This is for Scott and anybody else who like their westerns authentic, including "Tombstone." That may not be the best portrayal of the events that occurred, that would probably be John Ford's "My Darling Clementine," but it is probably the most authentic portrayal of the events that occurred, as chosen by the editors of "True West" magazine. And here are 40 of the more authentic film Westerns as chosen by the editors of the magazine. In order by the year of the release.
1903 The Great Train Robbery
1914 The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws
1930 The Big Trail
1931 Cimarron
1935 Annie Oakley
1939 Stagecoach
1939 Union Pacific
1940 Arizona
1943 The Ox-Bow Incident
1948 Fort Apache
1948 The Treasure of Sierra Madre
1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
1952 The Big Sky
1956 The Searchers
1956 The Last Hunt
1960 Sergeant Rutledge
1961 One-Eyed Jacks
1962 How the West Was Won
1966 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
1967 Will Penny
1968 The Stalking Moon
1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969 Paint Your Wagon
1969 The Wild Bunch
1970 Little Big Man
1970 Monte Walsh (also the 2003 version)
1971 The Hired Hand
1972 The Culpepper Cattle Company
1972 Jeremiah Johnson
1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales
1979 Heartland
1980 Heaven's Gate
1980 Tom Horn
1982 The Grey Fox
1985 Silverado
1989 Lonesome Dove
1999 Ride with the Devil
2003 Open Range
If I added one film to this list, it would be the theatrical version of "The Lone Ranger" w/ Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, which, for a B-western, had the look of authenticity to it.
And notice that while Clint Eastwood's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is included. His Oscar winning "The Unforgiven," is not.
Until next week and "The 10 Most Authentic Westerns" of all time as chosen by the editors of "True West" magazine.
I think you left out the most authentic and least romanticised western. Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven.
John Wayne's The Cowboys is also a great one. It was a pretty daring movie and was a little controversial because John Wayne is killed in a very cruel way by Bruce Dern and then the cowboys (all 15 and under) hunt down Dern's gang to take revenge and get the cattle back. It was realistic because a lot of cowboys were just that boys.
It seemed like a lot of the more traditional fans didn't like UNFORGIVEN. I remember renting it and someone at the video store told me that I might be disappointed by it.
Nice list BoyScoutKevin. Here are the ones I haven't seen yet. Any thoughts on them?
1914 The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws
1930 The Big Trail
1935 Annie Oakley
1939 Union Pacific
1940 Arizona
1943 The Ox-Bow Incident (Been wanting to see this one)
1952 The Big Sky
1956 The Last Hunt
1960 Sergeant Rutledge
1969 Paint Your Wagon
1970 Monte Walsh
1979 Heartland
1980 Heaven's Gate
1982 The Grey Fox
1989 Lonesome Dove
By the way Encore Western Channel will be showing three Speghetti Westerns this month.
SABATA (haven't see the original yet)
RETURN OF SABATA
ADIOS SABATA
TOM HORN is on my "movies that aren't really good, but I like them for some reason" list. I think they tried to compress too much into 90 minutes. This should have been about 2 1/2 hours long.
There was a TV movie called MR. HORN starring David Carradine. I haven't seen it, but I believe it is a 2 part mini-series. My guess is that they included a lot of details that were left out of TOM HORN.
"Mr. Horn" is decent, but feels padded since it tries to cover more of Horn's life rather than just the events surrounding his trial and execution. When TBS was still a decent station they used to show the 4-hour miniseries as a long film.
Richard Widmark plays scout and Horn mentor Al Seiber, the same character played by Robert Duvall in 1993's "Geronimo". A shame they left Horn out of that film as a character since he was the one who really negociated Geronimo's surrender, not some cavalry officer like the one played by Jason Patric. The scouts were the ones who had a regular involvement and bond with the Indian scouts and tribal police forces as well as the the Indians on the reservation.
From what I've read, neither film gets the history of events right, but "Tom Horn" is closer to what happens. The truth of Horn's case is probably less romantic than either film made it out to be. And the teacher Horn was involved with should have been a dark haired Hawaiian, not Linda Evans. I saw a picture of the real woman in a book that covered Horn's trial (with many pages of court transcripts) and the events at the end of his life. Definitely Polynesian looking.
Getting back to the authentic Westerns list, seems strange they would leave off 1976's "The Missouri Breaks" or 1972's "Bad Company". Both rang fairly true to me.
The Missouri Breaks is a good one. Brando is the greatest.
Another one is True Grit. I can watch that movie over and over, I love their manner of speaking and this is one of John Wayne's better films.
One of the best scenes, Rooster serves a writ to a rat.
Yea, I liked both TRUE GRIT and THE COWBOYS. Another good Wayne film that I seen recently was ANGEL AND THE BADMAN.
As for, haven't seen them neither, and can't talk about them.
1914 The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws
1935 Annie Oakley
1940 Arizona
1970 Monte Walsh
1980 Heaven's Gate
1989 Lonesome Dove
Have seen and enjoyed . . . Take that for what it's worth.
1930 The Big Trail
1930 Union Pacific
1943 The Ox-Bow Incident
1952 The Big Sky
1956 The Last Hunt
1960 Sergeant Rutledge
1979 Heartland
1982 The Grey Fox
On that list the only I have seen and not enjoyed was 1969's "Paint Your Wagon," though I did enjoy the music and the climatic ending.
"Bad Company" that was chosen by the editors of "True West" magazine as being one of the 10 most authentic westerns of all time. That list will be upcoming.
As for "The Unforgiven," while I not seen it in its entirity, I have my own ideas as to why it may not have been included. Though, in the end, while the opinions of the editors of "True West" magazine may be more knowledgable then some, opinions are only opinions, they are not facts.
No mention of 1974's "The Spike's Gang" on either list? Not a great movie, but the period details seemed above average to my untrained eye.
Would you have these movies for sale and also would you have the Desperato's Series starring Alex McArthur??? and the Monte Walsh is that the one with Lee Marvin??? and if so how much are they ??? I do have a debit card so am wondering the cost and so forth ??? Thanks
Would you have these movies for sale and also would you have the Desperato's Series starring Alex McArthur??? and the Monte Walsh is that the one with Lee Marvin??? and if so how much are they ??? I do have a debit card so am wondering the cost and so forth ??? Thanks
I am sorry, but, I do not have any of these for sale, but, if you go to www.imdb.com, then you should be able to easily check on the availabilty of any of these films in vhs and/or dvd from www.amazon.com.
Yes, the "Monte Walsh" is the one with Lee Marvin. Though, the later version with Tom Selleck, I believe, is also highly recommended for its historical accuracy.