Favorite Westerns?

CDaniel · Jul 1, 2009

Doomie said:
Thanks, C. And how about High Noon?

Have never been able to catch the beginning of that when they show it on TCM. Damn it.

DoomieBey · Jul 4, 2009

Legends of the fall was okay, mostly because of the "beautiful" cast; but I enjoyed The Unforgiven, with Audrey Hepburn.

alleycat · Jul 4, 2009

CDaniel said:
Have never been able to catch the beginning of that when they show it on TCM. Damn it.

You can find the opening on the Internet.

Here's one YouTube posting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLvKZ6nIiA

This one is short, you can probably find a longer version; possibly on Amazon Video On Demand (they often show the first two or three minutes of a film).

stumpfoot · Jul 20, 2009

Movies:
The Searchers
Lonesome Dove (Didnt like the book)
Once Upon A Time In The West
High Noon
Unforgiven
Outlaw Josey Wales
Open Range
The Dollars Trilogy

I little bit of Trivia on "A Fist Full Of Dollars"...Clint dubbed his lines for the film three years after it had been made. So the Clint you hear talking is three years older than the one you see walking.

drksideofthemoon · Aug 1, 2009

Riders of the Purple Sage - Zane Grey
Seven of Diamonds - Max Brand
The Ferguson Rifle - Louis L'Amour

Vanatru · Aug 6, 2009

Probably stuff that is obscure, but;

The Red Ripper by Kerry Newcomb....yes...it's more Zoro'ish...but I like it.
Buffalo Soldiers by Tom Willard, about the 10th Cav
Fareway Blue by Max Evans, about the 9th Cav
Black Sun by Terry C. Johnston, about Cav scouts
Callaghen by Louis L'Amour....well...about a Cav scout
Deserter by Paul Bagdon, about a rebel sharpshooter
The Lonesome Chisholm Trail by Johnny D. Boggs...always made me think of "The Cowboys" type of coming of age with a juvie protaganist.
Larimont by Will Cade....Patrick Swayze as a cowboy wanting to know who killed his pa.

and...there is one more about a Confederate Cav soldier who becomes a highway man after the ACW....forget the name. Sorry.

As for video type:

Silverado
The Long Riders....did no one mention this already? Sam Elliott? Come on now.
War Wagon....John Wayne...and who else? Kirk.....Douglas.
Horse Soldiers...bad ass ACW movie.
The Great Train Robbery with...the Duke.
Death Rides a Horse with Lee Van Cliffe
The Wild Bunch
Jerimiah Johnson with Robert Redford....holly crap...talk about hard core...the winter scenes....yeah...that's hard core.
Bite the Bullet.....for the love of...none of you mentioned this one? Who can forget the scene were Michael Jan Vincet punches the horse and Gene Hackman beats his ass down.....awesome movie. If you haven't seen it...you ain't a damn country fan.

As fro TV....hel, there's always Alias Smith & Jones, Maverick, Grizzly Adams, Big Valley, The Cisco Kid, and Wanted

ead or Alive.

Herb Minsky · Mar 3, 2010

My favorite is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060196/

I just watched a clip from it on YouTube. What a great movie. The final showdown; about five minutes just looking at faces. The music, and , and, and...
I barely have the nerve to watch any movies these days. I'm bored out of my mind so fast. But now I want to watch this one again.

khalleron · Mar 7, 2010

Favorite Western movie:
'Will Penny' starring Charlton Heston. Feels real, like what a cowboy's life was really like.

Favorite Western TV series:
The Big Valley. I just love the characters, all right?

Favorite Western game:
The Westward series by Sandlot Games.

Haven't really read too many Westerns, I'm not sure why, except that I've been reading other things, I guess.

alleycat · Mar 7, 2010

If you like Will Penny, you might also like The Bushwhackers. It was written by the same guy. You can watch it for free online at IMDb and other sites.

And if you'd like a realistic western book to read, you might try Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer.

Satori1977 · Mar 9, 2010

I have only read one Western, Lonesome Dove, and I loved it. I plan on reading some more, so thanks for the recommendations.

Movies? Lonesome Dove (of course), True Grit, Tombstone, Unforgiven, Dances with Wolves, The Quick and the Dead, Quigly Down Under (ok, I mostly liked this because I adore Tom Selleck and will watch anything with him in it), Young Guns, Maverick, Wyatt Earp, Open Range, Broken Trail, Crossfire Trail, there are more but I can't think of them.

CarlP · Mar 9, 2010

Tombstone
Silverado
True Grit
Rooster Cogburn
Last of the Mohicans
The Cowboys

Those are the ones that come immediately to mind.

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 8, 2010

I've been watching old westerns on Netflix instant, such as my childhood favorite, Have Gun, Will Travel. It's still my favorite

Also watching Cheyenne.

It's funny, I love old westerns on TV and movie, but always looked down on the western genre in novels. I'll have to do some research and find a few fun reads.

Xelebes · Jul 12, 2010

I was never really exposed to American Westerns but know more of the Canadian Frontier works.

TV Series:

White Fang (loved this show as a child)

Poems

"The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service

Books

"Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat

Not a lot of material, but most literary works I read in school.

alcarty · Aug 21, 2010

Open Range, Lonesome Dove, Monte Walsh, Ramrod (old Joel Mcrae film). I only chose Cowboy Westerns, not Lawmen.

jdm · Mar 20, 2011

For movies, I think Open Range is a good one, especially for the final shoot out, which is closer in reality to some of the more famous historical ones in which people fired at close range and often missed who they were shooting at.

