Westerns for Newbies

September 12, 2014 5:10 PM

My family and I are looking to watch some Westerns, but we are nearly complete newbies to the genre (other than what can be gleaned from culture white knowledge). We've watched High Noon and Red River, but so far that's about it. Can you give us some recommendations of films to start with?
posted by darchildre to Media & Arts (64 answers total)

John Wayne movies for sure. The Searchers, the original True Grit, Rio Bravo, Rio Grande.
posted by Lutoslawski at 5:19 PM on September 12, 2014

Even though it's a bit post-modern, I always enjoyed The Cowboys.
posted by bruceo at 5:20 PM on September 12, 2014

The Searchers is a classic.
posted by Pudhoho at 5:20 PM on September 12, 2014

I love westerns, and I only recently watched Once Upon A Time in the West (Sergio Leone). I wished I'd watched it when I first started out. It's very iconic and also beautifully shot, and IMO much more enjoyable than some of the other spaghetti westerns.
posted by stellaluna at 5:25 PM on September 12, 2014

i've seen a lot of westerns in my time, almost all the john wayne catalogue, gary cooper's "high noon", alan ladd's "shane", the works of sergio leone, and a giant passel of trashy B and C flicks...

the best western i ever saw won best picture; clint eastwood's "the unforgiven".

"we've all got it coming..."
posted by bruce at 5:28 PM on September 12, 2014

For a revisionist, satirical and absolutely wonderful film: Little Big Man
posted by lois1950 at 5:30 PM on September 12, 2014

310 to Yuma and Assassination of Jesse James and Unforgiven.
posted by effluvia at 5:32 PM on September 12, 2014

High Noon is the epitome of the compact psychological '50s Western, and Red River is one of the prototypes of the usually-longer star-studded "epic" Western. I'm more a fan of the first category so I'll give you a few more of those:

The Gunfighter w/Gregory Peck

The Tin Star (Henry Fonda / Anthony Perkins)

3:10 to Yuma, the original (though I've heard the remake with Russell Crowe was also very good)

All five (six?) of the Anthony Mann / James Stewart westerns but particularly The Naked Spur and The Man from Laramie

The Stalking Moon with an older Gregory Peck

And Stagecoach (John Wayne) kind of predates both categories but was hugely influential and holds up pretty well.

Destry Rides Again is also hard to categorize but very good.

Some of the spaghetti westerns are OK (generally the more lee van cleef the better, which is why For a Few Dollars More is my favorite) but in my opinion it doesn't make sense to watch them before seeing more of the classics (like those above) that they're based on.
posted by neat graffitist at 5:34 PM on September 12, 2014

Oh and one of the star-studded color ones that still manages to be quite tense and psychological is Last Train from Gun Hill, with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn.
posted by neat graffitist at 5:35 PM on September 12, 2014

What non-Westerns genres do you enjoy?
posted by dgeiser13 at 5:42 PM on September 12, 2014

You do have to see a whole bunch of 50's and 60's westerns to get the most out of stuff like Once Upon A Time In The West and Unforgiven. And do start with Stage Coach.
posted by glasseyes at 5:43 PM on September 12, 2014

Once you've gone through some of the excellent suggestions above, as a palate cleanser I suggest Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter, two loving parodies of the form starring James Garner at his very James Garneriest.
posted by Etrigan at 5:49 PM on September 12, 2014

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The Outlaw Josey Wales. The Wild Bunch (assuming everybody is old enough for a whole lotta killin').
posted by pheide at 5:50 PM on September 12, 2014

The Man with No Name Trilogy -- Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Also, High Noon.
posted by mudpuppie at 5:51 PM on September 12, 2014

Stagecoach is the movie that made John Wayne a star. Another great John Ford-John Wayne collaboration is She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

I agree that Once Upon a Time in the West, Unforgiven other spaghetti and Clint Eastwood westerns, and even The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are all best seen after watching other westerns as they are reactions and commentary on the genre.
posted by plastic_animals at 5:51 PM on September 12, 2014

dgeiser13, I tend to watch a lot of sci-fi and horror, while my parents tend more towards mysteries and crime procedurals. But we're trying to branch out and try new things.
posted by darchildre at 5:52 PM on September 12, 2014

Cat Ballou is pretty entertaining for everyone. I would save The Unforgiven for later as it's a bit intense and serves as a commentary on the genre. Little Big Man is maybe my favorite movie ever.

