Greatest westerns ever made? Pick your top five.

[64Zcode]

Hard to pick 5 & Not in order:
The Magnificent Seven
Sons of Katie Elder
The Professionals
Open Range
Dances With Wolves

 

[Aluminny69]

Two Kevin Costner movies, which have not yet been mentioned, that I will always stop and watch:

OPEN RANGE A traditional, well-made western - suitable for most ages, features good guys herdin' cattle, bad guys tryin' to steal the cattle, codes of honor, a corrupt sheriff, a fantastic shoot-out, and Annette Bening being lovely in the wings. Robert Duvall is excellent, as always.

DANCES WITH WOLVES It's hard to think of blockbuster films that portray Native Americans as well as this one does. They are human beings here, with different personalities, intelligence, dignity, culture, and humor.

 

[Aluminny69]

Hard to pick 5 & Not in order:
The Magnificent Seven
Sons of Katie Elder
The Professionals
Open Range
Dances With Wolves

You posted this while I was thinking about what to write. Great minds think alike.

 

[The deacon]

My Darkling Clementine
The Searchers
The Wild Bunch
No Country for Old Men
There will be Blood
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Shane

Good list, Drift, and a pretty violent one at that. I was convinced by friends to see 'No Country' and 'There Will Be Blood' in the same day at our area indie theater, and agreed chiefly because they featured two of my favorite actors, Tommy Lee Jones and the peerless Daniel Day-Lewis. It was a heavy dose of brilliant yet depressing film viewing for one sitting.

By the way, if 'The Last of the Mohicans' could be considered a western, it'd definitely be on my list!

 

[8893]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - This movie pretty much has it all. Shoot outs, A town bully, a man taking a stand when he could run, a man doing the right thing even when he knows it’s to his detriment, and the perils of hero worship. John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin in a John Ford film. You’d expect it to be excellent, and it is.

This is in my top five or ten movies of all time, period.

 

[Forego]

Shane
The Searchers
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Big Country
Magnificent Seven

The last three have outstanding musical scores.

 

[Aluminny69]

Okay, two more Epic Westerns that haven't been mentioned, and why it's so difficult to pick just five. These two depict the end of the era of the Old West

THE WILD BUNCH An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them. All Star cast includes William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O'Brien, Warren Oates. Several different versions have been released, but look for the Sam Peckinpah Director's Cut.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID Who can resist Paul Newman and Robert Redford together? One of the best and most-liked films of the 1960s, this is still a fun movie to watch today. When I saw this on DVD on a nice flat-screen set, I was amazed how good this looked.

One remembers this western for several things: the two leads looking over their shoulders incredulous that their pursers seem to be always there; Paul Newman riding a bicycle to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," the beautiful Katharine Ross, the chemistry of Newman and Robert Redford as a two-man team, on and on.

 

[Blond D.]

So many great westerns. hard to name just 5.

Anything with Clint Eastwood
Mackenna's Gold
Quigley Down Under
Quick And The Dead (with Sharon Stone).
Sacketts and The Shadow Riders.

honorable mention.....Open Range, Jeremiah Johnson, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Once Upon A Time In The West.

 

[Aluminny69]

Has anyone mentioned HIGH NOON yet? Arguably the greatest Western Theme song ever. I'm tempted to start a new thread of all the Western movie theme songs. How great would that be?

 

[Aluminny69]

Where's TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE?

 

[EdSaid]

No special order:
Rio Bravo
Son's of Katie Elder.
Sergeants 3
Outlaw Josie Wales
How the West Was Won

Mini Series:
Lonesome Dove
1883

 

[Cuango]

I realize this is blatantly cheating but…upon further consideration….
The Searchers
Stagecoach
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Tie-Dances With Wolves/Tombstone
Tie-Open Range/The Outlaw Josey Wales

Josey Wales would be higher if not for the execrable acting of Sondra Locke who single-handedly managed to turn this from an all time classic into a merely good, to very good film!

 

[Hoops66]

Where's TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE?

Thanks. Check out #5 above. I like your idea of Western movie theme songs....maybe that plus Drama movies combined?

