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Basebf555 posted:I was primed to love The Ballad of Buster Skruggs but for me it just fell flat. I was pretty shocked, usually the Coens are money in the bank for me but not this one. Just not enough time to get to know any of the characters, and too many of the stories were depressing as hell. I'm really swinging back and forth on it. I loved the tone of *most* of the vignettes, but some really didn't hit with me at all - the final stagecoach ride in particular, and while I loved Tom Waits' segment, it really felt like it dragged longer than it needed to. I also finally got around to the Film Comment podcast about it (and the Coen brothers in general), and someone on there mentioned the fact that all the stories revolve around money in some way. Given how slavishly devoted to cinema the Coen bros are, the fact this is a Netflix joint, and the switch from serial to anthology, I do kind of want to go back and investigate how they might be making comment on the mercantile nature of Netflix cinema. I think like any Coen film, there's going to be a lot to uncover over further rewatches, even if I didn't immediately like it as much as their other works. Also, I want to try and get an effort post goin' at some point about Australian westerns. The Proposition is probably the forerunner in a lot of minds, but the Indigenous Australian Revisionist Western is a strong (and contemporary!) genre, with Sweet Country (Warwick Thornton), Mystery Road, Goldstone (Ivan Sen), The Tracker (Rolf de Heer), and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Fred Schepisi) all having a look in.
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Nov 29, 2018 01:31
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The Mad Maxes are westerns too
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Nov 29, 2018 02:52
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got any sevens posted:The Mad Maxes are westerns too A lot of Australian post-apocalyptic stuff mirrors the convict-Cook "new world discovery" that has a lot of parallels with frontier westerns, yeah. I actually watched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly the other day and thought about how much Max in Fury Road mirrors Blondie in TGTBATU; Blondie gets overshadowed by (and recieves less development than) Tuco, much in the same way Furiosa does to Max. I'd also urge everyone to check out The Rover. It's an early Robert Pattinson character actor turn, and Michod's Australiana is always much more fun to watch than whateverthefuck War Machine turned out to be.
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Nov 29, 2018 03:57
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Man From Snowy River is a great Aussie western.
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Nov 29, 2018 06:12
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John Woo's Broken Arrow is definitely a western, because it takes place in the desert, it has an abandoned mine and the climax of the movie is a train robbery.
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Nov 29, 2018 09:28
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If we're gonna get a little bit loose with the definition then I guess you could throw Wake in Fright in there. If you want to consider it a Western then what you have here is a Western with Donald Pleasence as the villain, how can you go wrong? Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but another low/mid budget Western that really impressed me recently was Slow West, which I think is on Netflix. Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Nov 29, 2018 |
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Nov 29, 2018 14:54
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Basebf555 posted:If we're gonna get a little bit loose with the definition then I guess you could throw Wake in Fright in there. If you want to consider it a Western then what you have here is a Western with Donald Pleasence as the villain, how can you go wrong? Slow West is an E/N thread turned into a western, it’s great
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Nov 29, 2018 21:30
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General Dog posted:Slow West is an E/N thread turned into a western, it’s great Yea it's easy to miss that for like 99% of the movie(obviously the ending makes it quite clear) but then on rewatch it's even better.
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Nov 29, 2018 21:39
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Slow West is a wonderful film. I especially like the moments of dark slapstick comedy. I think it's even the directors first feature and it basically only got made because Fassbender is in it.
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Nov 29, 2018 22:36
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Basebf555 posted:I was primed to love The Ballad of Buster Skruggs but for me it just fell flat. I was pretty shocked, usually the Coens are money in the bank for me but not this one. Just not enough time to get to know any of the characters, and too many of the stories were depressing as hell. I liked it a lot. The stagecoach one could have easily been a chapter from Lonesome Dove, if you just put Woodrow Call in the old guy's place. I also just loved the idea of a completely sociopathic Roy Rogers type in the titular segment. If that were a real book I'd read it in a heartbeat.
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Dec 3, 2018 19:53
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I'll give a shoutout to The Gunfighter with Gregory Peck, who plays Jimmy Ringo, an aging gunfighter who wants to escape his life as the fastest gunfighter in the West. Peck is great at expressing a man who is tired of it all, tired of living life on the move, trying to avoid trouble only to have young gunfighters challenge him and won't take no for an answer. Peck's performance is the real draw as he goes back and forth between despair at his life and future to a boyish hope when he reconnects with an old flame. Great film, streaming on Starz. My personal favorite western is probably The Magnificent Seven, the 1960 original. The ensemble cast is great and they all have their own time to shine with their individual characterizations, something the remake a year a two ago never got quite right. It's not the prettiest movie, but it has tight plotting and the dialogue is lean, nothing is wasted or superfluous. The music score is big, punchy, overall fantastic. Looks like it's streaming on Amazon Prime.
