The greatest oaters according to critics, filmmakers, and…
As dedicated readers will know, Jeff Arnold didn’t particularly go for ‘best-of’ or ‘favourites’ lists until the very end. If you haven’t already, please check out his nephew’s lovely tribute to Jeff, which includes the list Jeff shared with him at his request: a top 10 hastily followed by a further 7. For convenience, we have listed this ‘top 17’ at the bottom of this post.
Jeff’s reason for mostly avoiding lists might well have been because the internet is awash with ‘top tens’, ‘best-ofs’, ‘must-sees’, ‘must-haves’ and ‘must-dos’ – of movies, books, cocktails, holiday destinations, you name it. Unlike Jeff’s final list, they are often of dubious reliability nowadays, many of them no doubt generated by AI. However, a thought-through list by a human expert is a different matter. It can jog memories, provoke thought and debate, make you want to watch a film again, or seek out one that you’ve missed.
Which brings us to the reason for this post: our having recently acquired a cheap, used, and faded copy of an obscure but rather excellent little book from 1994, which is chock full of just this sort of stuff. The Variety Book of Movie Lists, contains hundreds of lists, for different genres, themes and crafts, from multiple contributors sourced by editor Fred Lombardi: numerous critics and academics, and more than a few filmmakers and actors. And it includes a short section on Westerns containing nine intriguing lists from five discerning critics of our noble genre and, joy of joys, four of its legendary exponents: none other than directors Budd Boetticher, Monte Hellman, and Fred Zinnemann and actor Kirk Douglas.
We thought it would be fun to compile these lists into a post, and use the post as a prompt for readers’ debate, and maybe, hopefully their own lists, in the replies below.
Ready? Then saddle up:
First up, editor Fred Lombardi contributes his own chronologically listed selection:
Johnny Guitar
The Searchers
Run of the Arrow
Forty Guns
Man of the West
Warlock
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Ride the High Country
Once Upon a Time in the West
McCabe and Mrs Miller
Ulzana’s Raid
Many solid titles that will have heads nodding, and a few that will spark debate. It’s perhaps curious that this list starts as late as 1954.
The remaining lists are organised alphabetically by contributor, which means Budd Boetticher comes next. He goes with the following, starting with his favourite and listing the rest ‘in no particular order’:
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Red River
The Wild Bunch
Seven Men from Now
High Noon
Shane
Rio Bravo
Kirk Douglas rides in with a list of just two films:
Gunfight at the OK Corral
Shane
William K Everson, a distinguished film historian, supplies a very individual selection reflecting his expertise in silent and early sound cinema:
The Big Trail
Three Bad Men
Hell’s Hinges
The Indian Massacre
Law and Order
Ride the High Country
The Gunfighter
Wagon Master
Broken Arrow
And as a bonus Everson adds two 1930s B-movies:
Mystery Ranch
Thunder Trail
Monte Hellman
is our next director-contributor, and his list makes clear he’s a knowledgeable afficionado of our noble genre:
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Virginian
Ride the High Country
My Darling Clementine
The Gunfighter
Stagecoach
The Lone Ranger [serial]
The Shootist
Lonely are the Brave
Unforgiven
The Westerner
The Ox-Bow Incident
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Bad Day at Black Rock
Rio Bravo
Jesse James
Critic Phil Hardy, whose Westerns encyclopaedia has been praised by Jeff, shares these choices, including two double-bills:
The Searchers
Ride Lonesome; and, Comanche Station
Rancho Notorious
Bend of the River
Ride in the Whirlwind; and, The Shooting
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Fury at Showdown
Ride the High Country
Johnny Guitar
Stagecoach
Unforgiven
Our next list-maker, the then-editor of Film Comment, Richard T Jameson, divides his scholarly selection into two chronological lists:
1929 – 61
Law and Order
Stagecoach
My Darling Clementine
Red River
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Winchester ‘73
The Gunfighter
Wagon Master
Little Big Horn
Shane
The Naked Spur
Seven Men from Now
The Searchers
The Tall T
1962 – present (keeping in mind ‘the present’ was 1994)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Ride the High Country
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Wild Bunch
True Grit
McCabe and Mrs Miller
Ulzana’s Raid
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Unforgiven
Andrew Sarris, a critic known for championing in America the originally French idea (of which Jeff was *very* skeptical) of directors as ‘auteurs’ gives us this list of films, all by directors with distinct styles and points of view:
The Searchers
Red River
Once Upon a Time in the West
Bend of the River
Man of the West
Ride the High Country
Comanche Station
Seven Men from Now
Unforgiven
Forty Guns
And finally, a selection by Fred Zinnemann, director of Jeff’s beloved High Noon but also of Jeff’s reviled Oklahoma! (which he could have used to vindicate his ‘auteur-skeptic’ position):
My Darling Clementine
Stagecoach
The Ox-Bow Incident
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Gunfighter
Bad Day at Black Rock
The Wild Bunch
Gunfight at the OK Corral
Unforgiven
The Magnificent Seven
Some of these contributors provide brief comments on their selections in the book. It is well worth seeking out, especially if your movie tastes extend beyond our noble genre. Hours of fun await.
Last but very much not least, here is the list from our own Jeff Arnold, reprinted for your convenience:
High Noon
The Searchers
The Gunfighter
Shane
The Wild Bunch
Ride The High Country
The Tall T
Unforgiven
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
The Magnificent Seven
Red River
Fort Apache
Go West
Silverado
Canyon Passage
Dawn At Socorro
Hondo
Lots to get one’s teeth into, e-pards! We (your hosts, RR and Bud) will share our own lists of favourites below and look forward to yours and/or to your thoughts on any and all of the lists above. Let the (robust but respectful) debates begin!
115 Responses
My list makes no claim to being a ‘best of’, as my list of westerns to watch for the first time is long (a failing that I am trying to address!). It is, rather, a list of favorites, current ones at that, and (after the first entry) in no particular order.
Ride the High Country
High Noon
Seven Men from Now / The Tall T – please don’t make me choose between Lee Marvin and Richard Boone.
Winchester 73 – of the Stewart/Mann pictures, I waver between this one and The Naked Spur. Today, the presence of enjoyable ham Dan Duryea and underrated Stephen McNally (plus, excellent character names like ‘Waco Johnny Dean’ and ‘Dutch Henry Brown’) tip the balance. And Robert Ryan has his own entry.
Four Faces West – No shots fired. Ride is Joel McCrea’s finest, in my opinion, but this one nips at its hooves.
Day of the Outlaw – like its lead actor, Robert Ryan, this one has gained greater appreciation over time.
Blood on the Moon – I was a bit surprised by the exclusion of this film or Pursued from any of the above lists. I enjoy Robert Mitchum.
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon – one can easily include several Wayne/Ford movies, as shown in the above post, but I love the Technicolor in this one.
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – I enjoy music as much as motion pictures, and have had Elmer Bernstein’s score in my mind’s ear while compiling this list.
