AFI's 10 Top 10 Part III: Westerns

Ah, thank you AFI for giving me so many days worth of material. Here's the Top 10 Westerns list:

1. The Searchers
2. High Noon
3. Shane
4. Unforgiven
5. Red River
6. The Wild Bunch
7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
8. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
9. Stagecoach
10. Cat Ballou

I'm very fond of the Western genre, so it's a little embarrassing for me to admit that I've seen very few of these movies. Once again, I don't have any real complaints on inclusions or exclusions, except to ask, "Where is 'The Magnificent Seven'?" As to the films on the list, let's take them one at a time:

The Searchers - haven't seen

High Noon - Of course High Noon is on the list. I don't think any list of the ten best Westerns that did not include High Noon could be taken at all seriously. It's the classic western theme of one man alone against the bad guys.

Shane - haven't seen

Unforgiven - Another one that had to be included. This is the film that really updated the genre for more modern sensibilities.

Red River - haven't seen

The Wild Bunch - haven't seen

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - This one I've not only seen, I've read the screenplay (included in William Goldman's great book "Adventures in the Screen Trade"). I can attest that it is a brilliantly written film, but it would only be a shadow of what it is without the chemistry between Redford and Newman and the great performances they both give in the film.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Stagecoach, and Cat Ballou - haven't seen

I've only seen three of the ten. I feel like such a failure. More fodder for the Netflix queue, I suppose.