The last film co-starring Western icon Randolph Scott. While Peckinpah directed much better Westerns (The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid), Scott was better served in the pictures directed by fellow auteur Bud Boetticher known as The Ranown Westerns. No studio was involved in the filming of these classics, the artists themselves controlled all aspects of these pictures.
Personally, I've never much liked McCabe & Mrs. Miller and would substitute The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. And Eastwood's The Outlaw Josey Wales deserved to be on this list instead of his Unforgiven, which isn't nearly as good at all. Stagecoach, Shane, Butch Cassidy, The Wild Bunch, High Noon, The Searchers, all deserve to be on this list, yep. I like Cat Ballou but I wouldn't include it here; instead, Ride the High Country.
A pretty interesting and diverse list. Cat Ballou is an interesting choice. I probably would have put Liberty Valance in there but Kid Shelleen just cracks me up whenever I see that movie.
"Cat Ballou" is not a top 10 Western. An educated alternative list ranked best first: "The Searchers", "Rio Bravo", "Once Upon a Time In the West", "The Wild Bunch", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "My Darling Clementine" (Western Film-Noir), "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "Stagecoach", "Johnny Guitar" (Western Film-Noir), "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", "Red River", "The Treasure Of Sierra Madre" (Western Film-Noir), "Unforgiven" (Western Neo-Noir), "Heaven's Gate" (directed by the unfairly maligned Michael Cimino, the picture now recognized as a masterpiece), "Wagon Master", "High Noon" (Western Film-Noir), "Shane".
@@MarkRoberts-bj2meRio Bravo a top 10 western OF ALL TIME??? It’s a good movie but it’s not even in the same galaxy as The Searchers, Unforgiven, Stagecoach, etc.
yes, definitely MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, my second favorite, behind ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and just ahead of HIGH NOON. Interesting that both Dwight Eisenhower and Ronad Reagan liked HIGH NOON. as John Wayne criticized the film, though he accepted the academy award for Gary Cooper.
It may belong here, but you're right. It was in fact an anti-hero version of the Western genre. I've seen it only once when it was in first release as a double feature with MASH. Not as strange a combination as you might first think.
Totally disagree. McCabe does a better job of depicting the harsh conditions of the West-the snowstorms and mud and horseshit in the streets-than any other Western I can think of. Also, the entrepreneurship of constructing entirely new towns and societies out of nothing. It IS unlike most of the other Westerns on this list, but to my mind, that’s a good thing and what makes it so distinctive. The only other film that is like it is Unforgiven, and that’s great as well.
I couldn't agree more. The Magnificent Seven was and still remains my favourite western of all time. With a great story line, superb cast and legendary theme music it is a true classic.
to myself The Outlaw Josey Wales is far Better than the Unforgiven it`s Clint`s best work as a Director but they both knock McCabe & Mrs Miller off the list in my own Opinion...
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, and The Outlaw Josey Wales should be up there over Cat Ballou and M & M. Also gotta give props to Kevin Costner's two great westerns, Dances with Wolves and Open Range.
I agree 💯 percent, Josey Wales was and still is a classic in my book. Imo I would of thrown Silverado in there too. I believe that was one of Kevin Costner's first westerns but I could be wrong .
Brian Jones, I could not agree with you more!! The Outlaw Josey Wales far outranks Unforgiven as a western. It's a "Back Shootin Crime" that this classic is off the list. As is the western that revolutionized the genre. The immortal "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Sergio Leone introduced tight camera shots and real life portrayals of old western figures as they really were. And how they really looked!! Not the packaged, Hollywood, perfectly groomed gunfighter. Both High Noon and the fabulous Shane outrank The Searchers in my opinion. John Wayne and John Fords tainted collaboration demonizes the American Indian in a fashion only the true racist could glorify or enjoy. Wayne's attempt to storm the stage when Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather appeared at the 1973 Academy Awards is typical of this backwoods Bigot. Unable to disassociate his cardboard cutout image from real life America and its problems. Josey Wales was groundbreaking in that it was the first western to identify with the plight of Native Americans. Not exploit and dehumanize them. Here is my top five. Shane, High Noon, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. If you want to find The Searchers, keep searching. Probably the most unapologetically racist film since Birth of a Nation.
I agree an interesting list but give honorable mentions to a newer western, Open Range with Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, and Annette Benning also The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. One last thought, Jeremiah Johnson
In my opinion, Butch Cassidy would have been a better western if the climax of the film had shown the two protagonists being shot to pieces and left lying dead in the dust. By not showing such an ending, the film refused to face the consequences of all the previous actions in the story. @@warrenbates2949
Let's be fair, virtually all the spaghetti westerns fail this list with the horrible over dupes they employed. They may have had other great values, but that alone skips them down the list of great movies enough to miss this list.
