Post by v9733xa on Jul 22, 2017 17:30:52 GMT -5
As I’ve been working on these lists, I suddenly had a surge of ideas and I’ve got most of my lists ready for like the next couple months (literally 5 or 6 of them). Well… just the titles, not the clips or write-ups.
The next choice was which one to post first and really work on in total; because I watched a great western earlier this week, I figured I would go with this genre first, even if it might not be the most riveting to lots of people here.
Interestingly, I used to be like that: I really didn’t see westerns as all that great. Most of what I knew looked kinda corny, so I never gave it more of a try. Then when I finally did, I couldn’t believe everything I was missing, and in the last two years I’ve tried to watch just about every one of them I could find on TV.
So, the caveat I usually add here: no, I have not seen every western, or every great western. I know I’ve missed some. Tell me which ones! I’ll get to them eventually.
And if you’re like I used to be, where you just saw poor acting and lots of cowboys shooting Indians as what westerns were, change your mind and watch a couple of these. You won’t regret it.
Honorable mentions: El Mariachi, How the West Was Won, The Magnificent Seven, Rio Bravo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, High Plains Drifter, Django Unchained, True Grit (2010), Desperado, The Outlaw Josie Wales, The Revenant, Brokeback Mountain
10. City Slickers (1991)
I don’t know if this belongs here. But I do know that it’s a great movie, it’s goddamn funny, and sure as hell it’s a western too. Billy Crystal got the idea for this movie from his love of westerns, and the first movie he ever saw (which I’ll feature later in this list) starred Jack Palance and he knew he had to cast him in this. Naturally, he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for it. Like many of Crystal’s films, he draws from real life; this scene about his day of birth is actually what his real mother always told him:
Also, the “best day” story is also true (or at least, Crystal says it’s true). Watch here:
Anyway, what makes this movie great isn’t that it’s funny, it’s that it taps into that little boy dream so many have about being a real cowboy. After all, that commercialized and silly idea of a group of random people helping guide steers on a trail is ludicrous, but yet that would be awesome! And yet it’s authentic, and genuine, and still exciting and full of what makes westerns great: chases, powerful men, the American wild, and adventure. Jack Palance as Curly sums it up here. In a recurring theme in the film (also its sequel) he talks about that “one thing,” and while never said in other westerns, this is the same theme present in all the rest. “That’s what you gotta figure out.”
9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
This movie is so freaking good, and for some reason it has not received the acclaim but from film critics. The general public just seems to have missed this one. The two Oscar nominations notwithstanding (Casey Affleck for supporting, and Roger Deakins for his brilliant brilliant cinematography), the movie made just $10 million, perhaps because of its long delay – not airing until two years after filming, after multiple interruptions. The opening scene, a combination of dreamy landscape and framing of a story, sets up this slightly revisionist tale of Jesse James’ untimely end:
Another early scene that blows me away every time I see it is this, the train robbery of the James gang. Brad Pitt is so good, but this is one of the few times that cinematography surpasses any acting talent on the screen. Roger Deakins has THIRTEEN Academy Award nominations. Let’s see why:
It is an absolute criminal travesty that he hasn’t received multiple Oscars. Anyway, about the actual film, which aside from its incomparable beauty, is an amazing story. It’s a little long, and the few critics of the film point out that they think it’s too long. But you NEED scenes like this, featuring the impeccable Sam Rockwell:
In my opinion, it was necessary: it’s a moody, slow, crescendo-building picture, and a story that most people really don’t quite know. So, it needs that detail. A BBC critic summed it up best later that year: a hundred years from now, historians will consider it “one of the most wrongly neglected masterpieces of its era.” It’s not a perfect film, and you need to like films to enjoy this, but you will love it and cherish this movie like I do if you’re up for it.
