to Yuma
The Quick and the Dead

Western shaving trivia:
The second episode of this season's Hell on Wheels had a scene at an outdoor barber stand in Cheyenne, WY that started with the scene's main character wiping remaining shaving soap from his face and standing up from the barber chair to join his cronies.

The Good, the bad and the ugly
High plains drifter
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Lonesome Dove
Unforgiven
Tombstone and Wyatt Earp

McLintock - John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and one of the best fight scenes in any western.

Hang 'Em High - Clint Eastwood, he wears my favorite cowboy hat in this movie.

My Name is Nobody - Henry Fonda, some good shaving scenes.

I easily have more than three favorites but I'll stop there. Some were mentioned above as well...

John Wayne in "True Grit", "Rooster Cogburn (...and the Lady)" and "The Shootist"'!



"A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet". Orson Welles

Lonesome Dove
Outlaw Josie Wales
Tombstone

Magnificent Seven
Three Godfathers*
Fort Apache**

* Why this isn't a Christmas staple on tv I'll never know
** All three of Ford's "Cavalry" movies qualify...this was the first, and with the added bonus of Henry Fondle as a rat-bas**rd.

Honourable Mentions:
Rio Bravo...Dean Martin playing a drunk? Dean Martin playing a drunk! And Angie Dickenson.
Wild Bunch...Robert Ryan, Warren Oates, Ernie Borgnine. Hollywood's best bad-a$$es
Cheyenne Social Club...James Stewart and Henry Fondle as owners of a cathouse, and Shirley "Mrs. Partridge" Jones as the madam...rowrrrr!
I could go on...

In the past ten years I've rediscovered the genre (thank you, TCM), and have found a new appreciation for those old oaters. Joel McCrae is a sadly overlooked actor that I've sat down and watched in westerns like "Ride the High Country", but still have a soft spot for his work in "Sullivan's Travels" and "Foreign Correspondent".

Addendum: The Quick and The Dead was mentioned earlier...make that two votes for this one.

Am I really the first to mention these?!:
1. A fistful of dollars
2. For a few dollars more
3. Watch no.1 again

The Outlaw Josie Wales
Silverado
A Fistful of Dollars

The Searchers
Lonesome Dove
True Grit (remake, sorry)

True Grit
Tombstone
Unforgiven

Big Jake
Once Upon a Time in the West
outlaw Josie Wales.

Toothpick said:

Lonesome Dove
Unforgiven
Tombstone and Wyatt Earp

Click to expand...

You stole my picks.

gwsmallwood said:

You stole my picks.

Click to expand...

That there is a mighty big acusation in a Western thread.

The Magnificent Seven
Silverado
Unforgiven



Beerman

tvad said:

The Quick and the Dead

Click to expand...

That whole movie was great, but 1 scene ruined it for me. It was near the end went Hackman gets shot and you can see light coming through his body via the bullet whole. A whole movie trashed for one stupid effect.

#1...Tombstone
#2...Tombstone
#3...Lonesome Dove