Westerns: Dead or Alive?

[StarOpal]

gunslingeral said:

I *love* Once Upon A Time in the West. The first ten minutes is the most exciting scene where nothing happens ever filmed.

It is! It really is!

It also has my favorite "Huh?" sound effect. The sound at the end when he falls over. From a sitting position. Into sand. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, but that cracks me up.

Magnificent Seven:

"Ah, that was the greatest shot I've ever seen."
"The worst! I was aiming at the horse."

*hysterical* "'Clap your hands' he says! 'Clap your hands!'"

"Har, har, harrr."

[Al]

And as far as quotes go, my favorite from Once Upon a Time in the West:

Duster: Frank sent us.
Harmonica: Did you bring a horse for me?
Duster: Well, looks like we're (laughs) looks like we're shy one horse.
Harmonica: No. You brought two too many.

I also like:

Frank: How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants.

I'm also totally psyched that Duck, You Sucker! (A Fistful of Dynamite) came out in the Sergio Leone Collection; it's the middle part of his second trilogy, in between Once Upon A Time in the West and Once Upon A Time in America.

[starwenn]

In some weird ways, westerns have a lot in common with my favorite (and oft-crapped-on) genre, the musical. Both hit their peak in the 50s and saw a slow decline afterwards, with occasional upswings in the 60s and 70s. Both relied heavily on stereotypes that went out of style in the last couple of decades of the 20th Century. And while neither have ever truly regained their hold on the public in the way they did in the 50s, they both have their fans and, as most of you have pointed out, seem to have settled in as "niche" genres.

[LadyStarblade]

Eeep, I hang my head in shame for forgetting Tombstone. Really. As I was typing up that initial post, I knew I was forgetting a big one, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember it.

I beg forgiveness.

Especially since it has my favorite "Western" quote of all time:

Cowboy: You're so drunk, you're probably seein' double.
Doc Holliday: I got two guns, one for each of ya.

It doesn't get much cooler than that.

[helenbot]

I think that the Western, if anything, is currently enjoying a bit of a resurgence (in quality anyway). As well as the aforementioned 3:10 to Yuma and The Proposition, Three Burials is also a recent very good western, and I have very high hopes for The Assasination of Jesse James.

Unfortunately the disapointing box office for 3:10 does kind of indicate that the appitite for that kind of fare might not be there...

[Al]

I'm hoping that There Will Be Blood can maybe bolster a bit of life into it. It's got PTA directing and DDL starring, so maybe that'll help (it's not Brett Ratner and Chris Tucker, but still...).