8. Unforgiven (1992)
However, the critical acclaim of Unforgiven is unmistakable. It’s well-deserved, and in my opinion, it’s where Clint Eastwood moved into the upper stratosphere of living directors (especially those who still star in films). What I love so much about this movie is that it’s a combination of your grandpa’s old favorite western style action, romance, and landscape… with new school violence, sex, and attitude perfect for the 1990s. Eastwood, at this point already a living legend, was able to pull together a legendary cast of his own: Gene Hackman (Best Supporting Actor winner), Morgan Freeman, character actor Saul Rubinek, and not as well-known but just as amazing Richard Harris, who is so good as “English Bob” that this scene will not cut it but it’s a good start:
What you have in Unforgiven isn’t quite a revenge tale; it’s more of a bounty hunter tale after some cowboys commit an egregious offense against some townswomen. The central conflict, though, isn’t just about gunshots and bar fights, but it’s the inner conflict in Eastwood’s Bill Munny (and “the Schofield Kid” reluctant sidekick) leads to one of the best dialogues in western film history, a genre not really known for great screenplays, but this Oscar-nominated one deserves some attention:
“We all have it coming.” In that line of work, you sure as hell do.
7. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) (1967 U.S.)
Now it’s time to turn back to the golden age of westerns, and sure enough there will be only one more film on this list from this century. This isn’t it, it’s the ultra-classic A Fistful of Dollars, and holy shit that is an awesome trailer. The first film that comes to mind of the foregone “spaghetti western” trope, Sergio Leone’s first of three movies on this list includes the iconic Eastwood in his first leading role as the enigmatic Man With No Name (sometimes simply referred to as “Joe,” but literally with no actual name). In Leone’s opinion, the western had become stale; in fact he called them “overly preachy,” and while there are some untouchable pictures of the 1950s he has a point. “The Dollars Trilogy” was initiated by this one, and today it may take an acquired taste to get into them if you don’t know what you’re in for at first. Initially, you may be turned off by the dubbing: Leone, like most Italian directors of his age, shot the entire film silently, and later dubbed the actor’s voices into screen (often using other people). Here’s an example in an otherwise perfect scene, the “three coffins” introduction in full:
Heavily inspired by Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (so much so that Leone was sued by him), Eastwood’s character was a breakthrough for him, having previously been stuck in hokey TV westerns and unable to show his acting acumen. Describing too much of the plot doesn’t serve much of a point, plus it’s just too good to give away a lot, but to put it simply Eastwood strategically inserts himself into a private but deadly conflict and proves to be more than the bad guys can handle. Featuring another incredible score by Ennio Morricone (you’ll see that name a lot for the rest of this list), A Fistful of Dollars revitalized the western for the 60s-style audience. If you’ve seen the third Back to the Future, you know what film clip is coming, but like me perhaps you had never seen the original until recently. Well, here it is. Enjoy.
6. The Hateful Eight (2015)
A quick detour to the 21st Century to Quentin Tarantino’s latest film (in my opinion one of his three best), The Hateful Eight should not be ignored by those who sometimes distance themselves from the hyper-violence and maddeningly complex dialogue of Tarantino’s repertoire. I think there are quite a few who prefer Django Unchained, and I’m not here to knock that movie (it’s awesome). But dear lord, The Hateful Eight has so many brilliant performances that I cannot possibly exclude it from my list. In some ways, however, this is the “least western” of anything here: full of rich dialogue, mostly confined to one building, and featuring actors who drop the clichés of the usual western film. How Tarantino’s screenplay did not earn an Oscar nod, I will never know, but at least the impeccable Jennifer Jason Leigh earned her nomination for Supporting Actress. See the great trailer for all the other stars, but for me Michael Madsen and Samuel Jackson additionally stand out.
Ha, man, you know how much fun Sam Jackson had doing that scene. Anyway, the characters meet in a desolate winter tavern in Wyoming as a woman is being transferred to jail. Again, if you know Tarantino you know probably what you’re getting, but it’s so much more than great screenplays and brilliant cinematography. It’s a groundbreaking turnabout on gender roles, as Leigh’s character is both brutalized and feared, and shown no more empathy and compassion than a regular male outlaw. It’s also a fun little revisionist history of the West, and Reconstruction era American culture. And with that, it’s the most thrilling of any film here, both the most exhilarating and most challenging to watch. Since it’s still so new, I won’t spoil any of the rest of it, just that the twists and turns seem strangely foreboding yet sudden, a dichotomy you’ll clearly see through its almost three-hour running time.
