The Western Genre

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Even if you're not a fan of the Western genre, and with The Hateful 8 and The Revenant due in theaters by the end of this year, what do you consider the best Western movies?

Admittedly, my knowledge of western movies is slim, but I grew up watching classic western television series: 'Gunsmoke', 'Have Gun, Will Travel', 'The Rifleman', 'Bonanza', 'Rawhide'...that stuff was gold to me. I can't quite put my finger on the appeal, maybe I just dig the old west aesthetic.

One of my favorite series as a kid was 'The Wild Wild West', though that had just as much sci-fi and comedy elements as it did western. Likewise, 'The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.', a one-season western sci-fi series from 1993 which was heavily influenced by 'TWWW', was hands-down my #1 Saturday morning TV show when I was a kid.

I think the golden age of the western is long gone...I mean, the genre largely died out by the end of the '60s and there's been very little of it since, but none of the more recent western captures the same kind of tone or atmosphere of the classic films and series. Even 'Deadwood', which was phenomenal, had its own unique vibe. I just don't think today's audiences embrace westerns like they used to, unless it's just a western aesthetic applied to either stylized action films (a la 'Django Unchained') or sci-fi (a la 'Cowboys & Aliens' or 'Firefly').

I'm gonna bet they don't really count as Westerns, but my top three would be (in order): Paint Your Wagon, Blazing Saddles, and Cat Ballou.

It's a TV show instead of a movie, but I love Deadwood.

Blazing Saddles is excellent, of course, even though it's a parody.

The popular westerns that are considered classics I usually find pretty dull, to be honest. The westerns I've seen that I've liked have been the trashy spaghetti westerns that have mostly been forgotten today, except as material for Tarantino to rip off. There's a cool movie from the 60s called Death Rides a Horse that Kill Bill fans should check out. It's in the public domain and you can watch it for free on YouTube.

Oh, man, I forgot about spaghetti westerns. The "Man With No Name" trilogy, 'Once Upon a Time in the West', 'Death Rides a Horse', 'The Great Silence', 'Django', 'Duck, You Sucker'...the Italians, man, they knew how to make a movie.

I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of Westerns {most of which I have watched are quite boring}, but I have liked the remakes of both True Grit and 3:10 to Yuma.

Also, Robert Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy is very entertaning for fans of Westerns who want something different.
I read that El Mariachi {the first part of the Mexico Trilogy} cost only $7,000 to film.

Big fan of spaghetti westerns, I like all of them almost, I enjoy especially now living where a lot of this stuff took place.

Dark Valley is western with kind of a different setting that's pretty new and is on Netflix right now. I enjoyed, classic mysterious stranger comes to town story.

Django Unchained is a great homage to spaghetti westerns as well

The Wild Bunch

That is the king of all Westerns.

^^^
I'm also a huge fan of The Wild Bunch.
As my dad's people had lived in the western United States during that time, I've found myself attracted to movie westerns.
Of my favorites, besides the Peckinpah classic already mentioned, I like The Grey Fox (based on the real life turn of the century train robber, Bill Miner), The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (which I consider to be the greatest Spaghetti Western ever!), Wild Bill (a fictionalized biopic about Wild Bill Hickok), Tombstone (about Wyatt Earp's fight with the Cowboy Gang), Harry Tracy (about the turn of the century desperado of the same name in my own Pacific Northwest), and others.

Tombstone is a good one, who could forget Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, him and whoever played Johnny Ringo made that movie.

hmmm.. I love westerns, but idk what my favorite movie would be.

I watch a lot more tv show westerns.. like gunsmoke and maverick are a couple of my favorites..

That was Michael Beihen (spelling) of the original Terminator fame who had played Ringo.

My dad used to run a theatre in so. California back in the sixties when the Spaghetti Westerns really took hold. I used to get in to see them for free. I think I enjoyed the music as much as the movies. (example: Hugo Montenegro.)

I like Wild Bunch too, although unfortunately it has been rumored that a contemporary Wild Bunch remake has been in development for some time with Brian Helgeland writing the script and possibly directing.

Really? That sounds cool - - as long as they don't F it up.

^^
What I meant by "contemporary" is that Will Smith has been attached to the remake as not only the lead, but also executive producer for some time now.