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the Western type It has been around since the beginning of cinema and has stuck around for so long because it has changed with it. Things that haven’t changed are the tropes of the West we all know. From the costumes to the production design to the stories being told, the perfect Western vibes can be hard to come by. Here are 10 that totally nail them.
Logan (2017)
Kind of cheating since this is set in the future, but James Mangold Logan He is western. this is not “Logan is secretly a Western spin-off, but rather, “Logan is, with utmost certainty, a Western take.” In addition to its dusty situation, Logan Direct references Shane (1953), in which a weary former gunslinger, content to live out the rest of his days in peace, suddenly returns to his old ways to help a family of settlers keep their land from an evil cattle baron.
Logan (Hugh Jackman) finds himself in a similar situation to Shane, in a world where mutants are on the brink of extinction, finding himself, with a dying Professor Xavier, struggling to find a reason to continue living. Until a young girl, Laura (Daphne Keene), with powers similar to his, seeks to help her escape the monsters she created. Logan and Shane (both titular characters) return to the habits they tried to leave behind but in the service of kindness and are given reasons to keep fighting in a world that has frustrated them. while it occurs in the future, Logan He is directly influenced by and perfectly understands the themes and aesthetics of the Old West in classic films of this genre.
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
The often forgotten Western Sam Ramey, On the quick and the dead, stars Sharon Stone as a gunslinger who rides into a small town and enters a speedway tournament to avenge her father’s death. Filled with character actors who know exactly what kind of movie they’re watching, this sandy town really makes the town feel alive. Each character has distinct costume designs and personalities that make them feel like real people with inner thoughts and motivations.
This emotional project helmed by Sharon Stone has Sam Ramey at the helm of this extravagant western, and Ramey knows exactly when to throw a Dutch angle to create tension and when to hold back to let the emotional scenes escape. Flawless and surprisingly sensitive with haunting performances from Stone and a young Leonardo DiCaprio, On the quick and the dead is one of the most aesthetically pleasing Westerns for any fan of the genre.
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
The second James Mangold movie on this list, 3:10 to Yuma is a gritty rendition of the Old West that truly illustrates the struggle between good and evil. Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is part of a paid vehicle to escort notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the 3:10 train to Yuma, where Wade is to be hanged for his crimes. Evans agrees to be a part of this situation to save his farm from being sold, and he truly believes Wade needs to be brought to justice. However, Wade’s outlaw gang pursues the vigil, led by the cool Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), to free Wade before he boards a train.
This bleak and harrowing tale contains many wonderful sequences as they wander through dizzying valleys and campfire-lit action that brings the audience into view Evans’ struggle to triumph over the ideal of the evil that is Wade and his gang. 3:10 to Yuma It is a remake of a Western from the 1957 movie of the same name, which is why it feels like a classic Western while being flawlessly updated for a modern audience which is perfect for Western fans of any era.
The Wild Bunch (1969)
No longer is the Wild West in Sam Peckinpah’s meditation on aging and unpreparation for the rapidly changing world around you. wild bouquet It is about a group of older outlaws in the West who are modernized by the day, looking for their last job to hang up their hats and not live the life of an outlaw. In 1913, Pike (William Holden) and his gang, who no longer recognize the world around them, are trying to figure out where to fit in. Before the MPAA, there was the Hays Code, in which films were not allowed to have anti-heroes as main characters in films. Distinguished citizens and jurists were the heroes of the West when the Hayes Act was implemented, but when the MPAA rating system was adopted, you could have characters and stories that were a lot bloodier and more accurate at portraying the Old West.
This gang of outlaws are murderers, and this is what appeared in the opening scene, where civilians are caught in an exchange of fire between them and the lawmen, and both sides kill many innocent people. While technically innovative and wildly violent, this movie also serves as a metaphor for the rapidly changing film industry, where no one was sure where it would go post-Hays Code. With plenty of train robberies and shootings all the time, wild bouquet He is the categorical West who does not try to glamorize the West, and has more on his mind than most.
Unforgiven (1992)
Very similar to the other films on this list, Clint Eastwood’s self-examination of aging, the unforgiven It is about retired gunslinger William Mooney (Eastwood) who is trying to raise his children on their pig farm and get one last hunting job. The mission is to find two men who committed the heinous crime of assaulting two women and permanently scarring them. Recently widowed, Mooney tries to put his life of sneaking behind him and live the life his wife wanted, however, we soon see that he’s comically bad at being a pig farmer.