5. High Noon (1952)
Stanley Kramer was one of the greatest directors to ever live, but in High Noon his talents merely produced the film; Fred Zinnemann instead was the filmmaker here, in what on the surface appears like another 1950s shoot-em-up western but is so much different than that. So different in fact, that many audiences were not prepared for the dramatic, methodical, and philosophical/political overtones of this masterpiece of film. I’ll get more into the controversies in a bit. Gary Cooper stars as the venerated Marshall Will Kane, newly married to Grace Kelly’s Amy Fowler and ready to retire. But when he hears of the release of a dangerous man he put in jail, hellbent on revenge with little in his way, he attempts to round up support in his little town as opposed to his wife who simply wants to leave. His church doesn’t support him:
His deputy (Lloyd Bridges) quits:
And it doesn’t look too good. In one of the most iconic shots in film history, Will literally stands alone as high noon approaches:
Give me a better 37-second clip than that. Passing in almost real-time, high noon comes, and you’ll have to watch it for the outcome. Controversial in its time not just because there are no murderous cowboys mowing down Indian savages, but because of the obvious allegory of blacklisting; remember, this is early 1950s Hollywood, and the McCarthy era with its House Unamerican Activities Committee was in full swing. Contrast this film with the still very good but generally conventional Rio Bravo, and you may see why John Wayne, Charlton Heston, and Gregory Peck initially turned down Will’s role, only to regret it forever later. One of the greatest roles in western history, and without a doubt one of the best endings, unlike most of the other movies your grandparents love, this one gets better with age. See it.
4. Shane (1953)
This movie, and one that will appear soon here, are probably the two most “classic” westerns on the list. But what makes Shane stand out (I finally just watched it last week and I was blown away) is that for a picture from the early 50s, it is incredibly deep and not at all filled with the western clichés that much of the era couldn’t escape. More than anything else though is the breathtaking cinematography, good enough to win an Oscar, set in the idyllic Jackson area of Wyoming, generally south of the famed Yellowstone National Park (the most awe-inspiring place to which I have ever traveled). While this clip doesn’t necessary show it all – you’ve just got to watch the film’s introduction – it gives you an idea of the setting as Shane comes to town:
Loosely based on the real-life land wars of Johnson County, Wyoming between cattle ranchers and first/second generation Homesteaders (remember from your history class if you got past the Civil War, President Lincoln’s Homestead Act granted vast swaths of land to anyone who could tend to it out West), Shane portrays a small town’s resistance against a ruthless cattle baron and his posse, with the enigmatic (stop me if you’ve heard that before) Shane rallying them together. You likely wouldn’t recognize anyone in this film – part of what makes it so good – except Jack Palance in one of his first roles, as the dastardly hired gunman in the cadre of bad guys:
That scene is good enough for Unforgiven. Stoic but shocking, Palance got an Oscar nod for his work. Shane is a film your dad or grandfather will love, so go watch it with them both.
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
What an incredible trailer, dear lord. Staring three of the greatest actors who have ever lived – Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Jason Robards – Sergio Leone’s smash 1968 hit Once Upon a Time in the West was not supposed to happen, but he decided to dip back into westerns one more time before the 60s ended. Thank goodness, because what we have is easily one of his best films, and some even consider it one of the greatest movies ever made. It was when Henry Fonda signed on that Leone took the chance, knowing he may never again get a chance to land the finest actor of his generation. I could put 20 clips from this film, but I’ll try to keep it reasonable. The introduction, as we meet the bandits and the man “Harmonica” (played by Bronson), is downright spectacular:
Listen to that. Who needs Ennio Morricone anyway? Nevertheless, his score is instrumental at other parts of the movie. Fonda wasn’t sure how to play a bad guy; after all, he’s revered by most from the Greatest Generation because of his heroic roles and all-American perfection (Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, The Ox-Bow Incident, 12 Angry Men, My Darling Clementine, etc.). He asked his friend Eli Wallach (see film #1) and Eli simply said, “You will have the time of your life.” Watch this scene, sure to have shocked audiences at the time, as we meet his “Frank” for the first time:
Oh Ennio Morricone, there you are, setting the mood as only you can. Just look at Fonda, you know he had to love knowing the camera would pan up to him… and audiences wouldn’t be prepared. Simply cinematic perfection; that’s how film should be made. Watch Bronson and Robards just master their craft in this scene:
As opposed to most of Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy,” this film is long, and methodical, and at times quiet and nerve-racking. Gone is the satire and light-hearted nebulously-defined good/bad guys. Here, we know who’s bad, but you can’t help but love them anyway.
