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THE TOP 5 REVISIONIST WESTERNS:
view full results see how points are awarded
| Rank |
Film |
Points |
L |
#1 |
| #1 |
The Good, The Bad & the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone, Italy) |
10 |
3 |
- |
| #2 |
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman, USA) |
8 |
2 |
1 |
| #3 |
Heaven's Gate (1980, Michael Cimino, USA)
Unforgiven (1992, Clint Eastwood, USA) |
6
6 |
2
2 |
-
- |
| #5 |
The Wild Bunch (1969, Sam Peckinpah, USA)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Sergio Leone, Italy)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa, Japan)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964, Sergio Leone, Italy) |
5
5
5
5 |
1
1
1
1 |
1
1
1
1 |
L=How many lists each film appears on
#1=How many number one votes each film recieves
We only managed five lists this week - but I figured it would be a low number with the topic this week - and because of the low number, the points didn't add up to much, so we ended up having a top 8 list this week (including a four way tie for 5th place). Still though, we managed a winner, in the form of Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad & the Ugly (Leone also had two other films make the cut), with Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller trailing by just 2 points.
Other films with votes were The Wild Bunch, The Long Riders, Blazing Saddles, Dead Man and the much maligned, yet intriguingly brilliant Heaven's Gate.
There were some rather surprising films to get votes this week as well, including Arthur Penn's Bonnie & Clyde and Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider - both of which have Revisionist Western sensibilities. Also garnering a single vote was Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (???).
Join us next week when we unveil the Top 5 LA Noir Films. See details at the bottom of the page for how you can send in your choices.
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Individual lists:
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Albert H. Muth
Cinephile & 5-time Oscar Contest Champion
ed. note: Yes, a Top 6 list
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman) Julie Christie smokes opium, while Warren Beatty is forced to take a stand in the British Columbia forest with snow falling to the music of Leonard Cohen. Beautiful, sad, inevitable
Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino) The reluctant hero must choose right against the rich and powerful, who have always won in the U.S. of A. The grandeur and sweep of Cimino's vision brings nature into the struggle.
The Long Riders (Walter Hill) The adventures of the James and Younger brothers. Cole Younger says to Belle Starr, "You're a whore. You'll always be a whore." Belle replies, "Well, at least I ain't a cheap whore."
Little Big Man (Arthur Penn) The Indians beat Custer, but Manifest Destiny triumphs in the end. Faye Dunaway gives Dustin Hoffman a great scrubbing.
The Missouri Breaks (Arthur Penn) Jack Nicholson can't steal any scenes when Marlon Brando dons his dress and bonnet. The regulator gets regulated.
Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn) Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty prove that happiness is a warm gun. Of course the poor and dispossessed never are really "in the money."
second tier:
Altman's Buffalo Bill and the Indians, von Trier's Dogville, Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Jarmusch's Dead Man and Scott's Thelma and Louise.
But greater than all of the above and thus out of the competition, Pekinpah's The Wild Bunch.
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J.E. Snavely
Cinephile & Master of the Home Theatre
Once Upon a Time in the West Henry Fonda as a cold-blooded killer. 'nuff said!
Dead Man Johnny Depp as William Blake....an accountant not the dead poet! Jarmusch made an interesting film from an absurd idea. And it has Crispin Glover.
Blazing Saddles Turns every Western film convention upside-down: the perfect parody!
Shane At first glance may not seem revisionist, Alan Ladd plays Shane as a reluctant gunslinger who is tired of the killing and bloodshed, but is forced to kill...one last time. The last shot of Shane slumped in his saddle riding into the sunset is one of the great shots of Hollywood cinema (and there are not too many of those!)
Billy the Kid versus Dracula Gotta love the title.
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Herbert R. Wolfe II
The All-seeing Biffster, the Bifferific
1. A Fistful of Dollars
2. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
3. Unforgiven
4. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
5. Easy Rider
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Dan Christ
Cinephile
Seven Samurai - the granddaddy of them all. It isn't the marauding samurai against the villagers. It's actually everybody against themselves, and how they come together in the end despite their foibles to triumph. Deep, well drawn characters and cinematography still influencing today's directors.
Silverado - yeah, it's bubble gum, but the flavor lasts and lasts
Unforgiven - raw and gritty, like an undressed wound
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - whistle the theme, and everybody knows what you mean. Sergio Leone watched "Seven Samurai" a few times, I reckon
The Big Country - To paraphrase: "Well, Charlton Heston/Gregory Peck is the kind of man that... well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Charlton Heston/Gregory Peck . But what a fool I am talking to a beautiful woman about another man." The screen sizzles every time these two giants appear, and their prolific showdown doesn't disappoint.
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Kevyn Knox
Cinephile, Film Critic & Film Historian
The Wild Bunch (1969, Sam Peckinpah, USA): A Bacchanian bath of blood, bullets and bruvara.
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone, Italy): For the four-and-a-half minute three-way showdown, that seems to go on for eternity.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman, USA): The most forelorn of the five on my list, as well as the most originally melancholy.
Heaven's Gate (1980, Michael Cimino, USA): Everyone called this a disaster, but it's just more proof that box office doesn't matter.
Buffalo Bill & the Indians (1976, Robert Altman, USA): Imagine M*A*S*H in the new old west (or is that the old new west?).
Second Tier (since others are doing it):
Jarmusch's Dead Man (1995), Hill's Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969) and Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992).
Special Mention: Bonnie & Clyde (1967, Arthur Penn): Self-imposed ineligibility due to it taking place too long after the West was dead.
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*points are given as follows: for numbered lists, first place recieves 5 points, second place recieves 4, third place 3, fourth place 2 and fifth place gets 1 point; for unumbered lists, each film will recieve 3 points; total points are then tallied up and a comprehensive Top 5 list is created
The Next Topic is:
Name The Top 5 LA Noir
e-mail me at
kevynknox@thecinematheque.com
with your picks for week #4,
no later than 6pm on Sunday, July 17th.
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