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The Western Thread: Live from the Great Western Forum (1 Viewer)

John Wayne's last movie The Shootist went up today on Amazon Prime.   It's from 1976 when the Duke was a well worn age 69.  I haven't seen it for years but I remember it as being pretty good.  Wayne was basicaly playing himself by this time of his career, especially in Westerns.  The cast also includes Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, John Carradine, Richard Boone and Harry Morgan.  If you have a problem with that cast, you're a dad gummed vermint.

I watched another late Wayne Western Chisum the last time it was on TCM.  Time has stripped away the contemporary political symbolism of Wayne's work in the 60s and 70s.  I was impressed by his generosity as an actor.  He was a huge box office star for decades but he gave a lot of his co-stars chances to shine.  His acting is defined as much by his listening as his speaking.  Well maybe not as much but you get the point.

 
I still think it's possible to make a good movie out of Wild Wild West.  The floor is set really low.

 
 Joey, there's no living  with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. 

 
Without looking (cheating) I will list some of my favorite westerns - note, I have a very limited selection to choose from which I should remedy:

  • Sons of Katie Elder
  • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  • Unforgiven
  • High Noon
  • Blazing Saddles (that counts, right?)
  • Godless (recent Netflix miniseries)
  • Lonesome Dove (haven't seen it in forever but recall it was excellent)
  • Outlaw Josey Wales
  • Magnificent Seven
I know I'm missing some of my favorites - will go do some research and add to this list.

 
AAABatteries said:
Without looking (cheating) I will list some of my favorite westerns - note, I have a very limited selection to choose from which I should remedy:

  • Sons of Katie Elder
  • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  • Unforgiven
  • High Noon
  • Blazing Saddles (that counts, right?)
  • Godless (recent Netflix miniseries)
  • Lonesome Dove (haven't seen it in forever but recall it was excellent)
  • Outlaw Josey Wales
  • Magnificent Seven
I know I'm missing some of my favorites - will go do some research and add to this list.
Click to expand...
Some I missed that I really enjoyed:

  • Tombstone
  • True Grit (both)
  • Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  • Maverick
  • Jeremiah Johnson
 
A few lesser-knowns that are fun:

Support Your Local Sheriff

Support Your Local Gunfighter

Little Big Man

Two Mules for Sister Sarah

 
dickey moe said:
Another one of my favorites with John Wayne: Red River
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The Duke made four Westerns with Howard Hawks and eight with John Ford (nine if you count How the West Was Won).

Wayne's performance as Thomas Dunston in Red River is one of his best.  He captures the totality of a complex character in his own oft-imitated style.

 
Sam Peckinpah made a handful of classic Westerns. 

Most folks like The Wild Bunch which is great of course but my favorite is Ride the High Country with Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea as a pair of aging cowboys.

 
D_House said:
I have a soft spot for Silverado, for a time in my adolescence it was always on TBS. It stars Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, and Jeff Goldblum
Click to expand...
Another one that I loved was Rio Bravo with John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Ricky Nelson - also caught this on TBS a dozen or so times.

 
Mile High said:
Re-watched 3:10 to Yuma about 2 weeks ago. It really is a good western. 
Click to expand...
It's tough for Monument Valley to compete with CGI planets but I think pacing is even a bigger problem for modern Westerns.

3:10 had a bunch of great action sequences.  Everything happens quicker than in a 50s or 60s Western but it wasn't paced nearly as fast as a Marvel movie.  Westerns need time to develop characters.  High Noon one of the greatest Westerns consists of a whole lot of waiting around.  As does this.

 
Lone Star.  

My favorite western of the past 22 years, by a wide margin.

It will be getting a 30 from me when 1996 comes up in KP's movie threads.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Casting real life brothers as the James, Younger, Miller and Ford brothers in The Long Riders is the greatest casting gimmick of all-time.  But the movie manages to top it.

 
For westerns that aren’t about gunslingers, The Misfits and The Lusty Men are outstanding. The backstory on The Misfits has to be read before the movie: 3 of the biggest stars of the Golden Hollywood Age were all careening rapidly towards their deaths. Gable would be dead 2 weeks after filming wrapped, Monroe would never finish another film and Clift was so messed up from his accident and seemed drugged during the filming, he completed 2 more movies before passing away. 

 
Eephus said:
I still think it's possible to make a good movie out of Wild Wild West.  The floor is set really low.
Click to expand...
Bear with, I'm still working on the greatest screenplay ever. Imagine an America, where *all* the prison population is consolidated into a facility encompassing a few thousand square miles in the Nevada desert, where the only certainty is the wild west mentality; where bicycle parts replace cigarettes as currency; where the facility is financially sustained upon the backs of prisoners who shepherd free-range chickens; and, where women reap revenge.

*Spoiler Alert* - disillusioned citizens seeking a better life break into the prison.

 
I have always loved westerns. My favorite western movie is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  My favorite television western series is The Big Valley. I love The Wild Wild West too, although I think of it as more of a mix of James Bond type western. Whenever I visit my grandmother in the nursing home at lunch, we always watch Gunsmoke on TVLand. 

 
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