"The Wild Bunch" is definitely up there. Great film. It's also one of my favorite films, too. Of course, Peckinpah's other Westerns are also really good. However, to say that "High Noon," or even "Shane," are better than "The Searchers" will take an awful lot of convincing me.
The real time nature of "High Noon" is terrific. "Shane" and it's iconic story is, again, right up there with the best Westerns. "The Searchers" though, has a great passage of time with Martin's letter. I think it's a neat, economical way of telling necessary portions of the story that would have otherwise made the film a Lean-esque slog with it's blatant overuse of exposition. And the story is decidedly more complex, which is what some viewers seem to be having a problem with today.
Above all, I find "The Searchers" rewarding with its deeply complex and ambiguous screenplay, otherworldly sand-chocked vistas, the towering performance by Wayne, and, finally, the visual poetry of the opening and closing shots. Maybe it's true that "The Searchers" is the thinking man's Western. I guess there could also be something Shakespearean, or Homeric about the nature of the film. Personally, it's one of the best films I have ever seen. Having seen a few Westerns (even though I'm young and am mostly familiar with the classical one's), I will throw the gauntlet down by saying "The Searchers" is the best Western.
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