Almost always I choose The Searchers.??The scope and grandeur of the exteriors.??The overt racism evident in the John Wayne's Ethan,??which softens when he finds his long lost niece.
This was Wayne's finest, most nuanced performance, particularly the scene after he's buried his murdered older niece, and he tells her fiance, "As long as you live, don't you ever ask me about it (her death) again."??There is sheer revulsion in his eyes and body language.??BTW, if you ever have a chance to read the original novel by Alan LeMay, you'll find a much different story...not necessarily better or worse, but different.
But lately I've??revisited Ride the High Country.??It, too, has great sweep and grandeur.??It is the story of two past-their-prime former lawmen (Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea) who are hired to protect a gold shipment, one of whom decides to steal the goods. On their way they take-in a runaway bride, who is being pursued by her jilted husband and his uncouth family, which adds to the dilemma of the guards. The film features a poignant scene when the reformed lawman leaves his mortally wounded comrade, who "knew all along" that his old friend would, in the end, do the right thing, to take the gold and the girl to safety.
So one day, I may name Country as my favorite western.
What is your favorite western & why??
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Almost always I choose The Searchers.??The scope and grandeur of the exteriors.??The overt racism evident in the John Wayne's Ethan,??which softens when he finds his long lost niece.
This was Wayne's finest, most nuanced performance, particularly the scene after he's buried his murdered older niece, and he tells her fiance, "As long as you live, don't you ever ask me about it (her death) again."??There is sheer revulsion in his eyes and body language.??BTW, if you ever have a chance to read the original novel by Alan LeMay, you'll find a much different story...not necessarily better or worse, but different.
But lately I've??revisited Ride the High Country.??It, too, has great sweep and grandeur.??It is the story of two past-their-prime former lawmen (Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea) who are hired to protect a gold shipment, one of whom decides to steal the goods. On their way they take-in a runaway bride, who is being pursued by her jilted husband and his uncouth family, which adds to the dilemma of the guards. The film features a poignant scene when the reformed lawman leaves his mortally wounded comrade, who "knew all along" that his old friend would, in the end, do the right thing, to take the gold and the girl to safety.
So one day, I may name Country as my favorite western.