Film Review Best Western List

[Tucumcari Bound]

With the recent Special Edition Release of the classic western "High Noon", Film Review released their list of best westerns. It's a great list. I don't agree with all of it, but all the films on the list are well-deserving to be present here. Also, there a couple modern day westerns on the list so don't be confused. It's not my list, it's Film Review's.

Here is the list, in the year they were released:


The Covered Wagon (1923)

Stagecoach (1939)

High Noon (1952)

Red River (1948)

Shane (1953)

Rancho Notorious (1952)

Johnny Guitar (1954)

The Searches (1956)

3:10 to Yuma (1957)

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Ride the High Country (1962)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Soldier Blue (1970)

High Plains Drifter (1972)

Unforgiven (1992)

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

No Country For Old Men (2007)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)


Westerns that Film Review love but didn't make the list:

Pale Rider
Blazing Saddles
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Rio Grande


They also give a great write up about the 3:10 to Yuma remake. Always makes me smile when I see that because of how naive cigar joe is. 

[Groggy]

For the most part, that's the lamest, most cookie cutter Best Westerns list I've ever seen, other than a few surprises like Rancho Notorious and Soldier Blue.

You will never convince me NCFOM is a Western, sorry.

[Tucumcari Bound]

Hey, it is cookie-cutter but there's some great westerns listed. I don't take it as a "Best Westerns List", just a popularity list at that. It's a good read in the magazine though because of the nice write up's of the films which I enjoyed.

[Silenzio]

That's pretty standard stuff, but I'm pretty certain they just went for representation of all decades.  I don't even think that THEY believe that the two westerns that came out in 2007 were better than some of the older ones that should have made the cut, like The Outlaw Josey Wales, Fort Apache, The Ox-Bow Incident (and that's still just stickin' to the obvious ones).

But, on the other hand, if I picked up a magazine and saw this list with some little write-ups, I would probably be happy and read it too, even if it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.  It's just nice seeing some of your favorite things get shoutouts in the media.  I dunno, I'm easily satisfied.

But, on a third hand, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that Pale Rider shouldn't be licking the boots of most of the movies listed, especially not PG&BTK which it's unfortunately lumped together with in the Honorable Mentions.

[The Firecracker]

the Honorable Mentions.

Hate it when they stick that catergory in a top anything thread.
It's pussy stuff.

[dave jenkins]

Ridiculous. Three films from 2007, but dozens of classics ignored. Johnny Guitar That's a Western for people who don't like Westerns. And why was it necessary to limit the list to, what is it, 23?

[The Firecracker]

Johnny Guitar That's a Western for people who don't like Westerns.

In your opinion. That title is in most top western lists.

[Tucumcari Bound]

That's pretty standard stuff, but I'm pretty certain they just went for representation of all decades.  I don't even think that THEY believe that the two westerns that came out in 2007 were better than some of the older ones that should have made the cut, like The Outlaw Josey Wales, Fort Apache, The Ox-Bow Incident (and that's still just stickin' to the obvious ones).

But, on the other hand, if I picked up a magazine and saw this list with some little write-ups, I would probably be happy and read it too, even if it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.  It's just nice seeing some of your favorite things get shoutouts in the media.  I dunno, I'm easily satisfied.

But, on a third hand, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that Pale Rider shouldn't be licking the boots of most of the movies listed, especially not PG&BTK which it's unfortunately lumped together with in the Honorable Mentions.

I agree with you Silenzio for the most part. I always love when there's a big article dedicated to the western genre. It was an extensive read so I was happy to read it. However, I think Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" is severly underrated. I dunno, maybe it's because of my love for Eastwood as an artist but I think he did some nice work with this film.

[stanton]

The Covered Wagon (1923)

Stagecoach (1939)

High Noon (1952)

Red River (1948)

Shane (1953)

Rancho Notorious (1952)

Johnny Guitar (1954)

The Searches (1956)

3:10 to Yuma (1957)

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Ride the High Country (1962)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Soldier Blue (1970)

High Plains Drifter (1972)

Unforgiven (1992)

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

No Country For Old Men (2007)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)


Westerns that Film Review love but didn't make the list:

Pale Rider
Blazing Saddles
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Rio Grande

Most of the film in this list are the usual classics, and even if not all of them are to everybody's tastes, they are considered by many as important.

The odd choices:

Rancho Notorious
extravagant, but not excactly a classic

Soldier Blue
3:10 to Yuma (remake)
mediocre, forgettable

High Plain's Drifter
Pale Rider
Good, but far from being important. Clint is not a very good director.

Rio Grande
watchable, but one of Ford's lesser works

NCfOM
Great film, but at best a half western

Haven't seen 3 Burials, and even if the new Jesse James is maybe the best western since the 70s, there are too much new films. The 40s, 50s and even the 70s are not represented enough.

And what the fuck had happened to Anthony Mann?

[T.H.]

Most best of lists are terrible but this one is especially bad.

If we're making a top 23 westerns list, mine would look like this (no order):

West
GBU
FaFDM
Searchers
My Darling Clementine
Ballad of Cable Hogue
The Wild Bunch
The Great Silence
Yellow Sky
Devil's Doorway
Rio Bravo
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Duck You Sucker
Dead Man
Stagecoach
Jubal
Seven Men From Now
Liberty Valance
3:10 (1957)
Shane
A Fistful of Dollars
The Furies
Warlock
Day of the Outlaw

It's 24 but I'm a rebel, so I don't care.

*forgot the Ox-Bow Incident.