When offered the job, he turns it down and denies his identity, but eventually realizes he needs the money to help give his children a better life, and he can use his skills for good. As the movie goes on, we learn that Mooney was not a good man before he met his wife, having killed many innocent people over the years. Having an Eastwood star and straight forward is a great choice. Having had such a distinguished career as a star of Westerns early in his career, he is now getting old, and is being used to dissect the idea of the “good guy” in the Old West, which he played in so often. times. the unforgiven It’s a bleak movie that doesn’t shy away from its heavy themes and shows just how tired and frustrated the Old West was.
The Good, the Bad and the Strange (2008)
This Weird Korean Western, directed by Ji-won Kim, The good, the bad, the weird The movie is about a bounty hunter, a thief, and an outlaw who all compete to find buried treasure after they discover a treasure map. Based on the 1966 movie The good, the bad and the uglyThis movie cleverly casts in the legendary Song Kang-ho as a “freak” who adds a huge amount of gravitas against two very serious characters. Although none of the characters are given a back story, each of these men is shown fully through their actions and costume choices.
“The Good” (Jung Woo-sung) wears a very classic western duster and cowboy hat, “The Bad” (Lee Byung-hun) usually wears all-black clothes throughout the entire movie, and Song Kang-ho dresses up as impossible. Determine it at any age. Even though it’s set in the 1940’s, there’s still a lot of shooting and action going on way of angerThe chase that takes place in the beautiful desert landscape is a lighthearted and hilarious addition to the Old West genre.
Young Guns (1988)
Definition of movie sentiment (Paid by Patrick Williams), Christopher Kane young guns Cool coming out of every hole. About six gunslingers, who want revenge for the murder of the plantation owner who took them in, quickly find themselves in the crosshairs of the law. The costume design in this movie should have won an Oscar for how unique and personal each of the characters is. Everyone in this heavily stacked cast has six shooters and a duster to complete their classic western outlaw look.
Even Dermot Mulroney is fully committed to his Dirty Steve Stephens persona and is covered in dirt throughout the movie, even after he takes a shower. surprisingly violent and grim, young guns is a great movie for any fan of the genre looking for a great thriller in the Wild West and its sensibilities.
Buster Scruggs (2018)
Coen brothers Buster Scruggs song Weaves six different stories over the course of two hours. The Old West aesthetic is fully captured in this comedic, and sometimes dramatic, collection of short films because all sides of it are on display. From prospectors to arms dealers, and frontiersmen, the film fully profiles the people who shaped the West and finds comedy in many of their situations. Specifically, the comic “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” sequence that opens the film with Tim Blake Nelson, as Buster Scruggs, the best speedy puller in the West but is quickly defeated by a faster one, and accepts his fate by saying, “You can’t be a better dog to forever.”
However, the vignette “The Gal Who Got Rattled” is more somber in that it depicts a young woman heading west on a wagon train to claim land, according to Homestead Law, that had been plagued by tragedy before she got there. As a reflection of life in the Old West, Buster Scruggs song He understands highs and lows better than most.
Django Unchained (2012)
Quentin Tarantino’s Revisionist Western stars Jamie Fox as a former slave who wants to rescue his wife from a plantation owner with the help of his German bounty-hunting partner. This movie understands the West well because it takes center stage in a large part of American history that most Westerners are ashamed of or don’t acknowledge at all: slavery. While the film takes a lot of liberties with its depiction of slavery, it still does more than most events set in this time period.
The movie also marked the victory of Django (Fox) over the slave owners who took his wife away from him and killed the entire family, which in reality never happened, but makes you wish it did. too violent and too flowery, Django Unchained It is a tribute to the Spaghetti Westerns of the past while introducing many new elements to the genre. With incredible costume design and gorgeous cinematography of some of the most incredible, blood-splattered settings, Django Unchained It is one of the best of the kind.
True Grit (2010)
Another Coen Brothers Western, a remake of the John Wayne classic of the same name, this time starring national treasure Jeff Bridges. A young girl (Hailee Steinfeld) hires U.S. Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn (Bridges) to help her track down and kill the man who killed her father. unlike Buster Scruggs songAnd, because they’re only PG-13, Joel and Ethan Coen pull no punches when it comes to portraying the Old West.
This grim, dusty western has Steinfeld and one-eyed Bridges wandering across desert landscapes to find the man who killed her father, narrowly escaping from a series of insane characters in search of revenge. A dark but human story. true grit She falls into the long line of postmodern westerns that don’t try to embellish the old west but rather live out the frightening nightmare that it was, especially for a young woman.
