Favourite Western's

[Falcon-etti]

The Cowboys
Little Big Man
Lonesome Dove (Yea, I know it was TV, but I have to watch it at least once a year, really give this movie a shot!)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid
Dances with Wolves
Stagecoach
High Noon

[scoundrel]

I watched this again a few weeks ago for the first time in over 30 years and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is, much better than I remembered. It is an intelligent film in its portrayal of the racial and class divides between the various opposed characters, where just because filthy rich and cruel, greedy and morally despicable rancher Frank Tanner and dirt poor, redneck cracker asshole gunman R.L Davis both instinctively feel scorn and contempt for the Mexican-American town constable Bob Valdez, it does not follow that Tanner and Davis will be best buddies. Meanwhile Tanner’s kept woman, whose husband he is suspected of murdering, keeps her own counsel, but actually has a low opinion of all the other white American characters in the film, and also of herself.

Tanner and Valdez fall out because Tanner has deceived Valdez into killing a man suspected falsely of the murder of his floozy’s husband. It suits Tanner that this man, a black former soldier also wrongly accused of being a deserter, should die without speaking and take with him the label of being the murderer of his woman’s late husband. But Valdez was acting in good faith and is mortified to find out that he was used as a tool to bring about the needless death of an innocent man. He is far from blameless himself, but would like to make some financial restitution to the dead man’s wife, a Native American woman, both out of a sense of fairness and because he is uneasily conscious that his own conduct, engineered by Tanner, could put him in a very false position if the wronged woman chose to complain. Tanner of course is quite untouchable by the law; the victims are a black man and a Native American woman and he is white and has enough money to choke ten horses.

However, Tanner’s egomania and Caligula-like sense of power without responsibility tempts him to compound his crime by treating Constable Valdez with extraordinary vicious malice. Not only will he not agree to offer $100 as compensation to the widow of the innocent man he had killed, he also subjects Valdez to a murderous humiliation, tying him to a cross and making him creep away and either die or find a way to release himself from the cross. Tanner compounds his error by insulting the gunman, R L Davies and sending him away too in a state of humiliated anger. Tanner has formed the dangerous habit of antagonising people recklessly and thinking no one can pay him back. Frank Tanner’s behaviour is about to come back upon him.

Bob Valdez, a courteous and softly spoken, quiet man, has escaped from the cross which was meant to condemn him to death by thirst in the desert, has recovered from the wounds he suffered in escaping, and has retrieved a Sharp’s rifle and his Civil War uniform, in which war it transpires that he used to be a sniper. He is also adept at psychological warfare of the horses’ head variety; the first action he takes is to fatally wound rather than kill outright a Tanner gunman who tries to kill him, and then send the gunman to go to Tanner’s ranch with the statement “Valdez is coming”. Constable Valdez is not getting angry; he is simply getting even. And he still wants that $100, not because the money is important any longer, but because forcing Tanner to be seen by his own men to hand this money over to the despised Mexican as payment to the despised Indian woman and in admission of guilt for the unjust death of the despised black ex-soldier, will hurt Tanner all the rest of his life. Valdez is not merely seeking revenge, but rather is making a point that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The last scene is delightful, as all of Tanner’s henchmen, whom he has variously wronged, refuse to help him and he is left to fight Valdez man to man. Even the unstable and vicious R.L Davies takes note of the fact that Valdez spared his life in an earlier scene and that he has taken nothing but shit from Frank Tanner, and gleefully refuses to interfere, stating the truth, that he has no gun, but making no secret of the fact that Tanner’s impending loss of face is extremely gratifying. When called upon to fight the standard western pistol duel against Valdez, it becomes evident that Tanner gives orders, but has no courage of his own.

Constable Valdez: Burt Lancaster (good performance cast in an unusual part).
Frank Tanner: Pleasing sociopathic villainy from Jon Cypher.
Gay Erin (Tanner’s woman): staunch playing by Susan Clark.
R L Davies: Richard Jordan.
El Segundo, the leading hand from Tanner’s ranch who gradually loses his motivation and gains grudging respect for Valdez’s motives and sense of honour: Barton Heyman

[unslimjim]

The first 2 I thought of were; Once Upon A Time In The West & The Ballad of Cable Hogue. Jason Robards was great in both of them & Henry Fonda was so Evil in Once Upon A Time.... My 2 favorite John Wayne westerns are Angel And The Badman & Rooster Cogburn.

[SanteeFats]

Quote :Tombstone - this a very stylish and stylised film which is nonetheless infused with a strong essence of authenticity. Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holiday is truly astonishing. The scene towards the end of the film when Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) visits Holiday as he lays dying of consumption in hospital is genuinely moving.[/QUOTE]

Yes the acting in this movie is very good but some history on the Earp's. They were just as bad as he Clanton's, they just wore badges and got romanticized by the media of that time and still are to this day. They had interests in whore houses, saloons, and gambling joints. Although that was usually rolled into one building. The real contention between the two gangs was like today's turf wars between drug dealers and such.

[SanteeFats]

[QUOTE=XA~TIVA;599112]For me the best Western to be seen again and again is-"Jeremiah Johnston" starring Robert Redford,it has never be shown on Television but it is brilliant !!

As a movie it is decently done but is not accurate. What the true story is is of course obscured by time, contradictory stories, and romanticized in film and books. I have seen it listed on TV in my region so keep looking and you might find it.

[Mal Hombre]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

Tombstone - this a very stylish and stylised film which is nonetheless infused with a strong essence of authenticity. Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holiday is truly astonishing. The scene towards the end of the film when Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) visits Holiday as he lays dying of consumption in hospital is genuinely moving.

Yes the acting in this movie is very good but some history on the Earp's. They were just as bad as he Clanton's, they just wore badges and got romanticized by the media of that time and still are to this day. They had interests in whore houses, saloons, and gambling joints. Although that was usually rolled into one building. The real contention between the two gangs was like today's turf wars between drug dealers and such.

It took Holiday six weeks to die and Earp never visited Him once.

[haroldeye]

[QUOTE=SanteeFats;2860971]

Originally Posted by XA~TIVA

For me the best Western to be seen again and again is-"Jeremiah Johnston" starring Robert Redford,it has never be shown on Television but it is brilliant !!

As a movie it is decently done but is not accurate. What the true story is is of course obscured by time, contradictory stories, and romanticized in film and books. I have seen it listed on TV in my region so keep looking and you might find it.

Been shown on UK TV several times, brilliant.

[snorkie]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

Tombstone -Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holiday is truly astonishing.

For an equally interesting, and for me astonishing take on Holiday, see Dennis Quaid in 'Wyatt Earp'. Totally believable.

[paulscott]

Originally Posted by Bovon

High Noon - yep. And, don't know why really, but Rio Bravo.

High Noon is one movie that had a good sequel. And it featured the lovely Maria Conchita Alonso.

[paulscott]

Stagecoach
Giant
High Noon---both the original and the sequel
The Professionals
The Wild Bunch
Lonesome Dove
Joe Kidd
And modern westerns----

Lone Star
The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada