The Greatest Western of all Time

[Irish Mike]

I've always liked Westerns and I've seen most of
them from the good to the bad and the ugly -
pun intended. My question is, in your opinion,
what is The greatest Western of all time?

Not an easy choice to be sure but for me it's clear:
"Lonesome Dove". And your choice is?

Irish Mike

[unclejr]

The Long Riders.

[j...@mich.com]

Mine would be "Outlaw Josiey Wales"

next in line would be "High Plains Drifter" and "The Magnificent Seven" (1960)

[xyzzy]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

I’m old skool.

--
“I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
liberal personality.” — Altie

[JGibson]

Blazing Saddles

[mercellusb]

A Man Called Horse

[Con Reeder, unhyphenated American]

On 2023-01-26, xyzzy <xyzzy...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Irish Mike <irishra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I've always liked Westerns and I've seen most of
>> them from the good to the bad and the ugly -
>> pun intended. My question is, in your opinion,
>> what is The greatest Western of all time?
>>
>> Not an easy choice to be sure but for me it's clear:
>> "Lonesome Dove". And your choice is?
>>
>> Irish Mike
>>
>
> The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
>
> I’m old skool.
>

+1

Though I confess a weakness for a more modern Eastwood vehicle, "Unforgiven".

--
Few blame themselves until they have exhausted all other possibilities.
-- anonymous

[floaterjr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7YeRBXEUTY

[mercellusb]

"Unforgiven" is one of my favorites too. So many great quotes:

Little Bill Daggett : I don't deserve this... to die like this. I was building a house.

-and-

Little Bill Daggett : It's been a long time, Bob. You run out of Chinamen?

English Bob : Little Bill, well I thought you was, well I thought that you were dead. I see you've shaved your chin whiskers off.

Little Bill Daggett : I was tasting the soup two hours after I ate it.

English Bob : Well, actually, what I heard was that you fell off your horse, drunk of course, and that you broke your bloody neck.

Little Bill Daggett : I heard that one myself, Bob. Hell, I even thought I was dead 'til I found out it was just that I was in Nebraska.

[Tim VanWagoner]

On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 10:12:34 AM UTC-6, Irish Mike wrote:

Unforgiven is probably my favorite but I’m going to do a Mia and pontificate. I’m also kind of partial to Pale Rider … something about the supernatural aspects of it, but not as problematic as certain scenes in High Plains Drifter.

I struggle with Outlaw Josey Wales because of the pro-confederacy aspects and the fact that the author was a hard core segregationist. Otherwise, it’s a pretty good movie.

For pure fun though, I’d have to consider Tombstone. Val Kilmer performance as Doc Holiday is easily the greatest in the genre. And likewise the Young Guns movies are also a lot of fun.

The production quality of the spaghetti westerns keep them from consideration in being my favorites even with the great anti-hero tropes.

Earlier westerns rarely do it for me as I think the acting and scripts are so bad.

So with all that, I’m sticking with Unforgiven. It’s just too good.

[xyzzy]

Tim VanWagoner <tim.vanwa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 10:12:34 AM UTC-6, Irish Mike wrote:
>> I've always liked Westerns and I've seen most of
>> them from the good to the bad and the ugly -
>> pun intended. My question is, in your opinion,
>> what is The greatest Western of all time?
>>
>> Not an easy choice to be sure but for me it's clear:
>> "Lonesome Dove". And your choice is?
>>
>> Irish Mike
>
> Unforgiven is probably my favorite but I’m going to do a Mia and
> pontificate. I’m also kind of partial to Pale Rider … something about the
> supernatural aspects of it, but not as problematic as certain scenes in
> High Plains Drifter.
>
> I struggle with Outlaw Josey Wales because of the pro-confederacy aspects
> and the fact that the author was a hard core segregationist. Otherwise,
> it’s a pretty good movie.
>
> For pure fun though, I’d have to consider Tombstone. Val Kilmer
> performance as Doc Holiday is easily the greatest in the genre. And
> likewise the Young Guns movies are also a lot of fun.
>
> The production quality of the spaghetti westerns keep them from
> consideration in being my favorites even with the great anti-hero tropes.

