Grab Your Six Shooters! Time To Saddle Up For Some Western Action!
I love the western genre. As a kid, these classic movies were all over TV at all hours of the day and night…starring some of America’s heroes, like John Wayne!
John Wayne starred in some of the greatest westerns ever made, like “The Searchers” – and also some of the most entertaining, like “The Sons Of Katie Elder”….in fact, one of his best westerns was so good he made it twice!
El Dorado!
In 1966 James Caan was a rising young Actor – and got the chance to saddle up alongside The Duke – as a cocky young gambler who had a way with a knife – which was a good thing since he couldn’t shoot straight AND he wore a funny hat!
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Add Robert Mitchum to the cast and you have a great cult western. Along with some great action, Caan got to provide a lot of comic relief next to The Duke. Caan’s character was memorably named “Mississippi.”
John Wayne: Don’t you know better than to follow a man that way?
Mississippi: Sorry… I didn’t know there was another way.
This movie is actually a remake of a film made a few years earlier, starring John Wayne in the same role, but switching out Mitchum for Dean Martin and Caan for Ricky Nelson!
Both are very entertaining – and if you want to see more of James Caan, here is my list of his ten best movie roles:
http://johnrieber.com/2012/02/05/the-wrath-of-caan-james-caans-greatest-hits/
Of course, it was in 1969 that Oscar thanked John Wayne for a career of great work by giving him an Oscar for the western “True Grit!”
This classic western was remade by an unlikely duo – Joel and Ethan Coen, best known for “The Big Lebowski” and “Fargo”…
True Grit Times Two!
This remake is a classic western, with Jeff Bridges stepping easily into John Wayne’s boots…
John Wayne is just one of the many classic Actors who have starred in great western movies…
Burt Lancaster starred in a number of great western movies like “Lawman” and “Valdez Is Coming”…you can read all about these films here:
Valdez Is Coming! Lawman! Gun-Blazing Burt Lancaster Western Revenge Double Bill!
These legendary Hollywood Actors were replaced in the saddle by one of America’s most popular stars…
Clint Eastwood Rides Tall!
The face says it all…Clint Eastwood starred in a series of great westerns that highlighted the dangerous, chaotic world of the wild wild west…
“Unforgiven” was Eastwood’s revisionist western that won the Best Picture Oscar in 1992.
It was the supporting acting of Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman that provided Clint with so much texture and depth to go along with his own lead acting performance. Hackman plays Sheriff Little Bill Daggett, a bad bad guy who runs his town the way he fits, until Eastwood shows up…Alex doesn’t like westerns, but she loved this movie!
This is one of Gene Hackman’s best roles…to see more of his great performances, click on my list here:
http://johnrieber.com/2014/03/16/a-celebration-of-gene-hackman-an-amazing-actors-ten-greatest-roles/
And guess what? Hackman starred in a number of westerns, like “Bite The Bullet” and this obscurity from 1971:
The Hunting Party!
In 1971, Gene Hackman, Oliver Reed and Candace Bergen starred in this gritty western. Reed is the outlaw who wants to learn to read, and Candace Bergen is the school teacher he kidnaps to teach him…
But Bergen is not just a school teacher, she’s also the wife of cattle baron Gene Hackman – who wants his wife back…
Hackman rustles up a “Hunting Party” and begins to pick off the bad guys one by one. And what starts as a rescue mission turns into a grueling battle of survival…
This film was shocking for the amount of violence it showed…this was a time shortly after “The Wild Bunch” raised the stakes for violence in a film…
Lots of grindhouse violence here, but kind of interesting to watch a clear B-movie being acted out by some A-list Actors!
And speaking of “The Wild Bunch”, this is one of the greatest films ever made – a classic ode to a lost time in the American west…
Director Sam Peckinpah delivers his greatest film, the story of aging outlaws who want to pull off one last heist…the film stars William Holden, Ernest Bornine, Warren Oates and Robert Ryan…
If you want to find out more about this iconic western, as well as Peckinpah’s Bob Dylan western – yes, Bob Dylan! – read my post here:
http://johnrieber.com/2014/08/05/the-wild-bunch-billy-the-kid-sam-packinpahs-soup-tossing/
“Pat Garret & Billy The Kid” is a misunderstood classic, and Bob Dylan co-starred and wrote the beautiful song “Knocking’ On Heaven’s Door” for the movie…
So there’s a look at some of the greatest westerns ever made…let me know your favorite!