Piggybacking here. Annnnnnnd now this is going to drive me nuts[er]. There was an italian western where the hero was a remarkably blue eyed guy who ate a kids apple when the mother wasn't looking and had this weird fight using a sort of mannequin that you could pivot.
posted by vapidave at 5:56 PM on September 12, 2014

If you like sci-fi try Westworld for a sort of cowboy Terminator effect.
posted by effluvia at 6:01 PM on September 12, 2014

I can't believe nobody's mentioned The Magnificent Seven. I like to watch it back-to-back with Three Amigos, because that's a funny version of the same movie.

I mean, other than The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, it's the definitive Spaghetti Western.

(EDIT) Well then. It's not a spaghetti, but it's still really good.
posted by SlyBevel at 6:15 PM on September 12, 2014

Another vote for Outlaw Josey Wales, one of my all-time favorite movies. One bonus is that a features a number of very strong women in the main cast.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:22 PM on September 12, 2014

Lonesome Dove (mini-series) and the new True Grit.
posted by Bee'sWing at 6:27 PM on September 12, 2014

Ok commenting a second time to second (the new) True Grit. Especially if you're a Lebowski fan.
posted by SlyBevel at 6:33 PM on September 12, 2014

Nthing Josey Wales. I generally don't like Westerns, but I'll watch The Outlaw Josey Wales anytime it's on. It's fantastic.
posted by downtohisturtles at 6:37 PM on September 12, 2014

Does "High Plains Drifter" count?
posted by aecorwin at 6:43 PM on September 12, 2014

Blazing Saddles.
posted by fuse theorem at 7:01 PM on September 12, 2014

If it turns out you like westerns a lot after you've seen all these wonderful recommendations, you might consider Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks outrageously politically incorrect spoof. It's like the Friars Roast of the genre.
posted by Anitanola at 7:01 PM on September 12, 2014

Just to change things up a bit, try a dash of true Spaghetti...anything with Terrence Hill, but especially "My name is nobody" and "My name is trinity". So much fun.

Unforgiven is just such, such a good movie - in *any* genre.
posted by notsnot at 7:09 PM on September 12, 2014

Tombstone, of course.

Deadwood is also, in my opinion, one of the best television series ever (if you're interested in more than movies). It is brutally violent, sexually explicit, and full of the foulest language imaginable, but it is brilliant.
posted by torisaur at 7:14 PM on September 12, 2014

McCabe and Mrs. Miller with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.
posted by effluvia at 7:18 PM on September 12, 2014

Oh! Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!
posted by Room 641-A at 7:30 PM on September 12, 2014

Adding Pursued, which is considered a 'noir western' - it has a stellar cast and an interesting story-line.
Angel and the Badman, with John Wayne and Gail Russell.
posted by Pudhoho at 7:38 PM on September 12, 2014

My Darlin' Clementine
posted by octothorpe at 7:42 PM on September 12, 2014

The Cowboys with John Wayne.

Shane with Alan Ladd.
posted by harrietthespy at 7:46 PM on September 12, 2014

There was an italian western where the hero was a remarkably blue eyed guy who ate a kids apple when the mother wasn't looking and had this weird fight using a sort of mannequin that you could pivot.

This sounds like it might be from 'My Name is Nobody' (1973). Sergio Leone helped create it as a parody of his more serious Westerns. It's really quite funny. One of my favorites.
posted by ovvl at 7:48 PM on September 12, 2014

Lotta classics mentioned above, and yeah you gotta watch them. But when you're done with the classics there's some great under-the-radar stuff out there in the Western movie genre. The character Sartana is an "irrepressible and enigmatic" antihero with a big walk and a tiny gun. My absolute favorite Sartana film (and this is a little heretical, I admit) is Fistful of Lead, also known as I Am Sartana, Trade Your Guns for a Coffin. (The DVD should be CHEAP.) Sartana is deadly serious and seriously funny.