2. The Searchers (1956)
There was no chance that I was going to ignore John Wayne, and director John Ford (FOUR Best Director Oscars), and the masterpiece of the 1950s, The Searchers. Far and away the most “classic” of all the films I’ve chosen, there is still no reason not to regard it as a piece of filmmaking history. Watch this brief intro for perspective:
Set in Texas, but shot in the legendary Monument Valley, Arizona, The Searchers features John Wayne as a grizzled (is he ever not grizzled?) Civil War veteran Ethan who spends years on the frontier searching for his niece after an abduction. Accompanying him, after an early flurry of activity by Texas Rangers, is only his nephew Martin. In a heart-wrenching scene, they discover one of the family members for which they are looking is now no longer able to be rescued. Here is John Wayne’s postmortem revenge:
Certainly, there are modern critical interpretations of a film where a white girl is captured by Indians, and cowboys kill a lot of them. The presumed rape of the other sister is a common theme in old-style westerns (“they’re after our women”), similar to the Southern attitude against blacks and slaves in the nadir of race relations in America around the turn of the 20th Century. Nevertheless, it is shot so beautifully, and acted so honestly, that to call it anything less than a must-see is ridiculous. I must leave you with the closing shot, a beyond-iconic moment after the denouement of the film, as Ethan ponders his life and the path he’s taken, against the background of the unforgiving West:
1. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) (1967 U.S.)
Can you beat that trailer? The landscape, the ambiance, and the best and most iconic film soundtrack in the history of movies, this is so unquestionably the best western that the debate for me is non-existent. This is the final film of the “Dollars Trilogy” by Sergio Leone, and it gives us the best performance of Clint Eastwood’s (“The Good”), Lee Van Cleef’s (“The Bad”), and Eli Wallach’s (“The Ugly”) lives. Yes, that Eli Wallach, who remained active working into his 90s, dying only 3 short years ago. When first released, so-called spaghetti westerns were still not respected; compare to The Searchers, while brilliant, the heroes are heroes and the bad guys are all bad. In Leone’s films, multi-dimensional characters rewrite the classic genre clichés and portray ambiguous gritty roles. Sure, we have the silly title casting the men in three categories, but the reality is significantly more complicated than that. Nevertheless, the humour and wit from Wallach and Eastwood makes this 3-hour film seem half that length. It breezes along with fun scenes like this:
But also long, suspenseful scenes where you don’t know what’s going to happen:
And when Blondie ("The Good") and Tuco ("The Ugly") seem a little more friendly, action-packed shoot outs with henchmen:
And in a perfect encapsulation of how 4 minutes of a guy running in circles could only be made exciting by Leone and Morricone’s impeccable score… well, see for yourself:
I could post clips all day of this virtually perfect movie. I cannot overstate the importance of Morricone’s score with Leone’s brilliant close-ups and mood-setting. One of your favorite directors and mine, Quentin Tarantino has called The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly “the best-directed film of all time” and also “the greatest achievement in the history of cinema.” It is his favorite film. And it’s one of mine. I’ll leave you with the spine-tingling classic “Mexican standoff” scene, recreated and parodied and studied for decades, but never duplicated. It is the perfect representation of a western film to me: fun, suspenseful, violent, and epic. Enjoy.
~~
Ah I had so much fun making this list. What did I leave out? There are a few I haven’t seen, but I feel like I covered most of the required mentions.
For those of you, like me, who ignored these films for years: stop! Watch them now. They’re so entertaining, even if they are quite different than much of what comes out today. Don’t ignore old movies. Embrace them! Most of what you like now wouldn’t exist without them.
