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Ork-en Man wrote: Open Range with Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner is a pretty good film, also.
Spurred on by this thread I did head over to Amazon to get a new western in and just saw Open Range there and I'll second it as a good slower western! Some very nice cinema work in it too!
Just a though too on the Spaghetti westerns, often I'll put a film or TV show on to have on in the background whilst working on models or something else. Quite a lot of films are great as a background "noise" that you can easily dip in and out of. Spaghetti westerns and any of their kind you simply can't do that. Or rather you can, but you miss so much even though "nothing is happening." Ironically the lack of high action and the slower moments command your attention to get drawn in. If I put them on I put them on to sit there and watch them start to finish.
Ork-en Man wrote: Open Range with Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner is a pretty good film, also.
It's a pretty run of the mill western up until the last 40 or so minutes in my opinion. But those 40 minutes... by god they're so worth it on every level. Open Range has the best ending gun fight of any western imo. It's brutal, authentic in a way movies rarely are, and just so well filmed and executed.
Ill repeat some of the ones that have been mentioned:
Deadwood (Fantastic series, so excited about the new movie. Fun Fact: Garret Dillahunt is going to be in it as his 3rd character in the series!)
True Grit (Either, I liked the new one quite a bit though)
Cowboys vs Aliens (Nah, just kidding!)
3:10 to Yuma (never actually saw the original, but the new one was great)
Tombstone (Did you know there are kids out there who do not know who Kurt Russell is?)
Gunsmoke (I hated this as a kid but as an adult it is pretty damn good)
Ork-en Man wrote: Open Range with Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner is a pretty good film, also.
It's a pretty run of the mill western up until the last 40 or so minutes in my opinion. But those 40 minutes... by god they're so worth it on every level. Open Range has the best ending gun fight of any western imo. It's brutal, authentic in a way movies rarely are, and just so well filmed and executed.
Yeah, that final gunfight is phenomenal. The rest of the film is a bit average, especially the romance plot, but that big payoff is worth it.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/06/13 07:15:32
The Laws of Thermodynamics:
1) You cannot win. 2) You cannot break even. 3) You cannot stop playing the game.
Colonel Flagg wrote:You think you're real smart. But you're not smart; you're dumb. Very dumb. But you've met your match in me.
Everything before the final season is pretty great. Then the final season happened and ruined it.
Except for the gun fight at the frontier bar (the last good gun fight of the series), which was really well done, but god that season was otherwise so anti-climatic and cringe worthy.
Pale Rider is one of my favourite films full stop it's slow but what it lacks in pace it builds in momentum.
The Clint spaghetti western trilogy is top notch but if you fancy a change of pace the original Kurosawa samurai films there based on Yojimbo and Sanjuro are excellent.
Your last point is especially laughable and comical, because not only the 7th ed Valkyrie shown dumber things (like being able to throw the troopers without parachutes out of its hatches, no harm done) - Irbis
Easy E wrote: I don't think anyone has mentioned Silverado.
There's a reason.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Oh damn, I can't believe I didn't remember Hell or High Water! The bank trying to foreclose on Ma's old farm, the boys (well, boy) becoming an oil tycoon, the Sherriff that wouldn't let it go. While a bit of a stereotype, the confrontation in the casino between the "Cowboy and Indian". I hope people will forgive the term in context.
And yeah, No Country for Old Men. Also good choice.
I don't know about 'good' but Ghost Town (1988) is a curiosity if you can find it.
I'd advise against watching the trailer or reading too much about it though.
"High Noon" is probably the best ever 'classic' Western, the old style "White Hats vs Good Hats". If you don't like that type of movies, then it's not for you, and today it feels somewhat dated, but it sort of a 'cut above' in its genre.
"The Searchers" set sort of a precedent for later Leone films. It is slow, atmospheric, gloomy and characters are morally ambigious. John Wayne does perhaps his best role in a Western as an Ahab who needs to catch his whale, vengeful and racist man searching revenge against Indians.It's a film which was much ahead of its time.
Sergio Leone films are distinct for their tone which is really unique. You can almost literally taste the West he presents: it's hot, dry, dusty, worn down and violence is quick, instead of drawn-out. The first movie (A Fistful of Dollars) is the most conventional and shortest, and they get ever longer, slower and more artistic after that. The Good, Bad and the Ugly might be too slow and long for some people's tastes, and Once Upon a Time in the West is even slower. But man, are they beautiful movies with maybe the best soundtracks of all time. The scene at the end of Once Upon a Time in the West, where they show Harmonica's origins and motivation, is IMO top3 movie scenes ever. The way it is shot and edited is simply pure liquid genius.
'Unforgiven' is basically a "realistic" Western, or maybe more accurately "low Western" which attempts to show the West as it actually was (or might have been) instead of an escapistic fantasyland. I feel at the times it is bit heavy-handed in its attempted "myth-busting" but it still is a great movie, coming out at the time when Western genre was definitely passé and pretty much nobody thought anyone would make a good Western movie anymore.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/06/13 22:37:11
As an Old West gamer (and game designer) I've seen quite a few, but skipped many classics.
You have a couple of "eras" really. You have the early John Wayne style stuff, inspired by romantic visions of the west, white actor playing indians, the cavalry coming to the rescue, the white hat (good guy) and the black hat (bad guy). Very much "romanticized". They're old and they feel old. So if you don't like the old campy 1950's WW2 style movies, you may not love these. Think radio serials and nickel-novels. One advantage is that they did film a lot out on the actual plains and deserts so there are some nice visuals.
Then you have the kind of Clint Eastwood era, the rise of the real Spaghetti Western (named so because many were filmed in Italy or by Italians...and you have some not-at-all Western biomes and a lot of non-English speaking extras and cast members). Sometimes you'd get some horrible dubbed in bits (or characters speaking off screen). These are famous for their scripts, their violence, their music and some really fething long camera shots. They're a bit on the artsy side, and generally show a very dull, grey, miserable West. I'd say these are most of the real 'classic's if you ask anybody under 50.
