Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Movie, Book, and Music Review The Best Westerns Ever Made

Not really a classic, but Silverado (1985) is good fun.

The cast is pretty deep too: Scott Glenn, Kevin Cline, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, John Cleese, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, and Jeff Goldblum are all in it.

I'll toss in Nevada Smith and Tombstone as favorites of mine including those wonderful films mentioned in earlier posts.

Henry Fonda in all these movies

"My Darling Clemintine" (1946) also starred
Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, and Victor Mature.

"The Gunfighter" (1950)

"My Name is Nobody" (1974) withTerrence Hill.

" Drums along the Mowhawk" (1939)
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John Wayne in
"Hondo" (1953)
"The Searchers" (1956)
"Rio Bravo" (1959)
"Big Jake"
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"High Noon" (1952)

"Shane" (1953)

First Western Movies that come to mind are:
How the West was Won
The Cowboys
True Grit
John Wayne flicks are hard to beat. Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot have done some good ones lately based on Louis L'Amour stories.

Ulzana's Raid
Tom Horn
The Unforgiven
Little Big Man
Ride With the Devil
True Grit
Rooster Cogburn
The Shootist
Jeremiah Johnson
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
Lonesome Dove
Streets of Laredo

Don't know if it qualifies but "Legends of the Fall"was a good flick. Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins. Can't go wrong withany of those listed above. Also " Death Hunt".

No one put High Plains Drifter?

Also Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott and AnthonyMann/Jimmy Stewart. Will Penny also. Hombre too.

"Ride With The Devil" is one of my favorite movies. I guess I considered it more of a Civil War movie than a western. Otherwise, it would've made the top twenty. Same can be said for "Last of the Mohicans" and "Drums Along the Mohawk". The original "Last of the Mohicans" and "Drums Along the Mohawk" were really scary to me as a kid, watching the late movie on Friday or Saturday night. Something about those night scenes as they defended the fort and floating into Ft. William Henry on the logs. Very scary. The 1992 version of "Last of the Mohicans" is better though.

I've been to many of the locations where "Ride With The Devil" was filmed. Talked to several of the extras too. It was filmed on location near Kansas City.

"High Plains Drifter" is one of my favorites but didn't quite make the cut.

1. All the John Wayne "A" movies (and a couple "B"s)
2. Lonesome Dove
3. Open Range
4. Tombstone

The spaghetti westerns are fun, but I dont' understand their cult following. IMO, the whole "man with no name" series was trumped by one Italian flick:

5. Once Upon A Time In The West.

I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned Ulzana's Raid, that 70's Burt Lancaster flick.

No other movie that I can recall has detailed so well the intricacies of tracking a mounted war party. The scene where the Chief of Scouts played by Burt cuts the trail of the Apache horse string, pursues it to within rifle range at a gallop (aided by the fact that the Apache youth bringing up the rear had fallen asleep) and then begins to methodically shoot the horses is a classic.

Along those same lines, Robert Duvall as Cheif of Apache scouts Al Seiber, steals the movie "Geronimo: An American Legend" and makes it worth a look just to see his role.

'Course, among the BEST Westerns of all time was "The Seven Samurai", but thats gist for another thread.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Birdwatcher

I forgot about Geronimo with Duvall. It IS a great movie, and confirms why I rate him one of the top five living actors.

Another movie that I love for it's "fantasy factor," and still kinda qualifies as a western is:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114235/

As to "Once Upon a Time in the West", Leone wanted John Wayne to play Henry Fonda's "Frank" character, Henry Fonda to play "Cheyenne", Jason Robard's character, and Clint Eastwood to play "Harmonica".

I always liked the John Wayne classics. You just knew he was going to kick some @$$ in a way that only JW could, with a Winchester and a six gun. The Sons of Katie Elder, Rio Bravo, McLintock, El Dorado, Cahill U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn to name a few.
A great Western needs that star that makes it all bigger than life. Nobody did it better than JW!

I guess Tom Selleck and, to a lesser extent, Sam Elliott, have done what they can do bring back the western, but to me, they don't quite make it. I watched "Crossfire Trail", I think it was, and it seemed more like a Cowboy Action Shoot, than a movie.''

You really have to wonder what John Wayne could've done if he were alive today and in his prime. What with all the historical research and the greater emphasis in accuracy in costuming and props.

Where did you here this? I would love to read about. NYS

Me too.

I'm glad the cast ended up like it did. Any other combo and it wouldn't have worked as well. I don't want to see JW as a bad guy. It's just wrong!

As a side note, that movie has one of the best soundtracks of all time. The music sets a tone that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

Tombstone
The Cowboys
True Grit
The Shootist
Unforgiven
Three mules for sister Sarah
Anything with JW, Clint Eastwood, Tom Selleck

A lot of good to great westerns have already been named. One I don't think has been mentioned but makes my list is "Sargent Rutledge". Woody Strode's character on the witness stand talking about being top soldier always gets me.