What's your favourite "Western" movie?

[halfeye]

Mine is without a doubt "Lawman". I first saw it in an otherwise empty house on my first day there when the other people had gone out for a couple of hours and the rats were playing in the walls, so that was exciting. I still think it's the best of its breed though.

[LibraryOgre]

A classic favorite for me is "The Cowboys", partially for this:

Jebediah Nightlinger: [praying to God before he's about to hanged by Asa Watts and his gang] I regret trifling with married women. I'm thoroughly ashamed at cheating at cards. I deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for taking your name in vain, my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. Above all, forgive me for the men I've killed in anger [eyes shifting to Asa Watts] ... and those I am about to.

Growing up, my brothers really liked Silverado, but I never got as in to it.

[dps]

True Grit, the John Wayne version.

[thompur]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

[Rogar Demonblud]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The score alone makes sure of that.

[halfeye]

I forgot to say why The Lawman is the best for me: It's about a good man, the Lawman of the title, going bad. It's about people being scared of death, and their reactions to that, and those are pretty well acted all around. There are occasional slight mistakes, the animals eating the corpse of the horse are African (it was at least partly filmed in Africa), but on the whole it's pretty good, and the scenery is nice.

[Palanan]

Silverado is my favorite by a mile.

Action, panache, some great character moments, and an absolutely outstanding score.

[Rynjin]

I had to stop myself from sarcastically saying The Magnificent Seven (the original) in the Samurai movie thread, so maybe that.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Mclintock as well; used to watch it a lot with my mom.

[Tyrant]

My favorite is probably Tombstone. Mainly for the performances, in particular Val Kilmer(easily the best performance I have ever seen from him, like way above and beyond his usual). The rest of the cast isn't exactly slouching either featuring: Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Booth, Michael Biehn, Stephen Lang, Michael Rooker, Billy Zane, and many others including a Charlton Heston cameo. That's a similar reason to why I like Silverado but I think Tombstone is the better movie.

Honorable mentions: Pale Rider, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, and Open Range

[Rogar Demonblud]

I have a soft spot in my heart for Mclintock as well; used to watch it a lot with my mom.

Maureen O'Hara was in fine form, wasn't she?

"Why Mrs McLintock, you have a black eye. Did someone give that to you?"

"No, I won it!"

[hamishspence]

Paint Your Wagon is more "Gold Rush" than "Cowboys" but it's still a Western, and a musical one at that. The songs are very catchy.

[Manga Shoggoth]

My father used to like then, but I didn't much care for westerns.

I used to like the Man with no Name westerns (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was OK), but I think the western I enjoyed the most was They Call Me Trinity. It helped that it was an out-and-out comedy that refused to take itself seriously.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Have you seen "Trinity is Still My Name"? The two actors also made many other films together, so you might want to check a few out--I know some at least are on Prime Video.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Have you seen "Trinity is Still My Name"? The two actors also made many other films together, so you might want to check a few out--I know some at least are on Prime Video.

Yes, indeed. It was fun, but not as much as the first one. I don't really have much time for watcing films these days, though.

[Trafalgar]

"The Searchers" - Directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. It's a really dark movie for a 1950s western. It has a lot to say about racism, treatment of Native Americans, obsession, hatred, and redemption. Best cinematography of any of John Ford's Monument Valley westerns.

[Jan Mattys]

"Once upon a time in the west", Sergio Leone's masterpiece.

[Clertar]

In the classic era, The man who shot Liberty Valance.

Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns are fenomenal, and they were genre-shaping. But perhaps I would have to go with Unforgiven, with Eastwood himself helming one of the peaks of the anti-western.

For western-adjacent movies, I've always loved Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

[comicshorse]

Honourable mentions for : Unforgiven, True Grit (both are good but I slightly prefer the Coen brothers version) and Tombstone

Best ever : The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[Peelee]

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Mostly because I never really liked westerns all that much but saw that one recently and loved it and decided that maybe I like westerns made in Italy. I need to check out the other ones.

[Imbalance]

Quigley Down Under
The White Buffalo

My favorite western series is Trigun.

[Kitten Champion]

Do any of the above movies have an 80 foot mechanical spider in them?

I rest my case.

[Peelee]

Do any of the above movies have an 80 foot mechanical spider in them?

I rest my case.

Keys to a good western:

1.) Can't wear the suit.
2.) No flying.
3.) Must fight a giant spider in the third act.

[LibraryOgre]

Quigley Down Under

Forgot about Quigley.

[Peelee]

Same, I liked that one a lot. Also the one with DiCaprio.

[Dire_Flumph]

"Once upon a time in the west", Sergio Leone's masterpiece.

Seconded. Such a beautiful work of art.

[Misereor]

"Once upon a time in the west", Sergio Leone's masterpiece.

Seconded. Nailed the music, camera work, plot, and character arcs.

Honorable mentions to Tombstone, Unforgiven, and Maverick, in their respective sub genres.

[Misereor]

Keys to a good western:

1.) Can't wear the suit.
2.) No flying.
3.) Must fight a giant spider in the third act.

Well, you know spiders are the most dangerous predators in all of nature...

[Aedilred]

Once Upon a Time in the West. Not only do I think it's the best but it's also the film that did most to change my mind about westerns, which I had not previously been particularly interested in as a genre.

But I will also give an honourable mention to three others:

• Tombstone was, for years, the only western I had really sat down and watched, and actually enjoyed. When I became more familiar with the genre, and watching it back now, it doesn't hold up as well as I'd have hoped - though it's still not bad. Val Kilmer and Michael Biehn stole the film, which is all the more remarkable considering that within three years both of them had basically vanished without trace.
• For a Few Dollars More was the film that, together with Once Upon a Time..., persuaded me that maybe there was something in this Westerns lark. I saw it one night on TV when I had nothing better to do and found Lee van Cleef's character particularly affecting. By the end I was sold on at least watching Once Upon a Time... and seeing what I thought of that. And since then I've never really looked back.which
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I can't give any particularly good reason why this stands out as a favourite, except maybe that unlike other westerns which I think are strictly better (The Searchers, True Grit (2010), The Assassination of Jesse James...) it packs a bit of a punch without being emotionally draining. There's a bit of ham on display, the nearly 60-year-old John Wayne makes a somewhat ludicrous romantic rival, and some might find the juxtaposition of the squeaky-clean James Stewart and the cartoonish Lee Marvin a bit on-the-nose, but there's also an interesting undercurrent about the place of violence in society and the nature of truth in the public sphere.

[Rodin]

Blazing Saddles.

If we're restricting it to serious Westerns? High Noon. Iconic gunslinger showdown and his wife gets to kick some ass too.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Seeing the mention of Lee Van Cleef reminds me to mention Have Gun Will Travel. Not a movie, but probably the best western tv series.