The MoFo Top 100 Westerns: Countdown

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Slow West (2015)

This one popped up at the western countdown and it seemed interesting. Maybe I had my hopes a bit too high as the primary feeling I have is a disappointment. It's an OK film but I was expecting a completely different kind of western. I found this to be more like a comic book film than the somber and occasionally brutal thing I was led to believe to expect. It was quite pretty on the eye but almost too saturated (it looked almost like a video game at times).

That's unfortunate.



Trouble with a capital "T"

Slow West (2015)

I watched Slow West last night, it blew. I have to agree with @pahaK it did seem comic book like, with stiff one dimensional characters that were more of a caricature than real people. The script randomly trots these characters out of nowhere and dumps them without rhyme or reason into the movie, all in lieu of any actual good writing.

Slow West seemed like just another direct to video western, and they make a lot of those because there cheap and easy to do. Michael Fassbender was like a poor take of an Indiana Jones type. The story idea was good but the production values were poor and the script weak. I didn't believe for a second I was watching anything other than a poor copy of some other western movie.

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Once again, have seen neither

Seen: 1/14
- Slow West (#95)

My ballot:
None
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Hombre is a solid western no matter how you slice it with a really solid cast. The Hanging Tree is a western mystery.with quite a few surprises. I still didn't vote for either but they're fine additions.

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Trouble with a capital "T"
Hombre Good movie, but not on my list. I LOVED the last shooting location at the old abandoned mining stamp mill on the hillside, it's also one of the best done shootout/hostage scenes I've seen.

The Hanging Tree
I watched this on a recommendation from @Miss Vicky It was initially on my voting list, but got bumped for another western.


The Hanging Tree
(Delmer Daves, 1959)

I've watched a lot of 1950s westerns recently, that's by far my favorite decade for movies. And in all of those 1950s westerns, I've not seen a film quite like The Hanging Tree. Some might call this movie slow paced, but I found it to be very introspective, as we spend a lot of time seeing how the outcast doctor (Gary Cooper) treats people in his debt. The doctor is a conundrum, both gentle and a man of violence with a penchant for controlling those who are in hid debt.

It's a strange (but cool) movie that seems to be saying a lot but never spoon feeds the message to the audience. It's so subtle that for most of the film I was hooked by just trying to figure out what the motives of these people were. It's based on a novel so I'm guessing there were things that just couldn't be discussed openly in 1959, so the film hints at the darkness of the doctors past.

Filmed in my state! Washington, though filmed in eastern Washington which is geographically very different than where I live on the wetter, west side.

++




Not seen either, but I follow someone online who absolutely raves about Delmer Daves, regarding him as one of the greatest ever Western directors, so I've been wanting to check out his work including a revisit to 3:10 to Yuma.
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been a couple of years since watching Hombre, but, like CR, I did find the hostage/shoot out at the end pretty d@mn good.
With Support Your Local Sherriff, it's a fun ride and I've always enjoyed James Garner in this, The Rockford Files and, of course, as The Scrounger from The Great Escape. Jack Elam is the scene-stealer as the ex-shoveler of horse. . . well, used to water the horses.
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Have yet to watch Duck you Sucka or, The Hanging Tree and would like to attempt to rectify both of them.


Movies Watched 4 out of 14 (28.57%)
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I watched Hombre for this countdown, and it was a good movie that I listed as a "maybe" for my list, but ultimately it never quite made it onto my list.

I watched The Hanging Tree after reading a couple of good reviews of it by @Miss Vicky and @Citizen Rules, and I'm glad I did. It was a very good movie that was quickly added to my list. It ended up at #17 on my final list.


My list so far:
1) Oklahoma! (1955)
6) Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)
12) North to Alaska (1960)
17) The Hanging Tree (1959)
25) Incredible Rocky Mountain Race (TV Movie - 1977)
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After Man of the West narrowly missed the countdown at #101 director Anthony Mann officially enters the fray at #86 with The Naked Spur, the third of five Westerns he made starring Jimmy Stewart in the 1950s. This time out Stewart is a bounty hunter trying to bring in Robert Ryan for murder. He catches up with him in the wilds of the Colorado Rockies but he is forced to enlist the assistance of two strangers he’s not sure he can trust. Tension and action follow! The Big Gundown is generally considered one of the better Spaghetti Westerns not directed by Sergios Leone or Corbucci and is the first of many foreign-made oaters Lee Van Cleef starred in after Leone resurrected his career with For a Few Dollars More. Here he is a bounty hunter who winds up sympathizing with his prey. Van Cleef would star in about fifteen more Spaghettis over the next ten years! Some of them are pretty lame and forgettable, but this one is crackerjack.

The Naked Spur had five votes, its highest being a tenth place nod. The Big Gundown was only on three ballots but two of them were top ten votes: a third place and a ninth place.



Both The Naked Spur and The Big Gundown were on my countdown radar but sadly I got round to neither for this.

Seen: 8/16
My list:  

Faildictions (yee-haw version 1.01):
84. Terror In A Texas Town
83. Jeremiah Johnson



I recently watched The Big Gundown thanks to it being nominated for a HoF, I think Neiba nominated it. Based on how I narrowed down my list, I would've had it around #40.

I had to look up what I thought of The Naked Spur. I saw it in 2015 and thought it was decent. The pattern seems to be when I watch these acclaimed westerns again, I think much more highly of them. We all could use more time.



I've watched The Big Gundown quite recently. Considering its reputation I found it disappointing (though my 2/5 rating may have been a tad too harsh) and it was never in consideration for my ballot. Haven't seen the other one.

Seen 4(+2)/16

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Wait, Man of the West misses the countdown by one rank? It's like Near Dark not making the horror list all over again. At least The Naked Spur is a solid substitute.
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Wait, Man of the West misses the countdown by one rank? It's like Near Dark not making the horror list all over again. At least The Naked Spur is a solid substitute.
Yes, as detailed HERE there were four films with the same number of points vying for the bottom three spots on the Top 100. Man of the West is the one of the four that didn't make the cut. Had you put it anywhere on your own ballot, even at #25, it would have made the list.

Alas.