ArkhamGlobe Posted May 27, 2004 Report Posted May 27, 2004 It's basically a kind of italian low budget westerns that became quite popular outside Italy after A Fistful of Dollars became an international hit. The (sub-)genre is mainly associated with the director Sergio Leone and his films A Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Once Upon a Time in the West and Duck You Sucker (or A Fistful of Dynamite, as it is also known) which popularized it outside Italy and pretty much defined the special brand of aesthetic associated with the genre. There are ofcourse many others that are well worth checking out if you're into the genre, but Leone is the name most commonly linked to the genre.
Damaramu Posted May 27, 2004 Author Report Posted May 27, 2004 Anybody ever seen Rustler's Rhapsody with Robert Redford? That's a funny movie and satirizes ALL westerns.
Guest Ray Posted May 28, 2004 Report Posted May 28, 2004 Not one mention of The Ox-Bow Incident? That's sad. It's a remarkable film, even more so when you consider the time period it was made in (1943) and the nature of the film (gritty, real, no happy ending or heroes). It's a brilliant portrayal of he failure of justice and the evils of an angry mob. Go out of your way to get it. It ages wonderfully and the moral message is still quite valid. After watching it today for the first time (although it was a crappy edited AMC version ), I can easily say Once Upon A Time In The West is in the top ten of the genre. John Wayne is essential. His best film being The Searchers. Other must-see Wayne westerns are The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance, Rio Bravo, and the very poignant The Shootist. Gregory Peck is great in The Gunfighter. High Noon is an obvious classic (Gary Cooper standing alone in the street is a fantastic scene). Unforgiven was the last great western, and one of my ten favorite films ever. I like it more than Eastwood's other westerns.
WrestlingDeacon Posted May 29, 2004 Report Posted May 29, 2004 Anybody ever seen Rustler's Rhapsody with Robert Redford? That's a funny movie and satirizes ALL westerns. That was Tom Berenger. If you liked that you might also want to check out Harts of the West. I know I'm getting in on this late, but of those films not mentioned I would recommend Ride the High Country.
Damaramu Posted May 29, 2004 Author Report Posted May 29, 2004 It was Berenger? Ah well...it was still funny. And it had the girl from Taxi that played the whore that just "talked" to guys.
TheOriginalOrangeGoblin Posted May 29, 2004 Report Posted May 29, 2004 I'm a big fan of Westerns. Not John Wayne, don't like him at all. Unforgiven, for my money, is the greatest Western ever made. I love how it demythifies everything there was about Westerns. Also love The Good, the Bad & The Ugly, Rio Bravo, Silverado, The Wild Bunch and others.
AboveAverage484 Posted May 29, 2004 Report Posted May 29, 2004 Whether you consider it a miniseries instead of a movie, Lonesome Dove is still my favorite western oriented live action collection of moving images The Unforgiven and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly are favorites of mine as well.
MrRant Posted May 29, 2004 Report Posted May 29, 2004 I like the Spaghetti Westerns and the gritty realistic westerns ala Unforgiven and such.
Damaramu Posted May 30, 2004 Author Report Posted May 30, 2004 Sad thing is that none of them are realistic. Times weren't like any of these movies portray.......damn.......the fantasy sounds more fun than the reality.
The Ghost of bps21 Posted May 30, 2004 Report Posted May 30, 2004 I've become a recent fan of Westerns. Outside of The Shootist...I'm really not that big of a John Wayne fan. I like Clint Eastwood's westerns a million times more...and if it weren't for the last 15 minutes or so, Open Range was a great movie to. Just turn it off after the awesome shootout.
DangerousDamon Posted May 30, 2004 Report Posted May 30, 2004 I love Clint Eastwood westerns. I used to watch them all the time with my grandad. The good, The bad, and the Ugly is also one of my favorite movies for several reasons. 1. The music. The music is just awesome. 2. That 3 way standoff at the end had me sitting on the edge of my seat. 3. [Tuco is in a bubble bath. The One Armed Man enters the room] One Armed Man: I've been looking for you for 8 months. Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you. Now I find you in exactly the position that suits me. I had lots of time to learn to shoot with my left. [Tuco kills him with the gun he has hidden in the foam] Tuco: When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk. I love that part. Other westerns I like are the Wild Bunch, The Magnificent Seven, Tombstone, and Unforgiven.
Guest Ray Posted May 30, 2004 Report Posted May 30, 2004 Not John Wayne, don't like him at all. Also love The Good, the Bad & The Ugly, Rio Bravo, Silverado, The Wild Bunch and others.
Damaramu Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Posted May 31, 2004 Why all the John Wayne hate? I notice that this is a common thing amongst the young folks these days.
TheOriginalOrangeGoblin Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Not John Wayne, don't like him at all. Also love The Good, the Bad & The Ugly, Rio Bravo, Silverado, The Wild Bunch and others. Yah I like the movie. Not a fan of Wayne himself. And hey one movie out of how many dozens he made.
WrestlingDeacon Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 I think people are more familiar with the Wayne stereotype and his ultra-conservative politics than his talents as an actor. Also the films that most wind up on t.v. of his are usually the ones that featured his worst performances. I'm a huge fan of Wayne, but there's maybe six or seven movies that I can point to that demonstrates how great of an actor he truly was. First you have to realize that John Wayne was not a real person, it was a character created and honed by Marion Morrison. Morrison, while a good actor, was a lazy one and would fall back into simply doing the Wayne character when not pushed by a top director like Howard Hawks or John Ford. Wayne's best movies are: The Searchers Red River The Quiet Man The Shootist The Sands of Iwo Jima She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Guest Cerebus Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Sands of Iwo Jima and Ribbon were the best Wayne movies around, if you havn't seen them do it. Unforgiven is my favorite non-spaghetti western with Magnificent Seven a close second. Of course, for all of you spaghetti fans I suggest taking a look at Kurosawa's flicks esp. Seven Samurai and Yojimbo (which inspired Magnificent Seven and Fistful of Dollars respectively). Yeah they're old and black and white, but they are incredible movies and its interesting to see the Wild West Mythos transplanted so well into a different culture. If you are a big fan of spaghetti western music check out The Big Gundown with Lee Van Cleef (the "Bad" in GBU), its score is one of Ennio Morricone's finest besides GBU and the cinemotgraphy is beautiful. Other ones with top scores would be Bacalov's in Django and Piconni's in Minnesota Clay.
