Your 10 Favorite Non-duke Westerns

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    There was a topic about this a year ago, but since a GREAT western was released since then (and most people tend to skip over old threads when bumped back up) I thought I'd start a new thread for you.


    What are your 10 favorite Westerns NOT starring John Wayne (go ahead and list one if he's got a small part such as in How The West Was Won).


    I haven't seen nearly as many Westerns as many of you, but here's my list....


    1. Tombstone
    2. Winchester '73
    3. Open Range
    4. Young Guns 2
    5. Shane
    6. Silverado
    7. The Man From Laramie
    8. Young Guns
    9. The Magnificent Seven
    10. Unforgiven


    Close - Destry Rides Again, Support Your Local Sheriff, Return of the Magnificent Seven, Maverick (I liked that one, it was fun - kind of like Support Your Local Sheriff in a way), and The Quick and the Dead.


    I need to see more classic Westerns. I'm working on it...


    So which movies make your list?

    Well I will list mine, not sure if I did before or not:


    1. Once Upon A Time In The West (my new favorite)
    2. The Magnificent Seven
    3. High Noon
    4. Sergeant Rutledge (Wish it was on DVD)
    5. Nevada Smith
    6. Shane
    7. The Unforgiven
    8. Open Range
    9. Winchester '73
    10. Tombstone (very Hollywood, but, liked it anyway)


    Like I said, Once Upon is my new favorite and my number 1 changes around depending on how I feel.

    Life is hard, its even harder when your stupid!!
    -John Wayne

    My list goes like this:


    1. My Darling Clementine
    2. The Magnificent Seven
    3. High Noon
    4. Blazing Saddles
    5. The Ox-Bow Incident
    6. Open Range
    7. Bend of the River
    8. The Tin Star
    9. The Man From Laramie
    10. Silverado


    Cheers, Hondo B)



    Quote

    "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it"

    - John Wayne quote

    Good topic! My favorites, in no particular order are


    The Outlaw Josey Wales
    Tombstone
    My Darling Clementine
    Quigley Down Under
    Silverado
    Open Range
    Winchester 73
    High Noon
    Support Your Local Sheriff
    Blazing Saddles!


    Others that come close are "The Westerner" (another Gary Cooper movie), "The Young Guns" movies, "Magnificent 7", "Wagon Master", and of course "Shane".


    (and one day on the list, hopefully, a western comedy I wrote with a friend of mine about a year and a half ago that I’m trying to sell!)


    I must confess, Eric, I don't like "favorite movie polls" that limit the number of choices to an arbitrary number. I particularly dislike such polls about Westerns because the genre itself is my favorite and there are literally dozens of Westerns (even those without the Duke) that rank among my favorite films. But some that show up on almost everybodys' "favorite Western" lists are, believe it or not, not among my favorites, including Eastwood's "Unforgiven", all the so-called "spaghetti Westerns" and the lavishly-praised "The Wild Bunch".


    On the other hand, I absolutely love Lee Marvin's "Monte Walsh", Burt Lancaster's "Ulzana's Raid" and "Lawman", Gregory Peck's "The Stalking Moon", "The Gunfighter" and "The Big Country", Jimmy Stewart's "Broken Arrow", "Bandolero", "Naked Spur" (and any of several others). "The Culpepper Cattle Company", "Quigley Down Under", Burt Lancaster's "Unforgiven", "Shane", "There Was A Crooked Man", "River of No Return","Pale Rider", "Union Pacific", "The Fastest Gun Alive", "Dances With Wolves" and of course 'Open Range", "Last Train From Gun Hill", a Yul Brynner "Western" that I'm not sure even exists anymore since I haven't even seen it on TV for at least 30 years, titled "Kings of the Sun", plus several others that have been already named in the thread. And that's just the ones I can remember. :lol:

    De gustibus non est disputandum

    Hey, Stumpy - don't feel constrained to keep it to 10 if you can't! I didn't (well, I did and I didn't - I also listed a bunch of movies that could very well have made the list depending on what day it is).


