WTF is up with this list, The Searches should be number 1....

Probably, yeah. Definitely higher than High Noon, which is no more than a good movie imo. Okay, it's an important and iconic western and all that, so it needs to be Top 10 at the very least, but wtf greatest of all time???? No, sir.

I still vote for Stagecoach as number one western of all time because it's the film that really jumpstarted Wayne's career, it cemented the bond between Wayne and Ford, it put Monument Valley on the map, it's perhaps the most human western ever made, it's got an entire nation reduced to like eight people sitting in a stagecoach, it's got what is possibly the best action-packed set piece in any western, it's got a traditional small western town night time shootout, it's got saloon scenes, it's got warm-hearted prostitutes, drunk doctors, evil capitalists, Mexicans, Indians and last but not least it's got the bad guy with the heart of gold twirling a rifle around first time you see him.

Cool. This update was a loooong time comin. Still I'm sad to have High Noon at top spot. Can someone please explain this to me?

I wish I had all the data from the previous thread, because it was a pretty exhaustive process that determined the top 18. The top three are solid (as in what's in the top three), and the next three are equally solid. The only criteria, however, was acclaim. What do you think should be #1?

I can't emphasize enough how wrong this is. High Noon is the most acclaimed Western of all-time with only The Searchers and Shane as competition. I did the homework on this.

Hmm? I thought there was no question that The Searchers was the most acclaimed Western of all time. Or is being an acclaimed Western different from being an acclaimed film? Because The Searchers is quite a bit more acclaimed as a film than High Noon. I'm personally going with The Searchers for #1.

Also, why is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly not top 10? Ditto Once Upon a Time in the West. I'd have thought one of the would be higher than Magnificent Seven.

Care to back that up?



Again, I wish I had all the data I compiled from the previous forum, but that's the way it shook out. It surprised me, too. I intended to boost The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly due to its influence.

Well, currently theyshootpictures.com is probably the most comprehensive source for judging the critical acclaim of movies on the web. It has "The Searchers" significantly higher than "High Noon". In fact "High Noon" is not particularly close to being the most acclaimed western:

8. The Searchers (Ford)
48. The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah)
58. Rio Bravo (Hawks)
63. Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone)
72. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford)
82. Stagecoach (Ford)
96. My Darling Clementine (Ford)
121. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman)
160. Red River (Hawks)
167. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone)
201. Unforgiven (Eastwood)
210. Johnny Guitar (Ray)
266. Shane (Stevens)
305. High Noon (Zinnemann)

I used mostly Western-specific lists, plus the American Film Institute lists and IMDB.

What homework was that then? tbh I do not give a fuck about acclaim. If you're going to let that be the decisive factor for your list then the list will look like shit.
Also you should consider the fact that IMDb (to a great degree) and AFI is really just a bunch of Americans deciding on what movies are important. This is no good reflection on what acclaim these films really have imo. pauldrach showed you this.

High Noon at the top spot is bullshit, and so is Shane. And I really like both of these films. Unforgiven and The Magnificent Seven also have no place in a Top 10 list at all imo. Unforgiven is Top 20 for sure, but wtf is The Magnificent Seven doing up there? Would not even be Top 50 if were up to me.

My personal Top 10 judging by what the criteria should be imo (not my personal favourites list)

1. The Searchers
2. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
3. High Noon
4. Stagecoach
5. Shane
6. Red River
7. Rio Bravo
8. Once Upon a Time in the West
9. The Wild Bunch
10. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

It's nice to see Open Range on this list. Great western.

So, what's the criteria? And why is Stagecoach fourth when you seemed adamant that it should be #1 earlier in the thread?

It is by far my favourite western. It is the film that put westerns on the map after being very unpopular for over ten years, it's John Ford's first western in the sound era (which has gotta count for something) and also his first since The Iron Horse which is incredibly underrated here... It is the first western to be shot in Monument Valley, the location with which all western fans are more than familiar with precisely because of Stagecoach. Other than being a key point in Ford's career, it's also the film that launched John Wayne's career into a realm of mad popularity (after having suffered a career blow with Walsh's unsuccessful The Plainsman). It is the most iconic representation of a bunch of western stock characters: the kind-hearted outlaw character, the drunken doctor, the capitalist dickhead, the southern gambler, the prostitute with a heart of gold and of course the righteous testosterony sheriff who knows what's up. As I said before it offers a great study of American "civilisation" on a micro-scale, but even beyond its generic and thematic greatness it is a landmark film in cinema history. It boasts cinematographic and editing techniques almost unseen in mainstream movies at the time and provided a blueprint for later filmmakers to create some new almost avant-garde stuff (no Stagecoach, no Citizen Kane). Not to mention the chase scene at the end, which is an action sequence so breathtaking you need a film like Seven Samurai to top it.

If I had it my way, this film would be #1 on the list. I put it on #4 because The Searchers is more popular and has much more critical acclaim. Also, the fact that The Searchers is gorgeously shot in blazing colour and beautiful 'Scope and features the greatest opening and ending sequences of all time in any movie, definitely makes it easier for me to see it at #1. Imo High Noon has none of the properties that the two aforementioned Ford films have. It is very popular and is an iconic western for sure, but in both criteria The Searchers has it beat.