Westerns!

[fire_of_avalon]

I'm a big fan of genre films and Western just happens to be among my favorite genres. One of the greatest things about the genre is that it's thematically flexible. There are family friendly Westerns that are good vs. evil with little to no shades of grey. Comedic westerns (Blazing Saddles), politically charged Westerns (The Searchers), morally ambiguous westerns (Hombre), romantic Westerns (Brokeback Mountain) and now, science fiction westerns (I don't care what you say, I liked Cowboys & Aliens.)

This thread may or may not have been inspired by commentary in the Feud thread, but it's kind of sad that this genre I grew up with is one that's falling by the wayside. We get maybe one or two Westerns a decade now, and nothing that comes close to even the early 90's Westerns (Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, The Quick and the Dead and, yes, City Slickers.)

So come on. Think really hard and tell me your favorite Western. If you don't have one, get one and then tell me about it.

[Roto13]

Westerns are for hillfolk.

[Freya]

Young guns was my favorite movie for the looongest time. That and Tombstone. I need to watch more of the classics honestly.

[Agent Proto]

Westerns are pretty fun movies to watch, and I watched a couple during my lifetime. I would say Blazing Saddles would be my favorite, but that's just silly. I think Tombstone is a good movie.

[Chris]

My favorite Western, happens to be a musical to boot. Western + musical = heaven. It's a typical war-time musical, created solely to entertain the troops during WWII.

Here's a great clip from "Riding High". It's Cass Daley, who performs "Willie, the Wolf of the West". The sound quality is not so great, but the movie is from 1943.

Willie the Wolf of the West & He Loved Me Till the All-Clear Came:

Cass Daley - Willie the Wolf of the West (1943) - YouTube

Cass Daley - Till the All Clear Came (1943) - YouTube

Another clip from the same movie, this time with Dorothy Lamour:

Dorothy Lamour - Riding High (1943) - YouTube

[Bubba]

I was quite frankly embarrassed by the answers from my fellow EOFFers in the Back to the Feud thread. 'Wild, Wild West' for the runaway top answer??? No... just no.

There have been some cracking recent westerns like 'True Grit' and I actually really enjoyed the remake of "3:10 to Yuma" (the original is equally awesome) and I would definitely count "Dances with Wolves as a reasonably recent classic.

The old ones are still my favourites though. "The Magnificent Seven", "Fistful of Dollars" "Treasure of Sierra Madre", "Gunfight at the OK Corral". I'm even partial to the odd musical like "Calamity Jane" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".

No-one has yet mentioned the ultimate western though... "High Noon". One of my favourite films of all time let alone westerns. It was one of the earliest movies to have actually been filmed in real time. Edited to the second. Pretty impressive for a film that is 60 years old. If you haven't seen this film then you need to sort it out!

It is my personal opinion that you can never really get a bad western. Even if the script, the acting and the film itself is terrible... you are still guaranteed to have some quality backdrops to sit and admire.

Westerns forever!!

[Roto13]

What really defines a Western, anyway? I never really thought of Brokeback Mountain as a Western.

Western = Cowboy hats?

[Chris]

Indy is a Western.

[Jinx]

Sorry, I have a vagina.

[Agent Proto]

What really defines a Western, anyway? I never really thought of Brokeback Mountain as a Western.

Western = Cowboy hats?

No, Westerns are set in the Wild West, hence the name "Western". Brokeback Mountain fits the description of a Western because of the location of its setting.

[Roto13]

Brokeback Mountain doesn't take place in the Wild West. :P

That movie's hilarious, by the way.

Indy is a Western.

That's a fedora, not a cowboy hat.

[Bubba]

Sorry, I have a vagina.

Quite a big one according to your profile Bio...

[Værn]

Back to the Future III is a western, right?

[Agent Proto]

Brokeback Mountain doesn't take place in the Wild West. :P

Wyoming is part of the "Wild West" last I checked. :P

[krissy]

man with no name trilogy
obviously

but i have a soft spot for the 90's quick and the dead because the hero was a girl