2013 Western Challenge

“I’m Not Alone.”

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My friend Rob got me Rio Bravo for Christmas because he’s an awesome kind of guy. Unfortunately, the year is running out, and I have one more western I absolutely have to watch first. (Because I made a list and said I’d stick to it, damn it — but don’t think I wasn’t tempted to throw this list out the window in favor of other movies — like the aforementioned Rio Bravo, for instance, or possibly Westworld. Oh, Westworld. Why didn’t anyone TELL me there was a robot western out there?)

The western I actually will be reviewing today?

django

I had fun with Django. Up until the last twenty minutes, anyway.

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“People Must Know That They’re Going to Die, and Yet They Live as Though They Never Will.”

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I am definitely behind on my westerns. I need to catch up if I don’t want to subject myself to another horrifying experience like Battlefield Earth. Which I don’t. I really, really don’t.

So Mek and I watched The Good, the Bad, the Weird.

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I’ve been a little disappointed with the last few westerns on my list. Thankfully, that wasn’t my experience with this one at all.

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“I Don’t Believe in Surrenders.”

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Sometimes, I just feel like I don’t agree with the AFI on anything.

searchers

The Searchers is one of the most well respected movies in the world. It is number one on AFI’s Best Westerns list. It is number twelve on their 100 Years, 100 Movies list. And John Wayne loved playing Ethan Edwards so much, he named one of his own children Ethan.

I thought it was . . . okay. Not my least favorite western of the year — I definitely liked it better than McCabe & Mrs. Miller — but it sure as hell wasn’t my favorite.

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“I Got Poetry In Me!”

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Film critics all around the world love McCabe & Mrs. Miller. The late Roger Ebert went so far as to call the movie “perfect”. In fact, this movie has not only been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, it also sits easy at #8 on AFI’s Top Ten Best Westerns.

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It is, naturally, my least favorite western to-date.

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“I’m Your Huckleberry.”

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Oh, this movie.

tombstone

I watched Wyatt Earp a few years ago — I don’t even remember why — and I read Emma Bull’s Territory last year, so I figured I might as well add Tombstone to the list of westerns-to-watch this year. You know, really round out my various versions of the OK Corral and the Vendetta Ride.

Yeah. Not the best idea I’ve ever had.

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