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Posted: |
May 31, 2017 - 4:22 AM
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By: |
Rollin Hand
(Member)
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Real American western films are from the Golden Age (1930’s to 1950’s) and cease to exist in the Sixties when the Europeans influence the American Studios and the most blatant example lies in the squalid films of Italian director Sergio Leone. So any Hollywood western films produced after the Sixties are not American western films in terms of style and ethics anymore, including the ones directed by Clint Eastwood.
To make American western films again, you have to return to the pioneers like John Ford, Raoul Walsh, Budd Boetticher, Anthony Mann, Howard Hawks, Henry Hathaway, Delmer Daves, William Wellman, to name but a few.
So what is the best American western film?
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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
:-)
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Yawn. Someone has about as much talent for disguise as a giraffe in dark glasses trying to get into a polar-bears-only golf club. 
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The Wild Bunch is the best FILM ever made, and it happens to be a Western...
(But, going by your original post, it came too late...)
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..... so any Hollywood western films produced after the Sixties are not American western films in terms of style and ethics anymore, including the ones directed by Clint Eastwood.
Does that include 'Wild Rovers' with its hard but sympathetic portrayal of real frontier life? Or more recently 'Wyatt Earp' or 'Tombstone'?
I never fully understand the lack of love for 'The Big Country'. Speaking of Wyler, 'Dodsworth'?
I see some folk are including Civil War movies. I'm not sure they qualify, but if they do, 'The Red Badge of Courage' is a classic, and 'Glory' is underrated. 'Liberty Vallance'? And where do the 'Young Guns' flicks fit? Are they 'squalid' too?
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Posted: |
May 31, 2017 - 7:11 PM
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By: |
Richard-W
(Member)
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I would certainly include THE BIG COUNTRY, ONE-EYED JACKS, THE UNFORGIVEN (1960), RIO CONCHOS, MAJOR DUNDEE, THE SHOOTING, RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND, DUEL AT DIABLO, HOMBRE, BANDOLERO!, WILL PENNY, 100 RIFLES, THE STALKING MOON, MONTE WALSH, WILD ROVERS, THE COWBOYS, CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY, GREAT NORTHFIELD MINNESOTA RAID, THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING, I WILL FIGHT NO MORE FOREVER, THE MISSOURI BREAKS, THE SHOOTIST, THE LONG RIDERS and a lot of others, but I figured my list was long enough. Excellent westerns were still being made in the 1960s and beyond.
Recently I've been won over by the westerns directed by Gordon Douglas. I didn't used to like them, but I realized I was being overly critical. A Gordon Douglas western was always a rugged boisterous entertainment. That includes ONLY THE VALIANT, THE NEVADAN, FORT DOBBS, GOLD OF THE SEVEN SAINTS, RIO CONCHOS and yes the 1966 remake of STAGECOACH. I enjoy them all. RIO CONCHOS is excellent and my favorite Gordon Douglas western.
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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
:-)
You're off-topic. We're dealing with the pioneers of the American western genre.
Pick one John Ford western you like.
Just one? There are several. But if I have to pick one: I consider John Ford's THE SEARCHERS a masterpiece. One of the greatest Westerns ever made.
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Following Members' rules,
I disagree with and challange the entry assesment that American "Golden Age" westerns are supposed to be in any way more "real" (whatever that's supposed to mean) than latter day westerns, which is why I in my entry post purposely incected the Leone western.
The Magnificent Seven, The Big Country and The Searchers
But these are great contenders... all of them classics.
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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
:-)
Bad boy!
[Smokes cigar while background music goes: AYAYAHH!]
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