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Dec 24, 2018 05:17
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Didn't realise until today that last Thursday was the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of Once Upon a Time In the West.
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Dec 24, 2018 11:02
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It was mentioned in the OP, but I saw Johnny Guitar for the first time over the weekend and it's really excellent. Fantastic use of color for a 50's film, and the performances put it over the top, Joan Crawford has a ridiculous amount of screen presence. It's also a good chance to see a younger Sterling Hayden, a full decade before Dr. Strangelove(he's also great in The Killing of course).
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Dec 31, 2018 17:04
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I had not seen The Searchers for years and years and recently rewatched it after finishing the book its based on, and it was eye opening as some things that are more explicit in the book than in the film that I am too dense to pick up on like John Wayne's character Ethan (named Amos in the novel) was in love with his brothers wife, far beyond a familial love. It's obvious now watching the movie, how he treats her and what he says, and how that drives him, but I never picked up on that before. The movie follows the novel pretty closely, but the ending for Ethan (Amos) is different 
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Feb 1, 2019 20:44
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married but discreet posted:So does Sukiyaki Western Django elicit the same kind of hatred in western fans as Cabin in the Woods does for horror fans? Anonymous Robot posted:Sukiyaki Western Django is the worst movie I’ve ever seen. Huh! I haven't seen it since I was in college, so it's been a while, but I remember enjoying the hell out of it at the time. I don't really have a background in Westerns so maybe it was insulting in ways that didn't register to me, and I admittedly don't remember much of it except my impressions that it was super-stylish and fun.
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Apr 1, 2019 00:52
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Bumping this thread to link to the Movie of the Month thread for One-Eyed Jacks
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Sep 18, 2019 22:46
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Thanks. I thought I had seen a majority of the recommended westerns but this slipped my radar. It's free on Amazon Prime so I am gonna give it a watch this weekend.
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Oct 11, 2019 22:49
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What are three John ford silent Westerns I could show to set up Stage Coach?
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Nov 13, 2019 18:34
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Jack B Nimble posted:What are three John ford silent Westerns I could show to set up Stage Coach? I can't speak from experience, I've never seen a John Ford silent film, but from reading a bit about it a bunch of them unfortunately are considered lost. Two that jump out at me when I look at his filmography though are Straight Shooter(1917), which is the earliest Ford film that survived and then Iron Horse(1924), which you could probably consider his first big hit. Iron Horse seems to get credit for Ford's preference for Westerns as his career went on.
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Nov 13, 2019 19:45
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Ok, I've made the following list of westerns for my freinds to watch and discuss, in something more consistent and serious than just a regular movie night. We did this previously with 10 Kurosawa films and it went well. This list is already much larger than the Kurosawa list, but is there anything I absolutely must add? Or any glaringly bad choices? I've seen some of these but not many. I plan to watch them in chronological order except that Unforgiven will be last, after Tombstone. The Great Train Robbery 1903 Hell's Hinges 1916 straight shooter 1917 iron horse 1924 Charlie Chaplain Gold Rush 1925 3 Bad Men 1926 Stage Coach 1939 My darling clementine 1946 Fort Apache 1948 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 Rio Grande 1950 Shane 1953 The Searchers 1956 Rio bravo 1959 The Man who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 El Dorado 1966 True Grit 1969 For a Fistfull of Dollars 1964 For a Few Dollars More 1965 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly 1966 Once upon a time in the west 1968 High Plains Drifter 1973 Tombstone 1993 Unforgiven 1992
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Nov 13, 2019 20:16
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I'd throw out two suggestions: 1. Peckinpah. Personally I prefer Ford and Leone but Peckinpah was too important to ignore completely. The Wild Bunch is the most obvious choice. 2. McCabe & Mrs. Miller(1971) is for me, one of the most unique and immersive Westerns ever made. It's very much a revisionist Western and I think your list could use one more of those. But for real, you will not find better set design and costume design in a Western and I consider it one of the best of the genre regardless of how "important" it is(or isn't).
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Nov 13, 2019 20:23
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Added, thanks!
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Nov 13, 2019 20:30
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Jack B Nimble posted:Ok, I've made the following list of westerns for my freinds to watch and discuss, in something more consistent and serious than just a regular movie night. We did this previously with 10 Kurosawa films and it went well. Assuming having watched Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, the 1960 western remake of it The Magnificent Seven would be worth a watch. You have a good list and the only thing I'll note and that's not to say to change anything, is that El Dorado is basically a remake of Rio Bravo. If you wanted to pare it down maybe only watch one of those but I couldn't say which one, been a while since I watched them.
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Nov 13, 2019 20:57
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If I wanted to add fewer than a half dozen "modern westerns" to show after Unforgiven and Tombstone, dating from the 90s to today, what are the five I absolutely have to have?
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Nov 13, 2019 22:16
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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and The Proposition. There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men are also essential depending on your definition of Western. I'd throw Sisters Brothers on there to round out to 5, but that one's debatable.