Popcorn movie bonus:
Denver and Rio Grande – Please hear me out. While not a great film by any measure, this one packs SO MUCH rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ action into its runtime, I flashed back to my youthful experience of watching Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time. Including it for that reason (well, that and Edmond O’Brien’s hat).
“She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949, 4 stars) is visually GORGEOUS. I think it’s a good movie, not a great one–I give it 4 stars out of 5–but it’s worth watching just for the scenery.
And that’s the beauty of making a favorite movie list–everybody’s list is going to he unique.
The beauty of making a favorite movie list–everybody’s list is going to be unique.
“Please hear me out,” you say about “Denver and Rio Grande” (1952). MAN, your enthusiasm for your “popcorn movie bonus” has me wanting to see it.
Of course, it helps that Sterling Hayden is in it.
Whether it’s a famous film, or something very few people have seen, somebody’s love for a movie is the best advertisement
And here’s my list, in chronological order. Like my trail pard Bud’s, they’re personal favourites as opposed to ‘bests’, though I think you’d agree several of them are among the best by any standard. I tried for 17 to match Jeff’s final number but failed to get it below 18. (And of course there were a few more knocking on the door waiting to get in – but one has to stop somewhere.)
Stagecoach
The Ox-Bow Incident
Canyon Passage
My Darling Clementine
Fort Apache
Wagon Master
Bend of the River
The Naked Spur
Shane
Johnny Guitar
Gunfight at the OK Corral
The Ride Back
Day of the Outlaw
Comanche Station
Major Dundee
McCabe and Mrs Miller
Open Range
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
I guess The Ride Back is the most obscure of the above. If you haven’t seen it – check it out, a very thoughtful, and beautifully photographed and acted little movie. From Bud’s list, I haven’t seen Four Faces West or Denver and Rio Grande, both of which it seems Jeff liked very much – I’ll keep an eye out for these!
I’m looking forward to seeing others’ lists and/or comments.
My top 10 – 1) Stagecoach (39) 2) Shane 3) High Noon 4) Dances with Wolves 5) My Darling Clementine 6) Red River 7) The Ox Bow Incident 8) The Wild Bunch 9) Once Upon a Time in the West 10) The Revenant
I’m not going to try to make a list of the best. I have loved westerns all my life and it’s possible to see the best ones too many times. What gives me most pleasure in recent times is finding hidden gems or certain movies that aren’t the best but I have always loved them. In no special order.
Trooper Hook 1957 inpretentious little gem with good acting and characters.
3.10 to Yuma 1957 took me years to get a grip on it. Nominate as the best.
Always loved The Tall T and Ride Lonesome but coming to appreciate Seven Men from Now more with each viewing.
The Proud Rebel – excellent supporting cast let down by Alan Ladd who comes across more a The Sulking Rebel. Richard Widmark would have been better.
The Last Wagon 1956 – been a favourite since I was very young.
Hell Bent for Leather – a new discovery with Felicia Farr (again)
Wagonmaster 1950 – my own favourite of Ford’s movies. So lyrical.
The Man from Del Rio 1956 – unusual and interesting.
The Big Country 1958 – intelligent, adult and the long playing time flies by.
The Sheepman 1958 – the western with the funniest first 10 minutes and a lot of fun while still being more a drama than a comedy.
Wether you agree or not with the auteur theory, no doubt that the director is the responsible number one of the result (in spite of the producers power). Most of the lists above, so far are all listing films made by the genre’s most important or greatest directors but a few exceptions. I do not see too many Walsh or Daves though…
It seems almost impossible not to see in such a list (limited to talkies) a single Ford (a single Ford, come on !?), Hawks, Mann, Boetticher, Wellman, Peckinpah, Eastwood, Sturges, Aldrich, Wyler, Hathaway, De Toth + Daves and Walsh + the likes of Huston, Wise, Tourneur, King, Dwann, Lang, Ray, Fuller, Siegel… I will spare you any Curtiz…
We should me closer to 20 than 10 without having yet listed the one time or one shot director who have accomplished at least one miracle…
Beside of the great directors, the great actors need a list too. Happily enough, they have been all cast by the directors I have mentioned… But I would say a list without at least Wayne, Cooper, Stewart, Fonda, Peck, Ford, Holden, Scott, McCrea, Widmark, Mitchum, Lancaster, Douglas, Flynn, Eastwood, Heston, Taylor, Hayden, Payne, Power, Ryan, Andrews, Quinn, Calhoun, Newman, Garner, Murphy, Mc Murray, Ladd (it’s a men’s list only and sometimes some play in the same film…) would not be very credible.
Anyway as subjectivity (added to a zest of nostalgy depending on the conditions and age when some film have been watched for the 1st time) is the key for such a list, here is mine with no preference order but as they come to my mind
Stagecoach
The Wild Bunch
The Naked Spur
Westward the Women
My Darling Clementine
She wore a yellow ribbon
Vera Cruz
Heaven’s Gate
Comanche Station
Rawhide
The Magnificent Seven
Rocky Mountain
Rio Bravo
High Noon
Major Dundee
Johnny Guitar
The Unforgiven
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Secret of Convict Lake
Silver Lode
20… ooops !
OK I cheated…
You make good points Jean-Marie – It’s just that I believe that the quality of the film comes first – no matter the director or star – and then let the chips fall where they may so to speak. Most people probably wouldn’t think of adding a film like HEARTLAND (a small indie from ‘79 that’s off the beaten track) or THE WIND (silent with Lillian Gish). They’re not traditional Westerns, I guess, but they’re strong frontier films that just blew me away. I would say that if you had a list of, say, 25-50, one couldn’t avoid having almost all of the directors and stars that you mentioned on it. But then beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Glenn Ford for example. He made many good solid Westerns (a number with Delmer Daves) that I really enjoy (favorite – 3:10 to Yuma), but I wouldn’t say they were great. But then that’s just me.
The masterpieces are one thing, the preferred films are an other.
For instance I know that Shane is a masterpiece for many reasons and I like it for many reasons but after having watched it many times, I still cannot stand Brandon de Wilde screaming Shane endlessly (it happened at first sight when I was barely older than him.
Red River is superb but its end is so expeditive and I still do not understand why Hawks have not shortened the far too long portraits sequence of the yelling cowboys which marks the beginning of the drive. It sounds a little ridiculous or childish to me. I pick up Rio Bravo instead because of this camaraderie, caring and complicity feeling, all along the film between Wayne, Martin, Brennan, Nelson and Dickinson.
Even if I have learned to like Once Upon A Time, there are too many moments bothering me. Etc.
Nobody has to love the established and recognized chefs d’oeuvre.
I would not pretend that the films of my list are all perfect but I still love them (in spite of their flaws), some have deeply impressed me when I was young and provide still today the same result. And there are personal and subjective reasons. I have watched many if them with my father (1914-2005) who was a great admirer of William Hart and Hopalong Cassidy when he was young himself and who passed me on the baton (or virus…) as I have told it before on this blog with the screening of a silent version of Stagecoach at home, then bringing me at 7 to a theater to watch The Magnificent Seven I am still cherishing as Jeff did.
