25 classic westerns that each film fan must see
Advent yourself in the Far West with the most famous films of the genre.
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For decades, the West was one of the most popular Genres of movies - And then that was not the case. Although it is difficult to determine exactly why stories of cowboys, outlaws and settlers who moved west have fallen into disgrace, the simplest explanation can be that The market has become supersaturated with them. Whatever the reason they have stopped making themselves, a film fan looking to explore the genre today has a lot of options. To help you reduce it, here are 25 classic westerns that each film fan should watch. (Keep in mind, however, that many of these films have decades and include narrative elements, in particular with regard to the treatment and characterization of indigenous Americans, which many can find problems today.)
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1 Diligence (1939)
John Ford is recalled as one of the great directors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and a master of the West - and Diligence is one of its best. He focuses on the heartbreaking trip of the occupants of a lonely diligence while they travel through the Southwest, through the territory occupied by the Apache tribe. Filled with action and suspense, he was nominated for seven Oscars and transformed a young actor named John Wayne In a star on list A, although Ford had to fight the studio to be allowed to throw it.
2 red river (1948)
Nine years later Diligence , John Wayne was well established as a Western icon when he made this film for director Howard Hawks . Wayne plays a cattle driver by moving a herd from Texas to Kansas with the help of his adopted son, played by Montgomery Clift . Tensions go up when the reader suffers from one incident after the other and both compete on the best way to reach their living destination. The scene in which the two men lead the cattle through the titular river is the fabric of the legend.
3 The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
Although nominally an adventure film, this classic, directed by John Huston , The professions of many Western tropes by telling the story of three men who come together to seek gold in the wild Mexican mountain range of the title. Humphrey Bogart ,, Tim Holt , And Walter Huston (The director's father) plays in this story held and strong of lifes defeated by greed.
4 Winchester '73 (1950)
Anthony Mann Direct this unusual image mixing elements of the West and the film Noir. The episodic intrigue follows the trip of the titular rifle because it makes a way of an unlucky owner to another; one of them, linen (played by Jimmy Stewart In the first of the eight films he made with Mann) wants the pistol to come back so that he can settle the score with the outlaw that stole him.
5 Top at noon (1952)
Although acclaimed during his release, this Gary Cooper The star vehicle also ran controversial, like some viewers ( including John Wayne ) has found its scenario - on a city marshal who must decide to have a ruthless band of bandits or to flee the city - to be non -American and antithetic to real ideals of the genre. Indeed, his accent on realism (including an intrigue that takes place in real time) avoids simple moralization in favor of plausibility - and has earned him nominations for seven Academy prizes, including the best film.
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6 Shane (1953)
Directed by George Stevens in Vivid Technicolor, Shane leans in the West as a fertile soil for the manufacture of myth, telling the story of Shane ( Alan Ladd ), a drifter with a mysterious past which is hired to help in the Ranch belonging to the Starrett family, including young Joey ( Brandon Dewilde ), which makes Laconic abroad shine. Shane's skills with a weapon are revealed when Starrett's house is threatened by a group of livestock breeders who want to steal their land, and he must put his life at stake to defend them. The emblematic fence scene has been classified as one of the The greatest ends of films of all time .
7 Johnny guitar (1954)
Ignored in the United States, this story of revenge and betrayal of the director Ray Nicholas ( Rebellious ) was praised by French cinema critics as one of the best examples of the genre never achieved - "beauty and the westerns beast, a Western dream", " According to the director François Truffaut . He features Joan Crawford , thrown against the type as a voluntary owner of a living room in a city distant from Ranch in Arizona which puts itself on the wrong side of the inhabitants. They dispute the fact that she once had an affair with an outlaw known under the name of Dancin 'Kid ( Scott Brady ) - In particular Emma Small ( Mercedes McCambridge ), who fancy the child herself. Mijotating tensions are boiling when a slaughter named Johnny Guitar ( Sterling Hayden ) comes in town. The bright colors of the film and the pointed artifice influence the style of the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar .
