I've never been a huge fan of Westerns, but recently I got around to watching some of the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone. Of course the Dollars Trilogy is what everyone talks about, so that was first on the agenda, but the movie that blew me away the most was Once Upon a Time in the West. Now that was a great piece of film and it's too bad that it still hasn't found it's way onto DVD.

But anyway, that's what I'm really looking for. Maybe not movies that exactly like OATITW or the Dollars Trilogy, but Westerns that have that kind of mythic, epic feel to them. It's kind of hard to explain so I hope somebody knows what I'm talking about. I've got some time this weekend and I wanted to rent a few movies. I'm thinking about picking up Pale Rider maybe, and I was just wondering if anyone else had some good suggestions. Like I said before, I've never been a big fan of Westerns, so if you name it, there's a pretty good chance I haven't seen it (but before anyone says it, yes I have seen Unforgiven ).

Wild Bunch
Tombstone
Magnificent Seven
Unforgiven

Those are probably some of the better films for beginners.

I second Tombstone. I also enjoy Lonesome Dove.

Also:

The Searchers
Silverado
True Grit
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Red River

Some excellent westerns that I wouldn't call "epic":

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Rio Bravo
The Man From Laramie

You could always check out this thread about "favorite westerns" .....

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=277970

Django with Franco Nero. It may be at your local video renter in a 2-pack DVD with Django Strilkes Again (which I would not recomend watching).

dont bother with that crappy 2 pak. respect Nero enough to enjoy his original Italian track. get the Spaghetti Western Collection for the best print, plus you get some other good ones.

then, while you are out...pick up The Great Silence, Keoma and Any Gun Can Play.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gutwrencher
[B]dont bother with that crappy 2 pak. respect Nero enough to enjoy his original Italian track. get the Spaghetti Western Collection for the best print, plus you get some other good ones.

I agree it's a great collection. I mentioned the 2-pack because the box-set may be too pricey for a blind-buy. But if you at all like Django, get it.

My favorite western is "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid". I highly recommend it.

Django is awesome, as is Vamos a Matar Companeros with Nero, which was released through Anchor Bay i think. Quick and the Dead is a great modern spaghetti western type(even with a homage to Once Upon A Time in the West) with a great Darth Vader style performance by Gene Hackman, just get through Stone's performance and you're gold.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller - and watch it twice

After that, The Outlaw Josey Wales is about as good as it gets.

Also recommend:

Butch and Sundance
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Searchers
The Man From Laramie
The Unforgiven

And chalk me up as one who didn't much care for Tombstone - and i love westerns. It's ok, but no wear near as good as some make it out to be. My personal opinion is that it's lauded by a lot of people who simply haven't seen to many westerns....It's kind of the MTV generation western classic.

just saw Will Penny the other night and would recommend it.
not really 'epic' but very strong on character, and it has a great supporting cast ( Ben johnson, Slim Pickens, Bruce Dern, a freaking awesome Donald Pleasance, Anthony Zerbe in the best role i've ever seen him in, and an early role for Lee Majors).

my favorite western and the one i always recommend is The Professionals.
it's the ultimate popcorn western for adults.
Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, and Claudia Cardinale (yum).
4 mercenaries are recruited to pentetrate a mexican bandits stronghold and rescue a rich old bastards hot young wife.
great, witty fun.

another good one by the same director (Richard Brooks) is Bite The Bullet- this one actually is fairly 'epic'- as it covers an 800 mile horse race.
Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Ben Johnson, among others in another great cast.

Some great ones listed above. I just picked up the Spaghetti box set and will soon have a movie marathon w/a friend.

I'd add two by director Monte Hellman that were filmed at the same time w/Jack Nicholson's writing and acting help.

Ride in the Whirlwind
The Shooting

Hellman also directed Two Lane Blacktop and Cockfighter.

I don't think anyone has mentioned High Noon yet.

Since you enjoyed Leone's other great Westerns, definitely try to check out "A Fistful of Dynamite"...Another great Western by Leone, starring the late, greats - Rod Steiger and James Coburn.

Unfortunately, this ins't available on DVD yet either, so you'll have to search for it on VHS. I haven't had much trouble locating it at Hollywood Video though...

Sergio Leone is definitely one of my favorite directors of all time.

I'm not a fan of Westerns, but I do own SILVERADO. Great flick!

Do a search on imdb or allmovie for movies that starred John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. Any western with one of those two will not be bad.

Also, check out The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Blazing Saddles (a comedy).

Soldier Blue is a great movie and shows how the indians were treated by the army rather than the typical cowboy and indian movie. Anyone rate The Good, The Bad And the Ugly?

My Name Is Nobody with Terence Hill and Henry Fonda. Story by Sergio Leone.

AKA The Wild Bunch.

It's my favorite western.

A duo that I enjoy are called "They Call Me Trinity" and "Trinity Is Still My Name" They have the old western feel with a touch of humor to them.

Hmmm. The first time I saw these I thought they were hilarious. Several years later I watched them again and didn't laugh once. Have you seen them twice?