If it's got to be one choice only. Then it's the Searchers. It's perfect and those who say that the big man couldn't act should watch him in this one. The big man is outstanding. As is the film. As is the scenery. As is everything
Having watched it again recently my choice would probably have to be whabe he most underrated western of all time.
I just watched 5 Budd Boetticher westerns. Even the best of them ("Commanche Station" imo) would not be considered great but they're close. Cumulatively perhaps they are great as a body of work - solidified Randolph Scott as a credible leading man. Sure sometimes he's stolid to the point of robotic, but in the stark moral universe of these westerns, being ramrod upright is necessary. The acting is generally quite good, especially Lee Marvin’s debut in & Men from now. - The fairly low budget films are psychologically complex, with bad guys not completely bad and good guys who are flawed. - The scripts are generally superb, and to his credit Budd didn’t get clever, but respected the story. The only I thought lost its way was “Buchanan Rides”. The rest – incl Seven Men from Now, Tall T, Ride Lonesome,- are well worth seeing if you’re on this thread. Leone and Eastwood both acknowledge a huge debt to Budd, so are you going to argue with them?
watched a boxed set of boetticher/scott over a year ago, was very impressed. it's a great run of westerns.
I'm not generally a fan of the older westerns with a few exceptions including Shane. Iconic movie with one of the best villains ever. Eastwood's remake Pale Rider is also excellent
Yes. You almost feel sorry for Eastwood's character. All along he had insisted he had changed, been reformed by his late wife. But, that killer had been suppressed, just below ghe surface. When everything fell apart, Will turned to the killer. The Kid knew. When Will asked for his gun the Kid said, Sure Will you can have it. I'm not gonna use it any more. I'm not like u Will.
Little Bill - You'd be William Munny out of Missouri killer of women and children Bill Munny - That's right. I've killed women and children. I've killed everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you little Bill for what you did to Ned
It's Buchanan Rides Alone. "I'll buy a bottle. What I don't drink, I'll take with me. How much?" "Ten dollars." "The steak?" "Ten dollars." "Good thing I'm only staying overnight." Looking at saloon girl, "This sure is a ten dollar town."
My favourite from that bunch is Ride Lonesome. Great supporting cast. Nice to see Pernell Roberts being given something to do
And Will accepts his nature...... that scene and those lines are chilling. And Eastwood's face, so cold and lifeless emphasized by the lighting and thunder storm. Little Bill seems to be taken by surprise. But, he soon recovers. He tries a tactic that probably works in the past on nonkillers.... "When he pulls that second trigger kill em" It doesn't faze Will.
Difficult to pick just one as there's so many, but I'll always have a soft spot for Shane, True Grit, The Magnificent Seven, Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, Dances With Wolves, Rio Grande, High Noon, Unforgiven, and Stagecoach. Yep, all blatantly obvious, but all blatantly brilliant. Bubbling under: some of the modern twists in the genre really appealed - Bone Tomahawk's gritty but gruesome, and No Country For Old Men is a bona fide new entrant in the genre set in the present day and with one of cinema's great baddies thanks to Javier Bardem's character and of course Blazing Saddles remains a comedy joy with a sharp eye on society's issues of the day (and still today) too. And I couldn't miss out one of the finest few minutes in the movies than this clip from No Country for Old Men, this, the coin toss and how to win your life just by calling it...
I watched, "Shane" last night. Really good acting, scenery, music, and on. I'm not a fan of Alan Ladd. But he was good at Shane. There were countless side glances and other expressions between his character and the wife that were well done. I would think, that was due to the director. I also found some of the camera shots interesting. The last fist fight had a shot from under a wagon and several from inside the cabin. They were pretty unusual for that time. That brings to mind a problem I had was the fight scenes. Fist fights don't last that long....because one can't absorb that level of punishment and remain conscious. However given the age of that movie it was prob accepted. All told a great Western.
I don't know about that, look at how long some boxing matches go on... Granted, they're wearing gloves, and have a brief rest between rounds, but those guys are at it, giving it all they've got for quite awhile and remaining conscious.