These are necessarily the best westerns, but here are a few that it is worth your time to check out.
1. High Noon (1952)
A classic American western showcasing the bold heroism of a small town marshall.
2. The Searchers (1958)
Wayne's finest film, and the quintessential American western film.
3. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
The greatest spaghetti western filmed. This film's epic showdown is still the stuff of legend.
4. Stagecoach (1939)
This great western established many of the methods still used today in action films.
5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1963)
Wayne departed from his traditional campy feel for this serious and thought provoking western.
6. The Wild Bunch (1969)
Peckinpah's bloody classic created the "MTV" method of film editing that is now highly popular.
7. Unforgiven (1992)
Eastwood broke western convention with this Academy Award winning classic.
8. Django (1966)
This cult spaghetti western is a great example of the low brow action that lived in Italy during the spaghetti western movement.
9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
This new western is perhaps the greatest film to explore the legendary outlaw.
10. Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
This very strange film blends western and samurai film ideology creating a fantastic if unconventional film.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Types of Westerns
Maybe when you hear western, you immediately think of some corny John Wayne movie with two guys having a phony shootout at high noon. While there are some like that, there are many different types of western. These are the primary types.
Classic Western
Essential Film: High Noon (1952)
These are the westerns you probably think about. They're old and usually involve a very simple plot in which the protagonist always triumphs over the antagonist after some grand duel, and the good guy always, "gets the girl".
Wayne Era Western
Essential Film: The Searchers (1958)
Very similar to the classic western, John Wayne's school of western differed in having a slightly more campy feel, with the protagonist making frequent corny jokes. Wayne also created the standard device of using Native Americans as antagonists.
Spaghetti Western
Essential Film: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Cost efficiency attracted some Italian filmmakers to begin shooting low budget westerns in Spanish deserts. These films were usually almost plotless, but full of action and "lone gunfighter" mythology.
Revisionist Western
Essential Film: The Wild Bunch (1969)
As the New Hollywood movement began to take hold of the film industry, counterculture filmmakers unleashed a new type of western. These new westerns were faster paced and began to clear out much of the myth that had accumulated in westerns during Wayne's era.
Acid Western
Essential Film: Walker (1987)
Blending the exaggerated violence common in spaghetti westerns with counterculture ideology and unconventional filmmaking methods, Acid Westerns were incredibly strange and very unpopular for their portrayal of the classic western myths in an unconventional way.
Anti-Western
Essential Film: Unforgiven (1992)
Clint Eastwood created this genre, refuting the western myths upon which many of his early films were based. These films focused on humanity, taking into account the tragedy of a human losing his life.
Classic Western
Essential Film: High Noon (1952)
These are the westerns you probably think about. They're old and usually involve a very simple plot in which the protagonist always triumphs over the antagonist after some grand duel, and the good guy always, "gets the girl".
Wayne Era Western
Essential Film: The Searchers (1958)
Very similar to the classic western, John Wayne's school of western differed in having a slightly more campy feel, with the protagonist making frequent corny jokes. Wayne also created the standard device of using Native Americans as antagonists.
Spaghetti Western
Essential Film: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Cost efficiency attracted some Italian filmmakers to begin shooting low budget westerns in Spanish deserts. These films were usually almost plotless, but full of action and "lone gunfighter" mythology.
Revisionist Western
Essential Film: The Wild Bunch (1969)
As the New Hollywood movement began to take hold of the film industry, counterculture filmmakers unleashed a new type of western. These new westerns were faster paced and began to clear out much of the myth that had accumulated in westerns during Wayne's era.
Acid Western
Essential Film: Walker (1987)
Blending the exaggerated violence common in spaghetti westerns with counterculture ideology and unconventional filmmaking methods, Acid Westerns were incredibly strange and very unpopular for their portrayal of the classic western myths in an unconventional way.
Anti-Western
Essential Film: Unforgiven (1992)
Clint Eastwood created this genre, refuting the western myths upon which many of his early films were based. These films focused on humanity, taking into account the tragedy of a human losing his life.
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