In the early 90's you had a couple of big films come out, namely Wyatt Earp (awful....really), and Tombstone (pretty fantastic). Kurt Russell Ghost-directed Tombstone when the guy hired couldn't really get a handle on it. He even agreed not to divulge that fact until the "director" died, and he did 5-6 years ago I believe. Both films are Hollywood. Tombstone is by far more entertaining and has the most memorable moments. All of these films are vaguely accurate historically, enough to get the point across.
With the two films being released so close, you had like 90% of Hollywood A-listers were in one or the other. Just off the top of my head, Tombstone: Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, Sam Elliot, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, Billy Bob Thornton, Stephen Lange, Michael Rooker...hell Charlton Heston. Wyatt Earp had Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Tom Sizemore, Michael Madsen, etc. Big names in both (and if you want to be miserable watching Kevin Costner trying to play a teenage Wyatt Earp...well...enjoy!) You also have the movie Unforgiven show up - a dark and miserable movie, but pretty memorable.
Late 90's and early 2000's is when Westerns came back as kind of big bodacious action films. The Quick and the Dead, etc.
Lately you've seen more art-house style films, and some just classical "sweeping plains" movies.
If you're not interesting in going back 50+ years to the "campier" versions and you're more of a modern film guy, there are some good options.
Open Range: A really solid Western film. Slow burn, amazing climax, beautiful scenery, gritty without being fething miserable.
Appaloosa: Often overlooked, and rather dry...this is all about Ed Harris and Vigo Mortensen as some brilliantly written characters. Definitely worth a watch.
3:10 to Yuma: A bit heavy on the action, and mediocre on the rest...but some cool characters. Not my favourite, but I still watch it once a year.
Tombstone: The most enjoyable experience you'll have.
True Grit: One of the few remakes which is better than the original. It's a bit art-house, but it's violent, realistic and beautifully acted.
Disclaimer: Random Fanboy Tangent Inbound
If you're asking for peoples opinions on the best movies they've seen...I'm going to come out of left-field with my favourite Old West film to date.
Bone Tomahawk
This is a film shot over something like 21 days, and it's a masterpiece. A small budget, beautifully written, wonderfully acted, and friggin' intense film. Craig Zahler (writer/director) put it off for years avoiding Hollywood's desire to take it and spin it into a cheap 90-minute "normal" film. What he made is a polarizing masterpiece of Old West/Horror.
Superb cast, spooky story, and shocking. The most noticeable thing (beyond Richard Jenkins providing an Oscar-Worthy performance) is that they actually speak the entire film the way people in the Old West spoke - with their vocabulary, etc. It has not been "Hollywood-ified" to be dumbed down or easier to digest. It's even worth watching with sub-titles sometimes. It's wonderful.
However...you will love this movie, or hate it. I absolutely adore it. Kurt Russell and the rest of the cast are superb. And almost nothing about this film is Hollywood-ified, a real blessing nowdays.
Most of the recommendations I would make have already been covered, so I'll just say Knights of Cydonia is the best western you can watch in six minutes.
Fistful of Dollars
For A Few Dollars More
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Once Upon a Time in the Old West
Fun fact: Once Upon a Time was planned as the fourth in the series with Clint Eastwood in the running for the lead role, but he was afraid of being typecast and locked into one series, so he declined, which is why they Charles Bronson in the role. However, it is essentially the same character.
Add to the above:
The Magnificent Seven (Original)
Hang 'em High
Big Jake
El Dorado
And the one that I can't believe made it to me without being mentioned...
Reckon I might start with the 90's era ones recommended. It's more my general movie era, so hopefully that'll give me a key.
From there, Spaghetti Westerns. Then, possibly, The Duke.
For the 90s, make sure you definitely watch Unforgiven.
It's an excellent deconstruction of the romanticism of the West, especially the gunslingers of the west.
And Gene Hackman is phenomenal in it.
Gene Hackman is phenomenal in anything.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Another one that worth watching is A Man Called Horse (how did I forget that), Richard Harris as an English big game hunter captured & enslaved by the Sioux
the sequels aren't as good, but if you enjoyed the first they're not awful
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/06/14 13:20:14
While it's certainly not as accessible or useful a suggestion as the movies and TV that have come up so far, I do feel any discussion of the genre needs at some point to include a mention of Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption.
Especially the second game, I posit, is easily up there with the absolute best of Western movies in terms of the storytelling, atmosphere, of evoking all that's great about the genre without resorting to cliche. As a story of family, trust, betrayal, revenge, it's superlatively well presented and nuanced. The visuals are as breathtaking as any of the cinematography in the genre classics. The characters straddle the line between larger than life and intensely human.
Of course, to fully experience it you need access to a PS4/Xbox One and 40-60 hours of free time, as well as a willingness to put up with game mechanics that can, at times, push your tolerance of tedium (there's a reason western movies never pause for 5 minutes to have the protagonist clean their guns and feed their horse...) but it is a genuine masterpiece of the genre which is worth bringing up.
Although not technically a "Western", as it takes place in Australia, I also recommend Quigley Down Under. Totally underrated movie and a cult classic.
I don't think Quigley Down Under is a cult film nor underrated. Everyone I know approves of that movie, lol. There are a handful of good "Western" films set in Australia around the same time period too.
Quigley down under is an epic movie. One of my absolute favorites.
There is also one called Purgatory, which I don't think anyone has mentioned. Pretty excellent cast, and the whole setting of the movie is pretty unique, as everyone is dead and in literal Purgatory. Great gunfight at the end, too.
"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should."