Well, unfortunately. The Good The Bad And The Ugly wouldn't have qualified for the AFI list due to the fact it is an foreign film from Italy that was distributed in the United States three years after its first initial release in Europe. However, you'll be happy to know that in 2005, Time Magazine released a list known as the All-Time 100 Movies, which is basically a compilation of motion pictures considered the best and was selected by the magazine's own longtime film critics Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss. Four Westerns made the list. They were= • The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly • Once Upon A Time In The West • The Searchers • Unforgiven
Although not a movie, I would say Lonesome Dove is the best Western I have ever seen. Also, in the rating of films, I say the “best” are my “favorites,” and my favorites are the ones I watch again most every year. There are some highly acclaimed movies I agree are very good, but not always ones I’d care to view again.
Pretty good list .A few of my favourites not mentioned by anyone are Hour of The Gun ,The Long Riders ,Sergeant Rutledge and The Professionals . Great movies.
@@brutus4013 BTW....One of my favorite scenes in the Long Riders is where Cole is about to knife fight Sam Starr and he says to him, " Glad I caught you in a good mood "...............
@@TS-wh4ey Great and unique movie all round because of its casting of actual brothers for the James's ,Younger's ,Millers and Fords . No other movie like it before or since.
Thought the Magnificent Seven might have got a run. I can remember when it finally got shown on TV after decades. It was a huge deal everyone watched it. So many stars. Did you leave it out because it wasn’t an original story?
The Westerner Shane The Searchers Red River Man who Shot Libert Valance The Wild Bunch The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Stagecoach Outlaw Josie Wales Ride the High Country (In no particular order)
Interesting pick from AFI. I'd love to see a top ten list of best westerns according to public popularity. Still Shane is my favorite western movie, glad it made the list. Good job my friend. 👍
Ask and ye shall receive: 10 Best Westerns ranked according to IMDB: 1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 2. Django Unchained 3. Once Upon a Time in the West 4. Unforgiven 5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance 6. High Noon 7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 8. The Wild Bunch 9. Tombstone 10. The Outlaw Josey Wales
@@bravehome4276 Pretty bad list there IMHO. Looks like they are pretty much just picking Westerns made after 1960. Any list without Stagecoach, Shane or The Searchers is just a joke. IMDB has always been a joke.
@@MrRondonmonThis list is not a critics list, it is a list of those films voted for by viewers on IMDB. And I agree, the most common voters on IMDB are too young to appreciate the 30s/40s films. However, it is (as per OP) a publicly popular list, since us old fogeys who enjoy the 30s/40s movies are scarce these days....
In no order The Searchers The Wild Bunch Shane Once Upon A Time In The West High Noon Stage Coach Liberty Vallance The Good The Bad &The Ugly How The West Was Won Unforgiven
@@denroy3 McCabe and Mrs Miller was indeed a Western, a very good one at that. Some call it revisionist because the hero isn’t impeccable and doesn’t get the girl, or even survive in the end. It was beautifully shot and Robert Altman captured the zeitgeist of the times.
Once Upon A Time In The West was a Paramount Picture so it was actually an American film. But if you want to drop it, you can add Ride The High Country or The Man Who Shot Liberty valance instead
Best sports films? I like Caddyshack, and My personal favorite is Rocky IV but I know it does not qualify. So here goes; Rocky, Champion, 8 Men Out, Pride of The Yankees, Hoosiers, One On One, Rudy, City of Conquest, Raging Bull and Knute Rockne All American. For a superior comedy film to Caddyshack: Slap Shot.
Stagecoach (1939) created the western genre, which had been two reeler B movie fare. The Wild Bunch (1969) reinterpreted the western. Both are masterpieces
Ride the High Country (1962) is one of the best in my view. Sam Peckinpah’s direction is less mannered than in the Wild Bunch. My Darling Clementine (1946), The Gunfighter (1950), Winchester ‘73 (1950), and Lonely Are the Brave (1962) are excellent too.
Great list. Cat Ballou could easily be replaced by Once Upon a Time in the West or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Were they left off because they weren't 'American" productions?
I consider somewhere around 1965 as a dividing line for westerns, and really, cinema in general changed, going for more a realistic feel. After 1965 there were the Clint Eastwood westerns. I consider The _Outlaw Josey Wales_ to be a very good western. _Tombstone_ could be on that list. Pre-1965 I would put on the list _My Darling Clementine_ . I would have to include _The Magnificent Seven_ , too. Those two movies would replace _Cat Ballou_ and _McCabe and Mrs. Miller_ .
