by Ray Burke

Created on: March 27, 2009

The Best Westerns:

Over the years, I have watched countless westerns and have a list of over 150 that I like and probably more not on that list. There is just something about the Western that captures the imagination; the lifestyle and character of the cowboy, the lawlessness that had to be tamed, revenge and redemption, the horsemanship, the scenery, the plucky dames, and the inevitable duel. Out of all of those hundreds of films, I found the ten that most appealed to me.

10. The Magnificent Seven (1960).

On its own, this film is a classic and I still enjoy it. The tale of the Seven coming together and standing against insurmountable odds is a common theme, but this still is the best. However, I do prefer the much superior original The Seven Samurai (1954). The only sequel that I like to watch is Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969). Here George Kennedy takes over from Yul Brenner and Lee Van Cleef, and though the cast is inferior to the preceding classics, it is the ending that still floors me, as an anguished Kennedy looks around in despair at all his dead men in the Mexican fortress. All that death and destruction to free one man, even though that one man could free his nation. There are many tragic deaths in Westerns, but this is a finer poignant moment not often seen in Westerns.

9. Silverado (1985).

A young Kevin Costner steals the show as the cocky cowboy to his older brother Scott Glenn's more mature and reformed jailbird, who along with Kevin Kline's gunslinger, and Danny Glover's farmer eventually team up against bad Sheriff Brian Dennehy's gang. One of the better and original westerns of this decade that kept the west alive.

8. High Plains Drifter (1973).

Apparently, John Wayne walked out from the film on its premier because he thought it too violent. Clint Eastwood emerges from the shadows of the man with no name, to play, er, a man with no name. Clint has come to take revenge on a town and some marauding cowboy killers in retaliation for the death of a Marshall. As he rides into the sunset, you wonder if he's the Marshall's dead spirit, his son, or just a wandering guardian of justice of good deeds. Clint's gauntlet of bloodletting, fire, rape, red paint, and death may have been a wee bit over the top, but he got the job done.

7. The Wild Bunch (1969).

William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates reminded me of a Western A-Team gone bad. They're on a mission and on the run from their former member turned bounty hunter, Robert Ryan. Unfortunately,

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