Why don't I like Westerns?


I've seen a lot of of the quintessential westerns by now, but they still seem to consistently fail to engage me:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly had a great climax and soundtrack, but otherwise didn't do much for me, Once Upon a Time in the West I can barely recall anything about it (although I do plan to rewatch this anyway), and The Searchers for me was one of the most obnoxious films I've ever had to sit through, partially because I couldn't stand John Wayne.

I've also seen The Wild Bunch and Unforgiven, but still none of them have left much of an impression.

It's annoying because on paper, the Western genre sounds like the kind of thing I should like, and it seems a shame that I don't get the enjoyment out of these classics that everyone else seems to. To date the only one I have genuinely liked from start to finish was Django Unchained, mainly due to Tarantino's trademark style shaking things up a bit.

So, have I just got an aversion to Westerns, or have I just started with the wrong ones? Or do I just need to give them all a second chance to really get into them? And for someone like me trying to get into the genre, what films would you recommend to start with?

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People like different things. You must not be into Westerns for a reason I can't discern. But I feel you should at least watch High Noon (1952) before you give up...


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Unforgiven is really boring, I agree. The only good thing about Wild Bunch are the gory shoot outs.
I love The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but also The Price of Power, Teppepa, Mercenary, Sabata, Trinity is still my name, Navajo Joe, A Bullet for the General, Django prepare a coffin, Hateful Eight, Fistful of Dollars, My name is Nobody...

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Try something a bit more Hollywood such as Tombstone or The quick and the dead as a gateway film or try the tv series Deadwood,I was the same just couldn't get into westerns but now find them as watchable as other genres

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[deleted]

I was barely a teenager when Tombstone was released, and I didn't really appreciate Westerns at that time. Tombstone was definitely a gateway for me.

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You're watching too many of the grim, nihilistic latter-day "revisionist" westerns. Watch some of the more adventurous, uplifting ones from the 1950s.

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Have you seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Pat Garret and Billy the Kid and True Grit?

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I really don’t like westerns too. But if I had to choose I prefer some spaghetti westerns (Sergio Leone’s preferably) and some newer ones.

I especially can’t stand old 1950’s ones.

That being said I find Unforgiven boring, but my partner loves it so I had to endure it. Although I can see it’s not a bad movie, just not my thing.

Also this one I had to watch twice recently.

The Good, the Bad and The Ugly is my favorite. There are some funny moments, love Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef and of course Ennio Morricone’s music. Was really lucky to got to see him in concert about 5 years ago.

About Deadwood tv show that someone mentioned, I tried watching it once but didn’t get into it for some reason. I think I fell asleep and then never continued where I stopped. In its defense, I fall asleep to a lot of movies/shows just because I tend to watch in bed before I go to sleep.

I know it has really good reviews and is regarded one of the best shows, and also I love Ian McShane so I might give it a try sometimes in the future.

But yeah, I think I also just have an aversion of the Wild West time period. It just never interested me, quite the opposite.

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Maybe you just have an aversion to older movies?

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I would mostly agree with you, except for the Unforgiven. I did not dislike Django, but I did not really like it either. The Hateful Eight was pretty good. The Western genre is too simpleminded, and that is why directors made Western movies, like war movies, they are easy to write and mostly action.

You might to checking out the movie "McCabe and Mrs. Miller".

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[deleted]

Simpleminded is one way of putting it. But in a world of so many gray areas, I find the more straightfoward "good vs. evil," "hero vs. villain" dynamics of older westerns to be most refreshing.

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