There's a LOT of bad westerns. But kids today don't have the historical background that guys our age were raised with, so it's not surprising that most of these modern westerns are so stooooooooopid.
There is simply no substitute for a daily dose of Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy on the ol' B&W TV, followed by weekly Saturday matinee's with more Roy, plus Gene Autry, Lone Ranger, and so forth. Without such solid historical grounding, modern fans of the Western are severely disadvantaged.
One of the big things missing today (IMHO) is the pitting of good against evil. Good people fought bad people and won. The strong protected the weak. The western characters of the day taught us (with our parents) right from wrong and reinforced the ideas of strength, honor and good citizenship.
Ernie
While the reality was whoring, gambling, drunkenness and back shooting, I agree that the cowboy mythos served a valuable function to impress upon impressionable young minds the virtues of fair play, standing your ground against desperate odds, protecting the weak and so forth. By the time a kid is old enough to have figured out how dirty and raggedy assed the old West really was* they already had those ideas instilled into their value system.
Certainly beats the abnormal normal which kids learn today...
*extra credit for the actor that used that phrase and the movie it was in. Should be a gimme for you western buffs. Hint: It definitely wasn't one of the worst westerns ever made.
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
In the top (bottom?)ten. Against a Crooked Sky (Richard Boone), one of the funniest non-comedy westerns IMO. Kids got it for me many years ago. Acting and production values were hilariously bad.
Hang on to your memories; they're better than the real thing ever was - Joe Sherlock
Clint Eastwood was the sole redemptive value in any of the Spaghetti Westerns.
I submit "Paint Your Wagon" as exhibit A (not a spaghetti however)
"Paint Your Wagon" gets my vote too.
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
You've not seen the worst western movie ever made until you watch "The Return Of Red River Johnny." made in the early 1950s by some small independent film company in Hollywood. It is truly the alpha and omega of "worst."
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
In the bounty hunter's room you can plainly see where the sheets of drywall on the outside of the wall studs butt up against each other on one wall, while another wall has OSB board o n it. There was also painted over OSB board visible throughout the movie. Drywall or "sheetrock" didn't start appearing here until between 1910 and 1930, and OSB board didn't come into being until the late 1970's.
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In the gambling scene at the Saloon, a close up shot was taken of coins on the table. The coins shown were Lincoln Cents (first minted in 1909) and a Washington Quarter (first minted in 1932). The setting in the movie is at the very best 1880's and the coins should have been the Seated Liberty Quarter minted from 1836 through 1891, and the Indian Head Penny minted from 1859 to 1909.
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Most of the doors in the buildings in town are equipped with modern brass doorknobs and dead bolts that you can buy at Home Depot. Not exactly period hardware
mtcurman; Top of the morning to you Ben, I hope you and your family are keeping well this summer.
So my nomination in this category would be Buffalo Rider.
Honestly I can't say I've watched the entire movie in a single sitting. Typically if I'm bored and wandering about youtube I'll watch a bit until I can't take it any longer and then return months later....
There were a bunch of really and truly terrible westerns in the late '60's and into the early '70's though. It almost seemed like a competition to see who could make the worst one and still have it arrive on the market.
All the best to you folks sir and good luck on your hunts this fall.
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