Rank The Eastwood Westerns You Have Seen

[Hans]

1. GBU
2. Pale Rider
3. High Plains Drifter
4. Josey Wales
5. Rawhide

GBU for the obvious reasons (see elsewhere on this board).

Pale Rider, if only for this oneliner: "There's nothing like a nice piece of hickory".

I consider High Plains Drifter to be the most enigmatic of all. What are the main character's motives? And why this explicit rape scene?

The plot of Josey Wales is not breathtaking, but somehow the picture seems to depict an authentic atmosphere as regards the Civil War and its aftermath (and the bluecoats don't get much credit, to put it mildly).

Rawhide: the heritage of those good old times of black and white tv.

I saw the other westerns too. They are OK, but ranking them would be more or less arbitrary.

[GBU]

What are the main character's motives?

Remember the sheriff who was whipped to death? Clint playes the sheriff's brother, exacting revenge on the murderers and on the town for not doing anything. He said that in an interview on Inside the Actor's Studio. Just letting you know.

As for the rape scene, I agree with you, I didn't like it either.

[winky]

My top 5 are
The outlaw josey wales
Unforgiven
The good, the bad, and the ugly
high plains drifter
joe kidd

Josey Wales was such an awesome, epic, if you like kind of film. Contains a lot of humour, sometimes dark, but whatever, its the No 1 for me.

[Fistful of Dollars]

My favorite Clint Westerns is:

1. The Good The Bad and The Ugly
2. For a few Dollars More
3. A Fistful of Dollars
4. Pale Rider
5. Outlaw Josey Wales
6. Two mules for sister Sara
7. Unforgiven
8. Hang 'em High

Thats was all folks! Clint movies what i've seen. Next im gonna buy High Plaines Drifter. Just have to wait the day when they gonna  publish it in here.

[Fistful of Dollars]

I forgot Joe Kidd, but i didnt like it all..

[robluvsnic]

Hi. I'm new (obviously), and it's been far too long since I've seen most of Clint's westerns to rank them all. But I thought I'd list the top three, and then comment on one of them in particular, purely because of the last few posts.

1. Unforgiven -- simply the best movie of all time
2. High Plains Drifter
3. GBU

What I wanted to say, though, concerns High Plains Drifter and especially what everyone has taken as the "inexplicable" rape scene.Without this scene, I don't know that I would have rated it above GBU, and I think the scene makes the most sense in the context of the Eastwood western tradition that precedes it. Take GBU: this is a film were "morality" is reduced to little more than a choice of style. What in the actions of the three main characters really justifies their respective depiction as "good", "bad" and "ugly"? In fact, the very inclusion of "ugly" here already points to the reduction of moral choice to stylistic choice.. In terms of conventional morality, especially as represented in "law and order", all three characters are "bad" in the moral sense. If anything, it is in fact the "ugly" who is the most "bad" in the moral sense of the term, at least in the sense that he appears little more than a common criminal. But that's exactly the point: if the "bad" earns that title, it's because he has a certain style about him, while the "ugly" earns our pity, since he could never hope to have that style. The"bad" is thus worse than the "ugly", since the "ugly", being devoid of style, couldn't ever hope to participate in a moral system that is so aligned with the aesthetic. (To appreciate the point, it helps to think about the way inwhich the terms "good" and "bad" are judgements both of moral actions and of aesthetic products.) If the ugly never stood a chance of being the good, then that leaves only the good and the bad as contrasting characters, and -- again -- what really separates these two? Not the morality of their actions, that's for sure. If we sympathise with one (the good) rather than the other (the bad), therefore, it's because we like Clint's _style_.

Put in the context of a questioning of morality, the rape scene is absolutely crucial to High Plains Drifter. The scene removes even the _aesthetic_ basis for judging the "hero's" actions.Unlike the "good", the high plains drifter can't even be called stylish, for who would see rape as an aesthetic ideal? He is who he is, and he does what he does, and their is neither a moral nor an aesthethic framework for  explaining our sympathy towards him, assuming that he holds our sympathy. And if not, then how can we sympathise with the "good"? After all, the rape is the only thing that separates the two characters. In fact, the drifter has more "moral" justification for his actions than the "good", at least if we see his vengance as justified. So I think that the rape scene has to be in the film, and I see it as the first step in Clint's struggle with the Western tradition he helped create. And from High Plains Drifter, where do you go but to Unforgiven ("Deserve's got nothing to do with it")?

Sorry for the long rant. I just wanted to give myself and others something to think about.

[KC]

Hi, robluvsnic, and welcome to the board. Those are some interesting points you raise about "The Good" and the Stranger. You may want to comment further in a thread we have going down in the "Film Discussion" forum ... here:

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER: The Story 2: The Rape Scene

Oh, and by the way ... on this board, you don't have to use the "underscore" key to emphasize something. Just select or highlight the text you want to emphazize, then click the "italics" button in the top row of buttons above the "Message" window. Or, you can use bold:

[masterchief]

Yes, Misty, you're not alone, and it's perfectly okay not to like some of Clint's films, even if the ones that you happen to not be too fond of are some of the ones that many consider his best. That's cool. Not everybody loves Unforgiven . I don't happen to be with you on this point, but that's okay. For me, Unforgiven isn't the most enjoyable of Clint's films, but artistically, it's one of his best, but that's just my opinion.[/quote

I agree, i didnt think that Unforgiven matched the dollars triligy, although  havent seen all of the Eastwood films, but I'm getting Pale Rider and TOJW for christmas, but Unforgiven is not the best

[masterchief]

Sorry, I didn't mean to put the following in the quote:

"I agree, i didnt think that Unforgiven matched the dollars triligy, although  havent seen all of the Eastwood films, but I'm getting Pale Rider and TOJW for christmas, but Unforgiven is not the best."