For TV series my vote would go to Laredo simply for the fun of seeing the characters poke fun at each other when the opportunity arose.

As for a book, Tough Trip Though Paradise by Andrew Garcia is my all time favorite. It is an autobiography of a year and a half out of the life of a young man who wants to be a fur trapper in 1870s Montana and winds up living among Native Americans, eventually marrying three women on separate occasions. A truly authentic book written by a man who actually lived the story. Not a lot of action but thoroughly interesting on a human level and true to the times. Pictures of the man and his wives included in the book.

shakeysix · Mar 21, 2011

I teach spanish. The literature section of the textbook is sometimes too artsy for my farm kids to comprehend so I bring out Andrew Garcia. We read excerpts from "A Trip..." last semester. My class is all male and all hispanic but we had to read it in English because they don't read Spanish as well as they read English. We read Miguel Otero, too. They liked that one because it happened in Kansas, Hays City, not far from here. ---s6

Axler · Mar 21, 2011

Although I was an avid watcher of TV westerns, I didn't read many westerns as a kid...except this series.

Part of the attraction was the James Bama covers which echoed his iconic work on the Doc Savage series. Another part was they were quick reads and reminiscent of the TV series Cheyenne.

shakeysix · Mar 21, 2011

now i have theme song from Cheyenne going through my poor old cobwebby head! --s6

jdm · Mar 21, 2011

shakeysix said:
I teach spanish. The literature section of the textbook is sometimes too artsy for my farm kids to comprehend so I bring out Andrew Garcia. We read excerpts from "A Trip..." last semester. My class is all male and all hispanic but we had to read it in English because they don't read Spanish as well as they read English. We read Miguel Otero, too. They liked that one because it happened in Kansas, Hays City, not far from here. ---s6

I didn't know Tough Trip Through Paradise came out in a Spanish version. I first learned about it in the 70s from Colorado Magazine. Again, not much action but ultimately fascinating.

ElisabethF · Mar 21, 2011

Books: Always hard to narrow it down, but right now my favorite Western author is B.M. Bower, and my favorites of her works are Chip of the Flying U, Tiger Eye and Her Prairie Knight. I've read nine or ten L'Amours and my favorite of his so far is Last Stand at Papago Wells. I also loved Jack Schaefer's Shane.

Movies: Rio Grande (1950), the last and best of the Wayne/Ford cavalry trilogy.

TV: Well, I grew up on Bonanza. I always liked the comic episodes best, I think. I've just discovered The Virginian and I'm liking it a whole lot.

BigWords · Mar 21, 2011

I've been re-watching The Dakotas - I don't remember it being as funny or as strange as it is. There's a lot to like about the series. It isn't as good as The Rifleman, but it is up there with Bonanza and Wagon Train as a decent way to pass the time.

A.V. Hollingshead · Mar 24, 2011

Books:
The Gunslinger (1982)
The Year the Cloud Fell (2001) - my favorite <3
Iron West (2006) *
Priest (1998 - 2007) *
Blueberry (1963 - xxx) *
Everything ever penned by Cormac McCarthy. Particularly Blood Meridian.

* graphic novel/manga/comic book

Movies:
The Far Country (1955)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
"Dollars Trilogy" (1964 - '66)
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)
Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)

Television Shows:
Firefly (2002)
Trigun (1995 - '97)
Kung-Fu (1972 - '75)
The Wild Wild West (1965 - '69)

Video Games:
I made this category just to say RED DEAD REDEMPTION. It might be the greatest work of Western media ever created, I love it so, so much. Not only is it a great game in terms of story and gameplay, but no game deserved as amazing an open world as a Western. It's amazing I ever completed the story, I could have just lived a virtual life hunting and horse wrangling.

I also have started listening to radio dramas, but I haven't been doing so long enough to have any favorites yet.

Paul Anthony Shortt · Apr 6, 2011

My top western movies (in no particular order):

Tombstone
Young Guns (1 & 2)
Unforgiven
3:10 to Yuma
Pale Rider

Sharpshooter · Apr 6, 2011

I liked the story line and scenery of Open Range. I even liked Costener, until the gun battle when he fanned about 11 shots out of his six-shooter.

Anybody else have difficulties with such inaccuracies?

Oh, and Parker also wrote about the O.K. Corral (Gunman's Rhapsody). I rerally like Parker's style, but he had Wyatt load up his .45 Colt and .45 Winchester. Sorry, Winchester never chambered a rifle in .45 long colt!

What a spoil sport!

blacbird · Apr 6, 2011

For movies, among my faves (not an exclusive list):

Open Range (didn't notice the Costner maxi-gun thing, but so many movies have violated this concept that it's hard to blame anymore). Very good movie, and for once, Costner was perfectly cast. Not to mention Duvall, who never seems miscast.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Little Big Man

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Hombre

and two lesser-known movies from the early 1960s, both featuring Kirk Douglas:

There was a Crooked Man and Posse.

For novels, the following, in order:

1. The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
2. The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
3. The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
4. The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
5. The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark

Favorite Westerns?

CDaniel

Writing for the brand

DoomieBey

alleycat

Still around

stumpfoot

drksideofthemoon

Nothin' much to say...

Vanatru

practical experience, FTW

Herb Minsky

Life is......ugh, who cares

khalleron

Kate

alleycat

Still around

Satori1977

Listening to the Voices In My Head

CarlP

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

Xelebes

Delerium ex Ennui

alcarty

jdm

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

Axler

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

jdm

ElisabethF

BigWords

Geekzilla

A.V. Hollingshead

Vive la révolution littéraire!

Paul Anthony Shortt

Sharpshooter

blacbird