Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Top 5 Westerns

I haven't done a top 5 list recently, but was inspired to do so while defending the greatness of "True Grit" (the new one, not the old one).  I'm not a huge western fan, but I do like a good, slightly dark, western.  Because of this, I really don't like the older westerns that seem campy, so you won't see any of the "Spaghetti Westerns" in this list, or movies like "Hang 'Em High", which had potential, but ultimately fell short.  Also, I haven't seen "Cowboy's and Aliens" yet, so...you know...that's not on this list either.
So, here's my top 5 Westerns.

5 - "Back to the Future, Part III" - Hey, IMDB has this listed under the genre of Western, so I'm counting it.  The finale to the classic 1980's trilogy was also my favorite of the 3 movies.  I laughed, I worried for the characters, and in the end, I applauded a great movie.

4 - "Tombstone" - Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, Powers Boothe and yes...Charlton Heston all play parts in this 1993 classic.  "Tombstone" is my favorite telling of the Wyatt Earp story, and Val Kilmer is my favorite Doc Holiday.  Plus, it has Charlton Heston...that has to count for something.

3 - "Silverado" - This 1985 movie is probably the least well known movie on this top 5 list.  Starring Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Kevin Kline as the heroes, and Brian Dennehy as the main villain, "Silverado" is a surprisingly good Western.  With a story of redemption and friendship that happens to include some good gun fights, and Scott Glenn (one of my favorite actors), "Silverado" has always been one of my favorites.

2 - "True Grit" - The 2010 remake, starring Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn is a really close 2nd on my list, and that's saying something considering that #1 is one of my favorite all time movies.  While I loved Bridges and thought Matt Damon was very good as well, Hailee Steinfeld steals the show as Mattie Ross.  This remake is so much better than the original that it's not even worth having a conversation about which one is better.  You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll move you Bob (and if you don't get that Veggie Tales reference, I'm sorry for you).

1 - "Unforgiven" - This 1992 Best Picture Winner, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, also earned Eastwood and Oscar for Best Director and Gene Hackman an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.  "Unforgiven" is the greatest Western ever made.  Eastwood masterfully tells the story of William Munny (Eastwood), a retired and reformed gunslinger, who reluctantly takes one last job to help his friend Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman).  But, when Little Bill (Hackman) pushes Munny too far, Munny becomes the gunslinger of old in my favorite movie shoot out of all time.

6 comments:

Nuke said...

Back to the Future 3... thanks for that awesome laugh. :)

You really need to see more movies from before we were born. Some of my favorites were High Noon, Rio Bravo, Red River, The Magnificent Seven, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I would place all of those after Unforgiven, though I suspect that will change once I see the new True Grit (didn't like the first). I would then place the spaghetti westerns after those, and then probably Wyatt Earp, Tombstone, and Silverado.

Fun list you had tonight... I sometimes forget how much I like westerns.

Oh, thought of a more recent one I would have to place closer to the top... 3:10 to Yuma. Good stuff there.

Jake said...

I liked 3:10 to Yuma as well (the new one), but I liked Back to the Future 3 better. :-)

I did watch The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and felt like I wasted 2 hours of my life.

I did have a debate between Wyatt Earp and Tombstone, but settled on Tombstone over Wyatt Earp because I thought Val Kilmer was such a good Doc Holiday, and I couldn't put 2 Costner movies in there.

Anonymous said...

Um… Blazing Saddles!?
MCD

Jake said...

I did consider "Blazing Saddles" for the #5 spot, but it's not my favorite Mel Brooks movie. Back to the Future 3 was better.

Four Hours from Anywhere said...

The use of a time machine automatically disqualifies Back to the Future 3 from the western category :)

On a side note, I popped on here cause I thought of you when I saw the trailer for the new season of Psych. It's a good one if you haven't seen it yet. Hope things are going well!

YW said...

Does IMDB have a Steampunk category, which could be where this movie could go? BTW, I love steampunk...where history is combined with futuristic possibilities. But this combination is not by a time machine accidentally going there, but because that's how the history happens in the steampunk world. Why don't you take BTF3 and put it in a new list--Top 5 Time Traveling Movies?