Fine Westerns. A list.
by Myrchyx | created - 24 Jun 2011 | updated - 08 Apr 2015 | PublicPersonal classics. There are not many, and John Wayne is not in one of them (nor is George Bush for that matter). Have fun.
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1. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
PG-13 | 166 min | Western
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
Votes: 348,993 | Gross: $5.32M
There is no comparison. Every scene is Photography. This is the Mona Lisa of Western movies.
2. The Proposition (2005)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Western
A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Emily Watson, Richard Wilson
Votes: 54,978 | Gross: $1.90M
This movie is genial, surreal and rough. It will stick to your mind for a while. Inevitable. Characterization is fenomenal. Evil set in a world of manure, flies and stench.
3. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Approved | 178 min | Adventure, Western
A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè
Votes: 810,887 | Gross: $6.10M
...a masterly constructed labyrinth of the Civil War, greed, trust and honor (that is, -none)
4. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. A battle of wills ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster, Logan Lerman
Votes: 330,980 | Gross: $53.61M
Well, how many good westerns have we seen in the last two decades? Much better than it's original.
5. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
R | 121 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Ranch foreman Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.
Director: Tommy Lee Jones | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones
Votes: 41,877 | Gross: $5.02M
This is nearly a Western. Actually, it's a Mexicern. A movie in balance, and TLJ gives a real fine touch to this beautiful story about a man teaching another man a lesson.
6. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach
Votes: 102,497 | Gross: $4.91M
Hunk? Eli Wallach again? That's coincidence. A remake of the Seven Samurai? That's okay. That very profound 60's feeling and the musical score make up for anything it lacks.
7. For a Few Dollars More (1965)
R | 132 min | Drama, Western
Two bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a gang of outlaws led by a psychotic Mexican bandit, who is plotting an audacious bank robbery.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè, Mara Krupp
Votes: 274,548 | Gross: $15.00M
This, actually, is not an excellent movie. The genius is in the tempo and timbre. Watch Phil Defer eat his soup. That's enough.
8. Django Unchained (2012)
R | 165 min | Drama, Western
With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington
Votes: 1,694,231 | Gross: $162.81M
... is a fine and fluent story about a man looking for his wife. Fine timing. And, a good dose of tongue-in-cheek.
9. True Grit (2010)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin
Votes: 357,418 | Gross: $171.24M
I was disappointed. Most of the movie is over the top and overacted. The ending is far-fetched. Wonder how the Coens got into this. But the girl (Steinfeld) grabbed me. I stayed tuned in just for her. And Damon is very likeable.
10. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
PG | 135 min | Western
Missouri farmer Josey Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George, Bill McKinney
Votes: 79,810 | Gross: $31.80M
Clint is not my hero, but this is a damn fine Western. A man who is losing everything, including himself. No gain in this film.
11. Lone Star (1996)
R | 135 min | Drama, Mystery, Western
When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.
Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Stephen Mendillo, Stephen J. Lang
Votes: 32,314 | Gross: $13.27M
It's more like a mystery detective. Virtually no one knew a star in Lone Star (I didn't). One of the finest westerns ever. Not photographically, but cinematographically (remember this word for the next birthday party). And, to my memory, only two shots were fired.
12. Open Range (2003)
R | 139 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.
Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna, Abraham Benrubi
Votes: 78,131 | Gross: $58.33M
Let's say it's a pity there is not much depth and too much sentimentality in this movie. For the rest, a decent western.
13. Tombstone (1993)
R | 130 min | Biography, Drama, History
A successful lawman's plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating.
Directors: George P. Cosmatos, Kevin Jarre | Stars: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton
Votes: 166,175 | Gross: $56.51M
Put two bad actors together in a Western and you get... a great movie!
14. Blazing Saddles (1974)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Western
In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman
Votes: 152,418 | Gross: $119.50M
Fun Rock from the old days, I guess. Nice and funny with some twists. The scene with the old lady and the mare is unforgettable.
15. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
R | 160 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Robert Ford, who has idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the resurgent gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 192,767 | Gross: $3.90M
This movie is good, but slow. Affleck is the real performance. Good with little shooting, and again, very slow.
16. Unforgiven (1992)
R | 130 min | Drama, Western
Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner Ned Logan and a young man, The "Schofield Kid."
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris
Votes: 436,014 | Gross: $101.16M
Clint Eastwood is pretending to be acting like Clint Eastwood. And Gene Hackman.... gad, he has played this role (the lean mean soab) a 100 times b4. Morgan Freeman exactly the same in his role of the clever -i am honestly me- underdog. I do not know where this movie got the high rating from. But it's a very nice story with a fashionable ending, and, I must admit, the girls are real. I mean, real.
17. Let the Bullets Fly (2010)
Not Rated | 132 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
In 1920s China, a bandit arrives in a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, where he faces off against a tyrannical local nobleman.
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Wen Jiang, You Ge, Carina Lau
Votes: 13,133 | Gross: $0.06M
Chinese Western. Funny and clever in an difficult sort of way. A very much must see. You may wonder why IMDB had no movie poster here for nearly two years. Eet's veeli meesteliius.
18. Dead Man (1995)
R | 121 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Native American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen
Votes: 103,067 | Gross: $1.04M
Strange atmosphere, and a very good movie.
19. The Good the Bad the Weird (2008)
R | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The story of two outlaws and a bounty hunter in 1940s Manchuria and their rivalry to possess a treasure map while being pursued by the Japanese army and Chinese bandits.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Jung Woo-sung, Yun Je-mun
Votes: 37,928 | Gross: $0.13M
Aka The Good the bad and the Weird. A very decent and way over the top Chinese parody. It is also a political statement. It's funny, fast and the photography is good. You'll never forget the big chase in the end.
20. Legends of the Fall (1994)
R | 133 min | Drama, Romance, War
In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond
Votes: 182,936 | Gross: $66.64M
At first I thought it strange that so many women had seen this semi-western. But it isn't. For it's an epic love story. Not about tough guys, but about romantic men. Montana is very photogenic, evidently.
21. The Salvation (2014)
R | 92 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
In 1870s America, the fury of a notorious gang leader is unleashed when a peaceful American settler avenges the death of his family. Then as his cowardly fellow townspeople betray him, he is forced to hunt down the outlaws alone.
Director: Kristian Levring | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eric Cantona
Votes: 43,183 | Gross: $0.01M
Great. Classic.
22. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
R | 99 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
In Shanghai, China in the 1940s, a wannabe gangster aspires to join the notorious "Axe Gang" while residents of a housing complex exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.
Director: Stephen Chow | Stars: Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen, Siu-Lung Leung
Votes: 150,794 | Gross: $17.11M
You may argue about the topic Western. Let's call it an Eastern then. All the elements are in it, though. Funny, way over the top, pop culture Chinese with many goofs (deliberate?) in it.
23. The Lone Ranger (2013)
PG-13 | 150 min | Action, Adventure, Western
Native American warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 244,444 | Gross: $89.30M
Nice movie with a steady tempo and good humor. But.... Depp is acting like Jack Sparrow. Who will undisneyfy him?
24. The Wild Bunch (1969)
R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien
Votes: 90,333 | Gross: $12.06M
Classic by Peckinpah. Starless. No one should miss this movie. Maybe the goodbye to the genre.
25. The Great Silence (1968)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Western
A mute gunfighter defends a young widow and a group of outlaws against a gang of bounty killers in the winter of 1898, and a grim, tense struggle unfolds.
Director: Sergio Corbucci | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Vonetta McGee
Votes: 18,100 | Gross: $0.05M
I've always been attracted to Kinski. A strange man. And Trintignant is good at his part. Decent movie.
26. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
PG | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
In 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin
Votes: 226,666 | Gross: $102.31M
A vehicle for the Silver Pair, but nevertheless, an essential Western. Musical without singing and with a good amount of humor. Those were the days. Wink wink, need I say more?
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