See in my view a true western has to be a little cheesy. TG, TB, & TU is
the right combination of tropes, tough guy actors smirking, music,
cheesiness, and plot to be the perfect Western.

Unforgiven is a better movie. But TG, TB, & TU is the perfect western.

[Con Reeder, unhyphenated American]

On 2023-01-26, Tim VanWagoner <tim.vanwa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The production quality of the spaghetti westerns keep them from
> consideration in being my favorites even with the great anti-
> hero tropes.

Agreed for Fistful and sequel, but The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is a cut above those.

>
> Earlier westerns rarely do it for me as I think the acting and scripts are so bad.
>
> So with all that, I’m sticking with Unforgiven. It’s just too good.
>

It's one of the movies I can watch about any time it comes on.


--
Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. -- Francis Bacon

[Eric Ramon]

On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8:12:34 AM UTC-8, Irish Mike wrote:

I like High Noon

[RoddyMcCorley]

Sort of like Joe Biden going it alone against the freedom caucus. :-)
--
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is." Ruben Goldberg

[Corky]

Anything with Gene Hackman is better than anything without him so probably Unforgiven. I probably liked Tombstone as much as any western I've ever seen.

[TE]

On Friday, January 27, 2023 at 8:17:43 AM UTC-5, cork...@gmail.com wrote:
> Anything with Gene Hackman is better than anything without him so probably Unforgiven. I probably liked Tombstone as much as any western I've ever seen.

Unforgiven
Pale Rider
Tombstone
Silverado
Butch Cassidy etc.
The Missing

Special mention: Stone Tomahawk. Unique in its weirdness.

-TE

"Well, he should have armed himself if he's gonna decorate his saloon with my friend."

[unclejr]

On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8:12:34 AM UTC-8, Irish Mike wrote:

Hannie Caulder.

[j...@mich.com]

On Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:47:09 -0800 (PST), Tim VanWagoner <tim.vanwa...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 10:12:34 AM UTC-6, Irish Mike wrote:
>> I've always liked Westerns and I've seen most of
>> them from the good to the bad and the ugly -
>> pun intended. My question is, in your opinion,
>> what is The greatest Western of all time?
>>
>> Not an easy choice to be sure but for me it's clear:
>> "Lonesome Dove". And your choice is?
>>
>> Irish Mike
>
>

>I struggle with Outlaw Josey Wales because of the pro-confederacy aspects and the fact that the author was a hard core segregationist. Otherwise, it’s a pretty good movie.
>

Besides being a good movie, I appreciated that it did not ignore atrocities committed by the Union Army and its lackeys, possibly the first movie to
do so. Your comments got me interested. The book was, in turn, based on the life and biography of a real person. The movie is considered one of the
most historically accurate westerns ever made, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being
deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." As for the book, not liking the messenger doesn't mean the message is incorrect.

[Some dued]

On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 10:12:34 AM UTC-6, Irish Mike wrote:

It's been a loooong time since I saw it but I remember liking pat Garrett and Billy the kid. But also unforgiven and all the clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns.

[Ted Heise]

On Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:47:09 -0800 (PST),
Tim VanWagoner <tim.vanwa...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 10:12:34 AM UTC-6, Irish Mike wrote:
> > I've always liked Westerns and I've seen most of them from the
> > good to the bad and the ugly - pun intended. My question is,
> > in your opinion, what is The greatest Western of all time?
> >
> > Not an easy choice to be sure but for me it's clear: "Lonesome
> > Dove". And your choice is?

> Unforgiven is probably my favorite but I???m going to do a Mia
> and pontificate. I???m also kind of partial to Pale Rider ???

