“I think this calls for opening up a free for all on the best or at least favorite western ever made. I like John Wayne movies but I dont think any of them would really rank top 5 when you start tossing Lee Marvin and Clint into the mix. Sal throws down the gauntlet…” -Salvelinas Fontinalis
The quote above is from my brother (the trout), Salvelinas Fontinalis, commenting on my post about Rio Bravo, below. Hard to believe I would ever disagree with my dear brother, but let me shout it out: I think the best western ever was the John Ford classic The Searchers. This epic 1956 Western, starred John Wayne as Ethan Edwards. The film is largely about racism and genocide toward Native Americans. I don’t think it won any awards when it came out but it has been hugely influential and remains tremendously powerful. Second choice? I’d have to think about that, but perhaps my next favourite would be Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 film The Wild Bunch.
What do you think? What are your choices for best western of all time?
27th Street 
Oops, I’m way late for the party.
I love Westerns but…when I was a kid I ALWAYS played the Indian. I do love me a good western though! I’m not including movies that appear as different genres but have the mythological and story foundation of a Western. I have one movie on here that should really be on on a “going native genre” list…but it does generally be considered a “Western”…so I included it.
And I wrote this list when I saw the post before I read the responses. so it’s interesting to see my cross-overs. Of course it makes perfect sense that Vox and I are fans of El Topo. We’re probably among the few who have even heard of it ha ha!
Okay here goes…
The Searchers
Unforgiven
The Wild bunch
High Noon
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
The Good The Bad and the Ugly
Shane
Ride The High Country
Lonesome Dove
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3:10 To Yuma (2007)
Dances With Wolves
Stage Coach
One Eyed Jacks
Jeremiah Johnson
Heaven’s Gate
Once Upon A Time In The West
Tombstone
El Topo
The Ox-Bow Incident
And honorable mentions…Pat Garret and Billy The Kid, The Quick and The Dead, Wyatt Earp, The Magnificent Seven, Dead Man, Ravenous, Silverado, Posse…
Good list Candy. I don’t know about Silverado. Pat Garret and Billy the Kid isn’t a great film but has some excellent moments + Weird Bob’s Knockin on Heaven’s Door as Slim Pickins bites the dust. Is Westworld considered a western? I just remembered that one.
Well, I like to include various aspects of a movie’s value. I consider cultural significance as well as story structure. I also include messing with traditional structures as a movies measuring arc. So Silverado I thought was a wonderful comedy which had amazing costumes and some good revisions. The Quick and The Dead totally riffed on what contemporary movie advances could do with a western. And of course, Sharon Stone cast as the hero was a very cool move for the plot too. I am a great fan of Pat Garret and Billy the Kid…the problem is that there are at least three or four versions of the movie out there. You’ve got to track down the directors cut. Peckenpah really understood that pop music icons…like the 30’s gangsters (see 2009’s Public Enemies) were like the heroes of the old west and vice versa…the old west and gangsters were pre-pop stars.. He nails a mythology in art that later academics have tried to articulate at but usually fail. In my not-so-humble opinion, heh heh.
Dead Man (1996) directed by Jim Jarmusch.
My favourite Western would have to be El Topo, the 1970 cult classic that was written, produced, directed and starred Alejandro Jodorowsky. If memory serves, he also did the sound track. It was the only film i have ever felt compelled to watch a bunch of times. But be warned, do not under any circumstance watch the sequel, The Holy Mountain.
1) The Good the Bad and the Ugly.
2) High Plains Drifter
3) Fistful of Dollars
Yeah, Clint’s my Western man.
I forgot about High Plains Drifter. Isn’t that the one where they paint the whole town red?
That’s the one.
Hang ‘en High! was another Clint goodie.
I’ve really moved away from Westerns and action flicks too, but back in the day I liked Eastwood and Bronson movies a lot.
My all time favorite is way out in front of the rest. It is The Good the Bad and the Ugly. It has a good premise, and excellent sound track and 3 actors who actually fit the role they play. The final showdown scene is an all time cinema classic.
After that the choices get much more difficult. Cat Ballou was excellent and Lee Marvin won an academy award for best actor in that film and that doesnt happen very often in a western. I have always been a huge fan of Marvin.
Unfogiven I think was Eastwood’s best western and he had Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman in supporting roles. This film won a pile of academy awards and Clint might well have won a best actor if not for Pacino in Scent of a Woman beating him out.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid have to be right up there with Robert Redford and Paul Newman. This film also won a pile of oscars and was a lot of fun to watch.
The Searchers will of course be up there near the top of most lists.
One of my favorites which will likely not make it to anyone’s list is Tombstone with Val Kilmer doing an outstanding job as Doc Holliday (I’m your huckleberry). The story deals with the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday and their time in Tombstone
Oh crap, how did I forget Butch Cassidy?! That’s my all-time favorite movie.
I’m not a fan of Eastwood’s “spaghetti westerns”. Joe Kid is my favorite Eastwood western.
I agree about Tombstone. Kilmer did the BEST Doc Holliday I’ve ever seen!
I just bought Cat Ballou for my husband’s birthday. It’s always been one of our favorites. In that same romantic comedy/western genre is James Garner’s Support Your Local Sheriff/Gunfighter movies. Love ’em!
The Good The Bad and the Ugly is a great film for sure. Let’s not forget Hawks’ Red River. And Shane with Alan Ladd, filmed in the Tetons. High Noon was pretty good. How about The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, the John Ford film with John Wayne, Lee Marvin and Jimmy Stewart? The remake of 310 to Yuma is fabulous. And then there is the remake of Seven Samerai, The Magnificent Seven, starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, and James Coburn.
Has to be toasted..with hash browns on the side..and hot sauce that’ll singe your eyebrows..:)
…yeah but in some places, they aren’t westerns at all, but Denvers.
……..”I’m your Huckleberry”……;-)
Impossible call.
Old stuff – ‘Stagecoach’ has to be in there…
Middle stuff – “Gunfight At The OK Corral” has to be in there…
Newer stuff – “The Outlaw Josey Wales” has to be as does more recent newer stuff “Young Guns” and “Tombstone”
Impossible to call old bean.
Too much class then and now for a definitive Wetern.
Let’s just enjoy them all eh?
Caz adores Wayne westerns…..I admit to a strong partiality to Young Guns I & II (even if II doesn’t quite follow on…er….sort of…)
I really liked The Outlaw Josey Wales too.
I agree that this film is a classic and is probably the best western ever made. It still isn’t my favorite John Wayne film(and I own a LOT of them).
My favorite is Big Jake. 2nd is Quigley Down Under. Tom Selleck is my 2nd favorite western actor.