The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Western has been a genre of cinema that has never died. At it's height during the fifties and sixties before beginning to fade away.
However in recent years the genre has had somewhat of a resurgence and it's back this week in the form of True Grit - a remake of the John Wayne movie.
So to celebrate the release of the Joel and Ethan Coen directed movie we take a look at some of the greatest Westerns to grace the big screen.
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Released in 1966 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was the third part of Man with No Name Spaghetti Western Trilogy that starred Clint Eastwood, Eastwood would later go on to dedicated his film Unforgiven to Leone.
Blondie (Clint Eastwood) and Tuco (Eli Wallach) are gunmen who admire each other professionally but dislike each other personally.
Encountering a group of dying soldiers, Tuco learns the location of the graveyard where a Confederate treasure is buried, while Blondie learns the identity of the exact grave.
Joined by mercenary drifter Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), they cross the desert, each of the desperadoes knowing half the secret and each focusing his squinty eyes on the $200,000 bounty.
Regularly regarded as the greatest Western ever made, the best movie ever made is the opinion of Quentin Tarantino, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the best known of the Man With No Name trilogy, which includes A Fist Full of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More.
As well as being the finest European example of the wild West the film also cemented actor Clint Eastwood as a bona fide leading man and a major international star.
As well as a great script and cast Leone's films are known for their grand cinematography and visuals as he captures the brutality of the west mixing them with tense close ups and all this is backed up by Ennio Morricone’s powerful score.
2. Once Upon A Time In The West
The film brought together a distinguished cast of Henry Fonda unusually cast as the villain Frank, Charles Bronson as his nemesis "Harmonica", Jason Robards as the generally benign bandit Cheyenne and Claudia Cardinale as a newly-widowed homesteader with a past as a prostitute, Jill.
Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti), the power-hungry owner of a railroad company, hires Frank (Henry Fonda, playing against type), a gunfighter without a conscience, to kill anyone who stands in the way of the completion of the railroad.
After Frank murders land owner Brett McBain (Frank Wolff), McBain's widow (Claudia Cardinale) hires two killers of her own to protect her and gain revenge: a mysterious, harmonica-playing desperado (Charles Bronson) and his rogue sidekick (Jason Robards).
Despite having made The Good the Bad and the Ugly, and Serigo Leone was renowned as a director of Westerns, the film was a box office flop in America.
However in Europe the film was a massive hit and soon gained a cult following although it was not as popular as the "Dollars trilogy".
However forty years on Once Upon a Time in the West is now considered a classic as film goers and critics have come to appreciate Leone's individual and, at the time, previously unseen filming techniques for the genre.
3. The Treasure of Sierra Madre
The Treasure of Sierra Madre saw Humphrey Bogart team up with filmmaker John Huston.
By the 1920s the violence of the Mexican Revolution had largely subsided, although scattered gangs of bandits continued to terrorize the countryside.
The newly established post-revolution government relied on the effective, but ruthless, Federal Police, commonly known as the Federales, to patrol remote areas and dispose of the bandits.
Drifters Fred C Dobbs and Curtin share a cheap flophouse and meet Howard, a seemingly crazy old man who regales them with stories about prospecting for gold.
Dobbs and Curtin cobble together what cash they can get a hold of, and along with Howard, plan a prospecting expedition, but the trio run the risk of being killed by the Federal Police if their paths crossed.
Dobbs promises that anything they dig up will be split three ways, but Howard doesn't believe them. As the gold is mined the men become increasingly distrustful, and soon turn against one other.
This wasn't exactly a box office hit, despite Bogart's popularity, but over the years the film has become a classic of it's genre as, unlike many other Western movies, it's not so much a cowboy movie but more of a film that looks at how money and greed can effect a flawed man's character.
4. Unforgiven
Unforgiven saw Clint Eastwood direct as well as star back in 1992 and the movie went on to revitalise a fading genre.
Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired, down-on-their-luck outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of the remote Wyoming town of Big Whiskey.
Disgusted by the punishment of losing several ponies dealt out by Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett to a cowboy who had slashed the face of a prostitute Big Whiskey prostitutes, led by fierce Strawberry Alice (Frances Fisher), take justice into their own hands and put a 1000 bounty on the lives of the perpetrators.
Gunslinger the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett)turns to notorious outlaw William Munny (Eastwood) to go and collect the bounty, but Munny left that life behind for the sake of his late wife.
But Munny's financial struggle forces him to re-think and the pair convince clean-living friend Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) to go along with them.
