End of the Era Westerns

[@azohundred1353]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance may be my favorite "Death Of The West" variant of the Western. The melancholic atmosphere and powerful performances of John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Lee Marvin together are hard to beat. Although, Once Upon A Time In The West, Unforgiven, and the underrated Ride The High Country are all masterpieces as well. It's fascinating how the concept of a changing world, both in the story of the films and the film genre itself, which was fading or even "dead" at the time each of these were made, managed to produce so many masterpieces like the ones mentioned.

[@Chiller11]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of my favourites as well. Lee Marvin’s performance was exceptional.

[@famouspeople63]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[@JohnAsmith-rw6uo]

​​@@Chiller11Edmund O Brain was good in the movie too. As owner editor and publisher of the Shinebone Star.

[@Chiller11]

@@JohnAsmith-rw6uo Yes, he was good as the functioning alcoholic editor who displayed exceptional courage in the end.

[@JohnAsmith-rw6uo]

@@Chiller11 Can't remember his name other than Peabody. Like the part where John Wayne says Liberty is the toughest man south of the Pickett next to me.

[@kenkahre9262]

Ride The High Country should have been on this list. Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea 's last movie.

[@bravehome4276]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid evokes the EotEW as well as any. Even Butch and Sundance recognize that their days of outlawry are ending.

[@michaellazzeri2069]

NO DIRECTOR IN THE HISTORY OF HPOLLYWOOD EVER FELT MORE STRONGLY ABOUT THE CLOSING OF THE OLD WEST, THAN DID SAM PECKINPAH. NO ONE. IT IS A RECURRING THEME IN ALL OF HIS WESTERN FILMS. -------------MJL, 77 Y/O

[@michaellazzeri2069]

SAM PECKINPAH'S WESTERNS , ALL OF WHICH BEMOANED THE CLOSING OF THE FREEDOM OF THE OLD WEST : " RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY---------THE WILD BUNCH-------THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE--------PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID--------AND, JUNIOR BONNER. ALL WITH THIS THEME. --------------------MJL, 77 Y/O

[@Chiller11]

Those are a lot of caps. Sam Peckinpah was quite a character.

[@tectorgorch8698]

That is correct, sir. RtHC and PG&BtK certainly belong on this list.

[@Chiller11]

@@tectorgorch8698 Add The Ballad of Cable Hogue.

[@sidwalker4194]

Nice work. Shane can easily be added to this list, also the lesser known "Death of a Gunfighter" (1969) starring Richard Widmark & Lena Horne. This last movie really shows how far a "civilized town" wanting to move on from the "Old West" is prepared to go.

[@Chiller11]

Good list.

[@joeturner4666]

All your selections were fine. Two more that fit the bill; "Bite the Bullet (1975)" & "The Good Old Boys (1995)". The under-rated Joe Kidd (1971) also fits subtlety into this sub-genre. One of my favorites McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) takes place sometime during the McKinley Administration. Followed by The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976) This time period about the closing of the US West also coincided with the Mexican Revolution' So you had 100 Rifles (1969) staring Raquel Welsh, Jim Brown and Burt Reynolds . Cannon for Cordoba (1970) kind of forgotten movie. The Wrath of God (1972) also kind of obscure. TV also had Nicols (1971) with James Gardner as a Sheriff riding an early Harley Davidson. Richard Boone appeared in Hec Ramsey (1972-1974) as an old-time western Lawman using the then New Science of Crime Scene Forensics to solve crimes. This was a very popular treatment of the Western during the late 1960s and early 1970s and still is one of my favorite sub-genres. I know enough already; so bye.

[@skelelator]

I look forward to your videos, but you left several out that should have been added. The Last Hard Men, with Coburn, Charlton Heston, John Quade and Larry Wilcox (1976), The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Jason Robards. Stella Stevens, Strother Martin, LQ Jones, RG Armstrong and David Warner (1970). Then my favorite, Ride the High Country, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrae, Warren Oates, James Drury, John Anderson, RG Armstrong and Mariette Hartley. (1962) This was western icon Randolph Scott's last film, and McCrae semi-retired from movie making after this too.

