The MoFo Top 100 Westerns: Countdown

I didn't think Brokeback Mountain was eligible, despite the cowboy hats, or I'd definitely have voted for it (and not at #25). Never mind.

My #25 didn't show up on the 1-pointer list so at least one other person voted for it. Probably honeykid.

Somebody else had it as their two-pointer. A total of three points don't get you jack.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

There were a few movies I got votes for in the last day that were not eligible in the sense that the IMDb did not categorize them as such and they were never discussed as exceptions over the last six months in the other thread. But being that there was no time left to explain all that and see if they wanted to swap out for another title I just left them as unofficial write-ins.

When anyone used a title we had discussed and decided was ineligible I told them so and made them resubmit (I didn't keep a running tally of the points, but No Country for Old Men would have easily made the Top 100 just based on the number of people who initially still had it on their ballots). However, for these few outliers on the last day of voting, eh, I just left them be rather than argue the point. Brokeback Mountain is one of those. I suspect if we had put that title to a vote the collective likely would have deemed it ineligible, but since it never went through the process...whatever. It's one point.




Considering who one of the stars of that film is, that is an excellent assumption. You probably could have noodled that through ahead of time.

Thank you on all the love for the design. It's one of the fun aspects of running one of these lists, and probably the only thing that would draw me back to do another down the line (there were SIX years between the '70s and Westerns lists). Here are those pics I used in the first post as smaller buttons, so you can see them in fuller detail.

The poster I had been designing for months (like I started back in November), trying to cobble together another collage like the one I did for the MoFo Top 100 Movies of the 1970s List, just wasn't working for me. I wasn't ever satisfied by any version of it. And there were several nearly finished versions. I hit upon the idea of a stylized Monument Valley and a cleaner, more Pop Art-style graphic look on...Wednesday, I believe. Deadlines can sometimes force invention.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly will win. Sorry to spoil it for you, guys.

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Bad wording by me. I didn't expect many points

Gotta say, besides just how great the graphics look, I do appreciate that you're representing a pretty wide range of Western movies with these images. I spy Sharon Stone from The Quick and the Dead and I know how much you adore that movie.

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Thanks!

For anyone who doesn't recognize the others they are John Wayne in Rio Bravo, Warren Beatty in McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Glenn Ford in the original 3:10 to Yuma, and Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man. Plus Etta, Sundance, and Butch from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the pic next to the list of who voted back on the first page.

Woo-hoo! 24 points for that film... Which I won't name for obvious reasons. Although, maybe I'm wrong? Maybe there's another fan out there?

It's odd to see that Brokeback was a 1 pointer because many didn't think it was a western. Strangely, I decided against putting it on my list despite never questioning that it was a western.

Of the first four I've only seen Two Mules For Sister Mary, about which I remember nothing expect it bored me. I think I was about 15 or 16 and was probably expecting something more like The Outlaw Josey Wales as Clint was in it.

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Two Asses For Aunt Guinevere boring???
Madness.
You'll be saying Barney's Angels: Full Throttle is bloody marvellous next

Black '47 a western? Just because its a period piece, set during Ireland's An Gorta Mor, hard to say that is a western.

But if it is then there a lot of films set in the 19th century set outside of the 'Old West' that would qualify also, such as The Man From Snowy River or Robbery Under Arms, both set in Australia, or even something set in modern times, like Hell or High Water also?

Maybe the fault was mine for not thinking laterally enough.

Or reading the first page.

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While we never discussed Black '47 specifically and I've never seen it, yes Hell or High Water and The Man from Snowy River were both eligible (see THIS). Time will tell if either or both placed on the countdown, but modern-day and foreign-set films that used the same cinematic language, themes, plots, and archetypes as the traditional Western were eligible.

From Australia not only are The Man from Snowy River and Robbery Under Arms eligible but so were Quigley Down Under, The Proposition, Sweet Country, Red Hill, Baz Luhrmann's Australia, and both versions of Ned Kelly, among others.

Fair enough, my bad. In retrospect would have made a significant few alterations to the submitted list. Oh, and there are a lot more than 2 versions of Ned Kelly - indeed the very first feature film ever made was about the Kelly gang and there was yet another one released earlier this year. But would still argue against Black '47 as being a 'western', but guess that's the beauty of film, and the differences of opinion that it inspires so much discussion and debate.

Here are some of Roger Ebert's thoughts on Walter Hill's Geronimo: An American Legend...

This was my one pointer. It's a Robert Altman film, starring Paul Newman and Burt Lancaster (in a smaller role)!

It's one of Altman's lower ranked films, but I do think it has many of the qualities of Altman's more highly praised pictures. The film may be a bit too focused on the cynical world image that Altman is trying to communicate (sometimes elegantly, other times less so), but it's stil a fascinating overall experience. If you're usually a fan of Altman's work, I'd definitely recommend it.

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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

Slow West is one of several films that I watched on the recommendation of mark f. Although I didn't connect with the characters as strongly as I would've liked, I enjoyed the story and appreciated how complicated the characters were and how so little was black and white. That final shoot-out was really great, too. I had it at #18.

I haven't seen North to Alaska, but it's yet another John Wayne movie so I'll probably keep it that way.


My Ballot:
18. Slow West (#95)
25. In Pursuit of Honor (One-Pointers)

I wasn't a John Wayne fan before I started watching movies for this countdown, but I found a new respect for him after watching several of his movies. One of my favorites of his movies was North to Alaska (1960), which was #12 on my list. I have to admit that I really only watched this movie because I love the theme song sung by Johnny Horton, but I'm glad that I did because the movie turned out to be as good as the theme song. It's a fun, light movie that shows John Wayne's comedic side.

I haven't heard of Slow West.

My list so far:
12) North to Alaska (1960)
25) Incredible Rocky Mountain Race (TV Movie - 1977)

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