Thanks for reading! Til next week…
The next choice was which one to post first and really work on in total; because I watched a great western earlier this week, I figured I would go with this genre first, even if it might not be the most riveting to lots of people here.
Interestingly, I used to be like that: I really didn’t see westerns as all that great. Most of what I knew looked kinda corny, so I never gave it more of a try. Then when I finally did, I couldn’t believe everything I was missing, and in the last two years I’ve tried to watch just about every one of them I could find on TV.
So, the caveat I usually add here: no, I have not seen every western, or every great western. I know I’ve missed some. Tell me which ones! I’ll get to them eventually.
And if you’re like I used to be, where you just saw poor acting and lots of cowboys shooting Indians as what westerns were, change your mind and watch a couple of these. You won’t regret it.
Honorable mentions: El Mariachi, How the West Was Won, The Magnificent Seven, Rio Bravo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, High Plains Drifter, Django Unchained, True Grit (2010), Desperado, The Outlaw Josie Wales, The Revenant, Brokeback Mountain
10. City Slickers (1991)
I don’t know if this belongs here. But I do know that it’s a great movie, it’s goddamn funny, and sure as hell it’s a western too. Billy Crystal got the idea for this movie from his love of westerns, and the first movie he ever saw (which I’ll feature later in this list) starred Jack Palance and he knew he had to cast him in this. Naturally, he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for it. Like many of Crystal’s films, he draws from real life; this scene about his day of birth is actually what his real mother always told him:
Also, the “best day” story is also true (or at least, Crystal says it’s true). Watch here:
Anyway, what makes this movie great isn’t that it’s funny, it’s that it taps into that little boy dream so many have about being a real cowboy. After all, that commercialized and silly idea of a group of random people helping guide steers on a trail is ludicrous, but yet that would be awesome! And yet it’s authentic, and genuine, and still exciting and full of what makes westerns great: chases, powerful men, the American wild, and adventure. Jack Palance as Curly sums it up here. In a recurring theme in the film (also its sequel) he talks about that “one thing,” and while never said in other westerns, this is the same theme present in all the rest. “That’s what you gotta figure out.”
9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
This movie is so freaking good, and for some reason it has not received the acclaim but from film critics. The general public just seems to have missed this one. The two Oscar nominations notwithstanding (Casey Affleck for supporting, and Roger Deakins for his brilliant brilliant cinematography), the movie made just $10 million, perhaps because of its long delay – not airing until two years after filming, after multiple interruptions. The opening scene, a combination of dreamy landscape and framing of a story, sets up this slightly revisionist tale of Jesse James’ untimely end:
Another early scene that blows me away every time I see it is this, the train robbery of the James gang. Brad Pitt is so good, but this is one of the few times that cinematography surpasses any acting talent on the screen. Roger Deakins has THIRTEEN Academy Award nominations. Let’s see why:
It is an absolute criminal travesty that he hasn’t received multiple Oscars. Anyway, about the actual film, which aside from its incomparable beauty, is an amazing story. It’s a little long, and the few critics of the film point out that they think it’s too long. But you NEED scenes like this, featuring the impeccable Sam Rockwell:
In my opinion, it was necessary: it’s a moody, slow, crescendo-building picture, and a story that most people really don’t quite know. So, it needs that detail. A BBC critic summed it up best later that year: a hundred years from now, historians will consider it “one of the most wrongly neglected masterpieces of its era.” It’s not a perfect film, and you need to like films to enjoy this, but you will love it and cherish this movie like I do if you’re up for it.
