No.2063
ITT: Western films
What are your favorite westerns?
No.2064
Bumping with this.
No.2065
pic related by far…BY FAR!
Blows El Topo out of the water.
No.2066
I like Raoul Walsh's early widescreen spectacle The Big Trail (1930) with John Wayne in his first starring role. Since the film bombed, he wouldn't get another major studio lead for nearly a decade.
The project has an interesting backstory, as the crew and actors traveled across several states to film the journey of a wagon train. Newly-discovered techniques were used to record sound outside the studio.
Even though the film has a fairly unremarkable story, and the dialogue can be hard to understand without subs, the authentic locations and oversized visual canvas check the right boxes with me. And overly-ambitious failures are always interesting. Best viewed on the largest screen available.
No.2168
I think I'm in the minority, but I like Ride the High Country more than The Wild Bunch.
No.2171
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
>>2168funny how this spaghetti western rips off every big action scene in the wild bunch. morricone really made some boisterous music for this one.
No.2172
I'm having troubles finding any good quality torrents that aren't 1 gb dvd rips of the westerns you guys have talked about here.
Can anyone help?
No.2173
>>2172hm, some are on tehparadox. not torrents but uploaded to filehosters.
cinemageddon has a bunch of spaghetti westerns.
No.2209
Probably Jeremiah Johnson. Shows how he lives of the land (survival skills), interesting characters, and good cinematography.
No.2211
>>2173Bullet for the general
>inb4 hate mob No.2392
My favorite Western is One Eyed Jacks. I would love to see Brando's four hour long cut, but Alas! Then Shane, of course, everyone loves, and so do I. Treasure of Sierra Madre I'd call a western of sorts, and I like it. Thanks for that starter pack too, I'm in a western mood.
No.2491
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
Excellent Lee Van Cleef spaghetti
sans Eastwood but with Thomas Milian
A double barreled blast of operatic passion in this theme :D
No.2499
It's already in the infographic, but I caught Bend of the River on some HD movie channel and enjoyed it. It has a lot of spectacular scenery from Mt. Hood and the Columbia River. And Jimbo Stewart plays somewhat against type as a complex character with a dark side.
No.2881
No.3036
>>2491Great theme but I prefer this version sung in English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3D4sxMzUQ8I like that she barely seems to understand what she's singing. Also that she sounds borderline psychotic!
I don't see DEATH RIDES A HORSE mentioned yet, but it's another one of the best Euro Westerns.
No.3040
Another title missing here is the West German acid western Deadlock
No.3491
>>2499Good choice, my favorite Mann/Stewart collab
No.3535
Eastwood's last ride, "Unfogiven", is definitely worth a mention.
Also the Thai western "Tears of the Black Tiger" is a treat. If you haven't seen it, grab it up.
No.3538
Another one I might put in the starter pack is John Huston's The Misfits with Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe
I don't think The Ballad of Cable Hogue is essential
No.3558
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
I personally really enjoyed the original Django
No.3589
>>2063I don't think any western movie is quite as good as that one, nailed it OP
No.3735
A unique spin on the wagon train / cattle drive subset of westerns which used to be very popular. This one tells the story of pioneer women traveling west to California seeking … men!
It's less renowned than others but there's a lot of gorgeous scenery and realistic photography (no rear-projection phoniness).
No.3793
Perhaps Heaven's Gate isn't for everyone, but I think it's one of the most beautiful westerns ever.
No.4598
How about some newer westerns.
Is this one good? I think I'll try it. I see it compared to Leone and Peckinpah, but who knows…
No.4602
>pic related
Saw it not so long ago, Extremely good stuff
>>3558
I found the original Django pretty pointless, it was entertaining as a film but it was too straight foward for me, just a guy with a heavy machinegun wanting money.
No.4617
How do I into westerns?
I've never particularly liked them, honestly because of the setting. However, it seems silly to discredit those movies because of that. The Leone spaghetti westerns feel so empty and overrated to me. I watched Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and I found it better, but it still did nothing for me. Any recs?
No.4626
>>4617
You don't like mountains or wide open spaces? Men charting their own path in life? The outdoors and rugged individualism are a big part of these films.
Italian westerns are a little different than the American original, adding more gunfights, action and gimmicks … but also uglier landscapes.
