The MoFo Top 100 Westerns: Countdown

I'm going through reading some of these older posts I didn't originally read in looking at, revising, tweaking just a bit as I go, and finalizing my top 100 films of all time list and The Big Country is on it with about a dozen or so other westerns, as it's my go-to genre. I love the film so much and have since I first saw it on TV when I was a sophomore in high school. As far as the The Big Country's reputation and place among westerns goes, you're right that it isn't as well recognized among film buffs as say High Noon, The Searchers, or even Shane of the great 1950's westerns. Not nearly as recognized among either those just getting into classic cinema or those who have been critics and aficionados for years.

You're right too in that the supporting cast is what really sells the film, and while I agree they archetypes - to a point, what sets them a part is that they each have their own character arch, small little backstories, and either grow or regress throughout the film. Also William Wyler, for some reason, outside of his heyday never really became a big name director the likes of Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, or even a Howard Hawks has despite making both huge and intimate pictures. He's just not one of those directors that film aficionados like to go down his filmography and thoroughly watch his films and debate over what his masterpiece is and study his style and quirks the way we do with other directors of that period (40's and 50's). In addition to The Big Country, which is my favorite Wilder film, I also love The Westerner (despite not being a big Cary Cooper fan), The Children's Hour, Detective Story, Roman Holiday, and the very VERY underseen and under appreciated The Heiress.

I just truly don't understand for a director with at least a dozen good to great films under his belt, how his name didn't survive over the decades in the film nerd crowd the way the previously named directors have.

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Top 100 Films, clicky below

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16 The Big Trail 1930
15 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949
14 True Grit 2010
13 West World 1973
12 City Slickers 1991
11 A Fistful of Dollars 1964
10 One Eyed Jacks 1961
9 3:10 to Yuma 1957
8 Django Unchained 2012
7 There Will be Blood 2007
6 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
5 Once Upon a Time in the West 1968
4 My Darling Clementine 1946
3 For a Few Dollars More 1965
2 Rio Bravo 1959
1 McCabe and Mrs Miller 1971

Love all three of those and they're toward the top of my list as well. I also prefer For a Few Dollars More over The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

How the hell did the Hateful 8 rate so highly?

I saw it and it was alright. Very well made. Movies that only have terrible people as characters don't really appeal to me, and there's Tarantino's usual misogyny (in his later movies at least), but I still think it's a worthwhile movie.

But #11?! That's about 60-70 places too high.

Because it's a great movie. My only real complaint about its placement is that it ranked higher than Django Unchained (if only just) which is IMO the better Tarantino Western. I had both in the top ten of my ballot.

Of course, I would've liked to see some of the movies I ranked higher than them have better placement, but c'est la vie.

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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