To take an example out of the genre, Vertigo or Rebecca are masterpieces but I do prefer Notorious or North by Northwest.
Anyway it is very difficult sometimes to explain everything and why you prefer this or that.
The Rolling Stones are singing “it’s only rock and roll and I like it”. I coukd say the sale fo western.
When typing the titles, I was also thinking of this desert island idea…
Hello, Jean-Marie – your comment: ‘Nobody has to love the established and recognized chefs d’oeuvre.’ Are there any generally recognised masterpieces or film makers that you feel personally don’t really deserve to have been recognised?
Some time ago there was a programme on the BBC in which contributors were asked to nominate generally accepted masterpieces in different arts that they felt should have gone down with the Titanic (never mind the date – 1912 wasn’t a cut off) and never been seen again. The contribution I remember is the man who said ‘Citizen Kane’.
What I mean is that the list do not have automatically to include the “greatest” in the history or masterpieces or recognized as such (throughout history by the critics etc) only.
The films I have listed are not always masterpieces but just the films I like the most now.
Citizen Kane is a good example. Jeff was always joking about Jean-Luc Godard…! If I had to take a painting on the desert island, I would not pick up Mona Lisa, not even a Van Gogh… it is not a matter of deserving (who I am to decide or judge…) but more liking.
And Fort Massacre …!
Somehow I missed this last addition to your list, Jean-Marie, which makes me sad because I also think highly of ‘Fort Massacre’. While an uncharacteristic role for McCrea, I found his performance tough and convincing.
Yes,
It is not always easy to retrieve the answers in the line of the comments especially here as it seems that this list idea has been truly stimulating and inspirational for many of us…
I don’t even know where to begin. Once upon a Time in the West, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, My Name is Nobody, The Tall T, Ride Lonesome, Comanche Station, Seven Men From Now, Ride the High Country, The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Ballad of Cable Hogue, Duck you Sucker, Ulzana’s Raid, Red River, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, Stagecoach, She wore a yellow ribbon, Rio Grande, The Searchers, Man who shot Liberty Valance, Lonesome Dove, Tombstone, Silverado, Open Range, both True Grits, Unforgiven, Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider, Shane, Dead Man, Naked Spur, Man of the West, Winchester ’73, Bend of the River, 3 Godfathers, Wagon Master, The Big Trail, Colorado Territory, Magnificent Seven original, 3:10 to yuma original, 3 Bad Men, Sgt Rutledge, Day of the Outlaw, Assasination of Jesse James,both Monte Walsh, Mccabe and mrs miller, missouri breaks, Major Dundee, Vera Cruz, Hondo, The Cowboys, Junior Bonner, the shootist. Among others.
Meant to have ‘Fort Apache’ in my initial list. The cavalry trilogy by Ford is pure Americana and one of the great achievements of American film.
Oh Ox Bow Incident of course.
Pursued, One Eyed Jacks, Forty Guns, Warlock, Man from Laramie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Revenant, High Noon. I cannot do twenty. Maybe fifty.
Add ‘Dances with Wolves’, ‘For A Few Dollars More’, ‘The Gunfighter’, ‘Yellow Sky’, ‘Rawhide’, ‘Track of the Cat’, ‘Garden of Evil’, ‘My Darling Clementine’, ‘The Professionals’.
Am enjoying everyone’s lists, keep them coming!
Interesting to see which films come up a lot and which don’t (for example, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon being a bit more popular here than Fort Apache (my favourite of the three) and Rio Grande). And to see films listed that you haven’t seen before – I never got round to watching The Revenant which I’ve intended for ages, but some films weren’t even on my radar e.g. Trooper Hook, Rocky Mountain, The Secret of Convict Lake – all pretty much new titles for me.
And then there’s the phenomenon Chris Evans has noted before – two people can watch the same film and experience it completely differently. Just to get everyone’s backs up here’s some certified classics that appear frequently above and have just never cut it for me –
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (quite impressively done but there’s something too cold and relentless about this movie for me to find it enjoyable)
The Searchers (love Ford in general but this much less than most – bits of the film are amazing but it doesn’t gel for me, too many script problems, and some weak acting by some of the players)
Once Upon A Time in the West (similar in a way – in between amazing set-pieces the rest of the film has lots of script problems- the shifts in the story and characterisations are too often confusing and dare I say it at times boring)
The Wild Bunch (love the acting and some of the direction but again I think the script is not good enough. But more basically I don’t buy or like the entire premise, that a bunch of lowlife thugs get to become noble and glorified just because at the last minute they choose to go down in a hail of bullets)
I’m now preparing to be run out of town by an angry crowd of townspeople
I think one of the problems with lists is people tend to feel obliged to put certain items on it or risk looking stupid in front of their peers. This seems to be particularly true of film critics – so all lists of ’10 best’ tend to have a tiresome predictability – Vertigo, Citizen Kane etc.
All of us could make a list of the ‘greatest’ westerns – but if the ship were sinking and you can only grab a handful of DVDs for the desert island – which movies would YOU choose? For yourself alone to live with – and noone else needs to know.
To be honest, my own choice wouldn’t include any John Ford although I loved his films when I was younger and at the time he was held up as the great master. Now I find his films almost unwatchable. It’s not that I haven’t seen enough or I’m too stupid to get it. Most of it just rings too false for me.
The movies I actually love aren’t the greatest films. In my own list earlier – a movie I actually love is The Last Wagon but I can’t claim it’s ‘best’. Shane is a great movie – but I would rather watch The Proud Rebel. If the ship were going down I would grab ‘The Five Pennies’ and not bother with ‘The Searchers’.
Which movies would readers grab for a long stay on a desert island?
Paul – interesting comment and I get your point especially as regards film critics and Citizen Kane etc, and I loved that your list is so individual, but to be fair to everyone here I think they have all chosen their genuine favourites. My list above (the one starting with Stagecoach not the one starting with The Searchers…) *is* my desert island Westerns selection. Unlike you I still love Ford, just not The Searchers very much. And I love Peckinpah’s Major Dundee, which is full of flaws, even though The Wild Bunch turns me off. And if I only had one film for the desert island it would be… Shane!
Peckinpah’s films for a desert island.
11-20). The Wind (‘28), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Searchers, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Magnificent Seven (‘60), Unforgiven, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Gunfighter, Man of the West, Heartland. It really pains me not to have any Stewart films in my top 20, so I’ll add Anthony Mann’s Winchester ‘73 and make it 21.
I would also add to my list ‘The Proposition’ and ‘Quigley down under’. I could not be without Ford. His cavalry trilogy is a treasure and ‘Fort Apache’ says so much about America to this very day. I would also add ‘The Long Riders’, ‘Geronimo An American Legend’, and ‘Broken Trail’ too to my list.
Also ‘Canyon Passage’, ‘Last train to Gun Hill’, ‘Ride with the Devil’, ‘Bad day at Black Rock’, ‘Treasure of Sierra Madre’, ‘The Westerner’, ‘Big Country’, ‘Hombre’, ‘Duel in the sun’, ‘The Bravados’.