Guest JumpinJackFlash Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Wayne's best movies are: The Searchers Red River The Quiet Man The Shootist The Sands of Iwo Jima She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Out of those, I've only seen The Searchers. That is an excellent movie, with amazing visuals. I've been wanting to see Rio Bravo. The good, The bad, and the Ugly is also one of my favorite movies for several reasons. 1. The music. The music is just awesome. I just bought the soundtrack and am listening to it right now. It is excellent! I wished there was some way Leone's films could have been honored by the Academy, but back then, they were seen as souless action. Now, they're seen as artistic masterpieces.
Damaramu Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Posted May 31, 2004 Sands of Iwo Jima and Ribbon were the best Wayne movies around, if you havn't seen them do it. Unforgiven is my favorite non-spaghetti western with Magnificent Seven a close second. Of course, for all of you spaghetti fans I suggest taking a look at Kurosawa's flicks esp. Seven Samurai and Yojimbo (which inspired Magnificent Seven and Fistful of Dollars respectively). Yeah they're old and black and white, but they are incredible movies and its interesting to see the Wild West Mythos transplanted so well into a different culture. If you are a big fan of spaghetti western music check out The Big Gundown with Lee Van Cleef (the "Bad" in GBU), its score is one of Ennio Morricone's finest besides GBU and the cinemotgraphy is beautiful. Other ones with top scores would be Bacalov's in Django and Piconni's in Minnesota Clay. Didn't the Spaghetti Westerns get there stories from the Kurisawa films?
WrestlingDeacon Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 I like Rio Bravo and it's a good movie, but it doesn't represent one of Wayne's best performances. If you do watch it and like it, check out El Dorado, but I would skip Rio Lobo.
Guest Cerebus Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 Sands of Iwo Jima and Ribbon were the best Wayne movies around, if you havn't seen them do it. Unforgiven is my favorite non-spaghetti western with Magnificent Seven a close second. Of course, for all of you spaghetti fans I suggest taking a look at Kurosawa's flicks esp. Seven Samurai and Yojimbo (which inspired Magnificent Seven and Fistful of Dollars respectively). Yeah they're old and black and white, but they are incredible movies and its interesting to see the Wild West Mythos transplanted so well into a different culture. If you are a big fan of spaghetti western music check out The Big Gundown with Lee Van Cleef (the "Bad" in GBU), its score is one of Ennio Morricone's finest besides GBU and the cinemotgraphy is beautiful. Other ones with top scores would be Bacalov's in Django and Piconni's in Minnesota Clay. Didn't the Spaghetti Westerns get there stories from the Kurisawa films? Sort of. What nearly everybody considers to be the first "Spaghetti Western" was Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwod. Dollars was almost a shot-for-shot remake of Yojimbo and went on to be a big hit. Neither of the other two films in Leone's Dollars trilogy (For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly) nor Leone's other Western (Once Upon A Time In The West) were based on Kurosawa but you might say that the roots of the genre could be found in Kurosawa's work.
Guest Ray Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 Wayne's best movies are: The Searchers Red River The Quiet Man The Shootist The Sands of Iwo Jima She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Add "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance" to that list. Wayne's great in it- especially when he falls apart after he realizes his girl is in love with Jimmy Stewart.
Guest NCJ Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 My Top five Westerns(in any order depending on the day Rio Bravo: John Wayne is coll, but Dean Martin is the freaking man in this movie. I love it from beginning to end. Even the sappy song they sing while in prison. A movie that is just beging for a remake in a new time period. The Good The Bad and The Ugly: Quite possibly the coolest movie ever created. With no computer special effects at all Sergio Leone made one of the most captivating action movies ever, and quite possibly, as Quenton Tarantino said it, The Best directed movie of all time. Tombstone: As far as I am concerned Val Kilmer could have never acted again and he would still be the man just for this movie. Doc Hollyday is one of the most iconic characters that I have ever seen on film, and just and incredible job of acting by Killmer. I would love to see a movie staring an inspired Killmer and Johnny Depp just working off of each other. Beyound that even though this movie is not the least bit realistic in its gun fights or its portral of history it is an incredibly fun movie becasue everyone in it is just on. From Johnny Ringo to even Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp when he tells the Cowboys that he is coming and hell is coming with him is just about spot on for what they were trying to do. Unforgiven: The most grizzly and bleek western ever, and quite possibly the best acting job Eastwood has ever done. The entire cast is terrific and this is easily one of my favorite pictures. Blazzing Saddles: I know it is not really a Western per say, more of a comedy in an old west setting, but I have to mention this movie. Easily one of my all time favortie movies ever, this movie is so absolutely outrageous, everything from, Bart's introduction to the classic bit about pulling a number 6, to Mongo, to the Indians, skip it the whole damn movie is so over the top funny that it almost appears on any of my favorite lists that have anything to remotely do with it. Guilty Pleasures: The Quick and The Dead, Pale Rider, and Hang'em High.
Guest Agent of Oblivion Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 I don't think anyone's mentioned Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
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