8. Unforgiven (1992)
However, the critical acclaim of Unforgiven is unmistakable. It’s well-deserved, and in my opinion, it’s where Clint Eastwood moved into the upper stratosphere of living directors (especially those who still star in films). What I love so much about this movie is that it’s a combination of your grandpa’s old favorite western style action, romance, and landscape… with new school violence, sex, and attitude perfect for the 1990s. Eastwood, at this point already a living legend, was able to pull together a legendary cast of his own: Gene Hackman (Best Supporting Actor winner), Morgan Freeman, character actor Saul Rubinek, and not as well-known but just as amazing Richard Harris, who is so good as “English Bob” that this scene will not cut it but it’s a good start:
What you have in Unforgiven isn’t quite a revenge tale; it’s more of a bounty hunter tale after some cowboys commit an egregious offense against some townswomen. The central conflict, though, isn’t just about gunshots and bar fights, but it’s the inner conflict in Eastwood’s Bill Munny (and “the Schofield Kid” reluctant sidekick) leads to one of the best dialogues in western film history, a genre not really known for great screenplays, but this Oscar-nominated one deserves some attention:
“We all have it coming.” In that line of work, you sure as hell do.
7. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) (1967 U.S.)
Now it’s time to turn back to the golden age of westerns, and sure enough there will be only one more film on this list from this century. This isn’t it, it’s the ultra-classic A Fistful of Dollars, and holy shit that is an awesome trailer. The first film that comes to mind of the foregone “spaghetti western” trope, Sergio Leone’s first of three movies on this list includes the iconic Eastwood in his first leading role as the enigmatic Man With No Name (sometimes simply referred to as “Joe,” but literally with no actual name). In Leone’s opinion, the western had become stale; in fact he called them “overly preachy,” and while there are some untouchable pictures of the 1950s he has a point. “The Dollars Trilogy” was initiated by this one, and today it may take an acquired taste to get into them if you don’t know what you’re in for at first. Initially, you may be turned off by the dubbing: Leone, like most Italian directors of his age, shot the entire film silently, and later dubbed the actor’s voices into screen (often using other people). Here’s an example in an otherwise perfect scene, the “three coffins” introduction in full:
Heavily inspired by Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (so much so that Leone was sued by him), Eastwood’s character was a breakthrough for him, having previously been stuck in hokey TV westerns and unable to show his acting acumen. Describing too much of the plot doesn’t serve much of a point, plus it’s just too good to give away a lot, but to put it simply Eastwood strategically inserts himself into a private but deadly conflict and proves to be more than the bad guys can handle. Featuring another incredible score by Ennio Morricone (you’ll see that name a lot for the rest of this list), A Fistful of Dollars revitalized the western for the 60s-style audience. If you’ve seen the third Back to the Future, you know what film clip is coming, but like me perhaps you had never seen the original until recently. Well, here it is. Enjoy.
6. The Hateful Eight (2015)
A quick detour to the 21st Century to Quentin Tarantino’s latest film (in my opinion one of his three best), The Hateful Eight should not be ignored by those who sometimes distance themselves from the hyper-violence and maddeningly complex dialogue of Tarantino’s repertoire. I think there are quite a few who prefer Django Unchained, and I’m not here to knock that movie (it’s awesome). But dear lord, The Hateful Eight has so many brilliant performances that I cannot possibly exclude it from my list. In some ways, however, this is the “least western” of anything here: full of rich dialogue, mostly confined to one building, and featuring actors who drop the clichés of the usual western film. How Tarantino’s screenplay did not earn an Oscar nod, I will never know, but at least the impeccable Jennifer Jason Leigh earned her nomination for Supporting Actress. See the great trailer for all the other stars, but for me Michael Madsen and Samuel Jackson additionally stand out.
Ha, man, you know how much fun Sam Jackson had doing that scene. Anyway, the characters meet in a desolate winter tavern in Wyoming as a woman is being transferred to jail. Again, if you know Tarantino you know probably what you’re getting, but it’s so much more than great screenplays and brilliant cinematography. It’s a groundbreaking turnabout on gender roles, as Leigh’s character is both brutalized and feared, and shown no more empathy and compassion than a regular male outlaw. It’s also a fun little revisionist history of the West, and Reconstruction era American culture. And with that, it’s the most thrilling of any film here, both the most exhilarating and most challenging to watch. Since it’s still so new, I won’t spoil any of the rest of it, just that the twists and turns seem strangely foreboding yet sudden, a dichotomy you’ll clearly see through its almost three-hour running time.