‘High Plains Drifter’
‘Jeremiah Johnson’ another favorite mountain man Western.
‘Valdez is Coming’
Love it! Definitely the best Western of 1972 and may be in my top 25.
Sorry – I made a comment for this thread and posted it under Santa Fe Trail by mistake. Can’t copy it here – but will you pretend it’s here.
I watched Santa Fe Trail last night – there’s a good print on YouTube. Lots of fun – goes along at a good pace, de Haviland is beautiful, Flynn is dashing, Alan Hale and Big Boy Williams are fun, Max Steiner’s music – Warner Bros did this stuff so well and made it look so easy.
That’s the reason I found out there’s still activity on Jeff’s site. Good for you for keeping it going.
I read your comment above and considered copying the one from Santa Fe Trail into it (being an Admin *does* have minor benefits ), but I see it already has a reply! Which makes RR and me happy… discussion amongst the site’s readers.
What I mean is that the list do not have automatically to include the “greatest” in the history or masterpieces or recognized as such (throughout history by the critics etc) only.
The films I have listed are not always masterpieces but just the films I like the most now.
Citizen Kane is a good example. Jeff was always joking about Jean-Luc Godard…! If I had to take a painting on the desert island, I would not pick up Mona Lisa, not even a Van Gogh… it is not a matter of deserving (who I am to decide or judge…) but more liking.
‘Deserves got nothing to do with it’
🙂
Yes – some films touch the heart and it’s very personal. That’s what movies can do. Those are the ones to grab in a hurry when the ship’s going down.
Here’s a story that might be a useful contribution. I’m 69 and for most of that time I have had a dim memory of watching a movie when I was young. But all I could remember was the title and a vague idea that the ending was moving.
It had only just now come into my head that I could have looked it up on Wikipedia but it never crossed my mind. The movie seemed to completely disappear for about 50 years.
Then a couple of years ago it turned up on YouTube. It was a cheap Republic thing from 1956 and half way through I cried my eyes out. I don’t mean well up like I always do when Gary Cooper forgives the Confederate sniper in Friendly Persuasion. I mean really sob for 10 minutes – I had to pause the movie.
Now – here’s the strange thing. After it finished I went on to IMDB and read the comments and it turned out many people had had the same experience: seen it when they were young, couldn’t remember much about it, watched it again and been blown away by it.
But it’s not an obvious tear-jerker, just a cheap Republic thing, noone would claim it’s a masterpiece. Where does that power come from because it wasn’t just me?
It’s called Come Next Spring by the way. Good print on DK Classics channel on YouTube.
Historically Republic is listed among the Poverty row studios; it was the result of Monogram’s merging with a few others, under Herbert Yates management. Let Jeff talk : “Republic may be thought of as one of the ‘lesser’ studios but it certainly favored the Western, like Columbia and Universal”… “focused on low-budget product.”
No doubt that Republic (a key studio regarding the western, Ford and Wayne careers for instance) has produced many good and excellent movies especially after WWII but it was not MGM.
That is maybe the sense of Paul’s expression he applied on a specific movie, not on the whole production. And I did not feel it was dismissing since he explains the impact the film had on him and the emotions he was provided with. A film may have a limited budget with no stars, it can impress and let its mark on you forever.
Thanks, Jean-Marie – I would have thought it was clear in my post that what I was saying was along the lines – ‘this would seem to be nothing special but it wielded such power.’ I think there’s something else going on and I tried to be handle Barry’s post with kindness instead of just being rude back to him.
With R. G. Springsteen as the director and Ann Sheridan, Steve Cochran, Walter Brennan and Edgar Buchanan in the cast, it could have been a western…
.
Here are my Top 10 Westerns, followed by the rank they get on my all-time favorite movie list, any genre:
1) “For a Few Dollars More” (1965, my #2 of all time): Lee Van Cleef steals the show as The Man in Black. Jeff agrees with me, though he doesn’t like the movie. Indio (Gian Maria Volonte) is my #1 Bad Guy in Cinematic History. From start to finish, this is a Cinematic Tour-de-Force.
2) “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962, my #5): A profound, multi-layered film. John Wayne’s best performance, as the lonely gunslinger Tom Doniphon. The under-rated Woody Strode excels as Tom’s right hand, Pompey. Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) teaching children and adults how to read and write is the stuff of inspiration.
3) “The Great Silence” (1968, my #6): A bleak Western set in the snow—visually GORGEOUS–with Klaus Kinski stealing the show as cold-blooded Loco, my #2 Bad Guy in Cinematic History. Here we see the grandeur of God’s creation–and the depravity of man’s nature.
4) “Red River” (1948, my #8): Visually BEAUTIFUL, with John Wayne giving his 2nd-best performance, as hard-driving cattle rancher Thomas Dunson. Montgomery Clift and Walter Brennan excel as well. One of Jeff’s favorites. Grand and glorious music, and for me, the ending works beautifully.
5) “Charro!” (1969, my #15): It’s great to see Elvis in a serious role. He plays Jess Wade, a former outlaw who now stands for what’s right. Elvis sings only one song–the title theme at the opening–and it’s one of my favorite theme songs. I’ll be saying a lot more about this film later in September.
6) “Heaven’s Gate” (1980, my #16): The flop of the 20th century–and I wish I could shake Mr. Cimino’s hand. Incredible scenery, and a great performance by Kris Kristofferson as James Averill, Yale grad who does his best to bring justice to the frontier. The roller-skate scene (with Averill, Ella, and the Eastern European immigrants) is THE BEST community celebration in any film I’ve ever seen.
7) “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” (1973, my #24): This is the movie that brought me to Jeff Arnold’s West, just 5 weeks after Jeff passed away. Kristofferson excels as Billy the Kid. Highlighted by the two “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” scenes, this film is haunting, poetic, brutal, and downright bleak.
8) “One-Eyed Jacks” (1961): Marlon Brando plays the outlaw Rio, who wants to be better than what he is. Beautifully shot on the Pacific Coast, and I think Brando does a great job directing. This might make #25 on my all-time list, but the competition is serious.
9) “High Noon” (1952): The killer Frank Miller is on a mission to kill Will Kane. Gary Cooper plays Will Kane, one of the most courageous men in Cinematic History. This was one of my father’s favorites–and when James asked Jeff to list his favorite Westerns, “High Noon” was the first one Jeff identified. This still might make my Top 25.
10) “Fort Apache” (1948): John Wayne plays Captain York, who pleads with Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) to treat the Apache with respect. A grown Shirley Temple plays the lovely Philadelphia Thursday (Owen’s daughter). Another one of Jeff’s favorites. It probably won’t make my Top 25, but it doesn’t have to. Simply a great film.
I look forward to seeing all of Jeff’s Top 17. I didn’t get into movies until 2015 (in my 40s). Like Baby Tomato in Mia Wallace’s joke in Q-Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994), I have some catching up to do.
Somebody’s always asking me to name my #1 movie of all time. My #1 is the gangster film, “The Irishman” (2019).