    It's great that your "favorite westerns" list is different - hell, I wish that I could get caught up on all the great westerns of the last 75 years in just a couple of months, but truth be told it's probably going to take me the better part of a decade!


    Ah - but what a great decade that will be.


    I do love these lists - it helps me pick out new movies to buy on DVD! :D

    Hi



    It seems so easy to pick your favourite top whatever when asked but as we all kow it never is and when you look back on seventy to eighty years of westerns its tough.


    However:


    Gunfight at the OK Corral
    The Magnificent Seven
    The Last Command (does Texas and the Alamo count as a western?)
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
    Ride Clear of Diablo
    Destry
    Buffalo Bill
    The Westerner
    Pony Express
    Union Pacific


    going to a reserve list


    Ride the high Country
    Wichita


    Regards



    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

    Quote

    Originally posted by B5Erik@Apr 16 2004, 01:53 AM
    I do love these lists - it helps me pick out new movies to buy on DVD! :D



    That's the problem, Eric. Many of my favorite Westerns are not even available on DVD. And for me, may never be because I'm getting on up in years. Hell, I'll probably die of old age before they ever release Jimmy Stewart's "Broken Arrow" or "Naked Spur" (thank goodness they just released "Bandolero"), or Peck's "Stalking Moon" and "The Gunfighter", plus many, many others. What I can't understand is why the Duke's "Fort Apache" was released on DVD several years ago in Europe but we still can't get it on DVD in Region 1 (the U.S.).

    De gustibus non est disputandum

    Stumpy,


    At least you got to see those great classics on the silver screen when they came out. Most of the great ones were made before I was born. Although I came into the world back in the early 60's most of those were getting up in years, and the standards were changing for movie industry. And most of all the westerns were thinning out, maybe due to the television westerns of the era.


    I am so glad to get to see some of them on vidoeo, that I would never get to see otherwise.


    Cheers, Hondo B)



    Quote

    "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it"

    - John Wayne quote

    well here goes for my pick


    man from snowy river 1 and 2 (just have to love the riding skills)
    broken arrow (jimmy stewart)
    man from laramy
    bend in the river


    just some can't get many of the old westerns on video or dvd down under as they go quickly


    cheers smokey

    " its not all black and white, but different shades of grey"

    So over the weekend I picked up a couple DVDs, The Fighting Seabees (a great movie) and Will Penny.


    I liked what I had read about Will Penny, and how "authentic" and "realistic" it was. I like Charlton Heston, and I thought I'd give it a shot. I liked Heston and the rest of the cast - except for Donald Pleasance. It wasn't his fault, really - he was just horribly miscast and his character was the main problem with the movie.


    I thought that all of the characters and situations in the movie were authentic, except the pshycho "preacher" and his family. Those characters were like something out of a bad TV show, and didn't really fit in the movie. If they had just been another bunch of outlaws the movie would have been better - the scenes with the psycho family just had something of a cartoonish atmosphere instead of the gritty realism of the rest of the movie.


    Will Penny wasn't bad, just undermined by a cartoonish band of "villains" that don't really fit in. That's too bad. It could have been one of the all time best with more realistic "bad guys."


    At least The Fighting Seabees was really good - REALLY good, and I finally got around to watching True Grit (for the first time). Now THAT was a great western.


    Unfortunately, in the end, Will Penny won't make my top 10 westerns list, or even my top 50. It was really close to being that good, but sometimes a movie really is only as good as the villain.

    Quote

    Originally posted by B5Erik@Apr 19 2004, 11:25 AM
    ..........., in the end, Will Penny won't make my top 10 westerns list, or even my top 50. It was really close to being that good, but sometimes a movie really is only as good as the villain.


    I agree with you, Erik. I've seen a lot worse Westerns but I've also seen a lot better. I too like Charlton Heston and had high hopes for this movie but was fairly disappointed. Not in Donald Pleasance, though. He almost always plays someone who's more or less unhinged. I think the only role I ever saw him in that he played a good guy was "The Great Escape".

    De gustibus non est disputandum