echo beach Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I was raised on American westerns in the '40s & '50s initially at the cinema and later on television. Although I probably enjoyed them at the time, on reflection most of them were pure dross. The western film that stands out for me is 'Soldier Blue'. 1970. It provided a radical and realistic view of the US cavalry, not as heroes riding to the rescue but as blood crazed maniacs slaughtering a defenceless Indian tribe. Although more of musicals in a western setting I also enjoyed 'Annie get your gun' with Betty Hutton & Howard Keel.1950. Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. and the 1953 follow up 'Calamity Jane' starring Doris Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grinder Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Calamity Jane is my favorite Doris Day film, Howard Keel was Bill Hickok in that. but my favorite western musical, in which he starred, was " Seven brides for seven brothers ".. "Soldier Blue" was a good film but Dustin Hoffman in "Little big man" really brought it home to me... Maybe it was because I'd read the book first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapido Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Once Upon a Time in the West........Awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrodbo Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Dances with wolves was an excellent portrayal of a western from the Indians perspective,instead of always showing them as the baddies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harleyman170 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Once Upon a Time in the West........Awesome I agree, this was an awesome film. Sergio Leone's vision of the American west was on a par with the late Great John Ford. As to my own favorite Western film, there are too many great films to choose from. I just love all good Westerns. I loved watching John Wayne in John Ford westerns, to me he personified a man's man in an unforgiving land where the Red man and pioneer's struggled against all the odds to survive. Be they Cavalry or cowboys, ranchers, settlers, outlaws, Indians or townsfolk they all battled against a savage land that promised so much to so many, but gave up so little. I liked the idea that John Ford used the same set of charactor actors along side of John Wayne in his films, especially his Cavalry Trilogy, "Fort Apache", "Rio Grande" and "She wore a yellow ribbon". Clint Eastwood adapted the same principal for his Westerns and used a similar set of charactor actors. This to me made them more enjoyable because you could certainly empathise with them. WOW, getting heavy now. Time to shut up and watch a Cowby film ......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hardie Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 the wild bunch went to see it at abc in sheff and then thereslegends john wayne burt lancaster and clint eastwood The Wild Bunch was a great film set right at the end of the wild west era using actors (Robert Ryan, William Holden, Ernest Borgnine) at the end of their film careers. In my opinion it was spoilt by the slow motion blood letting. I'm not against realism but this was over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepsendlane Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 High Noon with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly . a mans man when women were glad of em. And then he rides of into the sunset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hardie Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 High Noon with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly . a mans man when women were glad of em. And then he rides of into the sunset. Yes, he was rumoured to be a man's man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Any Western film is my favorite. I think the last of the classic Western films was 'Rio Bravo'. A more recent film with Robert Redford was 'Jeremiah Johnson'. A story of a ex sailor going into the Rocky Mountains and becoming a mountain man, that is a fur trapper. The scene where he's starving to death in an alien environment and trying to catch fish with his bare hands in a mountain stream, he, glancing up and seeing this Indian watching him with contempt is a classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepsendlane Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Yes, he was rumoured to be a man's man. Was it the way he walked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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