I don't know what to recommend that you'd enjoy. Maybe you'd like westerns in a modern setting, like Paul Newman in HUD or THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.
No.4733
Best western I've seen lately
Stewart is overshadowed by some great character actors.
No.4793
>>4602
Sometimes all you need is that though. High Plains Drifter is crazy good though, I remember seeing it for the first time when I was 13. Made me fall in love with westerns.
No.4801
>>4626
Ended up watching The Searchers, it felt like a subversion of the tropes of the hero cowboy (since I got the feeling we're not supposed to root for a racist bastard) and overall I liked it more than any other western I've watched, despite some things in the script that didn't fit like the comic relief love story or the Indians being like this awkward mix of both victims and subhuman savages. I don't think the movie was endorsing racism at all, but it felt to me like it didn't know how to portray the Indians in a better light. I'll check out those ones you mentioned, thanks.
No.4802
>>4801
That's a good choice. The Searchers is one of the best – despite certain aspects that don't quite work.
I like the way scenes play out at a distance within a large frame. You have to pay attention to catch all the subtleties between characters, like at the beginning inside the house. And when there are finally closeups, it has a bigger impact.
No.4831
>>3040
Oh god this film watched it yesterday.
and I was easily impressed once the film got going.
It really was worth watching.
for a western set in modern time
it felt like the good the bad and the ugly but with the horse being replaced by cars and trains
also the can soundtrack makes this film as well.
No.4833
>>4802
>at the beginning inside the house
You mean the fact that is almost sure than Wayne's character and his brother's wife fucked, right?
Or for another example, at the ending, when he just walks away and doesn't enter the house with the rest of his estranged family, then the door closes?
No.4834
>>4833
Yeah, I think John Wayne and Vera Miles exchange glances near the beginning to imply their past relationship.
The closing shot is great too.
And I always enjoy blocking that gives the frame depth, for example in the second picture above. >>4802
I think television contributed to the demise of this expansive style of shooting movies, as it was important to create images that could be transferred to a much smaller screen. Thankfully some big screen cinematography has returned as TVs have gotten larger.
No.5175
I would classify Ramona as a hidden gem. It's not a traditional western, more of a historical romance set in the mid-1800s. I liked its unexpected take on the cultural interactions between Spanish colonials, local Indians, and white settlers in the early days of California.
One of the reasons I was curious about this film was the fact that the Ramona story has been performed annually at an outdoor amphitheatre in Hemet, CA since 1923(!).
No.5600
>>2065
It's unique and carves out it's own style, but I couldn't call it my favorite western. It's less a pure western than a folk ballad about a land baron and peasants in some bleached out corner of Brazil.
Why do you like it so much?
No.5604
>>5175
Spanish aren't white?
No.5605
>>5604
To be more specific, the settlers were Americans of European Protestant origin. So they had cultural differences with the Spanish/Mexican Catholics who were already living in California as it became a state.
No.5610
No.5613
I like "Dead Man" a lot.
It's probably not too typical for a western though, but the settings, plot and soundtrack is really nice.
No.5614
>>5613
That's one of the best 90s westerns I think. It's got a twisted sense of humor and that great disjointed Neil Young soundtrack you mentioned.
Unforgiven and Tombstone are probably up there too. Dances with Wolves…I don't know how that one has aged.
No.5733
I think it's cool to see Paul Newman before he'd developed his regular onscreen persona
Some people say he was imitating James Dean too much but I didn't think so
No.5901
No.6540
Movies about the early 1800s in America either focus on the antebellum South or the New England states. Most westerns take place after the Civil War when there was a certain level of civilization.
I might actually watch this because it takes place in the 1820s western United States and I can't think of many other movies with that interesting setting. The land was more empty, more wild and much more dangerous -- a true frontier. Are there any good early westerns (or movies about frontiersman) from this time period?
Maybe we need a thread about underrepresented historical periods.
No.6543
>>5704
I love Jesse James and the Cowardly Robert Ford. Everything about it is beautiful.
No.6544
>>2209
>Probably Jeremiah Johnson. Shows how he lives of the land (survival skills), interesting characters, and good cinematography.
I agree. I'm into survival and bushcraft so it was right up my alley. Great characters and story. If you like this check out Dick Proeneke documentary. Its amazing.