Best Ever Western Films [LIST] - Games - Forums : Best Ever Albums

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Okay maybe the Western is dead.

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

StreetSpirit wrote:

Okay maybe the Western is dead.

Nah. I just think these things have turned into a "discuss minimally before making list/pat ourselves on the back when we're done" kinda thing. I can't recall the last time we did a list where the feedback was anything other than "surprised this is here" and "surprised this isn't here" (perhaps the horror list which I gave a really good roasting and had some legit arguments). And in this case, aside from a few aforementioned unexpected films (most of which I haven't seen, so can't really discuss if they deserve placement), I think this is around about what we were expecting to get. Maybe not the Ford domination as these boards tend to sway towards a more modern, indie or avant-garde style. Then again there weren't many lists this time and the ones that didn't go the traditional route were fairly small, so maybe the younger/less experienced crowd sat this one out altogether. Anyhow, El Topo did pretty good, am I right? I was thinking it had a shot to crack the top 30 maybe but it was bangin all the way through this one.

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

hereforashortime wrote:

I would love an action movie list sometime.

Honestly surprised we haven't done that yet. Used to not be keen on the idea. Action was (maybe still is) my least favorite genre. But damn I like them a lot more than I used to, and I think that's helped by the fact that Marvel is such a juggernaut now and has finally got me pumped for superhero movies, which (Dark Knight trilogy aside) I used to just not really look forward to. Not saying they own the game. Just this decade we've seen so much brilliance, from the grindhouse-esque 13 Assassins, The Expendables and John Wick, to solid entries in big franchises like Star Wars, Mission Impossible and 007 and even more comic book greatness with Deadpool, Logan and Wonderwoman... And of course Fury Road, which may or may not have surpassed Terminator 2 as the GOAT in my opinion... Yeah just looking at this decade alone I'm sure we would have an awesome list.

Note: I suppose a lot of westerns would fall under the action banner. Obviously (at least in my case) the amount of action that takes place in them would determine how well it hangs against other action movies. For example, the Man with No Name trilogy would definitely still make my list. The talkier, slower paced Once Upon a Time in the West probably would not.

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

badseed wrote:

Nah. I just think these things have turned into a "discuss minimally before making list/pat ourselves on the back when we're done" kinda thing.

Well it doesn't have to be that way. One of the potential discussion points we never got to is "Is the Western dead?"

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

StreetSpirit wrote:

Well it doesn't have to be that way. One of the potential discussion points we never got to is "Is the Western dead?"

No. It'll never die. It will never thrive like it once did. Honestly if you could put a time stamp on it, the golden age of westerns died when John Wayne did. Even Clint Eastwood only made a couple more after that point. But there will still be a handful per year, and perhaps one or two of those will be something great. Same deal with musicals. They aren't nearly as big as they were from the 30s to the 60s but every couple years one comes along that everyone adores, and that's enough to prove the genre is alive and well. If nothing worthy of making this list comes out in the next five years, ask that question again.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

badseed wrote:

Nah. I just think these things have turned into a "discuss minimally before making list/pat ourselves on the back when we're done" kinda thing. I can't recall the last time we did a list where the feedback was anything other than "surprised this is here" and "surprised this isn't here" (perhaps the horror list which I gave a really good roasting and had some legit arguments). And in this case, aside from a few aforementioned unexpected films (most of which I haven't seen, so can't really discuss if they deserve placement), I think this is around about what we were expecting to get. Maybe not the Ford domination as these boards tend to sway towards a more modern, indie or avant-garde style. Then again there weren't many lists this time and the ones that didn't go the traditional route were fairly small, so maybe the younger/less experienced crowd sat this one out altogether. Anyhow, El Topo did pretty good, am I right? I was thinking it had a shot to crack the top 30 maybe but it was bangin all the way through this one.

I just realized that many of the Westerns on my list lean toward comedy. Maybe not so much comedy as humorous or amusing. And westerns are usually so deadly serious. In most other genres I tend to have the same taste as everybody else, but in westerns not so much. I think the reason the Western isn't one of my favorite genres is because I usually don't find the subject matter very interesting. I'm not sure why, because the Western is actually a pretty diverse genre. When I was young I used to think that westerns were all the same, but that's actually not true at all. I think it's just that I don't find the Old West a particularly interesting topic. And maybe humor makes it more interesting to me or something.

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

badseed wrote:

No. It'll never die. It will never thrive like it once did. Honestly if you could put a time stamp on it, the golden age of westerns died when John Wayne did. Even Clint Eastwood only made a couple more after that point. But there will still be a handful per year, and perhaps one or two of those will be something great. Same deal with musicals. They aren't nearly as big as they were from the 30s to the 60s but every couple years one comes along that everyone adores, and that's enough to prove the genre is alive and well. If nothing worthy of making this list comes out in the next five years, ask that question again.

I recall people talking about the Western being dead in the late-90s and early-00s, a time period which had no representative on our list. But then a couple good ones came along, and like badseed said, we get a few per year now. It's interesting how he calls Wayne's death the end of the golden age. Was that the point where the quantity and quality of Westerns declined? It seems so, although I consider the '50s and '60s the golden age. But sure, Wayne's death must've been a huge symbolic blow to the genre. I don't think the genre will ever fully die out. However, as a big-budget attraction, I think it could. In the past five years, Lone Ranger, Hateful Eight, and A Million Ways to Die in the West weren't nearly as popular as the studios expected. But the remake of Magnificent Seven did okay for itself. As did The Revenant, however that was fueled by a very popular cast/director and the Oscar race. But anyway...the Western isn't in a very good position right now, but still better than it was in the late-90s...Wild Wild West Dancing

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

bobbyb5 wrote:

I just realized that many of the Westerns on my list lean toward comedy. Maybe not so much comedy as humorous or amusing. And westerns are usually so deadly serious. In most other genres I tend to have the same taste as everybody else, but in westerns not so much. I think the reason the Western isn't one of my favorite genres is because I usually don't find the subject matter very interesting. I'm not sure why, because the Western is actually a pretty diverse genre. When I was young I used to think that westerns were all the same, but that's actually not true at all. I think it's just that I don't find the Old West a particularly interesting topic. And maybe humor makes it more interesting to me or something.

I agree with most of this.