Thanks to Bud and RR for keeping this site running–and thanks ESPECIALLY to Jeff for sharing his love of Westerns.
Excellent list. Some of my favorites. Glad you have Fort Apache there. Great, great film. You should check out Elvis in ‘Flaming Star’ one of his best films. My favorite gangster film is ‘Goodfellas’.
Thanks Chris, I appreciate that. I’ll have to see “Flaming Star” (1960). And yes, “Goodfellas” (1990, 5 stars) is a great one.
I also meant to add the Coen brothers gangster epic ‘Miller’s Crossing’. Wonderful film like their version of ‘True Grit’ which is one of my favorite modern Westerns.
What Jeff was writing about Flaming Star (not only the best western but the best Elvis’ film in my opinion and one of the best Siegel as well)
https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2013/05/flaming-star-fox-1960/
It seems this site attractive more and more spaghetti tifosi according to some of the lists above. Maybe they have been staying hidden to avoid Jeff’s irony…!? I cannot resist letting them know that the Institut Lumière in Lyon (France) is planning a Leone day taking the opportunity of a new edition of a french book on the Italian master with 3 films and a conference by the author.
No doubt Jeff would have been curious about this book.
https://www.institut-lumiere.org/actualit%C3%A9s/sempre-leone.html
Here is a top twelve Western list by the late Western writer and blogger Lloyd Fonveille: https://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2013/01/27/the-top-twelve-westerns-of-all-time/
I’ve just finished my latest Amazon order, and it includes two from Jeff’s Top 17:
“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948): Chris Evans and Thomas Leary also named this among their favorites. A famous film starring Humphrey Bogart, but the biggest attraction for me is that the director is John Huston, whose film noir “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950) is my #7 movie of all time, all genres.
“Hondo” (1953): I wouldn’t have considered this one if not for Jeff’s Top 17. Of course it stars John Wayne , but I also see that it co-stars GERALDINE PAGE. WOW.
I know Geraldine Page from her unforgettable turn as the neurotic Molly Wheatland in “Something in the Woodwork” (1973, 5 stars), a CLASSIC episode of one of my favorite TV shows, Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery” (1969-’73).
I look forward to seeing “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and “Hondo” for the first time.
I agree with RR–it’s been fun seeing all of you post your lists of favorite Westerns.
Geraldine Page is also excellent in ‘The Beguiled’ with Clint Eastwood. It is reviewed on the site.
Treasure blew me away when I first saw it (on the big screen no less) and instantly became one of my favorites. Bogart’s performance is amazing and totally surprised me at the time because up til then I’d only seen him as the tough talking anti-hero a la Same Spade and Rick Blaine. And Walter Huston is nearly his equal acting-wise in the film. It’s not just a great adventure but there’s also an important message there. Hondo is good but I wouldn’t rate it as high as Jeff – probably in my top 50, though.
You sum it up so well. I love the vividness of the thing. So well done.
Whoops – I posted on the wrong board again. Sorry.
Nick says: Here are my top 25 Westerns:
Shane
The Searchers
Warlock
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Stalking Moon
The Last Hunt
Rio Bravo
Ulzana’s Raid
Red River
The Man from Laramie
Decision at Sundown
Canyon Passage
No Name On the Bullet
Lawman
The Wild Bunch
Four Faces West
Man Without a Star
Fort Apache
Hour of the Gun
Flaming Star
Ride the High Country
El Dorado
Tombstone
The Magnificent Seven
They Died With Their Boots On
Runner-Up: Devil’s Doorway
More Runners-Up:
My Darling Clementine
Winchester 73
3 Godfathers
Hondo
The Horse Soldiers
Colorado Territory
Rio Grande
The Wild and the Innocent
Wyatt Earp
(More coming)
My Final 25 (Maybe):
Jubal
Arrowhead
Stagecoach
The Gunfighter
The Last Sunset
The Singer Not the Song
War Paint
The Bravados
Rawhide
The Hanging Tree
True Grit 1969
Chato’s Land
Broken Lance
High Noon
Johnny Guitar
MacKennaa’s Gold
Run for Cover
Law and Order 1932
Drum Beat
The Shootist
3:1o to Yuma 1957
The Proud Ones
The Jayhawkers
The Outcast
The Showdown 1950
Welcome, Nick. Some interesting choices to explore. I have The Showdown on DVR and will watch it soon on your recommendation. I really enjoy Wild Bill Elliott.
Nick says:
Hi Bud: I am also a huge Wild Bill fan. He was always a believably tough Western hero. But because he had such a powerful screen presence, I wish that he could have played a bad guy in a few A-Westerns. He could have held his own against Wayne or Gable or Cooper. No offense to Ian Macdonald, but I think Elliot would have made a terrific Frank Miller in High Noon.
My baker’s dozen in chronological order
The Ox-Bow Incident
My Darling Clementine
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Winchester 73
The Gunfighter
Shane
The Tall T
Ride Lonesome
Comanche Station
Ride the High Country
Hombre
The Wild Bunch
Unforgiven
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is probably my all-time favorite movie, period. I’ve always wondered about Tim Holt’s career though. How was it that he was able to appear in three all-time classics, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Magnificent Ambersons, and My Darling Clementine, while starring in and churning out dozens of B westerns before and after those three classics, during his career?
Son of the Final 25:
Big Jake
The Violent Men
Ramrod
Distant Drums
Rio Conchos
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Escape from Fort Bravo
The Tall T
The Cowboys
The Naked Spur
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
The Kentuckian
Coroner Creek
The Plainsman
The Fastest Gun Alive
The War Wagon
I Shot Jesse James
Vera Cruz
Rancho Notorious
One Eyed Jacks
Three Hours to Kill
The Comancheros
Firecreek
Garden of Evil
Texas Across the River
This is absolutely my last list because it will pass the 100 mark:
Pursued
Bend of the River
The Professionals
Hannah Lee
End of the Trail 1932
The Westerner
Destry 1954
Apache
Stranger On Horseback
Cimarron 1931
The Halliday Brand
Lust for Gold
Angel and the Badman
Major Dundee
The Big Trail
The Last Wagon
The Lawless Breed
Comanche Station
At Gunpoint
Little Big Horn
Son of Paleface
Added to mine ‘Two Mules for Sister Sara’, ‘Joe Kidd’, ‘Buck and the Preacher’, ‘The Nevadan’.
Chris Evans, Thomas Leary, and Kevin:
I watched “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948) the other night, for the first time. 5 STARS ! ! ! Powerful film, and I see why it makes Jeff’s Top 17.
Yes, Walter Huston’s performance as Howard equals that of Bogart’s Fred Dobbs. I’d never heard of Tim Holt, but he does a great job as Bob Curtin. (“My Darling Clementine”–1946, 5 stars–is a great movie, but I don’t have a clear recollection of Holt in it. I see that he plays one of the Earp brothers.) Let’s not forget Barton MacLane as Pat McCormick. And is that REALLY Robert Blake (1970s TV “Baretta”) as the Mexican kid who sells Dobbs that lottery ticket ? ? ? ?
