MovieChat Forums > The Big Country Discussion > Other films like The Big Country?

Other films like The Big Country?

posted 12 years ago by The_tim
21 replies | jump to latest

I really enjoyed this film. Are there any other Westerns out there as good as this one, with similar realist tones? (I've already seen How The West Was Won)

[–] erudite925 8 years ago

My favorite movies set in the West are:

Red River (Montgomery Clift and John Wayne)

The Big Country (Gregory Peck)

Silverado (Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner)

Two Mules for Sister Sarah (Clint Eastwood and Shirley McClain)

Open Range (Kevin Costner and Annette Benning)

Will Penny (Charlton Heston)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. (Newman & Redford)

The Shootist (John Wayne)

Destry Rides Again (Jimmy Stewart)

Tombstone (Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Dana Delany)

High Noon (Gary Cooper)

MacCabe and Mrs. Miller (Warren Beatty)

How the West Was Won (Fonda and Stewart)

The Angel and the Badman (John Wayne)

"No one forgets the truth, Frank, they just get better at lying."-Richard Yates🔍

[–] davidjanuzbrown 8 years ago

Not a Silverado fan ( cuts (especially Rosanna Arquette's) ruins it). I would not include Destry (really despise Marlene Dietrich's singing) or McCabe And Mrs Miller ( Do not like Beatty or Christie), Good call on Angel And The Bad man. I would include Winchester 73 ( Stewart and Dan Dureya), The Last Hunt ( Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger) and Once Upon A Time In The West ( Fonda, Bronson and ( yum) Claudia Cardinale. Directed by Sergio Leone).

[–] tabari 8 years ago

One more modern western set right after WWII is "Bad Day at Black Rock". All the cast is right on the mark. Robert Ryan as the guy who runs the small town. Spencer Tracey as the stranger in town who soon wonders just what is going on. Lee Marvin as a local tough guy.
And occasionally I like a good western with comic relief. "Posse" with Kirk Douglas and Bruce Dern and my favorite "the Scalphunters" with Burt Lancaster and Ossie Davis along with Telly Savalas and Shelley Winters. This movie has one of the best fight scenes in some ways. Two guys slugging it out with an audience. I won't give spoilers on that.

[–] cfwente 8 years ago

I don't believe anyone has mentioned The Unforgiven (1960). Not the Eastwood Unforgiven. The film's themes are similar though The Unforgiven focuses on Indian hatred and ethnic purity as motivators equal to land, power, etc. It stars Burt Lancaster, Audie Murphy and Audrey Hepburn. It's a John Huston picture and though he didn't like it, I did -- very much. Oddly enough, Charles Bickford (Major Terrill) plays a similar patriarch in this one. Look for it.

Btw, this film is thought to have been Huston's answer to Ford's The Searchers which has been mentioned on this thread. Additionally, I think Audie Murphy's performance in the film is the best work he's ever done. Steals the show, imo.

[–] acordovax 7 years ago

Giant with Liz Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson are somewhat similar to this movie. Giant to me is a modern western. The stories are similar also; rich girl from the east-rich guy from the east.

[–] liscarkat (16737) 2 years ago

All the recommendations here are good. In the category of "thoughtful westerns" I would add "Monte Walsh", if someone hasn't mentioned it already.