Best Cowboy Movies Ever Made
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I was just reading the Answers section of Hubpages, and I saw a question titled "Best cowboy movies of all time". So I began to answer it, when I realised that hey I could write a hub about it, so here I am.
Now the title is misleadig, because the word best is a matter of perspective. Best for me may mean worst for you. Nevertheless, I will try to present a list of Cowboy films which I have enjoyed watching time and time again over the years. Unlike the Top 10 Submarine movies hub, this one is in no particular order. There are so many movies, and so little to choose between them that I cannot decide how to order them. So here we begin,
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For a Few Dollars More (and the other two in the trilogy)
Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef star in Sergio Leone's classic Spaghetti Western. This was the second of the "Dollars Trilogy" movies, the others being A Fist Full of Dollar and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. Although it is overshadowed by the other two films, it is arguably much better than both. This film is worth watching just for the performance by Van Cleef.
Tombstone
This is a contemporary Western about the life of Wyatt Earp - focusing on his time as the Marshall of Tombstone, Arizona and the infamous gun fight at the O.K. Corral. Val Kilmer is outstanding as Doc Holliday, and Kurt Russell plays a fine lead.
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Shane
I think everyone would have this in their all-time great western movies list, I've yet to meet a person who disagrees. A classic tale of Good against Evil, the film follows Alan Ladd as a lonely gunfighter trying to escape his past and settle down. He is employed homesteader Van Heflin to work his plot, but trouble is not too far behind in the shape of Jack Palance, a gun fighter hired to menace the homesteader by a local rancher. The story is great and cinematography is breathtaking, especially as this film was made in the 1950's without the availability of modern techniques. A true work of art.
3:10 to Yuma
Christian Bale stars as a crippled rancher who is struggling to support his wife and children. He volunteers to help escort a vicious criminal, Russell Crowe, to the train that will take him to prison. This is a remake of the 50s classic starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, however the plot take a surprising twist.
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![The Raid [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519wsqfdCJL._SL75_.jpg) | Amazon Price: $34.99 |
The Raid
Another great Van Heflin film, I can't believe that Amazon only sell this on import. That is just incredible. The story follows a group of escapee confederate soldiers who infiltrate a town and plan a raid to open a new front of the American Civil War.
The Searchers
John Wayne stars in this John Ford classic western. Wayne returns to his brother's Texas ranch to find that his family has been massacred by Comanches. He sets out with his nephew to rescue his niece, who was taken by the Comanches, but after years of searching, he finds that she has assimilated with her captors.
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Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The infamous shootout has been the subject of multiple movies, here it stars Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Probably not the most historically accurate of accounts, this movie focuses on the friendship between Wyatt Earp (Lancaster) and Doc Holliday (Douglas). The great chemistry between the two actors makes this a thoroughly entertaining spectacle.
The Magnificent Seven
I put this one in just for the great soundtrack... only kidding. A remake of the Japanese classic The Seven Samurai (yep I've seen that too and it is worth a watch). the Magnificent Seven features a star studded cast including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn & Eli Wallach. Another timeless classic, that you can watch over and over again.
Well there you have it, here are a FEW of the best cowboy films. I could mention a lot more but I would be here all night writing this hub. I may in future write a part 2, but this is it for now. Thank you for reading.
You might also be interested in: Top 10 Submarine movies
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CommentsLoading...
Thanks - there are quite a few that I have missed out too though. This one was so hard to write as I like so many.
Good movies indeed heheh Palance and Eastwood are truly great actors of all time!
i think u forgot the broke back mountain..........heheheheh
Lol @ Bong. Technically that falls into the romance genre!
What was that one with the women in it? That was pretty good also. But yeah, you listed some real good ones! Excellent hub!
I think you a referring to Bad Girls, I've not actually seen that one.
You did put some great movies here. Haven't seen Shane yet, so I will check it out. My all time favorite is Lonesome Dove, also Buffalo Girls.
Namaste.
Deborah, Shane is a must see if you are into this Genre. Also, there are a couple of Audie Murphy films that should probably be in this list too, like 40 Guns to Apache Pass.
I am a great western fan and The Magnificent Seven, Shane, Lonesome Dove all have to be counted. The original, 3:10 To Yuma was very good. I think Val Kilmer portayed the best Doc Holiday ever.
Oh yes, what was the name of the one where Clint Eastwood helped the miners out against a big mining company?
Mquee, I have to agree. Pale Rider is the Clint Eastwood film.
Yes BeBrown, that's it. I have over 800 westerns in my movie collection, dating back to Lash LaRue and Hopalong Cassidy back in the black and white film era.
Hmmmm- Shane, I will have to check it out. I think I have seen it but that has been a long time ago. Thanks.
Hey, do you remember this one that was about gold in some canyons and there was so many together to go find it. In the process of looking there was this very small horse- so they wanted to catch it, because that alone to them was worth money also? And as they were chasing it there wasn't an earth quake but their echos set off some kind of vibe to create something like an avalanche? It was a western also-
Help with the name anyone?
Hi dugger62, you have me stumped. Thought I had seen just about every western there was.
mquee- yeah, I know it is a western- and they are all looking for gold and a woman was along- well when they started chasing the tiny horse- the sound of the horses hooves (if I remember right) set off them sand canyons- and they had to give up looking for the gold because every thing started falling as they raced out of the canyons - at the end there was gold dust laying all around - Darn it, I want to know the name of that movie
Young Guns! one of my favorite all time, especially the first one. Also unforgiven is highly recommended.
I watched tombstone 3 times, I love Doc character.
Great hub
I agree on some of them...nice hub with future possibilities.
Hi duggers62...is it 'MACKENAZ GOLD' I suppose. pardon me the spelling there pardoner.
zotophe, you may have it right! I am going to go check it out and let you know. Thank you so much. I really loved that one.
I am a big John Wayne fan ever sense I was a little boy. my grandpa was tall and carried himself much like john Wayne did.
Nice hub thanks for writing it.
All good movies, characterized by great actors. My personal list would also include "Red River," "Drums Along the Mohawk," "High Noon" and Bing Crosby's "Rhythm on the Range."
Great report on the Western genre. I was not a fan of them growing up, but I'm partial to the Clint Eastwood trilogy. The Duke, however is still the Oscar winner.
THE PROFESSIONALS-one of the best out there. SILVERADO is good Even though I'm not a big fan of 'The Duke' his movies (THE SEARCHERS, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON) were ok. The dynamic between John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara...'True Grit' what his only oscar winner, but I liked the new one with Jeff Bridges better! THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!
I thought "The Fastest Gun Alive" with Glenn Ford might have got a mention.
Some of your choices are the "neat and clean" "just shaved this morning" "Modern guy guy dressed up as a cowboy" type movie. I would like to see some mention of the real gritty westerns that I love.....
The Outlaw Josey Wales,(Eastwood)
Open Range (Duval , Costner)
High Plain Drifter (Eastwood)
Alan/Dave/teamrn - fair comments. I chose films that I thought were good allround... my personal favourites are mostly Audie Murphy films, but this is purely because I like him.. I could not justify putting any of them in this list.
the good bad and the ugly mention that too,
I would have to agree with you that one.
More classic westerns
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corisong1 2 years ago
You got some goodies in there! xxxxx :-)