I’m not sure why, but “The Wild Bunch” has been popping up all over my life of late. If you are unfamiliar, it is Sam Peckinpah’s amazing 1969 ground-breaking Western. One of my very favorites (more on that in a bit) it put me in mind of Westerns in general, why I love them and that it might be fun to do a list. I had thought to perhaps do a 2025 roundup of movies – ‘tis the season after all – but when I realized how few movies I had seen this year I got too downhearted to tackle it. What the hell have I been doing? Before proceeding I offer you this oldie on making lists from 2013.
Westerns. Yikes. The American Film Institute defines Western films as those “set in the American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier“. Okay, thanks AFI but that wasn’t terribly helpful. The genre holds a proud and prominent place in the American film canon (of course there is a whole sub-genre of foreign films not just based on American westerns but straight up movies set in and about America filmed overseas, which is mildly weird) but it is very much an American thing. But what makes a movie a Western? One school of thought says there are seven basic story variations that fit the bill: Union Pacific, outlaw, sheriff, empire, ranch, revenge and cavalry indian. Okay that helps a little and you can definitely find ready examples of all of those. But some of my favorites do not fall into any of those categories – “Jeremiah Johnson”, “Little Big Man” and “The Outlaw Josey Wales” leap to mind and I don’t think anyone would hesitate to classify those films as Westerns. Hmm. The flip side is the vast collection of films that are nowhere near the American west but thematically right on the button: “Dirty Harry”, “Logan”, “The Getaway”, “The Avengers”, “Star Wars” (and Star Trek for that matter, with Space Westerns being a sub-genre all to itself), etc. And when we’re talking American West is that as in the “Old West” or will we include the contemporary west so as to bring gems like “No Country for Old Men” and “Hell or High Water” into the fold? Who knew this was so bloody complicated? And speaking of complicated, the buffalo in the room is how fraught the genre can be, especially back in the day, with lovely themes like sexism, racism, colonialism and many other isms playing prominently, along with an insanely casual approach to violence and horrific portrayals of Native Americans. An awful parallel to that last one was the all too common use of white people to play brown people. But shit, we did that as recently as 1983 with Robbie Benson playing Billy Mills, an actual American Indian. Robbie has blue eyes, for fuck’s sake. Anyway. So making a list of favorite Western films turns out to be kind of tricky, so I need some ground rules.
I am going to stick with films set in the American West, but not necessarily the Old West and they do not have to fit one of the classic story molds. I am potentially going to allow some of the more egregious non-PC titles on the grounds that they knew not what they did and those movies deserve a place in the pantheon despite their ethical shortcomings. Give thanks to the revisionists – they will feature prominently. I am going to go for a top ten, but not ranked. This is not a “greatest Westerns of cinematic history” thing, nor is it just my favorites thing, but an unwieldy combo of the two. Kinda maybe. Get on with it.
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, 1969, Geroge Roy Hill – I know I said not ranked, but this is my GOAT. Almost always on my top three or four greatest or most favorite of all movies, it is just a great, great movie. It has it all: drama, romance, comedy, action, and even not one, but two excellent musical montages. It is absolutely gorgeous and it is impossible not to love vintage Redford and Newman. They were so great together they reunited with Hill for “The Sting” a few years later. Shot by the incomparable Conrad Hall (you won’t believe this guy’s canon), it is utterly gorgeous and captures the grandeur of the West perhaps better than any movie before or since. A move I never, but never, can flip past and I probably watch it at least twice a year and it features prominently in the family quote library.
“The Outlaw Josey Wales”, 1976, Clint Eastwood – This will be the first of who knows how many appearances by Clint on this list, which is neither surprising nor undeserved. Only his second time behind the camera for a Western, he was well into his career as a staple western actor, including more than a couple spaghettis, and you could almost feel an early stretching of his revisionist muscles. Both defying engrained stereotypes and paying homage to what made the genre great, it is appropriately grim, pulling few punches. It almost trips itself up in its potentially misplaced need to have everything come out nice in the end, but not quite. Sondra Locke is her usual basically awful self, but Chief Dan George is as wonderful as she is bad. It is also a nice turn for John Vernon (one of those you know him but don’t know him journeymen who is always good) to play the not-as-bad-as-the-other-bad-guys bad guy. Clint isn’t always great and you feel like he might just be playing himself, but his slightly put upon, how did I end up here turn here is surprisingly and subtly good.
“Jeremiah Johnson”, 1972, Sydney Pollack – I never stop being surprised that this sweeping, damn near epic, movie was directed by Pollack. He worked with Redford a ton, so there’s that, but this is a real departure for him. Talk about gorgeous, you can practically smell the forests and I defy you not to feel the cold during the winter scenes. It is guilty of a white Indian casting, but was also lauded at the time for bringing a ton of Native Americans – including the prominent female character – to the production and listening to them when they helped to get the details right. While it does have some genuinely funny moments interspersed, it is overall a heartwrenching film, but no less wonderful for being so. Redford is at his minimalist best and a great turn by the always reliable Will Geer.