The two masterpieces that stand apart from the rest are Stagecoach and The Wild Bunch. Stagecoach elevated the western genre from two reel B movies. Thirty years later, in The Wild Bunch, Sam Pekinpah reinvented the genre.
I love ‘The Wild Bunch’, a great movie, but the person who really reinvented the genre is Sergio Leone and his Dollar Trilogy (even if for obvious reasons it can't be in this ranking).
Limited to American-made westerns, the AFI list is still puzzling to me: Cat Ballou? McCabe and Mrs. Miller? High Noon? No. The Outlaw Josie Wales, The Big Country, Ride the High Country, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance . . . There are so many! Going beyond American-only westerns, I'd put Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good the Bad and the Ugly at or near the #1 position.
Stagecoach Red River Shane High Noon The Searchers Ride the High County The Big Country Once Upon a Time in the West Outlaw Josey Wales And wait for it Open Range Just my two cents. Close Unforgiven Rio Lobo The Big Trail Tombstone Wyatt Earp Death of a Gun Fighter Duel in the Sun (aka Lust in the Dust) The Naked Spur Blood on the Moon Butch Cassidy is a buddy movie that just happens to take place in the west.
Observing your list and quite familiar with them all, I noticed 'Death Of A Gunfighter' you listed. That's a great Richard Widmark film. He was headliner in several great westerns, including 'Backlash', which I also thought was a very entertaining western.
Not many of my personal favourites there. I’d go for … X) Tom Horn 9) High Noon 8) High Plains Drifter 7) Unforgiven 6) The Good the Bad & the Ugly 5) Once Upon a Time in the West 4) Two Mules for Sister Sara 3) Jeremiah Johnson 2) The Big Country 1) The Outlaw Josey Wales
Very good collection n selection AFI.No Spaghetti movies are included!Some great westerns are omitted such My Darling Clementine,Oxbow Incident,Man who shot Liberty Vallance,Big Country,Yellow Sky,Vera Cruz n Megnificent Seven.
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 2. High Noon 3. Once upon a time in the West 4. The Great Silence 5. There will be blood 6. For a few dollars more 7. Unforgiven 8. The Searchers 9. The Hateful 8 10. The Magnificent Seven HM: Wild Bunch, Fistful of Dollars and Bone Tomahawk
It’s good to see The Searchers ranked so highly as this is the best collaboration between John Ford and John Wayne, and Wayne should have got an Oscar for his performance. In my mind, however, The Wild Bunch will always be the greatest Western ever made. Of the ten here I would remove Cat Balou, McCabe and Mrs Miller and butch Cassidy, which was more a buddy buddy comedy than a Western. I would replace those with Once Upon a Time in the West, Ulzana’s Raid and Tombstone. Like many others I would also swap Unforgiven for the far superior, The Outlaw Josey Wales. That said, I believe we could discuss, debate and argue for years and years as there are so many good Westerns.
Flame of the Barbary Coast Open Range The Magnificent Seven The Quick and the Dead Hallelujah Trail Silverado Red River Rio Grande The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
Only two are great Westerns in my view, Shane and High Noon. My list includes Hombre, Westward the Woman, Wagon Master, Magnificent Seven, The Devil’s Doorway, Rawhide ( Tyrone Power), Ride the Highway Country, The Appaloosa-Brando) The B Westerns are excellent especially Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, George O’Brien and Tim Holt.
Magnificent Seven oddly missing. 3:10 to Yuma, both are excellent. Open Range is becoming a favorite in the details, Never liked Unforgiven, prefer Josey Wells. Windwalker of 1980 Indigenous friendly western of sorts. Like Dance with Wolves.
Y does everyone forget the Sergio Leone film A Fistfull of Dynamite it comes a very close 2nd or 3rd behind Once upon a time in the west&The good the bad the ugly
I don’t know if they are any better than anything on this list but my (very) personal list would include the magnificent seven (the og of course) man who shot liberty valance and good, bad and ugly. Well, they are better than cat ballou even though it is pretty good
1. Lonesome Dove. 2. Stagecoach. (1939) 3. Shane. 4. The Magnificent Seven. 5. Will Penny. 6. The Outlaw Josey Wales. 7. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. 8. Jeremiah Johnson. 9. Tombstone. 10. High Noon.
Nope, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Jeremiah Johnson, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Last of the Mohicans, Once upon a time in the west, Good Bad and the Ugly all must be on the list
I would put John Wayne's "The Shootist" on my list. Wayne's last movie (about a gunman dying of cancer). Great opening sequence showing Wayne from some of his earlier Westerns and a great cast.