 

[Aluminny69]

My "go to" Internet Movie Review Site is IMDb (Internet Movie Database). Here is their list of Top Twenty Westerns, based on reviews. Follow the links for Descriptions

Top 20 Greatest Western Movies of All Time (The Ultimate List)​

1. Unforgiven (1992)

2. The Searchers (1956)

3. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)​

4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)​

5. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)​

6. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)​

7. Winchester '73 (1950)​

8. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)​

9. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)​

10. True Grit (1969)​

11. Django Unchained (2012)​

12. Dead Man (1995)​

13. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)​

14. High Noon (1952)​

15. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)​

16. Stagecoach (1939)​

17. Red River (1948)​

18. The Wild Bunch (1969)​

19. Johnny Guitar (1954)​

20. Tombstone (1993)​

 

[The deacon]

Okay, two more Epic Westerns that haven't been mentioned, and why it's so difficult to pick just five. These two depict the end of the era of the Old West

THE WILD BUNCH An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them. All Star cast includes William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O'Brien, Warren Oates. Several different versions have been released, but look for the Sam Peckinpah Director's Cut.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID Who can resist Paul Newman and Robert Redford together? One of the best and most-liked films of the 1960s, this is still a fun movie to watch today. When I saw this on DVD on a nice flat-screen set, I was amazed how good this looked.

One remembers this western for several things: the two leads looking over their shoulders incredulous that their pursers seem to be always there; Paul Newman riding a bicycle to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," the beautiful Katharine Ross, the chemistry of Newman and Robert Redford as a two-man team, on and on.

Both outstanding picks, Aluminny69, and have been noted often earlier here, especially Butch Cassidy. Agreed, Newman/Redford seems so perfect in retrospect but apparently producers wanted Steve McQueen instead of Redford. Fortunately for us, he didn't want the role.

 

[Aluminny69]

Thanks. Check out #5 above. I like your idea of Western movie theme songs....maybe that plus Drama movies combined?

Thanks, yes I missed several previous posted movies. My bad. Perhaps at the end, some ambitious Boneyarder can tabulate all the votes and see the most popular overall. May take a lot of work, though.

 

[JordyG]

Shane
High Noon
River of No Return
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Stagecoach

I was going to include "Treasure" but it was just too atypical to be a true western.

 

[JordyG]

My favorite is definitely The Outlaw Josey Wales. Four others in no particular order would be Unforgiven, Silverado, High Plains Drifter, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. You might have guessed I'm an Eastwood fan.

Silverado.

 

[Zarathustra]

If I saw the movie and then went back to read the book, I consider that " special"
so.... 1. Shane (I read it 3 times), 2. True Grit.... a spunky little kid... try reading the BOOK to get
an extra picture of this unique girl!
3. Lonesome Dove. so realistic, maybe Larry McMurtry at his best (I met him in Tuscon!)
Not read, but enjoyed: High Noon, and Treasure of Sierra Madre. I must add a #6
Butch Cassidy etc

 

[EdSaid]

Tombstone
Fort Apache
Open Range
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The Outlaw Josey Wales

Why not Shenandoah?

Shenandoah (1965)

James Stewart, Glenn Corbett, Rosemary Forsyth, Doug McClure, and Patrick Wayne in Shenandoah (1965)

www.imdb.com

 

[Stymie]

I never considered “Treasure of Sierra Madre” a western.
Main characters weren’t cowboys.
Treasure hunters- prospectors.
Bandits were bandits.
Villagers weren’t cowboys.
One of my all time favorites- very accomplished main characters.
Not stating it isn’t- just not to me.

 

[huskeynut]

One of my all time favs - Broken Arrow with Jimmy Stewart, Jeff Chandler and Debra Paget.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

In order:

1) Shane ……… not just a great western but one of the greatest movies ever made, period.

2) High Noon… not too far behind Shane as an all round great film

3) She Wore A Yellow Ribbon….
Wayne’s best by a nose over Stagecoach

4) Stagecoach

5) Westward The Women
Certainly the most underrated western ever made with a stunning performance by Robert Taylor. Great direction by William Wellman from a story by Frank Capra. The horse chase through the painted canyon is the best ever filmed.

Honorable mention:
Unforgiven
Red River
The Searchers
Dances With Wolves

 

[hoophuskee]

Shane
Unforgiven
High Noon
Once Upon a Time in the West
True Grit

Wow can easily rattle on 6-20 through 30 etc! Lot of great ones.

 

[RoadMaster]

1. The Outlaw Josey Wales
2. High Plains Drifter
3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
4. Unforgiven
5. True Grit