It seems like there are a lot of western fans around here. What are some of your favorite western movies? TV shows? Books? Songs? Radio programs? Video games?
Movies:
While I actually prefer what was known as the "psychological" westerns of the 1950s my top two favorite western movies are Lonesome Dove (1989) and Unforgiven (1992). Warlock (1959) is probably my favorite 50s western.
TV Shows:
Gunsmoke (fav. episode "Thirty a Month and Found" - Season 20)
The Wild, Wild West
Maverick
The Rebel (fav. episode "The Waiting" from season 2)
The Westerner (fav. episode 'Hand on the Gun")
Favorite western books:
The Searchers by Alan Le May
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Ramrod by Luke Short
The Unforgiven by Alan Le May (not related to the 1992 movie)
Death Ground by Ed Gorman
Songs:
El Paso by Marty Robbins
Big Iron by Marty Robbins or Johnny Cash
Cool Water by Hank Williams
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash
Cowboy's Lament by Burl Ives
Radio programs:
Gunsmoke
You may or may not know that the Gunsmoke tv series started out as a radio show. It starred William Conrad and ran for several years. It was excellent.
My Top 25:
02/14/1953 THE ROUNDUP
04/02/1955 BLOODY HANDS
04/30/1955 REWARD FOR MATT
10/02/1954 MATT GETS IT
09/27/1952 THE RAILROAD
07/19/1959 SECOND ARREST
09/19/1953 THERE WAS NEVER A HORSE
10/21/1956 TILL DEATH DO US PART
12/27/1952 THE CABIN
06/06/1953 SUNDOWN
11/10/1956 CROWBAIT BOB
03/20/1954 OLD FRIEND
08/08/1953 SKY
09/23/1956 BOX O' ROCKS
07/22/1956 LYNCHING MAN
02/21/1953 MESHOUGAH
02/26/1955 CRACKUP
03/06/1960 BLOOD MONEY
09/20/1954 THE F.U.
12/06/1959 BIG CHUGG WILSON
01/01/1955 THE BOTTLE MAN
07/02/1955 GENERAL PARSLEY SMITH
11/03/1957 BULL
05/06/1956 THE PHOTOGRAPHER
All those can be listened to for free at the Internet archive.
Video Games:
I'm old so I've never actually played any western games. I've heard good things about the Red Dead games though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Zebedee DuBois:
There is a movie with Gregory Peck, Charlton Hesston, Burl Ives and Chuck Conners that was pretty epic. I think the name was "Big Country"
The musical scores of some of those old westerns were magnificent.
Peck and Heston have a pretty good fist fight in that if I recall. [Reply]
I miss those old cartoons sooo bad, that I told Ma just a few weeks ago that if she only got me one Christmas gift this year... it HAD to be a multi-disc collection of those old WB cartoons like you see at Best Buy etc
No question I'd get my moneys worth out of them, those old guys were brilliant [Reply]
I've been re-watching some old Gunsmoke episodes this week. I've already listed my favorite Gunsmoke radio episodes, so I might as well list my top 30 tv episodes too.
My Final Top 30 List of Gunsmoke tv episodes:
01 "Thirty a Month and Found" - Season 20
02 "The Busters" - Season 20
03 "Danny" - Season 15
04 "The Round Up" - Season 2
05 "Matt Dillon Must Die" - Season 20
06 "The Noose" - Season 16
07 "Stark" - Season 16
08 "The Widow-Maker" - Season 19
08 "The Violators" - Season 10
10 "With a Smile" - Season 8
11 "Abe Blocker" - Season 8
12 "Trafton" - Season 17
13 "The Mark of Cain" - Season 14
14 "Mannon" - Season 14
15 "Reward for Matt" - Season 1
16 "The Tarnished Badge" - Season 20
17 "Island in the Desert" - Season 20
18 "Cleavus" - Season 16
19 "Anybody Can Kill a Marshal" - Season 8
20 "The Guns of Cibola Blanca" - Season 20
21 "Hawk" - Season 15
22 "Mistaken Identity" - Season 12
23 "No Hands" - Season 9
24 "The Cabin" - Season 3
25 "Crowbait Bob" - Season 5
26 "Charlie Noon" - Season 15
27 "The Raid" - Season 11
28 "Long, Long Trail" - Season 7
29 "Cow Doctor" - Season 2
30 "There Never Was a Horse" - Season 4
Sorry if already posted but I thought this was really cool news.
Nicolas Cage is starring in his first ever Western film called The Old Way and then another Western called Butcher's Crossing
The 57-year-old actor is set to star in his first two movies in the genre as he'll shooting the latest project back to back with previously announced 'Butcher's Crossing' in Montana.
He told Deadline: "After 43 years in cinema, I’m only now being invited to the important and storied genre of the Western with both 'The Old Way' and 'Butcher’s Crossing'.
"Being born and raised in the West, this is another good match and long overdue.
This is a fascinating thread. While westerns are not my favorite genre, I have enjoyed a few of them such as Dances with Wolves, the original Westworld, and Back to the Future 3, which I don't think anybody else has mentioned. Nor has anyone mentioned Little Big Man, which is kind of a slog of a movie but it's fun to see Dustin Hoffman playing an Indian and in 120-year-old makeup.
Some people have even said that Breaking Bad qualifies as a modern-day western and yeah, it does. And yes, Brokeback Mountain also qualifies. [Reply]
Originally Posted by JolieMolie:
This is a fascinating thread. While westerns are not my favorite genre, I have enjoyed a few of them such as Dances with Wolves, the original Westworld, and Back to the Future 3, which I don't think anybody else has mentioned. Nor has anyone mentioned Little Big Man, which is kind of a slog of a movie but it's fun to see Dustin Hoffman playing an Indian and in 120-year-old makeup.
Some people have even said that Breaking Bad qualifies as a modern-day western and yeah, it does. And yes, Brokeback Mountain also qualifies.
I think a thread ban might be in order here. [Reply]
Originally Posted by JolieMolie:
This is a fascinating thread. While westerns are not my favorite genre, I have enjoyed a few of them such as Dances with Wolves, the original Westworld, and Back to the Future 3, which I don't think anybody else has mentioned. Nor has anyone mentioned Little Big Man, which is kind of a slog of a movie but it's fun to see Dustin Hoffman playing an Indian and in 120-year-old makeup.
Some people have even said that Breaking Bad qualifies as a modern-day western and yeah, it does. And yes, Brokeback Mountain also qualifies.
I almost mentioned Little Big Man....it's worth a look, personally I loved it. It's Arthur Penn, right after Bonnie and Clyde, and equally counter-culture.
Westworld upset me when I was 8 years old in the theater...the blood-letting was over the top and definitely not G rated :-) [Reply]
I was going to go see Old Henry but it apparently had a very limited release. I think I saw somewhere that it was showing in about a dozen states, but I don't know if that's accurate. I'm surprised that it wasn't immediately made available for streaming. [Reply]
I'm going to combine dad genres here for a question.
Why don't more people talk about how great Richard Jordan was?
Dude played an alcoholic bank robbing cowboy in Rooster Cogburn (Hawk), the President's National Security Advisor in Hunt for Red October (Jeff Pelt), A Civil War General in Gettysburg, the inspiration for Duncan Idaho's screenname in Dune (which I only just now realized) and somehow Jean fucking Valjean in Les Mis.
The guy was awesome and seems largely forgotten to history. He's like a poverty John Cazale. [Reply]