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Nov 13, 2019 22:24
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Jack B Nimble posted:If I wanted to add fewer than a half dozen "modern westerns" to show after Unforgiven and Tombstone, dating from the 90s to today, what are the five I absolutely have to have? I would say Meek's Cutoff is probably a must. Nothing like it.
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Nov 13, 2019 22:39
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It was already mentioned but yea The Assassination of Jesse James is THE modern western to watch and I think it's very clearly the best Western since Unforgiven.
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Nov 13, 2019 23:04
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It also happens to be the best film of the 21st century.
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Nov 13, 2019 23:07
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feedmyleg posted:It also happens to be the best film of the 21st century. Hard to argue with that but I prefer There Will Be Blood. It's close though.
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Nov 13, 2019 23:08
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I appreciate all the help, here is my final draft. Regarding the modern Westerns I disregarded a lot of good choices simply because we've seen them. Pre-Stage Coach: 1903 - 1926 The Great Train Robbery 1903 Hell's Hinges 1916 Straight Shooting 1917 Iron Horse 1924 The Gold Rush 1925 Three Bad Men 1926 Stage Coach to The Searchers: 1939 - 1954 * Stage Coach 1939 My Darling Clementine 1946 Fort Apache 1948 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 Rio Grande 1950 High Noon 1952 Shane 1953 Johnny Guitar 1954 The Searchers to the end of John Wayne: 1956-1969 * The Searchers 1956 Rio Bravo 1959 The Magnificent Seven 1960 The Man who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 El Dorado 1966 True Grit 1969 Sergio Leone, revisionist Westerns: 1964 - 1993 * A Fistful of Dollars 1964 For a Few Dollars More 1965 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly 1966 Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 The Wild Bunch 1969 McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971 High Plains Drifter 1973 Tombstone 1993 * Unforgiven 1992 Modern Westerns: 2005 - 2018 The Proposition 2005 * The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 2007 Meek's Cutoff 2010 Sisters Brothers 2018 Note: These movies will all be viewed in chronological order with the exceptions of grouping the Sergio Leonne films after the classic American Westerns and the showing of Unforgiven, which will be the final film following after Tombstone. The *'d movies are particularly noteworthy in our sequence; they challenged the conventions of previous works and influenced future Westerns. If someone misses one of those films I'll work to schedule another viewing for them.
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Nov 13, 2019 23:36
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Some good picks if you want stuff from this decade: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Bone Tomahawk True Grit Hateful Eight
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Nov 13, 2019 23:38
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I didn't realize there was a film adaptation of All the Pretty Horses. I haven't read it but have read and enjoyed Blood Meredian and No Country for Old Men. The film seems well reviewed, anyone seen it?
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Nov 14, 2019 00:17
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Jack B Nimble posted:I didn't realize there was a film adaptation of All the Pretty Horses. I haven't read it but have read and enjoyed Blood Meredian and No Country for Old Men. The film seems well reviewed, anyone seen it? It’s awful. Stick with the book, which is great. Its sequel, The Crossing, is my favorite book.
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Nov 14, 2019 00:21
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Open Range is probably the best Hollywood western made in the last 15 years. It makes me sad that more people haven't seen it.
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Nov 14, 2019 01:37
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Shanghai Noon and The Quick and the Dead are both good examples of pop westerns and I think the latter is underrated.
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Nov 14, 2019 03:18
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You're missing out on Corbucci's The Great Silence which works as a revisionist film for both classical and spaghetti westerns.
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Nov 14, 2019 12:45
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Hell or High Water is a modern Western that very specifically engages the foreclosure crisis.
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Nov 14, 2019 14:20
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The 2010 True Grit is really loving good.
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Nov 14, 2019 16:15
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It is very true to it's name, but I liked Slow West as a modern western too. Also Silverado from 1985 is pretty fantastic as well. Edit: Adding more. Pale Rider Lonesome Dove miniseries. AFewBricksShy fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Nov 14, 2019 |
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Nov 14, 2019 20:38
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I realise you already have a lot of movies on your list but I think you should at least consider some Terrence Hill movies. "They Call Me Trinity" started off the whole thing of having spaghetti western that were also comedic movies. "My Name is Nobody" is one of my very favourite westerns. It was directed by Tonino Valerii (Leone's assistant director on Fistful of Dollars) and Leone even handled some second unit shooting. Ennio Morricone does some of his all time best work on this movie too, in my opinion. Henry Fonda has also talked about how it was his favourite movie that he starred in. It is also the very last western Fonda made, which is fitting considering his character in the movie. Granted, the movie does poke fun at a lot of tropes of westerns so maybe save it for last. Finally, Terrence Hill is an impossibly attractive man and you'll just drown in his eyes.
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Nov 14, 2019 21:48
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