The Top 10 Westerns | Christmas Special with Pete Espil! 

Great list fellas. Tombstone will forever by my #1. I’m surprised no one brought up Silverado.

The thing is western was big on TV in the 50' and 60' even 70' with "The little house on the Prairie".

I never really was into Westerns but am aware they influenced Star Wars media and literature including A New Hope and The Mandalorian. Thanks for this video.

The Searchers used to be favourite but The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has surpassed it. Wayne’s character Tom Doniphon shoots Valance saving Ransom Stoddard because of his love for Hallie. He does this knowing he will lose her and everything he’d hoped for. He never gains any glory or reward for this becoming a drunkard and dying a pauper. He shows the true meaning of self sacrifice but the story does not hide the cost of this decision. The other movie you failed to mention which is in my favourite list is The Three Godfathers. Once again this is about self sacrifice. The three robbers commit to taking a newborn to safety knowing it may cost them their lives. A moving moment is when Harry Carey Jr breaks off the heals of his boots so he can walk easier in the sand stating he won’t be needing those boots again as he knew he would die on the journey. A beautiful movie with a strong Christian message hinting God was leading them on their journey through the fluttering pages of the bible they carried.

Off topic I loved your video on Sophie Scholl and the film about her. Another amazing film set in France during the Nazi occupation is Louis Malle’s Au revoir les enfants. Set in a French Catholic boarding school the film is seen from the perspective of a young boy who befriends a Jewish boy in hiding. It’s remarkably profound. The ending scene will never leave you. Again it’s not overtly devastating. The film never takes us into the hell of a concentration camp but it doesn’t need to. The score is also beautiful. Highly recommend.

My no1 is "Once upon a time in the west". In my top 10: The good, the bad and the ugly, The hateful 8, Dancing with wolves, Death rides a horse.

Don't know if it's classed as a western but recently watched "Power of the Dog"... would literally cure insomnia.

oh yeah! Marty Robbins! Mr. Shorty is my favorite

I hear the new western OLD HENRY is good, it's definitely on my watchlist.

Did I miss a mention of Open Range? It is my number 1. True Grit (remake) is my number 2. Side note: Taylor Sheridan's 1883 appears promising and is worth a watch.

I'll chuck 3 in the mix. The good the bad and the ugly, mag7 & butch casidy and the sundance kid. Personal favourites of mine

Of the more recent, modern Westerns, I'm partial to '3:10 to Yuma', 'Unforgiven', 'True Grit', 'Tombstone', and 'Appoloosa'. I can't pick a favourite from among them, as the stories were so different and the casts were sublime. Honourable mention to 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford', which was..... different. Christian Bale, Clint Eastwood, Ed Harris, Gene Hackman, Jeremy Irons, Viggo Mortenson, Josh Brolin, Morgan Freeman, Russell Crowe, Kurt Russell, Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, and even Ben Foster were all amazing!! Sergio Leone would've been proud.

Where have you been?

God bless Pete for giving an honorable mention to both Man From Snowy River and Thunderbolt & Lightfoot. But I don’t think Brendan likes Westerns. Almost all of his choices are post 2000 releases and many were just pseudo Westerns. I get it, you like Taylor Sheridan. So do I! But his movies are not Westerns. And then he gave honorable mentions to the Wolverine and Logan? There are so many other true Westerns to talk about before you get to those. But I am intrigued by the German Western that made your top ten, even though it seemed to make Pete yawn. It was a good conversation anyway. Lots of unexpected choices.