John Huston is a director PAR EXCELLENCE ! ! ! ! His film-noir “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950, my #7 movie of all time, all genres) is populated with UNFORGETTABLE characters, and so is “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
I’m working on a review of a certain movie (another Western), and in my latest draft, I’m actually referencing “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
Yes, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948) is one I’ll be watching multiple times.
Glad you like it. Great film, Great Bogart, and Great Huston. He really did so many fascinating films ‘Red Badge of Courage’, ‘African Queen’, ‘The Misfits’,’Fat City’, ‘The Man who would be King’ among so many others.
It is never too late to discover such a gem.
More about Tim Holt here for instance
https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2015/02/along-rio-grande-rko-1941/
Barton McLane has his own Résumé by Jeff :
https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2022/10/barton-maclane/
The following are technically not Westerns due to their settings but unofficially are Westerns (and I like them):
Northwest Passage
The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
North to Alaska
The Wild North
The Spoilers 1942
Have a look at Jeff’s brilliant essay about “what is a western” or not according to him https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2016/09/what-is-western/
Regarding the “colonial” westerns he was considering them more like “adventure films with tricorns”.
You will find this définitive sentence :
“So then, are you a purist, a hard-core definer? Or are you a revisionist, a liberal? Anyone living in France, as I do, will find such questions are existential concepts of some import, you see.”
I would be very interested to read what each of us looks for most in ‘a western’. For me, it’s mainly lyrical and/or about characters. I like a minimum of violence – and if someone’s shot or beaten up it’s got to mean something. So – for me – a western is something like ‘Ride Lonesome’ or ‘The Big Country’.
I just screened the original 3:10 to Yuma. I’m adding it to my list, recency bias be darned.
Fantastic performance by Glenn Ford.
Astonishing cinematography (and showcased by the Criterion blu-ray).
Hello Bud – It took me several viewings to ‘get’ the original 3.10 to Yuma. One problem was what seemed to be an overlong sequence with Felicia Farr – it seemed too complicated and overlong as a device to get Ben Wade captured for the sake of the plot. Then I came to think that the key to the movie is the Van Heflin character envies Glenn Ford’s single life, and Glenn Ford comes to envy (and respect) Van Heflin for his family life. If so, the Felicia Farr sequence slots into place as counterpart to the later sequence at Dan Evans’ ranch, and Dan’s remark to his wife, “Then perhaps we won’t be so tired all the time.” A little while ago a neighbour asked me to nominate ‘the two greatest westerns’ and after a long time and a great deal of thought I nominated this as one of them. I think we’re all finding it’s an impossible task to boil it down to even a handful (or 25 or more than 50) but it’s a sign of the respect I feel for this movie.
Any list should include at least one Delmer Daves western ! Saying that, I have forgotten to include one in my own list…! Shame on me…
The Hanging Tree (in spite of Karl Malden but Coop in one of his greatest role and a fantastic George C Scott…), Broken Arrow, The Last Wagon, 3:10, Cowboy, Jubal (the last 3 starring Glenn Ford, helping him to be among the top 10 best western actors), are all very fine to say the least.
Make your bets!
Yes – I forgot The Hanging Tree too. I have only seen it once but I thought it was very interesting. I never have a problem with Karl Malden. The biggest issue – in my opinion – with some of these late 50s Gary Cooper films is he looks too old for the part. It’s an issue in Man of the West – which is otherwise a really fine film – and They Came to Cordura which I like too.
Well even an aging (and sick) Cooper is still a huge asset for any film. He had such an aura, a persona, that to me there is an immediate unvaluable value to the film. No matter Cooper maybe too old (1901), Lee J. Cobb (1911) too (or not enough) and Dehner born in 1915, Man of the West is among the greatest westerns of all times. I did not put it in my list because I had already listed The Naked Spur as I wanted a Mann/Stewart in it but no doubt I will have it listed in list of 20.
And I liked Cordura very much ! (But would Nicholas Anez accept it as a western !?…)
Agreed. As Pauline Kael said just his look made you want to give Cooper power of attorney.
Yes – after posting that comment I thought about it and – yes – Cooper has a very special quality in those late films – ‘Man of the West’ ‘The Hanging Tree’ and “They Came to Cordura’. Is the word for it ‘tragic’? There is so much pain in his face he seems to represent human suffering. It’s a long time since I have seen ‘The Hanging Tree’ and ‘They Came to Cordura’ but I seem to remember this part of the theme in both films. ‘Man of the West’ I feel was intended for James Stewart who – I think – would have done a fine job but it would have been a different film – perhaps more like a serious version of ‘Night Passage’. Cooper brings out a tragic depth to the film.
More that are not technically not Westerns due to their settings but since Phil Hardy ins book, The Western, or Brain Garfield in his book, Western Movies, include them, I will mention them:
Allegheny Uprising
Northwest Mounted Police
Drums Along the Mohawk
The Americano
Seminole
What is the western was asking Jeff in one of his legendary post…
The question of the location and the timeline to consider a film as a western is an interesting debate…
Plenty of westerns are not always set in the (American) West but in Canada (or Alaska), Mexico, South America, Australia, ou South Africa. Besides, since the (American) West was beginning just off the Atlantic coast, what are the reasons why the films set during the Seven Years War or the Revolution could not be considered as westerns ? Why a film set in Mexico in 1914 or so (possibly with cars and even planes) could be a western more than one in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1700s !?
Stricto sensu, is a western condemned to be limited to be set west of the Mississippi within the current continental US from 1850 to 1890 (Wounded Knee usually considered as the end of the Indian Wars) or 1912 (Arizona and New Mexico statehoods) ?
Good morning, Jean-Marie – my own feeling is ‘a western’ is something to do with a film’s ‘spirit’ more than its setting. So I might – not ‘do’ but might – argue that some so-called westerns are transplanted gangster movies.while Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘Last Stand’ is a western.
But I also feel that trying to ‘define’ it means excluding too much – the loss would be bigger than what’s been gained. That’s something I have learned from this thread – not to make a list of ‘the best’. Too many enjoyable films – hours and hours of pleasure – are forgotten or devalued. A day after posting my own list I.watched ‘Rawhide’ and it blew my list to pieces. Your post the other day reminded me how me how much I had enjoyed ‘The Hanging Tree’ when I watched it.
A thing I learned from this blog is Jeff could get as much pleasure from seeing someone like Ray Teal turn up in a mediocre picture as one might from watching a classic or masterpiece. He LOVED westerns and I think that’s true for all of us contributing to this forum or we wouldn’t be doing it. I think the LOVE aspect is very important.
Within that over-arching love for the genre I imagine each of us are drawn to different parts of it. I try to explain – to women especially – that (for me) it’s not about shooting.at people, it’s about the coffee pot on the campfire and the mountains in the distance with birch trees on the slopes.
I never shot at anybody (yet) but I have been lucky enough to share some coffee pot on a campfire and sleep out under the stars, discovering an old cabin in the woods and flushing out wildlife along the trail during some rides in Wyoming, Montana or Idaho. And I loved any moment. I was in my own film… and yes, love is the key.