[@earlleeruhf3130]

I would add Lonely are the Brave starring Kirk Douglas. Definatly a Cowboy out of time story.

[@mpetersen6]

I haven't seen Lonely since the late 60s. But certain scenes stick in my mind. The fight in the bar. And the end with Kirk laying in the road after getting hit by the moving van.

[@earlleeruhf3130]

@@mpetersen6 I only saw it once. That was enough, it was so sad. Being struck by a moving van seems clever since the world was moving beyond him.

[@davidjones9430]

Damn good movie I can't remember but didn't he have a buckskin mare that got hit by the truck in the end its been so long since I saw the movie

[@jerrymartin5100]

Unforgiven, is the quintessential end of the west movie ever.

[@MyRanger12]

These are most of favorite movies ant time frame.

[@famouspeople63]

Yeah, all good movies in their own right

[@ziggyzigggfreed4604]

Great list. "Duck You, Sucker" is one of my all-time favorites.

[@rogervandusen8361]

They Came to Cordura is another "Death of the West" film. Starring Gary Cooper and set during Pershing's Expedition to Mexico to punish Pancho Villa.

[@famouspeople63]

Thanks, if I do a followup video, will mention, thanks

[@65tosspowertrapl36]

Great video, will have to revisit these films very soon.😊

[@blockmasterscott]

The Villain with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kirk Douglas=EPIC.

[@donstoddard8458]

Nice little time capsule. It's funny I remember seeing a lot of those movies in the theater. Thanks a lot

[@moparmenace59]

The shootist, for me personally, marks the end of the classic western and the start of the modern western.

[@user-ho4nw5sf3w]

The Life And Times of Judge Roy Bean.

[@glennso47]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid should have been mentioned.

[@garfieldsmith332]

Great list. The "American West" was such a short time period that the change became for sudden than prolonged over time.

[@mpetersen6]

The Shootist is the perfect swan song to the image of the Old West.

[@schaffermatt]

Good list. Minor quibble: the Lee Marvin version of “Monte Walsh” hit theatres in 1970, not 1972. I’ve tried, but I just can’t decide which version I like better. Both are so good.

[@moodyguymick]

Marvin's is easily the best.

[@kenkahre9262]

Why choose? Just enjoy.

[@edg4441]

Nice list. I agree with other commenters, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" should have been on the list instead of the 2003's "Monte Walsh" because the Western genre was long done by then. Most of the films on this list except for "The Shootist" and "The Wild Bunch" are very low-budget and look it. This is why Clint Eastwood became so popular in the 1960s and 1970s as the Western genre declined and lost its popularity. "High Plains Drifter" or the "Outlaw Josey Wales" could have been on this list.

[@philbarber9738]

Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller along with The Wild Bunch is in my estimation is the best of "The Last Gasp" westerns. I find his Buffolo Bill..." heavy handed, diffuse and over the top in comparison to McCabe, infused with both a dark and satiric cynicism that turns the cowboy film on its head with its offbeat treatment of western stereotypes. Gorgeously photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond with a wonderful music score provided by Leonard Cohen.

[@GrumblingGrognard]

Monte Walsh (the original) nailed it (period).

[@jimparsons6803]

Yep. I think that there was even a TV series concerning the 1890s. Boggle.

[@milzner641]

Judge Roy Bean

[@MemoWardwell]

After WW2, my parents used to dance with John and his wife at the Lido Ballroom ,Newport Beach,Ca. They never revealed his balding, tho.

[@JuanMoreOnce]

The first "end of the west" western was Tumbleweeds (1925, William S. Hart).

[@larry1824]

😮wild bunch Monte Walsh Last Hard Men Professionals Bite the Bullet Unforgiven Thomasine and Bushrod Willie Boy Good Old Boys Big Jake Shootist Ride the High Country Cable Hogue. I.prefer Lee Marvin Monte Walsh to Sellecks

[@j.sumner6999]

I hated "The Professionals". It took a perfectly good story by Frank O'Rourke called "A Mule for the Marquesa" and turned it into leftist crap. Philip Yordan and Richard Brooks are probably really sorry about now. Undoubtedly why they are languishing in the heat. The only two good things in the movie belonged to Claudia Cardinale.