Entertainment Weekly reporter Christian Blauvelt asked ‘True Grit’ directors Joel and Ethan Coen which was their five favorite western films. Here’s, in their own words, is what they came up with.
1. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, PG-13) “Sergio Leone movie. Good hat brims.”
2. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976, PG) “Clint Eastwood movie from the 1970s, when the major studios were, on the evidence here, less uptight.”
3. Greaser’s Palace (1972, R) “Robert Downey Sr. movie. The Putney Swope of Westerns.”
4. Doc (1971, PG). “Frank Perry movie, written by Pete Hamill. We haven’t actually seen this one but saw a clip of the first scene, and the opening gag makes us suspect the movie belongs on the list. Stacy Keach fights consumption, dust, and bad men as Doc Holliday. This movie is for you if you like to watch people cough. Stacy was warming up to play one of cinema’s great lawmen in the Cheech and Chong movies.”
5. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972, PG) “Interestingly, it turns out that most of the best Westerns were made in the ’70s, hardly our expectation when we started the list. This one has another great opening scene — again with Stacy Keach, this time as Bad Bob. Admittedly this John Huston movie is, apart from the opening scene, less swinging than the others on the list, but it has Paul Newman with his limpid blue eyes. ”
Source: Ew.com