As a favorite I got Glenn Ford in 'The Fastest Gun Alive'. Iconic western movie and Ford was truly recognized as Hollywoods real life gunfighter. He possessed the quick draw skill that earned him that recognition.
As a huge fan of westerns This is at Best an inadequate list. I agree with 6 movies on this list regarding the 10 best Westerns ever. However, AFI needs to do a better job. There should be at least a top 20 or top 25 best westerns list. The list neglected 3 classics from the great Sergio Leone, Fist full of dollars 1964, The Good, the bad, the Ugly 1967 and Once upon of the time in the west 1968. Two fantastic Kirk Douglas movies Last train from Gunhill 1957 and Gun fight at OK Corral 1958. The best western made in the 1960s, The professionals 1965. Of course Blazing Saddles 1973 and Pat Garrett and Billy the kid 1973. John Wayne’s best performance ever in The Shootist 1976 along with Who shot Liberty Valance 1962. Silverado 1986 and Dances with Wolves 1990. Outlaw Josey Wales 1976. The most important omission on the AFI list is ‘The Magnificent Seven’ 1960. How can you have any list about westerns and this movie not be included in it???!!!!!
At least they didn't have a bunch of spaghetti westerns but they forgot The Unforgiven with Burt Lancaster, Tombstone, Ride the High Country and probably a half a dozen better westerns than Cat Ballou and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. At least that got number one right.
Why was John Wayne mentioned whenever his movies came up but none of the other leading actors except one were mentioned... thanks for including clips...
I watched "High Noon". Was it worth watching? Yes, once, just once. It's not an American film but, "Once Upon A Time in the West"; great movie; beats all of these westerns by a wide margin; music score, cinematography, writing, plots; it has it all.
I will not argue with this list. I like every movie on it. My very personal lists has four of these movies in my top 50: 1. McCabe and Mrs Miller, 5. The Wild Bunch, 7. High Noon, 16. Shane.
I can't believe there's no Once Upon a time in the West, Sergio Leone's Masterpiece would be my No1. Ennio Morricone's Soundtrack alone puts it in the top 5. I like the way you've gone way back to the 40s and 50s but you probably need a Top 20 with Ford's Cavalry Trilogy and what about the Directors Cut of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Plus Dances with Wolves and Soldier Blue are Western's...
As a lifetime lover of cinema, & the Western in particular, I'll say straight out , THE #1, best western ever made, was Sam Peckinpah's, " The Wild Bunch " . Period ! 6 Classic actors : William Holden-----Ernest Borgnine------Robert Ryan in his final role-------Edmund O'Brien-------Warren Oates & Ben Johnson. This film is a masterpiece from opening to end. The theme of loyalty among man, & the closing of the old west are classic. ----------MJL, 77 y/o
I agree 100 percent with the AFI list. One other list did not even have Shane or High Noon in the top 10 which instantly made it not serious. I would only add honorable mentions with Silverado, Cowboy, The Cowboys, 310 to Yuma, True Grit, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, and Blazing Saddles.
I feel The Good The Bad and The Ugly is a fantastic film bit it does not deserve to be on the list because it's Italian. THe AFI stands for The American Film Institute
IMO, "Cat Ballou" (I like the movie a lot) and "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" would be replaced by "The Big Country" and either "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" or "Rio Bravo". Special mentions "How the West Was Won" and "The Magnificent Seven".
Peckinpahs pat garrett and Billy the kid,leones the good the bad and the ugly and clints the outlaw josey Wales should definitely be in there ,also the professionals ,the 1966 burt lancaster western...
Agree with Snane, Stagecoach, High noon on this list. I suppose THE AFI limited it to Amercan films, I accually prefer RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY to WILD BUNCH.
Thought the list very interesting. Cat Ballou, that choice made me smile. A good choice to round out your list, including a comedy. Lee Marvin could do it all. People who say, You should have put in X instead of Y are tiresome. They should just give their top ten lists instead. God people, it's personal, after all.
One eyed jack, starring Marlon Brando, who also Directed is an outstanding western,also a western,, called Ambush,, starring Robert Taylor,, fantastic western.
Rio Bravo (1959) The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) I think these should have been on AFI's 10 Best Westerns list.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in West, Unforgiven, The Wild Bunch, Dances with the Wolves, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid are in my top 10.
I believe AFI stands for American Film Institute which is why Spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone aren't listed. If Western comedy deserves to be on the list Blazing Saddles is the no-brainer choice not Cat Ballou. I'd also have The Outlaw Josey Wales & High Plains Drifter on list & take off McCabe & Mrs. Miller & one of the John Wayne movies. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance & Silverado are excellent.
