I finally watched the two movies that come before The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I loved them. They were exciting and dramatic and had some decent storytelling.
What I liked most was they don’t spoon feed you everything. If you’re not paying attention and are on your phone you’re not going to know what’s going on. For example, I was on my phone, looked up, and saw that the hero was doing terribly at target practice. I had to rewind to see that they broke his right hand and was learning to shoot with his left. I swear modern movies just have actors narrating and renarrating what they’re doing because they know you’re on your phone not really paying attention.
Also, I realized that when a cowboy does a super quick draw and shoots 3 men before they can draw it’s just like an anime when there is a flash and the hero sheathes their sword, with enemies falling over dead.
Depends on what you’re looking for, honestly. I’m partial to The Cowboys, Sons of Katie Elder, and El Dorado. My brother is a big Rio Bravo, Big Jake, True Grit, and Donovan’s Reef fan (the last is not a Western but when I texted him he insisted that I include it, I completely disagree). True Grit is probably the “best” one, and The Searchers gets recommended a lot.
I read your first sentence and panicked. I know about those movies in particular because of the Kurosawa ordeal (and really liked all three). I watched John Wayne as a kid and young man with my grandfather. Other than that maybe Bone Tomahawk, Tombstone, and The Quick and the Dead are the only ones I’ve seen. Oh! And Seven Samurai (also Kurosawa),The Magnificent Seven, and parts of Star Wars.
Aren’t El Dorado and Rio Bravo the same story with different actors?
I’d give Donovan’s Reef a mention, though it definitely isn’t a western. I’d put it in the WWII genre.
True Grit and Big Jake are great character studies, trying to understand why he (and other characters) behave the way they do, why the relationships between characters are what they are.
Yep! I like Robert Mitchum. I also like the fact that John Wayne was older and less invincible. They also did Rio Lobo but my brother and I agree that was the worst one.
I always forget which two are the same story, and agree it’s better with Robert Mitchum - he just plays that part so well.