If you're like me you love horses in Westerns. And if you love horses in Westerns then you should watch the 7 Budd Boetticher/Randall Scott/Harry Joe Brown films known as the Ranown Cycle. Awesome stories and Randall Scott's solo rider character is fascinating, plus they feature some of the best horse-galloping on film. They're on DVD too, in a box set.
posted by carsonb at 7:48 PM on September 12, 2014

Yes, the remake of '3:10 to Yuma' with Russel Crowe and Christian Bale is also good. I'll also nth 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.' The acting and plot are...fine, but the cinematography and the, I don't know, construction, of the film I found really amazing.
posted by sevenless at 8:10 PM on September 12, 2014

I just watched and really enjoyed Westward The Women (1951). It's about a cross-country wagon train to bring women to a California settlement. Hope Emerson is just wonderful. The scenery is beautiful. The story is both fantastic and awful.

And it's fascinating to view the year 1851 through the lens of 1951 through the lens of 2014.
posted by mochapickle at 8:19 PM on September 12, 2014

and crime procedurals.

The Ox-bow Incident?
posted by klausman at 8:36 PM on September 12, 2014

I don't think anyone has yet mentioned The Big Country from 1958 with Gregory Peck & Jean Simmons. You undoubtedly know the theme.
posted by BillMcMurdo at 8:38 PM on September 12, 2014

2nd-ing The Ox-bow Incident and adding two of my favs: A Man Called Horse and Duck You Sucker
posted by ambulocetus at 8:51 PM on September 12, 2014

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

It's a tv show western with a futuristic twist! A cult classic.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:57 PM on September 12, 2014

I'd like to recommend The Grey Fox. One of the most unique westerns I have ever seen.
posted by jnnla at 8:59 PM on September 12, 2014

I have a soft spot for Silverado. The cast includes Kevin Cline, Danny Glover, Kevin Costner, Scott Glenn, John Cleese, and Jeff Goldblum.
posted by catastropher at 9:45 PM on September 12, 2014

I'll toss in "Sons of Katie Elder" as another John Wayne classic to be enjoyed. I also always had an unnatural fondness for "McClintock!", probably because I grew up watching the comedy-western before I realized how bad the final scene (husband chases wife through town and spanks her) is.

If you are in the mood for a western set in the Australian old outback, definitely pick up "Quigley Down Under."

I grew up watching westerns with my dad so fond memories. :) Enjoy!
posted by ninjakins at 9:55 PM on September 12, 2014

Oh, another, more recent one, which is really bleak but also really good: The Proposition.

(Odd to call it a "Western" since it takes place in Australia, but it very much fits the genre.)
posted by mudpuppie at 10:13 PM on September 12, 2014

It's Korean and set in Manchuria in the 1940s but "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" is full of so many western tropes and homages it's really just a western itself. A noodle western.
posted by BinaryApe at 11:13 PM on September 12, 2014

I watched the old True Grit and the new one as a double feature and that is a fun way to do it, they're both really enjoyable and different enough for it not to feel repetitive.
posted by contraption at 11:18 PM on September 12, 2014

Of course you should watch The Magnificent Seven. But after that you're going to have to watch Seven Samurai and after that A Touch of Zen and after that Twilight Samurai and that is just a gateway to a whole other world.
posted by glasseyes at 1:48 AM on September 13, 2014

Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man starring Johnny Depp with a soundtrack by Neil Young.
posted by fairmettle at 3:22 AM on September 13, 2014

I think that "Bad Day at Black Rock" is a modern western.
posted by CincyBlues at 6:38 AM on September 13, 2014

All the versions of The Three Godfathers.
posted by brujita at 6:46 AM on September 13, 2014

Stagecoach is just a wonderful movie, even if you HATE westerns.

I loved old Lone Ranger Serials when I was a kid, although not as much as I loved Zorro.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:56 AM on September 13, 2014

If you ever later want to go non-traditional/surrealist/left-of-center, Alejandro Jodorowsky's "El Topo" is a classic if more of a cult film. But still a hell of a western ride.
posted by nightrecordings at 6:57 AM on September 13, 2014

The Big Country is my absolute favorite western. I think some people have mentioned The Searchers, with John Wayne - which is, I think, his greatest performance as an actor. Those two would be the best introduction to the genre, I think.
posted by McMillan's Other Wife at 7:50 AM on September 13, 2014

Mainstream Westerns
* ¡Three Amigos! (1986)
* 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
* Blazing Saddles (1974)
* Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
* City Slickers (1991)
* Dances with Wolves (1990)
* A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
* The Magnificent Seven (1960)
* Maverick (1994)
* The Missing (2003)
* The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
* The Quick and the Dead (1995)
* Shanghai Noon (2000)
* Tombstone (1993)
* True Grit (1969)

