My Top in 10 Alphabetical Order

Finally, here it is... my top-10 westerns list. Now is your chance to agree or disagree. I did peruse, after creating my list, the miriad best-of lists of the internet--some of my titles appear on those lists... some of them don't. These are my favorites, for what that is worth. What are yours? 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) – An otherwise disparate collection of tales bonded together by the Coen brothers' signature blend of dark drama and gallows (literally) humor. Each slightly off-balance story is a mini masterpiece to be smiled at, cried after, applauded, and pondered on. Skillfully paced and perfectly cast, the six-part catalogue is themed with the icons of the western genre: the gunslinger, the hangman’s noose, the traveling showman, the prospector, the covered wagon, and the stagecoach. Meticulous detail and expert story telling. Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen, Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Brendan Gleason, Soe Kazan, Liam Neeson 

 

The Hateful Eight (2015) – Quentin freaking Tarantino and Kurt Russel in a western is a perfect best-of-list combo. You are compelled to watch each inch of every scene and every expression from each character. It’s slow chaos in a single stagecoach and a single room. Eight dubious strangers taking refuge from the snow at Minnie’s Haberdashery. Back stories, motives, and secrets our revealed and twisted toward an insane end. Deliberate yet riveting even with its three-hour run—only Tarantino can pull such a thing off. “When you get to hell John, tell ‘em Daisey sent you”. Director: Quentin Tarantino, Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russel, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Hell or High Water (2016) – The only “neo”-western on the list. A tale of brothers who have undertaken a high-risk gamble and the steady persistence of those who are charged with making them pay. A sort of Robin Hood/cat-and-mouse crime drama where it’s never clear which side is, or should, be winning. Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Jeff Bridges are stellar in this sorting of morality, loyalty, right and wrong and everything in between. A film that when it ends, you know you’ve seen something special. Directed: David Mackenzie, Cast: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges. 

High Plains Drifter (1973) – An odd and special film. A mysterious stranger appears in a mining town that has recently conspired to murder their own sheriff out of greed and then framed their hired killers. When the killers are released from prison and return seeking revenge, the townsfolk look to the unnamed stranger to defend them. High Plains Drifter is a dry and dusty allegory—part revenge western, part comic-strip ghost story. Violent, quirky, sardonic, with a meaning that remains inexplicit even as the stranger rides off into the desert heat. Director: Clint Eastwood, Cast: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) – If this list were ranked (which it is not), Outlaw Josey Wales would be number one. Eastwood directs and stars as Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer during the Civil War who loses his family and farm to a marauding gang of Union “Red Legs”.  The rest is a grand journey from rage to redemption. Chief Dan George chips in as an unforgettable member of the rag-tag crew Wales accumulates along the way.  My favorite western—a skillfully assembled balance of adventure and heart surrounded by the iconic mystique of the gunslinger. Director: Clint Eastwood, Cast: Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sandra Locke.

The Revenant (2015) - "I aint afraid to die anymore, I done it already." This harsh and beautiful telling of frontiersman Hugh Glass's guiding of a crew of trappers through the present-day Dakotas in 1823 is a visual and dramatic masterpiece. A pounding mashup of spirituality, primal instinct, and humanity. It’s just a beautifully constructed film with imperial performances from Di Caprio and Tom Hardy. Director: Alejandro Inarritu, Cast: Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Hardy

The Rider (2018) – The sleeper… and a truly remarkable film. Director Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) tells a story, using a cast of non-professional Lakota actors, of a rodeo rider struggling to come to terms with the end of his passion. The result is a translation of life that is sensitive, honest, mournful, beautifully sparse, and hugely tender. The South Dakota plains stretch out for ever. You can feel the dust and the pain and the hope of the environment and its people. An unforgettable film. Director: Chloe Zhao, Cast: Brady Jandreau 

3:10 to Yuma (2007) – Many “best-western” films lists include the 1957-original 3:10 to Yuma starring Glenn Ford. None of the lists I have seen include this 2007, James Mangold-directed (Ford v. Ferrari) adaptation… but they should. Film critics love to love vintage films, and I too believe the black-and-white Yuma is a very good motion picture. But take away the nostalgia bonus points, and this Russell Crowe/Christian Bale version wins out… for me at least. Yuma has all the right ingredients from the hoof-pounding hold up at the start to the bullet-filled run of the gauntlet to the "3:10" at the end, The film is superbly executed and simultaneously mind-engaging and hugely entertaining. Bale’s and Crowe’s characters make memorable examples of the western’s yin and yang and the grey in between. Director: James Mangold Cast: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe.

True Grit (2010) - There is something about the term “grit” as a description of character.  It’s hard to put the quality into words but you know what it is in a person. In this Coen brother’s remake of this 1969 western, you can sense the grit coming out of the screen... smell it... feel it rough on your skin.  The sensation is a tribute to the Coen's expert film making.  The process they use to generate their works of art seems to have had a purifying effect on this tale to the point that I cannot imagine how it can be told any better. John Wayne fans will label me a blasphemer, but this is another remake that is better than the original. Director: Ethan and Joel Coen, Cast: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld. 2010

Unforgiven (1992) - If not Eastwood’s best western, then certainly his most poignant. The film is a complex morality tale studying the guilt that hangs on a violent past and the courage to move on. Unforgiven has a methodical pace that builds extreme intensity as typical western genre roles are reversed and revised.  Great supporting cast.  Top of the hill western that should have appeal beyond the fans of the genre. Director: Clint Eastwood, Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman. 1992

Footnote: This was a tough call. There were several other films that didn't crack my top 10 but should be mentioned as great movies. So, honorable mentions go to: 

No Country for Old Men (2007) - Joel and Ethan Coen directing; Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem starring.

High Noon (1952) - Fred Zinnemann directing; Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly starring. 

Hostiles (2017) - Scott Cooper Directing; Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike starring