5. High Noon (1952)
Stanley Kramer was one of the greatest directors to ever live, but in High Noon his talents merely produced the film; Fred Zinnemann instead was the filmmaker here, in what on the surface appears like another 1950s shoot-em-up western but is so much different than that. So different in fact, that many audiences were not prepared for the dramatic, methodical, and philosophical/political overtones of this masterpiece of film. I’ll get more into the controversies in a bit. Gary Cooper stars as the venerated Marshall Will Kane, newly married to Grace Kelly’s Amy Fowler and ready to retire. But when he hears of the release of a dangerous man he put in jail, hellbent on revenge with little in his way, he attempts to round up support in his little town as opposed to his wife who simply wants to leave. His church doesn’t support him:
His deputy (Lloyd Bridges) quits:
And it doesn’t look too good. In one of the most iconic shots in film history, Will literally stands alone as high noon approaches:
Give me a better 37-second clip than that. Passing in almost real-time, high noon comes, and you’ll have to watch it for the outcome. Controversial in its time not just because there are no murderous cowboys mowing down Indian savages, but because of the obvious allegory of blacklisting; remember, this is early 1950s Hollywood, and the McCarthy era with its House Unamerican Activities Committee was in full swing. Contrast this film with the still very good but generally conventional Rio Bravo, and you may see why John Wayne, Charlton Heston, and Gregory Peck initially turned down Will’s role, only to regret it forever later. One of the greatest roles in western history, and without a doubt one of the best endings, unlike most of the other movies your grandparents love, this one gets better with age. See it.
4. Shane (1953)
This movie, and one that will appear soon here, are probably the two most “classic” westerns on the list. But what makes Shane stand out (I finally just watched it last week and I was blown away) is that for a picture from the early 50s, it is incredibly deep and not at all filled with the western clichés that much of the era couldn’t escape. More than anything else though is the breathtaking cinematography, good enough to win an Oscar, set in the idyllic Jackson area of Wyoming, generally south of the famed Yellowstone National Park (the most awe-inspiring place to which I have ever traveled). While this clip doesn’t necessary show it all – you’ve just got to watch the film’s introduction – it gives you an idea of the setting as Shane comes to town:
Loosely based on the real-life land wars of Johnson County, Wyoming between cattle ranchers and first/second generation Homesteaders (remember from your history class if you got past the Civil War, President Lincoln’s Homestead Act granted vast swaths of land to anyone who could tend to it out West), Shane portrays a small town’s resistance against a ruthless cattle baron and his posse, with the enigmatic (stop me if you’ve heard that before) Shane rallying them together. You likely wouldn’t recognize anyone in this film – part of what makes it so good – except Jack Palance in one of his first roles, as the dastardly hired gunman in the cadre of bad guys:
That scene is good enough for Unforgiven. Stoic but shocking, Palance got an Oscar nod for his work. Shane is a film your dad or grandfather will love, so go watch it with them both.
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
What an incredible trailer, dear lord. Staring three of the greatest actors who have ever lived – Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Jason Robards – Sergio Leone’s smash 1968 hit Once Upon a Time in the West was not supposed to happen, but he decided to dip back into westerns one more time before the 60s ended. Thank goodness, because what we have is easily one of his best films, and some even consider it one of the greatest movies ever made. It was when Henry Fonda signed on that Leone took the chance, knowing he may never again get a chance to land the finest actor of his generation. I could put 20 clips from this film, but I’ll try to keep it reasonable. The introduction, as we meet the bandits and the man “Harmonica” (played by Bronson), is downright spectacular:
Listen to that. Who needs Ennio Morricone anyway? Nevertheless, his score is instrumental at other parts of the movie. Fonda wasn’t sure how to play a bad guy; after all, he’s revered by most from the Greatest Generation because of his heroic roles and all-American perfection (Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, The Ox-Bow Incident, 12 Angry Men, My Darling Clementine, etc.). He asked his friend Eli Wallach (see film #1) and Eli simply said, “You will have the time of your life.” Watch this scene, sure to have shocked audiences at the time, as we meet his “Frank” for the first time:
Oh Ennio Morricone, there you are, setting the mood as only you can. Just look at Fonda, you know he had to love knowing the camera would pan up to him… and audiences wouldn’t be prepared. Simply cinematic perfection; that’s how film should be made. Watch Bronson and Robards just master their craft in this scene:
As opposed to most of Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy,” this film is long, and methodical, and at times quiet and nerve-racking. Gone is the satire and light-hearted nebulously-defined good/bad guys. Here, we know who’s bad, but you can’t help but love them anyway.