Traditional Westerns
* Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
* Destry Rides Again (1939)
* For a Few Dollars More (1965) ~ If you like the way Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone work together then watch and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) as well. If you *still* are in the mood for more Leone watch Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) after that.
* The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
* Open Range (2003)
* The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
* The Searchers (1956)
* Shane (1953)
* True Grit (2010)
* Unforgiven (1992)

Non-Traditional Westerns
* The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
* Black Robe (1991)
* "Deadwood" (2004)
* Dead Man (1995)
* Django Unchained (2012)
* McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
* The Proposition (2005)
* The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
* The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
* The Wild Bunch (1969)
posted by dgeiser13 at 8:00 AM on September 13, 2014

Oh yeah, 'The Wild Bunch'. It's violent and unsentimental, but gripping if you're okay with that. Not for family viewing, though.

For family viewing, 'Silverado' (mentioned above) is a modern Western done in the classic style with an interesting cast having lots of fun with the old tropes. Nice to see a goofy young Kevin Costner whoopin' it up.
posted by ovvl at 9:04 AM on September 13, 2014

Let me just point out, as someone probably already has, that "western" is a sprawling genre.

There's comedy mixed, like Blazing Saddles, Wild Wild West, Maverick and Three Amigos.

There are movies that sort of just happen to take place in the old west, like McCabe and Mrs. Miller which is actually a well done romance set in the historical west.

There are the Citizen Kanes of westerns like Dead Man (Johnny Depp and Crispin Glover with a soundtrack by Neil Young directed by Jim Jarmusch) and Unforgiven (for my money one of the best movies ever made), which use western tropes but aren't "about" cattle or water or outlaws or whatever.

There are older or more archetypical classics like The Outlaw Josey Wales, Lonesome Dove, the Dollars trilogy, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, (the newer) True Grit, 3:10 to Yuma, etc.

There are newer, self conscious takes on the genre, like The Quick and the Dead, Tombstone, Django Unchained, Maverick (to put it in multiple categories), No country for Old Men, aspects of Kill Bill, and I might argue, There Will Be Blood.

Then there are thematically western and historical movies that aren't from the sort of cowboy perspective, like Dances With Wolves, A Man Called Horse, or Last of the Mohicans.

This is dashed off, so I'm sure I'm offending sensibilities and making glaring omissions, but I'm trying to illustrate my opinion that "Western" is a huge genre that's bound together by a very abstract sense of a time and place in America's history that may or may not have allowed for the kind of personal freedom and stark good vs. evil that just happens to be an infitely fertile setting for movies.

Back to the Future III
posted by cmoj at 10:42 AM on September 13, 2014

The Internet Archive is your friend; there are hundreds upon hundreds of old westerns-- ALL FREE.

I just watched two good "westerns" last week: Trail of the Lonesome Pine with Fred MacMurray and Henry Fonda; and The Plainsman with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur.

Keep your eye open for: "Zane Grey" stories; and actors Randolph Scott and Bob Steele.
posted by goml at 3:05 PM on September 13, 2014

Johnny Guitar is quite fascinating.
posted by wittgenstein at 4:06 PM on September 13, 2014

You've gotten a lot of good recommendations and the classics are covered pretty well. Here are a couple of more obscure ones that are enjoyable.

Yellow Sky

Rawhide (the 1951 movie)
posted by gudrun at 7:17 PM on September 13, 2014

Is Lee Van Cleef in it? Is it a Western? Then it's worth watching. Also The Great Silence, for when you get bored of desert settings- a brooding piece of grim set in a lush forest winterscape.
posted by Queen of Robots at 5:25 AM on September 14, 2014

Yes, Johnny Guitar is real treat if you might be interested in a 50's Hollywood Western with swell dialogue and a crackling feminist subtext (well, the two female leads spend much of the film intimidating and bossing around the cowboys and gunslingers. It's great.)

Which reminds me (speaking of Mercedes McCambridge, a great actress) to also recommend the sprawling technicolor end-of-an-era mega-epic, Giant.
posted by ovvl at 3:49 PM on September 14, 2014

Broken Trail with Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church
posted by Billiken at 10:22 AM on September 15, 2014

A Big Hand for the Little Lady is not your typical Western. Trailer. (Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Burgess Meredith…)
posted by Lexica at 9:05 PM on September 15, 2014