Just saw Unforgiven for the first time last night.

Wow... i thought there was a big difference between John Wayne and the Spaghetti Westerns, but there is an even bigger difference between the spaghetti westerns and Unforgiven...

An icredible film, i love the way there was a writer present throughout, and the scene between Gene Hackman and the writer as they unravel the lies of 'English bob' whose exploits would be a corner stone of myths of the old west was brilliant.

The Last few minutes where william munny guns down and threatens the town.... christ.... Never .... ever.... have i seen Clint look so scary!

Feck.... think i might even watch it again today

One of my favourites is called How The West Was Won from 1962. It is a magnificent epic lasting 162 minutes much longer than most modern film, but despite its length it is never boring it is a story about the early pioneers who opened up the west of America and the difficulties they faced. Unlike many westerns it doesn't paint the native indians as evil, and it is very low on violence, instead it tries to give a truthful account about what life was life was like for early pioneers.

Unforgiven is a cracking movie. It's got one of the best scripts I've ever heard - there's a brilliant scene where Gene Hackman is fixing up his roof and one of the villagers comes over to tell him about the killers riding into town. They don't really discuss the plot directly, but it still tells you a ton of stuff about the story. It's a fantastic film.

Another favourite western of mine - in keeping with the revisionist theme of Unforgiven - is The Wild Bunch. And incredible movie, deservedly credited with kicking off the golden era alongside Bonnie and Clyde. The Wild Bunch is a real monster, a crazily violent action fest with some incredible cinematography. Flat out one of my favourite films, full stop.

Also brilliant, also Sam Peckinpah, and also massively violent is Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. I was astonished by the beauty of this film, especially now it's been restored with its full Bob Dylan soundtrack. It's incredible how much the music adds to this movie There's a few moments that are almost heartbreaking. Plus some great dialogue "Billy killed the jailor!" "Yup, he's killing me too." Great stuff.

They also use a lot of Italian extras in the background of the movies. It was doubtful if some spoke English and some of the extras also worked on the construction labour of the movie...jack of all trades:-)


My Favourite Westerns are: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly; Fistful of Dollars and Once Upon A Time In The West with Henry Fonda who had to be persuaded a lot to play the villain role...Charles Bronson played the hero and beautiful Claudia Cardinale...gotta watch it if you like Westerns.

Looking forward to seeing the upcoming Western movie with Brad Pitt: Assassination of Jesse James.

Allan

I am shameful to say that i love Blazing Saddles has me in stiches every time!! (dont know if it is a proper western though)

I know 'thunderbolt and lightfoot' isn't really a western, but it's damn close, Clint's in it, and er... Jeff Bridges. Sort of Bank-heist gone wrong, action movie, filmed very similar to westerns. good film.