I have a real thing about the music. Ever since being a youngster I think for me it’s always been about 50% of the power of a western. The train going up the mountain in ‘Night Passage’ like it’s reaching orgasm or the fighting retreat in ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’ when the wagon goes up a steep climb and half the stuff falls out the back. That kind of ‘busy’ thing Dimitri Tiomkin does in ‘Rio Bravo’ (and lots of others) when all John Wayne is doing is walking up the stairs in the hotel.
FIFTY, really !?
I find that music is often truly invasive or redundant underlining the action far too much even in the non western contemporary american films.
But there are many exceptions and striking scores (The Magnificent seven, Alamo, Rio Bravo, Heaven’s Gate, The Big Country) and of course the contributions of the folkloric, traditional, religious (irish, scottish, french, mexican) songs (My Darling Clementine, Rio Bravo, Heaven’s Gate, Wagon master, Across the wide Missouri, The Wild Bunch), modern country & western music and songs (High Noon, Gunfight at OK Corral) and military music (Ford trilogy, Little Big Man, They Died with their boots on…). No doubt that Morricone’s music has been very important in the spaghetti international success in spite of Jeff’s taste…!
Modern music by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Nick Cave or Ry Cooder is important too as it brought a new light on the films, freshening up the genre and possibly bringing new or younger public.
Music has given a lot of magic or climactic moments such as Lilian Gish playing the piano in The Unforgiven or Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar, the Rio Bravo songs. Or dances and balls scenes (most of John Ford’s films, Heaven’s Gate).
But 50% would mean that story, script, dialogues, photo, acting etc. would all count for the remaining 50 !?
No Country for Old Men has almost no music and it is one of the finest film of the past 20 years.
Good morning, Jean-Marie – like you, I think there’s a tendency in modern scores to make it too obvious what you’re supposed to feel – especially when it’s sentimental. It’s laid on so thick it can actually kill the effect – it’s as if the actor can’t do his job and the audience is stupid or inattentive.
I agree – too – that music can be intrusive. Not just unsuitable but too much of it. There are times to leave it out completely. I would nominate as a shining example the climactic sword fight in ‘Scaramouche’. The music stops and there’s 5 minutes of the sound of steel clashing with steel – and boy! do those swords sound sharp.
About the 50% – maybe it’s a bit high. But I realised later in life that films that had affected me as a youngster all (?) had something in common – the music made a big contribution. So – it would seem – for me one type of western that speaks to me is mainly lyrical – the campfire, the scenery and the music. The other type of western that speaks to me is character-driven drama (when – as you point out – we can often do without the music).
Western is a state of mind…
The Old West is not a certain place in a certain time, it’s a state of mind. It’s whatever you want it to be.” Tom Mix
Interesting text here
https://www.hcn.org/issues/42-7/a-western-state-of-mind/
Paul
I found this interesting paragraph by accident at the end of Jeff’s text about The Appaloosa ( Sidney J. Furie, 1966)
“The score is credited to Frank Skinner but it’s one of those movies where silence reigns and in fact is the more tense for that. Minimal or absent music can work very well”.
Mr. A,
I seem to recall a post of yours ages ago about your opinion on spaghetti westerns. And being a moron, I cannot seem to find it. If you know what I’m talking about, could you kindly send a link?
Many thanks
Sorry, Bent, I have in the past expressed strong opinions of spaghetti Westerns, but being more of a moron, I cannot locate it in my files.
Mr. A.
Nick/Mr A – Bent was perhaps addressing the late Mr. [A]rnold.
If you are thinking of Jeff’s blog, it must be it :
https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2020/09/the-italian-western/
“Hondo” (1953), 5 stars, delightful movie ! ! ! It’s the second of two movies I ordered (as noted in my comments above) from Jeff’s Top 17, after “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948, 5 stars).
Chris Evans also identified “Hondo” as one of his favorites, and Nicholas Anes has it on his second list. Thomas Leary said it would probably make his Top 50.
John Wayne gives his usual great performance, and a younger Geraldine Page is super as the lovely Angie Lowe. WHAT A CONTRAST to Page’s role twenty years later as deranged Molly Wheatland in the CLASSIC Night Gallery episode, “Something in the Woodwork” (1973, 5 stars) ! ! ! Page has some excellent acting range.
That boy Johnny (Lee Aaker), Angie’s son, is likable, and Ward Bond gives a fun performance as Hondo’s friend, Buffalo Baker. As in the great “Fort Apache” (1948, 5 stars, my #10 Western), the Apache are given a sympathetic portrayal.
I would rank “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” higher than “Hondo,” but both of these latest discoveries would make my Second 10 list of Westerns.
Special thanks to Jeff. If not for Jeff’s Top 17, I never would have considered “Hondo.”
Good afternoon, overdrive. This is an indirect comment about ‘Hondo’ because that the movie that brought it home for me but it’s a wider point. I think the music is by Hugo Friedhoffer – and about 25 years earlier he was writing music for communist cabarets in Berlin. Then Hitler comes along and people like him are chased out of Germany. Eventually he – and other musicians – wind up in Hollywood and the next thing you know John Wayne is walking toward the camera backed by that wonderful ‘Hondo’ theme. The same man who was writing discordant political songs in some seedy dive in a European capital is 25 years later producing music for westerns that has become part of the soundtrack of our lives. I think it’s really interesting and rather exciting how these things come about.
Paul,
Friedhofer was american, born May 3, 1901 in San Francisco, died May 17, 1981 in Los Angeles.
He began studying the cello at 13, following his (his parents were born in Germany) father’s steps . He arrived in Hollywood in 1929 working on music films becoming acquainted with Max Steiner. From then he wrote a hundred of music scores in his career, getting an oscar for The Best Years of Our Lives’ music, among many other famous films. As far as our genre is concerned, beside of Hondo, he wrote Vera Cruz, Two Flags West, Broken Arrow, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, White Feather, One Eye Jack’s Geronimo (1962), The Over-the-Hill Gang (never heard of this one though but its remake by Burt Kennedy, Once Upon a Texas Train with Widmark…). Quite a record isnt’it !?
Jeff is listing him at the end of his long essay about music in western as one of his “many other favorites”.
Nonetheless, after Hitler election, plenty of people arrived in Hollywood from Germany and Central Europe promised to a great future! I wonder who might be the guy “writing music for communist cabarets in Berlin”…
Better than communist I would have said avant-garde.
If you are interested in Berlin cabarets during the Republic of Weimar you may like
https://history.jhu.edu/faculty-books/berlin-cabaret/
musicbybrucebabcock.com has some excellent articles on Hugo his life and career. Interesting reading.
Thanks for the tip !
One of the article says
“Hugo [possibly] always felt guilty about being German because of World Wars I and II. His father, Paul Friedhofer, was a German-American cellist who studied in Germany, where he met Hugo’s mother, a singer training at the Dresden Opera. Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer was born in San Francisco May 3, 1901. He missed the earthquake because his mother, annoyed as she apparently was from time to time with his father, had gone home to Germany, taking her darling with her. Hugo’s sister, Louise, is, as he was, a cellist.”