[grandpa_chum]

Only seen 5, so i'll just rank my top 5...

1. The good, the bad, and the ugly... best movie i've ever seen, head and shoulders above the rest i've seen, its not even close to no.2. this may sound wierd, specially considering i'm on this forum, but i'm not even sure clint is my favorite actor in this movie... van cleef is amazing. He is the perfect villain IMO.

2. For a few dollars more... Loved it, but again not even close to the good the bad and the ugly

3. Hang 'em high... liked the plot more than anything else, but was still a great movie

4. Outlaw josey wales... was ok, my expectations were high after hearing such great things about it, i was slightly disapointed, but still a decent movie

5. A fistful of dollars... not a great movie, but still enjoyable, i liked the mule scene in the beginning and the showdown at the end, but everything in the middle wasnt anything special.

[robluvsnic]

Thanks for the welcome, KC. I'll definitely have a look at that thread, although I hate coming into these things when they've already been going for so long. I read through the Unforgiven thread yesterday, and just kept wishing that I'd discovered these forums a year ago!

As for the style tags I assume that they're the standard square bracket versions of html tags. The problem, though, is that for some bizarre reason, when I enter text into the message field it shows up as white against a white textfield! I can't see what I'm typing (hence the odd typo)...

[skippy]

My top five are

Highplanes Drifter
The Good The Bad The Ugly
Fist full of dollars
hang them high
Unforgiven

[thesongman]

My favorite catagory!!

without a doubt:

1. a fistful of dollars
2. for a few dollars more
3. GB&U
4. Unforgiven
5. joe kidd
6. outlaw josey wales
7. High plains drifter
8. hang em high

There will never be another MWNN trilogy! You all know how I feel    

[Ady]

I'll rate the ones i've seen with the 5 star system, like I did with the Dirty Harry movies...

A Fistful of Dollars ****
For a Few Dollars More *****
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly *****
Hang 'Em High ****
Two Mules for Sister Sara ****
High Plains Drifter *****
The Outlaw Josey Wales ****
Pale Rider ***
Unforgiven *****

[Hans]

I ranked GBU above all others because it is by far the best western (with or without Clint Eastwood). As for the acting: Clint Eastwood is adequate in GBU, but in other westerns, like High Plains Drifter or Pale Rider, his performance surpasses that in GBU. By the way: Eli Wallach as Tuco is the best actor in GBU, while Lee Van Cleef is at least as good as Clint Eastwood in that movie.

[Big-matt]

My top ten go like this

The outlaw josey wales *****
Unforgiven *****
High plains drifter *****
Good bad ugly ****
Pale rider *****
Few dollers more ****
Fist full of dollers ***
Hang em high *****
Two mules for sister sara ***
Joe kidd **

[1858Rem]

My Favs in this order

Unforgiven
Good, Bad, and the Ugly
Outlaw Josey Wales
Pale Rider
Joe Kidd

[grandpa_chum]

Only seen 5, so i'll just rank my top 5...

1. The good, the bad, and the ugly... best movie i've ever seen, head and shoulders above the rest i've seen, its not even close to no.2. this may sound wierd, specially considering i'm on this forum, but i'm not even sure clint is my favorite actor in this movie... van cleef is amazing. He is the perfect villain IMO.

2. For a few dollars more... Loved it, but again not even close to the good the bad and the ugly

3. Hang 'em high... liked the plot more than anything else, but was still a great movie

4. Outlaw josey wales... was ok, my expectations were high after hearing such great things about it, i was slightly disapointed, but still a decent movie

5. A fistful of dollars... not a great movie, but still enjoyable, i liked the mule scene in the beginning and the showdown at the end, but everything in the middle wasnt anything special.

Now that i've seen more of em and all of em more than once i can give a better and more updated list of how they rank in my book, and i gave em a quick rating out of 10

1. The Good The Bad And The Ugly... unratable
2. For A Few Dollars More... 10
3. Unforgiven...10
4. A Fistful of Dollars... 9.5
5. The Outlaw Josey Wales...9
6. High Planes Drifter...9
7. Two Mules For Sister Sarah...7.5
8. Hang 'Em High...6
9. Joe Kid...3

The top 7 were great... the rest weren't very good

[Kal Varnsen]

It's hard to rate them, especially the first few, but here's my list:

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly;
2. For a Few Dollars More;
3. The Outlaw Josey Wales;
4. High Plains Drifter;
5. A Fistful of Dollars;
6. Unforgiven;
7. Pale Rider;
8. Two Mules for Sister Sara;
9. Hang 'Em High;
10. Joe Kidd.

The only one I didn't have to think about was Joe kidd. It's not even half as good as Hang 'Em High. I enjoy watching it, but there isn't anything I particularly like about it.

[Dannyman]

1.GB&U
2.Unforgiven
3.For a Few Dollars More
4.Josey Wales
5.Hang Em High
6.Two Mules For Sister Sara
7.Joe Kidd
8.High Plains Drifter