Favorite Westerns

Locutus D'Borg

Locutus D'Borg

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Most people vote for Unforgiven as their favorite. My favs are a bit off the beaten track.

5 - Django Unchained. All-star cast with Quenton Tarantino, Leo DiCaprio, Jamie Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Johnson, etc. Great action. Post-Civil War.

4 - For a Few Dollars More. Clint Eastwood. Too amazing to describe, and many more modern Westerns borrowed from this masterpiece.

3 - Bad Day At Black Rock. Spencer Tracy. More a post-WW2 movie but it really captures the heart of the Western.

2- The Magnificent Seven. Okay, I had to pick one classic. Stars too numerous to mention. Still holds up today and that soundtrack!!!

1 - The Quick and the Dead. 1995. Sharon Stone, a young Russel Crowe, Leo DiCaprio (looking 12), Gene Hackman, and many other well-known actors. Fantastic, and fantastical; basically a stylized Western version of Bloodsport (Von Damme). Set in a town full of outlaws and they hold a quick draw contest. End was especially satisfying.
 
My favorite Westerns? Mostly old ones . . . based on certain themes that I like which should be obvious from my choices.

Here are 10 of them (there are others) in no particular order of priority:

The Magnificent 7 (1960) -- the original w/Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn & Eli Wallach -- what a cast!

The Searchers (1956) - John Wayne & Natalie Wood

The Unforgiven (1960) -- the original w/Burt Lancaster & Audrey Hepburn (not the later movie of the same name with Eastwood/Freeman & Hackman)

Nevada Smith (1966) - Steve McQueen

The Wild Bunch (1969) - William Holden & Ernest Borgnine

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969) - Paul Newman & Robert Redford

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) - Humphrey Bogart & Walter Huston

High Noon (1952) - Gary Cooper & Grace Kelly

Shane (1953) - Alan Ladd

Jerrimiah Johnson (1972) - Robert Redford
 
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I was prepared to say the L36, then I read the post.
I grew up watching The Rifleman, Bonanza, Big Valley, and Gunsmoke. Plenty of movies over the years; but I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite from those (other than Blazing Saddles, but that's a tough sell as a "Western"). If the old TV series count, I think I'd choose The Rifleman and Gunsmoke as the favorites.
 
hhmoore said:
I was prepared to say the L36, then I read the post.
I grew up watching The Rifleman, Bonanza, Big Valley, and Gunsmoke. Plenty of movies over the years; but I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite from those (other than Blazing Saddles, but that's a tough sell as a "Western"). If the old TV series count, I think I'd choose The Rifleman and Gunsmoke as the favorites.
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My fav TV Western is Have Gun, Will Travel. I still watch it on reruns. Action and morality, a great combo. And OMG Paladin, my fav gunfighter on TV.
 
My favorite TV Westerns when I was a kid were:

The Lone Ranger (1949-1957)
The Roy Rogers Show (1951-1957)
Death Valley Days (1952-1970)
Wanted Dead or Alive (1958-1961)
Rawhide (1959-1965)
Bonanza (1959-1973)

TV Westerns that I watched occasionally but that were NOT my favorites were:

Gunsmoke (1955-1975)
Maverick (1957-1962)
Have Gun Will Travel (1957-1963)
Rifleman (1958-1963)
Wild Wild West (1965-1969)

A TV western that I never watched because we didn't get a TV until 1955 or 56:

Hop Along Cassidy (1952-1954)

Pretty much stopped watching TV Westerns by the early 60's before I started high school.

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Boy, was that a trip down memory lane! Funny thing is, I've had a chance to watch some of these shows on Pluto and my memory of those shows is far better than my opinion of them is now. Some things are better left to memory. LOL! ;)
 
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I'm a pretty big fan of Westerns....
I like off/Outside the box movies.

My Favorite Western is Deadman.... it's a Johnny Depp movie made in the late nineties. I hate JD, but this movie kicks A!
It's a black and white movie. Neil Young does the soundtrack (it's all eerie guitars) Lot's of famous cameos.
If I was a highschool history teacher, I'd show it for my class..... Then I'd get Fired. haha.

but It's the most realistic protrail of "The Old West" in my opinion.


*Another bonus movie none of you will have seen is Bone Tomahawk.
It's a more currently made one.
It's a Westen/Horror.... Holy Cow was it intense!!! I won't go into it, but it's a good, SLOW, well made, quiet western ...... for maybe the first 1.5 hours.... Then BAMB! :O
 
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The Zieg said:
Blackthorn, now on HBO Max. I love this film.

Zieg
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Never heard of Blackthorn. I'll check it out.
sgt1372 said:
My favorite TV Westerns when I was a kid were:

The Lone Ranger (1949-1957)
The Roy Rogers Show (1951-1957)
Death Valley Days (1952-1970)
Wanted Dead or Alive (1958-1961)
Rawhide (1959-1965)
Bonanza (1959-1973)

TV Westerns that I watched occasionally but that were NOT my favorites were:

Gunsmoke (1955-1975)
Maverick (1957-1962)
Have Gun Will Travel (1957-1963)
Rifleman (1958-1963)
Wild Wild West (1965-1969)

A TV western that I never watched because we didn't get a TV until 1955 or 56:

Hop Along Cassidy (1952-1954)

Pretty much stopped watching TV Westerns by the early 60's before I started high school.

------------------------------------------

Boy, was that a trip down memory lane! Funny thing is, I've had a chance to watch some of these shows on Pluto and my memory of those shows is far better than my opinion of them is now. Some things are better left to memory. LOL! ;)
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I am your age. I preferred Sci-Fi as a 50's early 60's kid. Science Fiction Theatre, Tales of Tomorrow, TZ, Outer Limits, etc.

One of my own Youtube channels is Classic Science Fiction & Horror, where I put as many old sci fi movies and shows as I could. I lost some series to copyright strikes even though they are long out of copyright protection, but that's YouTube for you.
 
Lots of great mentions here. I'm not even gonna go down the TV westerns, since I go back to the mid 50's watching those.

In relatively recent years, I think "Open Range" was my favorite. It ticked most all of the boxes I want from a western.

I also liked "Godless" on Netflix. I thought that was another well done western.

(Tombstone...for all the great lines alone.)
 
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