MovieChat Forums > Open Range (2003) Discussion > Any modern western recommondations?

Any modern western recommondations?


I am a big fan of the genre and I really like the the direction westerns have taken in the past 20 years. There have been some great films I would hold up to the great masterpieces of the genre like Shane, the Searchers or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Unforgiven, Open Range, Appaloosa..just to name a few. Ive also really enjoyed the TV offerings as well such as Lonesome Dove (a classic), Quick and the Dead (Sam Elliot version) and Crossfire Trail.

However, its seems to have been ages since a new western has been made and I have been longing for one for a while. Any recommendations on lesser known films I may have missed?

Thanks.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

I was going to say Unforgiven and Appaloosa but you have those already. I love those two

Westerns aren't the most popular genre these days but I'm glad to see that they aren't gone. There's still some life in those stories





DILLIGAF

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well for me personally the ONLY 'great level' (as in 9/10 or higher) Modern Westerns (say 1990 to date?) are Unforgiven (1992) and Open Range (2003). (both would rank quite high on the all-time best westerns to :) )

but besides those two... i would say '3 10 to Yuma' (2007) (8/10) is probably the overall next best Modern Western. (it's also got 89,000+ votes so it seems like one of the more watched/popular recent westerns on IMDB, but i would not be surprised of that's mostly due to the cast of Christian Bale/Russell Crowe as Christian Bale seems to be quite popular these days.)

and depending if your a fan of Westerns in general (like me)... you might like 'Wyatt Earp' (1994) (7/10) / 'Tombstone' (1993) (7/10) ... and if you like a simple more action oriented Western i would say 'The Quick & The Dead' (1995) (7-8/10) ... there's also 'The Proposition' (2005) (7/10) and while i only gave that a 7/10 (and only seen it once so far) it does have a average rating of 7.5/10 so apparently people liked it. (i believe it's mostly shot in Austrailia though) ...and maybe 'Dances with Wolves' (1990) (7/10) and possibly "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007) (7/10) (i only seen Assassination of Jesse James 2007 once though and while i overall liked it, i feel it's pacing a tad slow which ultimately hurts it in my book vs something like Open Range which does slower paced MUCH better. but it does seem some people are huge fans of that Jesse James film though but not me personally due to it's bad slower pacing but i still liked it, it's just nothing that makes you go 'wow' like Open Range does.) etc etc.

but if your looking for 'the best' stuff then i would probably say '3 10 to Yuma' (2007) is about as good as you will get if you exclude the elite stuff (i.e. Ungorgiven/Open Range) over the last 20 years or so.

p.s. for me personally Open Range ranks up with the very best Westerns of all-time.



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My Vote History ... http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=11026826
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3:10 to Yuma is excellent. Tombstone is a lot of fun. Dances With Wolves. Both Shanghai Noon and Back to the Future 3 are very entertaining, though they only have one foot each in the Western genre (the former is also a buddy comedy/martial arts flick while the latter is sci-fi/fantasy.

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Here's my favorites (i.e., 8/10 or higher) of the last 20 years:

"3:10 To Yuma" (2007) 8/10
"Appaloosa" (2008) 8/10
"The Missing" (2003) 9/10
"Unforgiven" (1992) 9/10

Of these, I especially like "The Missing" for it's relentless grittiness. It is, IMHO, the most hard-hitting western ever made.

I'm 63 years old and have seen just about every western ever made. And though I know it's heresy, I think that the "classic" westerns that most people claim to admire so much are generally pretty cheesy. I like the newer westerns much better. I think that the western genre in particular especially suffered from the old motion picture production code (i.e., pre-1964).

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All these movies mentioned are great westerns, but here's a surprise to add to the bunch that I bet no one agrees with unless they watch it: Quigley Down Under with Tom Selleck. Sure it's set in Australia, but Quigley is an American cowboy and he brings thunder to the Aussie Outback and bad people go down in a hail of lead.

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The Proposition is very well done but very gritty.

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I agree. Quigley Down Under is a GREAT movie and has some of the best lines in moviedom. Also, Alan Rickman plays such a great bad guy.


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good to here some honesty...I've watched some old flicks that i thought were great until i tried rewatching them and comparing them to new titles...very few titles are timeless.

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BrokeBack Mountain

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I agree with most of the choices mentioned here in the thread. I would add the third movie in Duvall's Western trilogy Broken Trail. I didn't think too much of it the first time I saw it but it has become better with each viewing.

I recognize that this is an old thread but haven't visited in awhile and this one caught my eye.

"Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." 2001: A Space Odyssey

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i would second (or third) the recommendation for The Proposition

there are also those films that aren't traditional westerns because they are relatively modern day like Brokeback Mountain, No Country For Old Men and Lone Star.

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