But Sheriff little Bill has no intention of letting the outlaws disrupt the law of his town and Munny must contend with his new moral code in the face of revisiting the life he left behind.
Today Unforgiven is still considered one of the greatest film's in it's genre, ironically produced years after the Western's hayday of the fifties and sixties.
5. 3.10 To Yuma (2007)
A rancher struggles to support his ranch and family during a long drought. Desperately needing money to build a well, he takes an assignment to transport a notorious felon, in the hands of authorities, to Yuma for imprisonment.
But, once the two meet, the criminal tries to tempt him with--in exchange for allowing him to escape--an offer of much more money than the rancher ever expected, the result of a hidden loot.
Russell Crowe and CHristian Bale are arguably the best of their generation, deliver they are driving force and main asset to this movie.
The duel like nature between the two men, who come from different walks of like a murderous Wade and the moral upstanding Evans, is cleverly kept intact throughout the duration of the film keeping the focus on them, how they react to what is happening and more importantly how they are reacting to each other.
And their scenes together, in particular at Contention station, are box office gold.
True Grit is released 11th February.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
The Western has been a genre of cinema that has never died. At it's height during the fifties and sixties before beginning to fade away.
However in recent years the genre has had somewhat of a resurgence and it's back this week in the form of True Grit - a remake of the John Wayne movie.
So to celebrate the release of the Joel and Ethan Coen directed movie we take a look at some of the greatest Westerns to grace the big screen.
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Released in 1966 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was the third part of Man with No Name Spaghetti Western Trilogy that starred Clint Eastwood, Eastwood would later go on to dedicated his film Unforgiven to Leone.
Blondie (Clint Eastwood) and Tuco (Eli Wallach) are gunmen who admire each other professionally but dislike each other personally.
Encountering a group of dying soldiers, Tuco learns the location of the graveyard where a Confederate treasure is buried, while Blondie learns the identity of the exact grave.
Joined by mercenary drifter Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), they cross the desert, each of the desperadoes knowing half the secret and each focusing his squinty eyes on the $200,000 bounty.
Regularly regarded as the greatest Western ever made, the best movie ever made is the opinion of Quentin Tarantino, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the best known of the Man With No Name trilogy, which includes A Fist Full of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More.
As well as being the finest European example of the wild West the film also cemented actor Clint Eastwood as a bona fide leading man and a major international star.
As well as a great script and cast Leone's films are known for their grand cinematography and visuals as he captures the brutality of the west mixing them with tense close ups and all this is backed up by Ennio Morricone’s powerful score.
2. Once Upon A Time In The West
The film brought together a distinguished cast of Henry Fonda unusually cast as the villain Frank, Charles Bronson as his nemesis "Harmonica", Jason Robards as the generally benign bandit Cheyenne and Claudia Cardinale as a newly-widowed homesteader with a past as a prostitute, Jill.
Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti), the power-hungry owner of a railroad company, hires Frank (Henry Fonda, playing against type), a gunfighter without a conscience, to kill anyone who stands in the way of the completion of the railroad.
After Frank murders land owner Brett McBain (Frank Wolff), McBain's widow (Claudia Cardinale) hires two killers of her own to protect her and gain revenge: a mysterious, harmonica-playing desperado (Charles Bronson) and his rogue sidekick (Jason Robards).
Despite having made The Good the Bad and the Ugly, and Serigo Leone was renowned as a director of Westerns, the film was a box office flop in America.
However in Europe the film was a massive hit and soon gained a cult following although it was not as popular as the "Dollars trilogy".
However forty years on Once Upon a Time in the West is now considered a classic as film goers and critics have come to appreciate Leone's individual and, at the time, previously unseen filming techniques for the genre.
3. The Treasure of Sierra Madre
The Treasure of Sierra Madre saw Humphrey Bogart team up with filmmaker John Huston.
By the 1920s the violence of the Mexican Revolution had largely subsided, although scattered gangs of bandits continued to terrorize the countryside.
The newly established post-revolution government relied on the effective, but ruthless, Federal Police, commonly known as the Federales, to patrol remote areas and dispose of the bandits.
Drifters Fred C Dobbs and Curtin share a cheap flophouse and meet Howard, a seemingly crazy old man who regales them with stories about prospecting for gold.
Dobbs and Curtin cobble together what cash they can get a hold of, and along with Howard, plan a prospecting expedition, but the trio run the risk of being killed by the Federal Police if their paths crossed.
Tagged in True Grit