2. The Searchers (1956)
There was no chance that I was going to ignore John Wayne, and director John Ford (FOUR Best Director Oscars), and the masterpiece of the 1950s, The Searchers. Far and away the most “classic” of all the films I’ve chosen, there is still no reason not to regard it as a piece of filmmaking history. Watch this brief intro for perspective:
Set in Texas, but shot in the legendary Monument Valley, Arizona, The Searchers features John Wayne as a grizzled (is he ever not grizzled?) Civil War veteran Ethan who spends years on the frontier searching for his niece after an abduction. Accompanying him, after an early flurry of activity by Texas Rangers, is only his nephew Martin. In a heart-wrenching scene, they discover one of the family members for which they are looking is now no longer able to be rescued. Here is John Wayne’s postmortem revenge:
Certainly, there are modern critical interpretations of a film where a white girl is captured by Indians, and cowboys kill a lot of them. The presumed rape of the other sister is a common theme in old-style westerns (“they’re after our women”), similar to the Southern attitude against blacks and slaves in the nadir of race relations in America around the turn of the 20th Century. Nevertheless, it is shot so beautifully, and acted so honestly, that to call it anything less than a must-see is ridiculous. I must leave you with the closing shot, a beyond-iconic moment after the denouement of the film, as Ethan ponders his life and the path he’s taken, against the background of the unforgiving West:
1. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) (1967 U.S.)
Can you beat that trailer? The landscape, the ambiance, and the best and most iconic film soundtrack in the history of movies, this is so unquestionably the best western that the debate for me is non-existent. This is the final film of the “Dollars Trilogy” by Sergio Leone, and it gives us the best performance of Clint Eastwood’s (“The Good”), Lee Van Cleef’s (“The Bad”), and Eli Wallach’s (“The Ugly”) lives. Yes, that Eli Wallach, who remained active working into his 90s, dying only 3 short years ago. When first released, so-called spaghetti westerns were still not respected; compare to The Searchers, while brilliant, the heroes are heroes and the bad guys are all bad. In Leone’s films, multi-dimensional characters rewrite the classic genre clichés and portray ambiguous gritty roles. Sure, we have the silly title casting the men in three categories, but the reality is significantly more complicated than that. Nevertheless, the humour and wit from Wallach and Eastwood makes this 3-hour film seem half that length. It breezes along with fun scenes like this:
But also long, suspenseful scenes where you don’t know what’s going to happen:
And when Blondie ("The Good") and Tuco ("The Ugly") seem a little more friendly, action-packed shoot outs with henchmen:
And in a perfect encapsulation of how 4 minutes of a guy running in circles could only be made exciting by Leone and Morricone’s impeccable score… well, see for yourself:
I could post clips all day of this virtually perfect movie. I cannot overstate the importance of Morricone’s score with Leone’s brilliant close-ups and mood-setting. One of your favorite directors and mine, Quentin Tarantino has called The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly “the best-directed film of all time” and also “the greatest achievement in the history of cinema.” It is his favorite film. And it’s one of mine. I’ll leave you with the spine-tingling classic “Mexican standoff” scene, recreated and parodied and studied for decades, but never duplicated. It is the perfect representation of a western film to me: fun, suspenseful, violent, and epic. Enjoy.
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Ah I had so much fun making this list. What did I leave out? There are a few I haven’t seen, but I feel like I covered most of the required mentions.
For those of you, like me, who ignored these films for years: stop! Watch them now. They’re so entertaining, even if they are quite different than much of what comes out today. Don’t ignore old movies. Embrace them! Most of what you like now wouldn’t exist without them.
Thanks for reading! Til next week…
