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5 Underappreciated Western Films

Time to saddle up!

By Greg SeebregtsPublished 5 years ago 6 min read
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I've covered a lot of genres in the Underappreciated Films series and now we come to one of my absolute favorites: WESTERNS!

My introduction to westerns was a film called Two Mules for Sister Sara with Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine. After that, Sergio Leone's Dollars films sold me on the genre. I've been hooked ever since and I've seen a number of great cowboy tales over the years.

Of all the installments in this series so far, this one has to be the hardest one yet! There were so many to choose from! Still, I went through a list of westerns that popped into my head when I thought of "underappreciated" westerns and picked five that I thought fit best.

5. 'Open Range' (2003)

Charley talks to Button.

Open Range follows open range cattleman Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) and his crew as they end up in a range war of sorts with ruthless Irish land baron Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon).

Kevin Costner co-produced and directed the film, which was based on a book by Lauren Paine called The Open Range Men. Apparently Costner grew up reading western romances... who knew? Anyways, the film was produced on a budget of $22 million and was a financial success, grossing $68,3 million at the box office.

One element that I quite liked about the film was how different each character was and, following on from that, the chemistry between them all.

Costner's character of Charley is a Civil War veteran suffering from PTSD. He's the tall, silent type—the guy who's there, but you don't really notice him until he says something. Boss Spearman is a grizzled old man with plenty of bite to go with his bark and is fiercely protective of his friends. He's a man who has seen a lot of crazy shenanigans in his time—probably caused a few, too—but he's always there to do the right thing.

Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner's portrayals of Boss and Charley, respectively, are spectacular, and when you contrast them with the idealistic youth of Diego Luna's Button, you really get a sense of who these people are and what they're about.

I can't talk about the characters without mentioning Michael Gambon. He was terrific, stealing every scene that he was in and putting forward a character that was genuinely intimidating.

The action in this film is also fantastic. The final showdown is one of the best shootouts I've seen in a western and Open Range is something of a favorite of mine.

4. 'The Magnificent Seven' (1960)

A Wild West remake of a Kurosawa film? Sure, why not?

The Magnificent Seven is a name you may recognize—after all, a remake was released in 2016. We're not here to discuss the remake; however, we're going to talk about the original version from 1960.

A village is being terrorized by a gang of outlaws led by Eli Wallach and so they send out a group of men to help fight Wallach and his bandits. The villagers who were sent to get help return with seven gunfighters who aid the people in getting rid of their bandit problem.

In terms of the film itself, The Magnificent Seven is... okay. I must admit, I wasn't a huge fan of this film when I first saw it. It's a very slow-paced film and the writing is just a tad on the clunky side. Likewise, the characters are a little flat, but overall this is a good movie to waste time with.

One thing I didn't know back when I saw it for the first time was that it was a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1957 film Seven Samurai. Needless to say, that fact blew my mind at the time. There were three sequels and a TV series that followed the film, though none were as successful.

It's not perfect, but 1960's The Magnificent Seven definitely deserves more love.

3. 'Once Upon a Time in the West' (1968)

One of Leone's Best Films

After the success of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in 1966, Sergio Leone was done with westerns and wanted to make other films. That is, of course, until Paramount Pictures offered him a contract to do another western—this time with a chance to work with Henry Fonda.

The United Artists production company approached him with an offer: A western with Kirk Douglas and Charlton Heston and he turned them down. I'm only familiar with Heston, but from what I gather he was a big deal in Hollywood at the time. So, he turned United Artists down, but took the offer from Paramount? Why? Well... he wanted to work with Henry Fonda. Leone was a huge fan of Henry Fonda and had wanted to work with him for years so he took the chance when he got it.

The result was Once Upon a Time in the West. This film is just... wow... that's all I can say! There are two storylines in the film and both are fantastic.

First, a young woman arrives in the town of Flagstone to meet up with her new husband and make a life for herself in Sweetwater—a section of land in the boonies that is owned by her husband. Unfortunately, however, she discovers that her husband and his children have been murdered. She spends the film trying to figure out why her family was killed and take some sort of revenge. The second thread follows a nameless man who plays a harmonica (aptly named Harmonica in the film). Harmonica seems to have some kind of history with Frank and spends most of the film giving the murderous outlaw names of his previous victims before they have their big showdown at the end of the film.

This is one of the absolute best westerns I've ever seen. It's also one of the slowest. Now, comparing this film to Leone's Dollars films is kinda like apples and oranges. Where the Dollars movies were fast-paced and action packed adventures, Once Upon a Time in the West is slower with a focus on building the tension so that when the action happens it's loud and exciting for a bit.

Tonally, Once Upon a Time is completely different as well. It's much darker and more somber—fitting for a tale about revenge.

2. 'Joe Kidd' (1972)

One of Clint Eastwood's Lesser Known Films

Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is a former bounty hunter who is recruited by a wealthy landowner (Robert Duvall) to capture/kill Luis Chama (John Saxon)—a man who is rebelling against landowners for taking people from their ancestral homes.

Now, admittedly, I had no idea what Joe Kidd was about when I first saw it; I saw Clint Eastwood's name in the opening credits and that was enough for me. I was quite pleasantly surprised by just how funny the film is. Eastwood demonstrated some good comedic chops in a couple of scenes—a part of me wonders if he improvised a few lines on the fly.

Joe Kidd was released in 1972 and grossed $6.3 million at the box office. Sadly, however, it seems that the film has faded away into obscurity with only a few people remembering it.

1. 'The Angel and the Badman' (1947)

John Wayne and Gail Russel at the End of Angel and the Badman

This is the oldest film on this list and, in fact, the oldest film to be featured in the Underappreciated Films series.

Angel and the Badman follows Quirt Evans (played by John Wayne), a notorious gunman who is nursed back to health—following some accident that we don't see—by a farmer and his family. He subsequently falls in love with the farmer's daughter, but some old partners of his decide to make things difficult for them.

I've seen several westerns starring John Wayne, but this was probably one of his best. The film trades in the typical western gunfighter story to focus more on the characters and their relationships, and less on the actual gunfights. The result is a slow but intriguing watch, where you're left wanting more regardless of how a scene plays out.

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About the Creator

Greg Seebregts

I'm a South African writer, blogger and English tutor; I've published 1 novel and am working on publishing a 2nd. I also write reviews on whatever interests me. I have a YouTube Channel as well where I review books, and manga and so on.

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