# Good new westerns - 1995 onwards



## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Verdict? 

For me it seems that good westerns stopped being made sometime in the mid-70s and/or they fell out of favour with film companies. 

Most of the stuff being produced throughout the 70s, 80s, and the 90s was generally quite poor in my opinion and being made by B-list directors.

But then something happened, and film companies started making good westerns again, presumably because people wanted westerns again and they became popular again, and top directors got involved.

I remember myself hankering after good modern westerns many times while browsing the DVD shelves in shops in the 90s and 00s.

Then all of a sudden I started finding some good westerns again. Here are a few of my favs among new westerns: 

Ride with the Devil (99)- Ang Lee
Seraphim Falls (06) David Von Ancken
Dead Man (95) Jim Jarmusch
Appaloosa (08) Ed Harris
The Open Range (03) Kevin Costner


I didn't particularly like the new Jesse James film. It was okay, but nothing more.


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## Taken Aback (Aug 3, 2009)

I loved _3:10 to Yuma_. The _True Grit_ remake was pretty good too.


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## dks202 (Jun 20, 2008)

Dang, I can't really think of any modern movies. The Shootist (mid 70's) was one of the last great ones.


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## 12345Michael54321 (Mar 6, 2008)

1995's "The Quick and the Dead" isn't a great western, but it has some appeal. If viewed as a traditional western, it's B-grade, at best. But if you can appreciate it as a quirky homage to many of the clichés found in traditional western (sub-type: gunfighter) movies, it's genuinely entertaining. Also, the cast is terrific. (Not surprisingly, Gene Hackman, as the villain, gives the strongest performance.)

Gun nuts will appreciate the parade of old west six-shooters, too. In a single scene, we got to see a 7 1/2" Cavalry Colt SAA with a nickel finish and solid ivory grips, a nickel-plated Remington 1875 w/silver grips, and a gleaming S&W Model 3, w/trigger guard removed. And I don't mean we see them in passing - they're prominently featured, and "The Kid" even discusses some of their features.

Even the holsters were great. Well, Sgt. Cantrell's, at least. A pivoting hip holster (which is almost never seen in a western).

Well, like I say, not a "classic" western, but an enjoyable one if you watch it for what it is.
-- 
Michael


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

...any of you see the comparatively recently released "Cowboys and Aliens," with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig? Perhaps not a classic, but arguably entertaining!


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## Taken Aback (Aug 3, 2009)

I'm not sure it's arguable.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Taken Aback said:


> I loved _3:10 to Yuma_.


Not seen that yet but it's been on my "to see" list for a long time.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

12345Michael54321 said:


> 1995's "The Quick and the Dead" isn't a great western, but it has some appeal.


Yea, I'd go along with that. It's good to see once, maybe twice, but that's it. It's not in my top 20 list.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

dks202 said:


> Dang, I can't really think of any modern movies. The Shootist (mid 70's) was one of the last great ones.


We'll have to agree to disagree on that score, I thought The Shootist was a terrible film drenched in sentimentality. The last great John Wayne western in my opinion was Chisum in 1970.


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## Phenom (Apr 10, 2010)

Going back to the 80's and early 90's, the following are very watchable:

_Pale Rider_ (remake of _Shane_)
_Silverado_
_Lonesome Dove_ (TV miniseries)
_Unforgiven_

I couldn't sit through _The Quick and the Dead_.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Phenom said:


> Going back to the 80's and early 90's, the following are very watchable:
> 
> _Pale Rider_ (remake of _Shane_)
> _Silverado_
> ...


Pale Rider was a well made and enjoyable film, but utterly predictable

Unforgiven is a great film, great story, great acting all round.

Lonesome Dove was great too; and with many of the same elements as in Open Range, two ageing cattlehands getting tired of the range. Robert Duvall in both of course.

However, Silverado, sorry but for me that belongs squarely in the category of awful 80s westerns by mediocre directors I mentioned earlier, I thought it was dire! Hence my 95 start point.

There were only 3 good actors in the whole film: Costner, Denehy and Glenn. The rest were B-list comedic actors IMO - Goldblum, Arquette, Kline, Glover. And directed by Kasdan? Really? Good screenwriter and producer, awful director IMO.

And we all know what happened to the next western he directed, wrote and produced....it bombed royally! A huge money loser! It was Wyatt Earp (94) of course, also excluded by my 95 start-point.

Tombstone (93) although more fiction than fact was the far better film covering the Earp boys & the Doc, with Elliot and Kilmer, especially, turning in stellar performances.

Not sure if Kasdan and Costner were trying to cash in on the success of Tombstone or if both films were being made roughly at the same time, but the bottom line is that Wyatt Earp was a terrible film.


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## VictorRomeo (Sep 11, 2009)

Dances with Wolves is still a fantastic movie albeit made before '95. 

El Mariachi while contemporary - but stil a western imo - is a great movie too and while on the topic of contemporaty western - No Country For Old Men is right up there too. And not a stagecoach in sight! The horror!


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

One more such "good hearted gunslinger/cowpoke coming to new town" film and Hackman would have been in danger of being typecast in his western roles. I'm surprised he didn't get Dysart's role in Pale Rider. 

The Quick and the Dead - as a criminal running the town
Unforgiven - as a crooked Sheriff running the town


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

VictorRomeo said:


> Dances with Wolves is still a fantastic movie albeit made before '95.
> 
> El Mariachi while contemporary - but stil a western imo - is a great movie too and while on the topic of contemporaty western - No Country For Old Men is right up there too. And not a stagecoach in sight! The horror!


Definitely Dances with Wolves. Perhaps still Costner's finest hour.

El Mariachi, liked it, but it wasn't a western, it was a gangster action film.

No Country For Old Men wasn't a western either, it was a drug-deal thriller, good film though.

A western by film definition is set in the old west not in our time. Just because a film is set in Texas or Mexico with big hats, horses and cantinas doesn't make it a western....


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## VictorRomeo (Sep 11, 2009)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> .
> 
> A western by film definition is set in the old west not in our time. Just because a film is set in Texas or Mexico with big hats, horses and cantinas doesn't make it a western....


Not so Earl! The 'Contemporary' or 'Neo-Western' is a well recognised sub-genre and I'm quite fond of them. They use the same sory of storytellying techniques, motifs and plots such as a rebellious anti-hero, open plains, one-horse towns or towns under the control of a corrupt or criminal 'boss', desert landscapes, and gunfights. Lots of gunfights.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

VictorRomeo said:


> Not so Earl! The 'Contemporary' or 'Neo-Western' is a well recognised sub-genre and I'm quite fond of them.


Victor mo chara, I bow to your greater knowledge. I will admit I hadn't heard those genre terms for modern-day westerns though.


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## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Pale Rider was a well made and enjoyable film, but utterly predictable
> 
> Unforgiven is a great film, great story, great acting all round.
> 
> ...


I too am a big fan of "Lonesome Dove" and "Open Range" and also agree that "Silverado" is a mediocre movie. "Silverado" is interesting as I remember when it was released to great fanfare. I wanted to like it and as a young adult I did like it, but having seen it recently, I found it to be a cynical western. It pushed all of the right buttons, but the result left me cold. Too bad, as it was a well-funded production.

If you expand the list of movies to include Westerns-in-spirit, then I'd like to offer "There Will Be Blood", "A River Runs Through It", and "The Straight Story". The first two are well-known period pieces that portray the American west near the turn of the century. "TSS" has nothing to do with the American west. It's about an old man who takes a 500 mile road trip on a lawn tractor. It's totally modern, but it conveys the open country and independent spirit of the cowboy.


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## racebannon (Aug 17, 2014)

Unforgiven


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