8 Researchers (1956)
Another epic of John Ford, Researchers Started John Wayne as a veteran of the civil war which spent years looking for his niece ( Natalie Wood ) which was taken by raiders from a Comanche tribe. Wayne gives one of her best performances in the main role, the singular obsession of her character for revenge to transform her into something of a dark re -evaluation of tropes and themes of the genre. In 2008, the American Film Institute I ranked it like the best western never done.
9 Rio Bravo (1959)
John Wayne and Howard Hawks have re-registed for this story of a Sheriff from Texas (Wayne) who stops a powerful murder for murder and, with the help of a few inhabitants, must push the gang of Hors-La-Loi de l'Homme To hold it back until the federal marshals arrive to warn him. The story of an isolated group of benefactors confronted with impossible ratings, this would later inspire a thematic remake in the 1976s Assault on the constituency 13 , writer / director John Carpenter .
10 The seven magnificent (1960)
A unofficial remake Japanese director Akira Kurosawa masterpiece Seven samurai ,, The seven magnificent Transfers the history of a small town besieged by outlaws and the heterogeneous strip of heroes who meet to protect it from the Japanese countryside to a village in Mexico. With a casting that includes Yul Brynner ,, Steve McQueen ,, Charles Bronson , And James Coburn Among the heroes and Eli Wallach As a bad guy, it was a disappointment at the box office in the United States but a huge success in the world, removing three suites, a television series and a 2016 remake with Denzel Washington ,, Ethan Hawke , And Chris Pratt .
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11 Hud (1963)
Paul Newman Play the title of title, the selfish and too ambitious son of a respected cattle breeder ( Melvyn Douglas ). The two assholes when their herd is threatened by the disease and Hud wants to sell animals to an uneasy buyer, while his father refuses to court such dishonesty. Taken between the two volunteers is the nephew of Hud ( Shane Brandon Dewilde). To focus on the less than heroic HUD, the film is often considered an early example of " anti-Western . ""
12 The good bad and the ugly (1966)
The third and most emblematic entry of the Italian director Sergio Leone "Westerns spaghetti" trilogy made in Italy and with Clint Eastwood , this follow -up of A handful of dollars And A few more dollars Find Eastwood's "L'Homme Sans Name" in front of two other fighters ( Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach) while they are all looking for a hidden horde of Confederate gold. Full of views with large signature screens of the director and long suspense catches, this is an amazing example of style as a substance.
13 The real courage (1969)
Based on the novel acclaimed by Charles Portis , this John Wayne vehicle at the end of his career throws the actor as an American marshal bordered Rooster Cogburn, who agrees to help a young girl named Mattie Ross ( Kim Darby ) Draw the outlaw that killed his father. Wayne won his first Oscar for his turn as a Gruff but adorable Cogburn, later resuming the role in a suite of 1975, simply called COQ COGBURN , opposite Katharine Hepburn . A 2010 remake, directed by Joel And Ethan Coen , was also acclaimed, winning 10 Oscar nominations, while winning any.
14 Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969)
With Paul Newman and Robert Redford In roles defining the career, this boyfriend par excellence follows the getaway of the holder outlaws while they exceed the law on two continents. The intelligent dialogue, the exciting action scenes and the charm of its tracks made it a success that resists the test of time.
15 The wild group (1969)
One of the first films to really have the inherent violence in a genre loaded with firearms, this Sam Peckinpah Masterpiece uses a quick cut and a slow motion to highlight the bloody spinoffs in its history of an outlaw gang operating near the American-American / Mexico border at the beginning of the 20th century. The casting includes William Holden ,, Ernest Borgnine ,, Edmond O'Brien ,, Ben Johnson , And Warren Oates .
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16 Small man (1970)
Directed by Arthur Penn ( Bonnie and Clyde ) and based on the novel by Thomas Berger ,, Small man stars Dustin Hoffman As Jack, a white man who grew up among the Nation of Cheyenne in the mid -1800s, and later tried to reintegrate into dominant American life. The film becomes something of a tragicomic farce; Telected via a framing apparatus while Jack tells his life story to a historian, he illustrates the way in which "civilization" is difficult to swallow for a man accustomed to a simpler lifestyle and criticizes the violence inherent in Movement of colonists to the west - Most things the westerns are done, in other words.