> something about the supernatural aspects of it, but not as
> problematic as certain scenes in High Plains Drifter.
>
> I struggle with Outlaw Josey Wales because of the
> pro-confederacy aspects and the fact that the author was a hard

> core segregationist. Otherwise, it???s a pretty good movie.
>
> For pure fun though, I???d have to consider Tombstone. Val

> Kilmer performance as Doc Holiday is easily the greatest in the
> genre. And likewise the Young Guns movies are also a lot of
> fun.
>
> The production quality of the spaghetti westerns keep them from
> consideration in being my favorites even with the great
> anti-hero tropes.
>
> Earlier westerns rarely do it for me as I think the acting and
> scripts are so bad.
>

> So with all that, I???m sticking with Unforgiven. It???s just
> too good.

Unforgiven is definitely one of my top picks. Others are...

Silverado - just an enjoyable movie
The Quick and the Dead - wow, hits hard and never lets up
High Noon - a classic
Little Big Man - not a pure western, but a good look at the West
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - if this doesn't bring you down, nothing will

I enjoy the older Eastwood spaghettis, but would rank them lower.

--
Ted Heise <the...@panix.com> West Lafayette, IN, USA

[Irish Mike]

On Friday, January 27, 2023 at 12:38:16 AM UTC-5, RoddyMcCorley wrote:
> On 1/26/2023 11:20 PM, Eric Ramon wrote:
> > On Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8:12:34 AM UTC-8, Irish Mike wrote:
> >> I've always liked Westerns and I've seen most of
> >> them from the good to the bad and the ugly -
> >> pun intended. My question is, in your opinion,
> >> what is The greatest Western of all time?
> >>
> >> Not an easy choice to be sure but for me it's clear:
> >> "Lonesome Dove". And your choice is?
> >>
> >> Irish Mike
> >
> > I like High Noon
> Sort of like Joe Biden going it alone against the freedom caucus. :-)

Joe isn't going it alone. He's got the 6,000,000 illegals that have flooded
into our country since he opened our border.

Irish Mike

[unclejr]

Thanks for making this thread political.

[Irish Mike]

I started this non-political thread about western movies.. I think it became
political when Eric posted about Joe Biden and the Freedom Caucus.

Irish Mike

[unclejr]

His statement was funny. Yours was pathetic.

Hope this helps.

[Irish Mike]

Mine was a fact. Hope this helps.

Irish Mike

[Eric Ramon]

you probably are referring to Roddy's post.

Meanwhile, there was a movie I saw when I was a kid...some old black and white thing. All I remember was there was a younger guy in it who had a dog and when the guy got killed it was really sad...the dog was trying to wake him up or something. Could have been a western or maybe a civil war drama or maybe a post civil war thing. Wish I could recall what it was.

[xyzzy]

xyzzy <xyzzy...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Irish Mike <irishra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I've always liked Westerns and I've seen most of
>> them from the good to the bad and the ugly -
>> pun intended. My question is, in your opinion,
>> what is The greatest Western of all time?
>>
>> Not an easy choice to be sure but for me it's clear:
>> "Lonesome Dove". And your choice is?
>>
>> Irish Mike
>>
>
> The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
>
> I’m old skool.
>

I just saw this today. Pretty cool (A modern day trailer for The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly).

https://youtu.be/EOzLVw0AtQY

[leonard hofstatder]

Asked this of my mom, her response was Broken Arrow.

She has been watching westerns since the 50s and now with cable TV
possibly seen every western ever made. Her TV is on permanent rotation
between INSP, ScreenPix Western Channel, Me-TV (daytime Gunsmoke,
Bonanza, The Rifleman, Wagon Train), and any other occasional western
show she can find.

[TE]

According to AFI, 'The Searchers' is the best western evar. Even great writers
will have difficulty making-up for the stricter film making codes of the olde
days so it's hard to compare. Con-sarnit!

-TE