B5Erik

Having seen the Wild West Magazine 100 Greatest Westerns list I started thinking - What would MY Top 100 Westerns list look like?

After some consideration I came up with a list that is pretty close to accurate as to the movies that I consider to be the 100 best Westerns ever made.*

* With this caveat - it's the 100 best Westerns ever made that I've seen. I don't think I can rate or rank a movie I haven't seen. Certainly not in this context.

So, here it is, my list for the 100 Greatest Westerns Ever Made (that I've seen...)

1. Open Range (2003)
2. Unforgiven (1992)
3. Warlock (1959)
4. The Shootist (1976)
5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
6. Shane (1953)
7. The Tall T (1957)
8. Ride Lonesome (1959)
9. The Searchers (1956)
10. Winchester 73 (1950)
11. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
12. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
13. Rio Bravo (1959)
14. Seven Men From Now (1956)
15. Tombstone (1993)
16. The Gunfighter (1950)
17. The Last Train from Gun Hill
18. The Tin Star
19. Red River (1948)
20. Stagecoach (1939)
21. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
22. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
23. The Cowboys
24. Four Faces West
25. Pursued
26. Rio Grande
27. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
28. Arizona (1940)
29. Wyatt Earp
30. Broken Lance
31. Comanche Station
32. El Dorado
33. Chisum
34. Destry Rides Again (1939)
35. Hang ’Em High (1968)
36. Fort Apache (1948)
37. My Darling Clementine (1946)
38. The Far Country (1954)
39. Bend of the River (1952)
40. Lawman
41. The Man From Laramie (1955)
42. The Naked Spur (1953)
43. True Grit (1969)
44. Hondo (1953)
45. Yellow Sky (1948)
46. The Alamo (2004)
47. How the West Was Won (1962)
48. Man With the Gun
49. Cowboy
50. The Assassination of Jesse James...
51. The Last Wagon
52. Bite the Bullet
53. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
54. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
55. The Spoilers
56. The Professionals (1966)
57. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
58. Day of the Outlaw
59. Decision at Sundown
60. The Man From the Alamo
61. The Culpepper Cattle Co.
62. The Desperadoes
63. Dodge City
64. Django
65. Forty Guns
66. Shalako
67. Young Guns II
68. Young Guns
69. Whispering Smith
70. High Noon (1952)
71. Angel and the Badman (1946)
72. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
73. The Wild Bunch (1969)
74. Silverado
75. Maverick (1994)
76. They Died With Their Boots On (1941)
77. Tall in the Saddle (1944)
78. Santa Fe Trail (1940)
79. Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)
80. Major Dundee (1965)
81. Hombre (1967)
82. The Tall Men
83. Ride the High Country (1962)
84. Five Card Stud
85. Tall Man Riding
86. Riding Shotgun
87. Hangman's Knot
88. Night Passage
89. The Proud Ones
90. The Indian Fighter
91. The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
92. Lust for Gold
93. Man of the West
94. Gunfight at Dodge City
95. The Violent Men
96. Man in the Saddle
97. Virginia City (1940)
98. The Big Trail (1930)
99. 3 Godfathers
100. Garden of Evil
101. For A Few Dollars More


Like any list, this one could stand some tweaking - but it's close (I may change the order here or there, but the titles on the list will pretty much stay the same).

Feel free to add your own lists if you want. At least a top 25. I think it would be interesting to see what titles show up and where.

Solid Snake

Open Range at #1?

riotinmyskull

tombstone at #15 and the good the bad and the ugly at #39? fail.

B5Erik

Yes. Each time I watch it I like it a little more - and I loved it the first time I watched it. The direction is outstanding, as is the script, and the performances are perfect (bringing some great characters to life). And the photography is just beautiful to look at - some of the best ever on screen. Then there's the final shootout, which is, again, one of the best ever filmed. Open Range has everything that makes for a great Western, and it does it all well. Very well.

But I knew that pick would throw some people off. I'd say it's a hell of a lot better pick at #1 than High Noon was.

What would you pick for your top 25? (Or top 50?)

Well, I can tell you this - it's a lot easier to nit pick a list like this than it is to come up with one.

For me TGTB&TU is a great film with some flaws. And the style of the movie certainly isn't for everyone.

Seriously, come up with your own top 50 (at least top 25) and lets compare and discuss it.


(And, by the way, I finished this list pretty late last night - and I agree, #39 was too low for TGTB&TU so I've moved it up a bit.)

Groucho

Kudos to anybody who likes Liberty Vallance over The Searchers. Most people have it reversed.

arminius

I recently watched The Searchers and, though I think its a good movie, the John Wayne hatred of indians seems kinda forced. It just did not seem like he really beleived what he was saying. Like he was just trying to fuck with everybodys head.

Torchur317

Tombstone is top notch & one of the best westerns ever made IMO....
I don't understand all the bitching every time someone brings it up at a good rank....
You would hate my list for sure because it would be in the top 4, no doubt about that....

NoirFan

Hokeyboy

I too prefer Liberty Valance over The Searchers... but not by much.


No love for McCabe & Mrs. Miller?

B5Erik

I'd love to include that one on the list - but I've never seen it. The failure to release this on DVD in R1 is inexcusable.

I keep waiting and hoping that they'll FINALLY release this thing here (I know it's gotten a release in the U.K.), but it never happens.


Another one I haven't seen. My Western DVD collection is about 250 movies strong, and I've seen another 50 or so Westerns that I don't have on DVD, but there are still a few noteworthy titles that I haven't seen.

Where would you put that one on your list? (And what is it that you like about that one? I'm curious as that's one I've never really heard anything about.)

islandclaws

Wow, impressive list. I don't know if I've even seen 100 Westerns... even though it's a vastly underrated genre these days.

