Saturday, 13 March, 2010

1. By Curtis. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @06:02pm:

   Yep, I'm Trinity 'n Don't Ferget It
2. By Inti. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @06:11pm:

   Hm, you forgot El Topo. I know, I myself forgot to cite it under the Western genre.
3. By concertinist. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @06:28pm:

   In my mind, I like Westerns, but really, the only 3 movies on the list I've seen (about 1/3) that I'd watch again are Barbarosa, The Stalking Moon, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. There's some others I'll look for on the Western-themed Saturday mornings on AMC, though.
4. By John Wilson. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @07:43pm:

   The Magnificent 7 was a great movie. Saw it a few times and loved it (even though I'm not a "westerns" fan).
   Missing from the list (the only western that I like better than the Magnificent 7)???
   The Good, The Bad & the Ugly
   A Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef classic.
5. By wally the duck. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @07:43pm:

   Winter's a long time going?
   
   Stays long this high.
   
   March is a green,
   muddy month down below.
   Some folks like it.
   Movie list compilers mostly.
6. By Curtis. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @07:49pm:

   Remember "Not Obvious." The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is OBVIOUSLY the good stuff. We're talking sleepers here.
7. By John Wilson. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @08:05pm:

   Okay Curtis,
   
   I guess I missed the point.
   
   In that caes, the Magnificent 7 shouldn't be on the list.
   
   Any movie that stars Charles Bronson, Yul Brenner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen & James Coburn has to be good.
8. By Candidus. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @08:20pm:

   White Sun of the Desert didn't make the cut?
   
   Alright, how about Shenandoah? It's not strictly a western, but popularly gets stuffed into that pigeonhole.
9. By Toad. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @08:26pm:

   Yeah, The Magnificent 7 should definitely be tossed off the list for being obvious. Same with The Outlaw Josie Wales. I'm not criticizing them (I liked them both), but they definitely aren't sleepers. There are several others I'd toss off the list, but I haven't been given that power.
   
   Yet.
10. By Curtis. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @08:32pm:

    In that caes, the Magnificent 7 shouldn't be on the list.

    
    
    I agree, JW, but I figured in editing this list I should err on the side of what commenters submitted rather than my point of view - that's why I'm trying to be clear as possible about what the parameters of this concept are. I realized when compiling this list that one person's familiar is another person's obscure. I did edit some titles out (Butch Cassidy for example), as being as obvious as all get out - a great Western no doubt, but not "not obvious" by anyone's standards.
    
    There are five movies I would have left off this list as being obviously great (or at least worthwhile) Westerns by general consensus.
11. By Curtis. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @08:38pm:

    I would argue with you on The Outlaw Josey Wales, Toad, simply because with all the reverent talk about Eastwood: The Director that circulates in the last ten years, that is a film (one his best, IMNHO) that rarely gets mentioned. Another one is Bird, just an amazing film.
12. By Curtis. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @08:43pm:

    Sorry, Candidus, you're right, it should have made the cut, especially considering that Tampopo did (as it should have).
13. By Candidus. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @09:08pm:

    Another recommendation, one that I'd intended to make the first time around but forgot to, is Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It's best watched piss drunk, as Peckinpah no doubt had made it, and features a shockingly powerful death scene from an unlikely actor.
14. By Bisbonian. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @10:28pm:

    White Sun of the Desert didn't make the cut?
    

    
    Agreed, it should have. Thank you for pointing us toward it, Candidus...I watched it that day in segments, on YouTube. I had never heard of it before.
    
    And then something really bizarre happened the next day. Taylor and I went to the conclusion of the San Jose Film Festival, and watched three incredible movies. One of them was about an art collector who gathered up "forbidden" art in the post-Stalin Soviet Union, and established a museum in what is now western Kazakhstan. And there was a clip from your film as part of the movie! The movie we were watching was talking about the local traditional dress, and they used the clip where several women pull their skirts up over their heads to keep the main character from seeing their faces.
    
    Also, the art collector was officially working on an archaeological dig at a site that was used in the movie...a sort of sandstone fort looking place. Incredible coincidence.
15. By Curtis. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @11:28pm:

    Great happenstance, Bis. It's exactly the sort of thing I hoped might happen with the "Not Obvious" concept.
    
    Guilt pangs I have for cutting it from the herd.
    
    It does pay to listen to Candidus, in all his exasperating glory.
16. By Phillip. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @04:32am:

    I like westerns but haven't watched many of them, Sergio Leone's of course and some other classics. There's about a dozen movies on the list I don't consider obscure. These ones fit the bill though. I'll have to look them up. Thanks.
    
    Sabata, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, They Call Me Trinity, The Stalking Moon, The Professionals, The Long Riders, Cat Ballou, The Frisco Kid, Lonely Are The Brave, Ride the High Country, Shalako, Last Man Standing, Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Rancho Deluxe, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Hearts of the West, Will Penny, The Girl From San Lorenzo, Two Gun Caballero, Tampopo, The Ropin' Fool, The Five Man Army, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, The Hired Hand, Zachariah.
    
    I have "Tampopo" because Mean Jean recommended it to me. I'll have to watch it soon.
17. By Gary. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @06:31am:

    I would have left off six as obviously great. One of them being one of my two picks on the list, Red River, a classic with John Wayne and Montgomery Cliff. Here's Roger Ebert's review of my other pick, The Proposition.
    
    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060518/REVIEWS/60509003/1023
18. By Toad. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @07:39am:

    I will continue to argue with you, Curtis. I consider The Outlaw Josie Wales to be one of Eastwood's better-known Westerns. At least, it is in my crowd.
    
    I agree with you that his earlier movies have been somewhat overshadowed since the rising of the cult of Eastwood the Director. Still, it does not seem to me to be a "not obvious" choice if the category is Westerns.
    
    Certainly, Bird would be "not obvious" in the category of Westerns. Or maybe it would, since there's now a blog named If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats.
19. By wally the duck. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @09:56am:

    That's a great website, Toad; one I check frequently.
20. By Curtis. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @12:33pm:

    These ones fit the bill though. I'll have to look them up.

    
    
    Just click the titles, Phillip. Then decide if you want to go deeper.
21. By Curtis. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @12:40pm:

    Shalako (1968) stars Sean Connery and Bridgitte Bardot. Wow, huh?
    
    Here's the part that J-Walk didn't include:
    
    Curtington's Completely Arbitrary Most Intriguing Five:
    
    My Name is Nobody
    Hearts of the West
    Sabata (tied with) They Call Me Trinity
    The Proposition
    The Ballad of Cable Hogue
22. By Aaron. Comment posted 15-Mar-2010 @11:15am:

    Don't forget Death Rides a Horse. Just don't buy any of the el cheapo DVD reissues; since it has lapsed into public domain, most pressings are Awful. I watched a good widescreen version on Google video a year or so ago.

Original content © 2011, John Walkenbach