High Noon voted top western

[emad]

Sam Jones
Friday March 19, 2004
The Guardian

It takes a special kind of lawman to outgun John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and the Wild Bunch. But it was all in a morning's work for Gary Cooper. His 1952 film High Noon has been voted the greatest western ever. In the film - tagged "the story of a man who was too proud to run" - Cooper's Marshal Will Kane has his dream of a peaceful married life blown away by news that the outlaw Frank Miller wants to kill him. When the town refuses to help him, Kane faces Miller alone - at high noon. Cooper won a best actor Oscar, although the realism of his portrayal may have been helped by the bleeding ulcer and damaged hip that plagued him during the shoot.

Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, a revisionist western, came second, and five of the actor and director's films feature in the top 20 list, which was voted for by 5,000 Choices Video customers.

More:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1172885,00.html

[Bridget Burke]

1. "Stagecoach" isn't in the Top 10!

That's not fair.

[emad]

2. but 'Dances with Wolves' is....

no accounting for taste..

[SpiralHawk]

3. Gets my vote, too

Watch this space for news of high doings at High Noon on May 8, 2004. Meegwich, SH

[wysimdnwyg]

4. OK, I have a few bones to pick here

Top 10

1 High Noon (1952)
2 Unforgiven (1992)
3 The Wild Bunch (1969)
4 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
5 The Magnificent Seven (1960)
6 Pale Rider (1985)
7 Dances with Wolves (1990)
8 Silverado (1985)
9 A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
10 The Searchers (1956)


The Wild Bunch at #3??? A Fistful of Dollars at #9??? Fricken' Silverado at #8???????

What about Stagecoach? True Grit? She Wore a Yellow Ribbon???? All three of those should be rated higher than FFD and Silverado. TWB should be no higher than 5th.


Oh, and FWIW, I have no complaint about the top two.

[mac56]

6. I agree. "Silverado" was krep.

Even "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" was a better film.

[mobuto]

8. What are you talking about? Silverado was Great!

It was also a hell of a lot better than Dances With Wolves, which is thoroughly overrated. I completely agree with High Noon (really an all-around great movie, regardless of genre), the Magnificent Seven, Unforgiven and the Wild Bunch. I wouldn't put The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly up so high, however. Nor do I particularly like The Searchers. It may be an important film that deals with an important issue, but it isn't a good film.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. I'm With You mobuto

That's my favorite western ever. The scope of the film work is outstanding, the story is engaging (not brilliant but engaging), and the chracters develop as their bond strengthens.

The others you mention i buy into as well. And, i agree that GB&U is not that great a film. I actually think that Eastwood's westerns under his own direction are better than any of the Leone films. Leone's direction is a little cartoonish for my taste.
The Professor

[wysimdnwyg]

17. Don't get me wrong...

I thoroughly enjoyed Silverado (even have it on DVD), but it's definitely not top ten material. Hell, I could name at least a half-dozen John Wayne movies and almost as many Clint Eastwood movies that are better than Silverado. (Not sure I'd put Liberty Valence in that group, though.)

[mac56]

19. I think "Liberty Valance" is greatly underrated.

Great performances by Wayne, Stewart, and Marvin. Sort of John Ford's elegy to the myths of the Wild West, and to untested idealism. Someone else said it's one of the saddest westerns ever made.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend".

[wysimdnwyg]

22. Oh, I liked the movie, but

It's not top ten material, and I don't know that I'd rate it above Silverado. Definitely top 50, though.

[Intelsucks]

5. I think "For A Few Dollars More" is better than

"The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", and "A Fistful of Dollars". It should have been in the top 10. Just my opinion, of course.

[Az]

7. A few Dollars More is a Kurasawa rip off

As were most of the spaghetti westerns. See the originals (Yojimbo, Sanjiro, and The Seven Samarai). You'll thank me later.