“Silverado”, 1985, Lawrence Kasdan – Hey, I made it to the 80s! This is not, I repeat, not a great movie. It is far too pat, portrays a west in which there were apparently no natives and is downright silly at times (try not to cringe when our hero takes a .44 rifle slug in the thigh and barely grunts). But. Kasdan had a rep for handling ensembles, and good thing. Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum and Roseanne Arquette. Good grief. It paints broad pictures of loved genre stereotypes, everyone and everything is far too clean, and you will never have any doubt as to the outcome but damn if it isn’t just a good old fashioned rootin’ tootin’, white hats and black hats, let’s go to the movies romp. Dennehy is so hateable, Kline is even better than always, Goldblum and the fabulous Linda Hunt battle for scene-stealing champ status and a cameo by John Cleese (I know!) is everything you could hope for and more. I even liked Costner, one of like three times that has been the case.
“Hell or High Water”, 2016, David Mackenzie – Wow, wow, wow. The second of Taylor Sheridan’s frontier trilogy (“Sicario” before and “Wind River” after) this is easily top 25 of the century for me.
I honestly don’t know where to start. Chris Pine is in the running for the best known-least appreciated actor of his generation and we can only hope he gets more chances to shake off that dubious distinction. Ben Foster is the same just without the best known part. Foster is a beast and you need to catch on to that and run to see him in anything you can get your hands on. And Jeff Bridges, well, if you don’t know I can’t help you but this is no exception. Just a flat out great script and even when MacKenzie threatened to get a little heavy handed it somehow worked. Multiple gut punches, filled with emotion, you can’t look away even when you really want to, I was thrilled when it got a Best Picture nom.
“The Magnificent Seven”, 1960, John Sturges – Oops, back to the 60s. People rightly point out that “Seven Samurai” is a vastly superior film (thank you Mr. Kurosawa for that and oh so much more), but why not bring a quintessentially American genre back into the fold? This movie is finally showing its age a bit, but sixty-five years in I will still watch it at the drop of a stetson. I got to see it on the big screen at our beautiful local revival house at some point and that helped a lot to remind me of just how good it is. Talk about a stacked cast, you don’t even need first names to run it down: Brynner, McQueen, Coburn and Bronson is a 60s movie hero who’s who. This movie has more cool than March of the Penguins. It is unfortunate that the great Eli Wallach was cast as the Mexican villain, but his Speedy Gonzalez accent and scenery chewing somehow kind of works? It can drag in places, and the over eager youngster is overplayed a bit but the gunfights are some of the best ever and I respect the fact that the first time I saw it I genuinely didn’t know who was going to make it. Robert Vaughn is sneaky good.
“The Wild Bunch”, 1969, Sam Peckinpah – Staying in the 60s here because where this amazing move really stands out is the way it challenged, even upended the very things “The Magnificent Seven” had helped shape in the genre. Widely considered to have kicked off the revisionist Western movement, Peckinpah was very open in his desire to make people stop being okay with what had become highly stylized and unrealistic violence in movies, particularly in Westerns. Arthur Penn had done a similar thing in “Bonnie and Clyde” a couple of years earlier, but Sam went all in, culminating with the Battle of Bloody Porch. We’re talking 10,000 blood squibs and 145 deaths in an insane five minutes. Dozens of angles, brutal slow motion and downright chilling sound and foley, there had never been anything like it. It barely registers in today’s environment of ultraviolence and sheer gore, but for my money it is far more visceral and impactful than the splatterfests we have now. It is also a tour de force of editing, with over 300 edits in those five minutes, culled from thousands of feet of film shot in different frame rates. It took a year. It changed film and, I think, society’s relationship with it. And by the way, the climax is a defining moment in cinema but the rest is damned good, with sterling performances from Willaim Holden and Ernest Borgnine and equally excellent support from Warren Oates and Ben Johnson.
“High Plains Drifter”, 1973, Clint Eastwood – What a weird and disturbing movie. This movie has fallen down the great Westerns list of late, I think, because it is just straight up too ugly. Casual rape, contemptous cruelty, craven cowardice and immorality, I honestly think people just can’t take it anymore. Which strikes me as a weird thing to say about a movie made in 1973, but here’s the thing. It isn’t actually that violent by modern standards, and barely gory at all, but it so unflinchingly shows the absolute worst that people are capable of, it is downright hard to watch. Which was, of course, the point. I question whether this move would get made today. All that said, it is also just a really sharp and effective piece of filmmaking. Another DP with a crazy resume, Bruce Surtees was a frequent collaborator with Clint, and you can really see them leaning into the shadows and unconventional angles and distances that you easily associate with Clint in his middle years. My favorite performance in the movie is Geoffrey Lewis as a truly disturbed villain way off his type. Creepy.
“Lonesome Dove”, 1989 – Yes, I’m cheating. This is a TV mini-series, but with four 90 minute episodes it is way more feature film at heart, and it assuredly plays more big screen than little. There was just no way to do justice to the epic Larry McMurtry novel (which I truly love) on which it is based. I will defend my choice further with the assertion that if they were doing it today they would make three movies instead. So there. Besides it’s my list and my rules so hush up. This is such an amazing piece of work. McMurtry is a master storyteller and such a genius at character development that the sprawling epic nature of it all stays manageable. The casting director deserves an award for this, as with few exceptions the actors and their roles meshed so well with the portraits McMurtry painted that I couldn’t imagine anyone else. Peak Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones and just a bevy of good people doing good work. Pay special attention to a young Diane Lane, and essentially unknown Chris Cooper and the master journeyman Barry Corbin, he of the 226 (!) credits. And, wait, was that Steve Buschemi??
“Unforgiven”, 1992, Clint Eastwood – Okay, Clint, I get it. You got this Western thing sorted. Clint has gotten a little goofy, he might be on the far side of the mountain and hedging downhill, and can be a bit of an asshat, but the man knows how to make a movie. I think “Unforgiven” is his magnum opus. I know, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Mystic River”, “Gran Torino”, etc. Yep, yep and yep. The guy is a stud but Westerns and Clint are like peas and carrots. (Thanks, Forrest.) And for his westerns, this one was just on another level. First, there is the super trio of Clint, Morgan and Gene. As acting goes, Mr. Eastwood is not in the same league as those other two monsters, but they brought out the best in him by being extraordinary. I think it might be one of Hackman’s finest and that is saying something.The movie also has an amazing bleakness to it, making the look and feel and even the landscape so oppressive that you start to wilt. And when that long walk of despair erupts in Munny’s desperate fury and vicious violence it is like a physical blow. Wow. But what I admire most about the film is Clint’s addressing of decades of the Western genre’s ideals and issues, including from his own films, by propping up and then definitively tearing down so much of what had been done and the ways in which it screwed things up. He was in a unique position, probably the only person even close, to make those points and close the loop. Good on him and good freaking movie.
“No Country for Old Men”, 2007, The Coen Brothers – I loved this movie. It was somehow vintage Coen Brothers – the whole conversation about welding in the hospital between Woody Harrelson and Josh Brolin, what the hell? – and a taut thriller, and like three different Western sub-genres all rolled into one. The palette of this movie was absolutely wild and I bet you didn’t realize there was no music. All that suspense, all that creeping around, the intense building of edge-of-your seat tension without a note. I thought I might have noticed in the theater the first time but finally decided afterward that nah, I must have misremembered that. There had to have been music. Nope. Crazy. And speaking of crazy, Anton Chigurh is easily one of the creepiest villains of the 21st century. American audiences meet Javier Bardem and he scares their boots off. By the way, Chigurh and Rolling Stones forever drummer Charlie Watts look astonishingly alike. Don’t believe me? Here:
More excellent Tommy Lee Jones, breakout Josh Brolin and another Barry Corbin sighting. That movie haunted me and I still haven’t decided about the ending.
Okay, so I didn’t keep it to ten. But I couldn’t leave any of the above off. The snubs list is already hard to stomach: the “True Grit” remake – more Coen Brothers; “The Quick and the Dead” – borderline fantasy that could have been terrible but I dug, baby DiCaprio and Hackman; “Little Big Man” – Arthur Penn and Dustin Hoffman, huge and more Chief Dan George. My brother might not forgive me for this one; “The Long Riders” – Walter Hill goes west with lots of brothers played by actual brothers, Caradines and Keaches and Quaids, oh my. Amazing scene of the infamous Northfield, MN fight; “Rango” – Johnny Depp as a chameleon, not metaphorically, animated, a la Gore Verbinski. I know, but trust me; “The Searchers” – not having a John Ford movie on this list is probably sacrilege, or John Wayne for that matter, and this is one of the all-time greats; “Once Upon a Time in the West” – same for Sergio Leone, with Henry Fonda and Charlie Brosnan no less with the best use of harmonica of all time; the 2007 remake of “3:10 to Yuma” – more potential sacrilege, but Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and Ben Foster (yay!) all nail it; “Appaloosa” – Ed Harris stars and directs a Robert Parker story with Viggo Mortensen and a villainous Jeremy Irons. “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” – More Ford, more Duke and thrown in Jimmy Stewart. Sheesh. See what I mean?
What did we learn today? You can’t sleep on the Western. It might have been the genre that built Hollywood and there are a whole bunch of incredible movies in it. I also learned that I like Westerns way more than I even realized. Other than looking up years, I didn’t actually do any research on this one. Which means I probably made some glaring omissions. Did I leave off a favorite of yours? Let me know. Giddyup and thanks for reading.