17 McCabe and Mme Miller (1971)
Robert Altman Deliberately avoid the familiar elements of the Western film for this artsy but always entertaining Warren Beatty / / Julie Christie Star vehicle. The star pair as a title duo, a player and a prostitute who associate each other to open a brothel and a hall of play in a city of Washington without right and are very well worn until the interests of companies are Unroll, eager to take control of the local mining company. The film divided the public and criticism at the time, with many criticisms of its slowness and its use of symbolism, but it is recognized today as One of the best works by the director . AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
18 Flamboyant stools (1974)
In the mid -1970s, the westerns were quite old - and their tropes and their tired story beats quite familiar - this time was ripe for a parody. And director Mel Brooks just proven man for work. This hilarious kind of Sentup stars Cliavon Little And Gene Wilder Like two unsuitables that end in charge of a border city threatened with constant expansion railways which must cut through the heart of the community. Loaded with anachronisms, racing gags and the most memorable sustained flatulence joke in the history of Hollywood, it is funny whether you love the westerns or not.
19 The shooter (1976)
A good film, but more moving as an Elegy for John Wayne as a cultural icon, this 1976 film - the last actor before his death by lung cancer in 1979 - depicts Wayne in the role of Gunslinger J.B. Brooks, who is confronted to a fatal diagnosis of cancer and calculation with the benefits of a life filled with violence and murder.
20 Silverado (1985)
In the 80s, the traditional western was almost dead as gender, but director Lawrence Kasdan ( The great thrill ) and a casting of young stars, including Kevin Kline ,, Scott Glenn ,, Danny Glover ,, Rosanna Arquette ,, Jeff Goldblum , And Kevin Costner , managed to transform it into a blow. It is a familiar story - a group of benefits meets to protect a city against outlaws - is exceptionally good.
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21 Dance with wolves (1990)
Kevin Costner The beginnings of director are a Western as no other. With Costner as a soldier of the Union who finds himself living among the Lakota Sioux, the acclaimed film won seven Academy prizes, including the best film and the best director, and continues to stand out for his epic scope, a cinematography Breathtaking and a largely sensitive representation of the Amerindians.
22 unforgiven (1992)
The final statement of director Clint Eastwood on the western as a genre, this best winner of 1992 features Eastwood as William Munny, a graying killer who hung up his weapons to become a farmer but is motivated by revenge to settle a final score. A huge financial success and the second western to win the best honors in the Oscars in the 90s, he praised criticism to deconstruct the simplistic tropes of heroes and natives "wild" who defined the genre for decades.
23 tomb stone (1993)
Decades after the western peak, a group of stars of large names (including Kurt Russell ,, Val kilmer ,, Sam Elliott , And Bill Paxton ) gathered for this return, an entertaining shameless story of the legend of Wyatt Earp and the O.K shooting. Corral. Although reasonably succeeded at the release, the film has become Something of a classic cult , with the relaxed turn of kilmer as Funfighter Doc Holliday Winning special praise .
24 Dead man (1995)
A resolutely arthouse point of view of the genre, this so-called " Western acid "of the director Jim Jarmusch Use familiar images and themes to tell a resolutely unusual meditative story about the accountant of sweet manners William Blake ( Johnny Depp ), who inadvertently kills a man and must go on flight - despite the ball in his chest, which cannot be removed without killing him, making him a dead dead. He is helped by a strange native man named person ( Farmer ), who believes he is a reincarnation of the poet William Blake .
25 Dead or alive (1995)
Sam Raimi Dead or alive Was written as a modern turn on the Western Spaghetti. Sharon Stone Play like "The Lady", a mysterious Gunslinger who arrives in the city of redemption with a vendetta. Gene hackman Play the city's swallowed boss, which organizes a shooting tournament with competitors who include a start -up Leonardo DiCAPRI And Russel Crowe .
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