More at
https://musicbybrucebabcock.com/gene-lees-remembers-hugo-friedhofer/
Hello Jean-Marie – clearly, I have him mixed up with someone else. I wonder who I was thinking of.
‘Hondo’ is wonderful and the Blu a worthy effort. Definitely try to check the excellent commentary on the disc by Frank Thompson and Leonard Maltin. Really imparts some great knowledge. This was Al Bundy’s favorite movie on the TV show ‘Married with Children’ and his attempts to watch it are on Youtube and are hilarious. I agree about Geraldine Page and find her very attractive in this. She was remarkable years later with Clint Eastwood in ‘The Beguiled’.
Hondo is, I agree, very very good. For me it falls just short of greatness because the last third or so of the film to me feels a little bit more conventional and perfunctory than the first two thirds. But it’s one of Wayne’s best and most interesting performances and the interplay between him and Page is very well done. I agree, the Blu looks great – but I’ve never listened to the commentary – might give it a go after your recommendation.
Yes, the commentary is fun (it also Lee Aaker with a few comments). Maltin and Thompson are also good in the commentary on ‘McLintock’.
I’m afraid I agree with Jeff about McLintock – one of my least favourite Wayne films…
” … perfunctory than the first two thirds.” The editing jars, doesn’t it?
Yes, and it’s also sort of becomes Just Another Western in its latter stages – fine, but a comedown after most of the movie, which I agree with Chris is truly excellent.
” … I’m afraid I agree with Jeff about McLintock – one of my least favourite Wayne films…” I tried to watch it again a few years ago. McLintock has dated very badly – for me, it’s unwatchable.
Yes, painful…
That’s why I usually watch with the commentary track over it plus Maureen O’Hara is ALWAYS nice to look at.
Jeff would have answered with one of his typical mellowed sarcastic moment regarding Maureen O’Hara. For example taken from his William Wellman’s Buffalo Bill :
“As for the lady, well, that was Maureen O’Hara. Now I will not disguise the fact that I am no O’Hara fan, and indeed have been rather slighting of her in other posts. I dislike her parts in the Ford/Wayne movies and find her unsympathetic and rather overweening. Still, she is much better in Buffalo Bill, partly, I think, because she was younger and did not try to boss the picture around so much. Charles Laughton, entranced by her beautiful eyes, had only discovered her in 1939 (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and the same year Hitchcock put her in Jamaica Inn. John Ford used her for the first time of many in 1942 in How Green Was My Valley. So she was already a big star but she was still quite fresh and restrained. And Buffalo Bill was her first Western. I would even go so far as to say she is good in it. ” You see…
Yes, he was quite tough on her. I’ve always liked her even when her characters were unlikable. Her performances in John Ford are quite well done to me. Jeff had a similar dislike for Stanwyck which I didn’t always agree with either. Good to have an array of opinions.
Comment not moment, sorry…
Perhaps it’s the moment for a new challenge: the 10 favourite female performances in westerns. Strangely enough, I don’t think Maureen O’Hara would make it into my 10 despite the John Ford pedigree.
This is a nice tribute by the late Lloyd Fonvielle to the best Western O’Hara was ever in: https://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2010/03/30/rio-grande/
As it comes (but maybe we should have started this somewhere else as we have to scroll down again and again…) here is a list of … 22 + 2 extras !
Felicia Farr 3:10 to Yuma
Claire Trevor Stagecoach
Barbara Stanwyck Trooper Hook
Joan Crawford Johnny Guitar
Dorothy Malone The Nevadan
Angie Dickinson Rio Bravo
Julie Adams Bend of the River
Ruth Roman The Far Country
Vivien Leigh The Naked Spur
Katy Jurado High Noon
Cate Blanchett The Missing
Hillary Swanks The Homesman
Michelle Dockery Godless
Joanne Dru Red River
Virginia Mayo Colorado Territory
Jean Arthur Shane
Susan Hayward Rawhide
Ida Lupino Lust for Gold
Anne Baxter Yellow Sky
Judith Anderson Pursued
Sophie Loren Heller in Pink Tights
Eleanor Parker Escape from Fort Bravo
And a special mention for the whole female casts of Westward the Women and The Secret of Convict Lake
Great list. I would have to have Claudia Cardinale ‘Once upon a time in the west’, Stella Stevens ‘Ballad of cable houge’, Marriete Hartley ‘Ride the High Country’, Geraldine Page ‘Hondo’, Barbara Stanwyck ‘Forty Guns’, Maureen O’Hara ‘Rio Grande’, Rosamund Pike ‘Hostiles’ and Hailee Steinfield ‘True Grit’ in any list of mine. Two bonus ones: Mary Mcdonnell ‘Dances with wolves’ and Annette Benning ‘Open Range’. (To not copy your list either). Oh and Jane Fonda in ‘Cat Ballou’.
My own nominations for FAVOURITE female performance – limited to just one performance each and in no particular order – are:
Nancy Gates in Commanche Station.
Barbara Stanwyk in Trooper Hook.
Felicia Farr (in anything really but make it Hell Bent For Leather – nice little picture people don’t talk about)
Gail Russell in Seven Men From Now (it’s so sad what happened to her)
Annette Benning in Open Range.
Olivia de Haviland in The Proud Rebel (but SO beautiful in Dodge City)
Susan Haywood in Rawhide (tough choice against Garden Of Evil)
Joanne Dru in Wagonmaster (because Thunder Bay isn’t a western)
Doris Day in Calamity Jane (come on, guys – admit it)
Ann Baxter in Yellow Sky.
And I forgot Virginia Mayo in The Tall Stranger (but really for her dance with James Cagney in West Point Story)
Paul was suggesting the first 10 but then I landed with Jurado, had many more in mind but I did not want to add more over 20… and there was no preferential order as well just my souvenirs coming up.
Also considering the western career if many it was difficult to pick up one film vs an other, take for instance Malone, Farr or HayWARD.
Generally speaking most of the Boetticher, Daves and Mann westerns female roles are striking.
Cardinale, De Havilland, Stella Stevens, Page, Benning, Russell, Pike and many others sometimes for a single role, must surely be in any list. Take Julie Christie in McCabe & Mrs Miller
And I agree about O’Hara at her best in Rio Grande.
Faye Dunaway in Little Big Man is absolutely unforgettable if you admit or accept the farce or picaresque side of the film.
And BOTH True Grit actresses !
Hello Jean-Marie. The method I use for keeping a list short is to make it about my favourites – not what’s best. It’s 100% personal – entirely subjective. The moment I start to be objective the lists get out of control.
Here’s a suggestion re. your point about this place having too many comments. Start a list on one of the nominations. For example, I would nominate The Magnificent Seven for The 10 Most Generally Over-rated Westerns. I just don’t get it – that so many people think it’s so good. Of course, 100% personal – but that’s part of the fun.
‘Magnificent Seven’! Jeff would not be pleased at all.
I like Karl Malden too. There – I said it.