For many of us, when we hear the word "Western," certain images and story lines come to mind - cowboys riding their trusty steeds, epic shootouts with rolling tumbleweeds in the background, and the fearless exploration of uncharted territory.
With Rockstar Games releasing its much anticipated Western shooter Red Dead Redemption this May, we challenged the genre to a duel to identify ten movies that may not come to mind when you think of Westerns, but are significantly influenced by or are tributes to the gun-slinging films. From cowboys in space (Serenity) to pioneers discovering a mysterious native population (Avatar), we present ten movies that take Western themes far away from the Wild West.
So saddle up, buckeroo, and ride off into the sunset with Ten Movies You Didn't Know Were Westerns!
(1-20 of 55 discussions) | Reply
| You must be registered to post comments. Login or Register. |
...Whoa. You're right. But Avatar was a bit much.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Re: Avatar: well, duh. not to mention other films! every one knows that!
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Sorry!
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Prety good analysis as well as opinion, but you could've placed Four Brothers into this list instead of Serenity which didn't do as well at the box- office compared with Four Brothers. "Four Brothers" which was a moderate hit came from of course "The Sons of Katie Elder" !!
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Some of them are obvious. Avatar might be a stretch, but Gran Torino was such a good, subtle film. Eastwood maybe was the only actor who could have played that part.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Paul Newman would have been awesome had he not kicked the bucket.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Paul Newman was awesome and even now his rotting corpse is more awesome than you or I could ever hope to be.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
I actually agree with the Avatar comparison, it is exactly Dances With Wolves, just in space. I said that in the theater to my brother when we were watching it.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Wow, you're so original.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Avatar is a mash up of Dances with Wolves (the native americans/na'vi are one in the same), Fern Gulley (the main guy becomes a na'vi/cartoon guy gets shrunk to fairy size, change their ways and help na'vi/fairies), Terminator (the general guy/terminator are upstoppable forces hell bent on finishing their respective jobs), Titanic (sappy love story angle), and Aliens (its in space with action and suspense), and you could also throw The Abyss in there for good measure (the unexplored sea/alien world are similar story lines.) James Cameron pretty much borrowed from all his movies (except Piranha 2).
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
And yes, I know Dances with Wolves isnt a James Cameron movie, before anybody says anything.
Report Abuse
What an in-depth analysis, man, I haven't read such statement on the internet for my entire life!! Dude, you definitely should become a movie critic!
Report Abuse
Well I knew about A Bug's Life, since its Seven Samurai but with bugs, but Jaws on the list is a big surprise.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Awesome list. I always thought that the western was more a state of mind than anything. Isolation and loneliness seem to be a common part to most westerns or western-like films. It's a shame there aren't many new westerns anymore.
I would really like you guys to come up with a Best Western tomatometer rundown like you've done with so many other genres like animation and horror. Those are always interesting.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
I am also a big fan of neo-Westerns which are basically Westerns set in modern times. Films like No Country for Old Men, HUD, and Vanishing Point.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
This is a great list. These selections are movies that I adore and have seen them all. Good writing here too, Jim R., and keep up the good work!
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Avatar is definitely a western. It's a total rip off of Dances with Wolves. My favorite modern western would be No Country for Old Men. Another modern western would be Ghost Rider.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Wow, you're so original.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Why is Star Wars not on this list? That is clearly a Western, I mean, Darth Vador is the bad guy in the black hat. Luke is the savior on a revenge mission. The territory battles? I think the Samurai film is a bit of a stretch though.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
I agree about "Star Wars". When I saw the headline "Star Wars" was the first movie that came to mind. I believe (and I could be wrong) that George Lucas even descibed "Star Wars" as a "western in space". I did agree with most of the other choices (can't comment on "Avatar" as I haven't nor have any desire to see it).
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Raiders of the lost Ark- under the truck idea came from John Waynes's Stagecoach!!
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
you know why 'dances with wolves' isn't here? BECAUSE IT'S NOT A WESTERN!!!
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
it is a western. and no one's saying it should be on the list because everyone knows it's a western.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Um... well that's frickin' retarded. Lots of movies mix genres and lots more display heavy influance from a genre outside of their main genre. That you just discovered this mean you just discovered movies are about more than explosions and boobies. Congradufrickin'lations idiot.
Wake me up when you figure out that most of these themes your suddenly discovering exist in movies existed LONG before westerns (or is Romeo and Juliet a western too?)
But no I get it... even though the title of the article is completely retarded, your simply pointing out that these movies "are significantly influenced by or are tributes to the gun-slinging films."
...right, so I guess Last House on The Left is a period melo-drama.
Fail.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Inglourious Basterds?
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
11 films you didn't know where World War II Naval films:
Star Trek... wait I'm sorry... everyone knows that because most people aren't as fricking stupid as whoever wrote this article.
Is Star Wars a Western, or a World War I dogfighting film?
Is the The Lion King Shakespeare by these rules?
2 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Actually the creators of The Lion King based the story on Shakespeare's Hamlet
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
You need to relax dude. It's just a movie article.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Mmmmm.... Guess it all depends on your definition of a Western. I definitely don't agree with this, I don't think a "Western" is a story were bad guys come to take something from the town, or stuff like that, for me a Western is a movie with scenography and dialogs from the 19th century. Bugs, Jaws, Avatar? Don't agree, sorry.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
Building on Arturo G.'s comment, I had the same reaction, so I went to Wikipedia and found out what it had to say about what Western means in the cinema literature, and it says the following:
"Westerns often portray how primitive and obsolete ways of life confronted modern technological or social changes. This may be depicted by showing conflict between natives and settlers or U.S. Cavalry or between cattle ranchers and farmers ("sodbusters"), or by showing ranchers being threatened by the onset of the Industrial Revolution.
...
The Western genre sometimes portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice (such as the feud[1]), rather than any rationalistic, abstract law, in which persons have no social order larger than their immediate peers, family, or perhaps themselves alone. The popular perception of the Western[2] is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter."
So, probably the answer is yes to most of the movies enlisted here, except for Jaws. For some of this movies I myself wouldn't say they're Western since regular people would think of cows and hats with Westerns. If we would of told everybody that Avatar is a Western set in space, probably its box-office run wouldn't be so high. I would still say that Avatar is sci-fi.
By the way, Avatar is not Dances With Wolves. It's Pocahontas.
Cheers
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Best movie fitting the classification but not listed is "Bad Day at Black Rock" which has a western sounding name . . . but modern trains and automobiles but it's definitely a western. A Thriller A Western
Worst movie as far as not remotely belonging on the list: "Jaws." Jaws is a morality play like some westerns are but it has no connection to most major western themes. In fact, Peter Benchley stole huge parts of the story from Moby Dick . . . just substitute a white shark for a white whale in the ending and no one's the wiser . . . B Horror F- Western
Not only was The Seven Samurai a western, but they stole from it to make the Magnificent 7 which was sort of a spaghetti western.
Two great westerns that were NOT westerns: The Ox-Bow Incident and Track of the Cat both from novels of Walter Van Tilburg Clark were both psychological thrillers.
1 Reply | Reply Report Abuse
I've never read the book, but Jaws the movie is a monster movie. The only real link the movie has to Moby Dick is Quint. Other than that, it's a gigantic fish eating people and hunting the hunters.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
Most Sci-Fi movies since Star-Wars having basically been "westerns". Hell, Serenity and "Fire-Fly" flaunt this fact quiet openly, down to the style and even the dated dialog.
Avatar just took the next logical step and put some space-Indians in there.
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse
where's inglorious basterds?
0 Replies | Reply Report Abuse