A strong ensemble piece from John Ford that pits nine travellers together on a risky trek through hostile Apache territory. They're forced to confront their preconceptions of each other, causing tensions to emerge and bonds to form, leading up a meticulously staged and dazzlingly shot action set-piece boasting unbelievable stunt work courtesy of legendary stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt. Old-school Hollwood film making at its most exciting.
9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
This youngest entry on my list is a haunting elegy for the genre. Andrew Domink's layered script and careful direction meditate on the myths of celebrity and legend, even going so far to bleed out homosexual undertones. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck are both superb, but the real star of the picture is Roger Deakins, whose beautiful gold-hued lighting and creative lens choices give the film an autumnal (almost antique) quality.
8. Man of the West (1958)
Gary Cooper gives the most mysterious and morally ambiguous performance of his career for the role of a reformed outlaw whose criminal past comes back to haunt him. In addition to the theme of redemption exercised in Anthony Mann's earlier Westerns, this film also explores the death of the old west, exemplified by Lee J. Cobb's scenery-chewing turn as an aged bandit who stubbornly denounces the changing face of the land and the values for which it once stood.
7. Unforgiven (1992)
Following in the steps of Sam Peckinpah, Clint Eastwood's dark revisionist Western strips away the romanticism of its ancestors to paint a disturbing portrait of antiheroism, vengence, and violence in the old West. Strong, subtle performances from Eastwood and Gene Hackman blur the lines between what is wrong and what is more wrong (there is no right-doing in this West). The film also questions the extent to which a man can truly change his nature, if at all.
Purists may be hesitant to call this a true Western as it takes place in the 1960s, but Kirk Douglas' roaming cowboy embodies the very spirit of the old West and provides a stark contrast to his contemporary setting. We come to associate Douglas' character with freedom, whereas the society that's invaded the West is full of fences, bars, and barriers of all kinds. That's no way for a free man to live, as the movie suggests we may have lost something valuable to the march of civilization.
Sergio Leone presents us a West that's truly hostile, where values such as vengeance and betrayal abound, while virtues like friendship and loyalty are nowhere to be seen, except perhaps in thin criminal partnerships which are in constant flux anyway. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in particular, plays out like a buddy picture where the two "buddies" hate each other. Only a West as unromantic as Leone's could truly be called "wild".
4. High Noon (1952)
As taught and wonderfully edited an exercise in constructing tension you'll seldom find. Fred Zinnemann makes smart use of clocks; the film plays in real time over the course of a little more than an hour as an heroic sheriff (Gary Cooper) awaits the arrival of an old enemy, only to have his allies turn tail and abandon him. Written by the blacklisted Carl Foreman, the film is a clever allegory damning Hollywood for bending over backwards for Senator Joseph McCarthy's infamous House Un-American Activities Committee.
3. Dances with Wolves (1990)
Kevin Costner's frontier epic still seems to take a lot of heat for having notoriously defeated Goodfellas for Best Picture of 1990, but I think it's a glorious piece of work that's beautifully shot, well acted, and thoughtfully written. The script brims with metaphor and takes care that the Sioux are depicted neither as vicious savages nor exploited as omnipotent stereotypes (as Native Americans so often were in many a classic Western), but as real people with real culture.
2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Whatever chemistry is, Paul Newman and Robert Redford had it as the titular bandits of George Roy Hill's delightfully offbeat buddy picture. William Goldman's screenplay is wittier than you'd think a legitimate Western could be. Even his allusions to the sad demise of the old West have a lighthearted irony to them, such as in that signature scene where Paul Newman nonchalantly rides around on his bicycle to Burt Bacharach's Oscar-winning “Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head”.
1. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Sergio Leone's singular masterpiece explores themes as varied as vengeance, the “ancient race” of man, the evolution of society, and the poisonous effects of money. He infuses the complex, godless mythology of his vision of the West with a gripping style that there can be no mistaking is his own. Ennio Morricone's ingenious score, the stunning widescreen compositions, the methodical performances of his actors (including a brilliantly cast Henry Fonda), and Leone's patience as a film maker combine to give over three hours of tense, unforgettable cinema.