[Intelsucks]

9. Kurasawa? Is that the name of a film director?

I've never seen the films you listed, but I must admit that I am a Clint Eastwood fan. Maybe I'm biased.;-)

[mobuto]

10. Magnificent Seven is a Kurosawa "rip-off"

Its the Western version of the Seven Samurai. As a result, film snobs tend to ignore it for being a remake. Problem is, its an excellent movie on its own.

[Atlant]

13. And, of course, Kurosawa wrote an early screenplay for "Magnificent Seven"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/fullcredits#writers

[Az]

24. Even Starwars is a Kurosawa ripoff

The Hidden Fortress is the basis of Lucas' films. It even has the base of R2D2 and C3PO.

Yojimbo is one of the most ripped off plots. It has been everything from Spaghetti western to Sword and Sorcery fantasy flicks.

[FunBobbyMucha]

11. No problem here with #'s 1 and 2.

High Noon is an almost perfect film, and Unforgiven is the most philosophical western ever made, a meditation on good and evil and whether or not those two are opposites or conjoined.

But...Silverado? What a half-baked movie. And Pale Rider is far from a classic--a decent movie, but top 10? I dunnathinkso, paleface.

"I'll see you in hell, William Munney."
"...yeah..."

"He didn't deserve that..."
"Deservin' got nothing to do with it, kid."

Grace Kelly in a corset! Meow!

[masshole]

12. maybe not a "classic"

but one of my favorites is Tombstone.
Val Kilmer was magnificent as Doc Holliday.

[jpgray]

14. The music of Ennio Morricone elevates some of these

Crazy voices and woodwinds... neat!

[Atlant]

15. I've always liked the double feature of "High Noon" and "High Plains..."

I've always liked the double feature of "High Noon" and "High Plains
Drifter" (with the second being an obvious study of what could have
become of Gary Cooper's town).

Atlant

[Atlant]

18. "Yojimbo", "Fistful of Dollars", and "Last Man Standing" makes...

"Yojimbo", "Fistful of Dollars", and "Last Man Standing" makes another
interesting study of multiple views of the same story.

Yojimbo: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055630/
Fistful: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058461/maindetails
Last Man: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/

(I've never seen ""Hrafninn flýgur".)

Atlant

[lazarus]

20. What the?

First, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" is one of the finest films ever made.

So it deserves to be higher on this list.

Dances With Wolves shouldn't be anywhere near a Top Ten list, ever, under any circumstances. That's just wrong. Bloated, self-indulgent crap.

It can be summed up with this: Costner's character is "going native", so he falls for an Indian maiden. But he just happens to fall for an "Indian maiden" who is a white woman who was captured as a child and raised as an Indian. Because we couldn't have Our Hero actually sully himself with a dark woman, could we?

If you want to see that film done right, rent "Black Robe".

And I love Eastwood's Kurosawa ripoffs. They're a blast. But GB&U is a work of art.

[GOPisEvil]

21. The Searchers needs to be third!

An important trend in Westerns, particularly John Ford/John Wayne Westerns: notice that Wayne's "hero" is not the completely "white hat" hero. He clearly has a past. He's the first anti-hero hero in Westerns.

Plus, on 9/11 when all the other stations were off or broadcasting news, AMC was showing movies. One of them was The Searchers. I'll always remember that movie, if only for that reason.

[mobuto]

23. Problem with the Searchers

Sure, John Wayne has more dimensions than he normally has, and the movie really deals with racism and sexism, but that doesn't make it good. It just makes it important. Because in the end the acting is terrible and the writing is worse.

[liberalitch]

25. Yea, it was good, here's another list.....

Little Big Man
Outlaw Josey Whales.... Hell yes!
Silverado
The Unforgiven
The Searchers
The Shootist

[mac56]

26. Little Big Man

Great choice.

[NuckinFutz]

27. Hey, they forgot

Once Upon A Time In The West!

Henry Fonda's only bad guy role.

I can still here the harmonica.