I'll give my top 5:

Once Upon A Time in the West
The Wild Bunch
For A Few Dollars More
The Great Silence
The Searchers

Sanjuro37

Maybe now that the Library of Congress inducted it someone will put together a nice package. Maybe.

Hokeyboy

First and foremost, it's one of Robert Altman's greatest films and really set the tone for much of his later films. It's dark, atmospheric in a realistic way, poetic, heartbreaking, and beautiful all at once. It's also very much a drama trapped within the entire "American Western milieu", so I think a lot of people to whom I've recommended this movie (expecting it to be a shootout akin to "Tombstone 2") get overly disappointed with it. The film is quirky, subtle, and VERY knowing.

Plus it's one of the maybe three or four times I've been able to stomach Warren Beatty.

On my list, it would easily be in my Top 5. My favorite Western of all time is still "The Outlaw Josey Wales", but that's much to do with nostalgia.

dhmac

My pick for Top 5 Westerns is this:

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1968)
2. Red River (1948)
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
4. The Searchers (1956)
5. The Wild Bunch (1969)

I could come up with a Top 10 list, but making a Top 100 list would take a lot of time for me to do.

.

NoirFan

LionsGate owns the rights here in the U.S. They're too busy putting out Repossessed to bother with this one.

The melancholy, haunting Leonard Cohen soundtrack helps greatly. Though I might disagree with some of your selections or rankings B5Erik, I definitely applaud you for taking the time and effort to compile such a list. If you're a big Western fan, I recommend you give a couple of John Ford silents, The Iron Horse (1920) and 3 Bad Men (1926), rentals. The former is probably the first full-length Western ever made, and it's tremendous fun, with crackling action sequences and an epic sweep. The latter is a moving, only occasionally mawkish tale of redemption and friendship.

dhmac

Not anyone who has ever seen The Searchers on a big screen.

.

B5Erik

My dad saw The Searchers on the big screen.

Both Liberty Valance and The Searchers are great, great movies. I prefer Liberty Valance because, for me, the characters ring true a little more than do the characters in The Searchers. Plus there's something about Ford's stark black and white with Liberty Valance that just fits that movie to a "T," the same way Ford's color photography with The Searchers has that epic sweep and fits that movie to a "T." Both are great, but I think the script is a little better for Liberty Valance.

Dr Mabuse

'Open Range' is arguably the best western ever made. Any list that starts with 'Open Range' is going in the right direction. It's a better list than that other one.

Every shot of that film is Oscar worthy cinematography, some of the best ever put on film of any movie genre. Realism pursued to a T(save that one scene that Kevin really sweated over, and I can cut him that). A screenplay and cast that was top notch.

Nostalgia for a film like 'High Noon' doesn't actually make it a better film, it makes someone's memory and opinion of it higher.

'Lawman' on the list. I would have put it higher but it's nice to see someone else recognize a truly great western when they see it. I remember seeing Clint Eastwood talk about the influence that movie had on him, how he didn't think he would have made 'Unforgiven' the way he did without seeing that. That movie was a turning point, it just didn't come out in the time of westerns so it didn't get the acclaim it deserved.

I would have put 'Tombstone' a lot lower, much lower than 'Wyatt Earp', but you were making your own list.

'Shane' would have been my #2 or #3. 'Warlock' is an intelligent film with good acting but I would have ranked it lower.

I would have ranked the '3:10 To Yuma' remake much higher. And the original 3:10.

'The Wild Bunch' would have been much higher on my list.

I agree with the others about 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller'. For my taste that is the best film Robert Altman ever made, and again a western based very much in realism and not myth, an approach that influenced the western films that came after it. When you see it you will understand why it was mentioned, and would probably rank it pretty high..

I can understand your points about 'Liberty' and 'Searchers', I think I agree with you.

Rad14

Great list B5Erik!

This would be my choice of "The Greatest", but, as always, it's subjective, isn't it?

1 The Wild Bunch
2 The Searchers
3 Shane
4 High Noon
5 The Magnificent Seven
6 The Professionals
7 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
8 Open range
9 Rio Bravo
10 A Fistful of Dollars
11 Unforgiven
12 For a Few Dollars More
13 One Eyed Jacks
14 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
15 Hombre
16 Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
17 Red River
18 Wyatt Earp
19 Once Upon a Time In The West
20 The Outlaw Josey wales
21 The Shootist
22 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
23 Valdez is Coming
24 Dances with Wolves
25 The Culpepper Cattle Co.
26 The Big Country
27 High Plains Drifter
28 Last train from Gun Hill
29 Lawman
30 Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid

Tarantino

Off the top of my head...

1. Unforgiven
2. The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
3. Tombstone

That's it.

= J

Groucho

I'm not sure what your point is. I've seen both films on the big screen.

B5Erik

One movie that has shown up a couple times (and that I've never seen) is One Eyed Jacks, but I'm not aware of any decent DVD releases on that one. Is there a decent DVD for that one?

ManWithNoName

Tombstone and Kurt Russell's stupid mustache can gargle my balls.

:leaves thread after farting:

NoirFan

Why don't you go just go ahead and leave the forums entirely.

Travis McClain

I haven't even seen 100 Westerns, and I think you need to at least see that many before you can compile a list of any kind with any credibility. I'm also not about to start panning B5Erik's list, but I do have a few thoughts...

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a great film, period, wherever it ranks. I'm still amazed that it failed to make AFI's top 10 Westerns last year.

Tombstone - I'm another fan who loves it and does not get the absolute contempt for it shared on this forum.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - I can only assume from its absence that B5Erik hasn't seen it. B5Erik needs to see it.