I try not to get too worked up about American Film Institutes lists, which are notoriously compromised. But I accept that they are merely devices to get old classics into discussion in the public mainstream. While I don't take them very seriously, I'm glad someone's doin' the spade work.
EDIT: By looking at the list, I wonder, who did Howard Hawks tick off? Only Scarface and Red River. OK, OK, I guess two entries is decent. But no The Big Sleep, Bringing Up Baby or His Girl Friday? Cat Ballou beats out Rio Bravo as a Western. Not to mention Seven Men From Now, The Naked Spur Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. off the top of my head. At least it has McCabe & Mrs. Miller. But Cat Ballou is one of the ten greatest westerns? OK, I'm spiraling.
3 comments:
Cat Ballou has more shallow nostalgia value than most of the movies you've mentioned (I wonder how many of these people have seen Seven Men from Now.) Critical guilt is probably the only reason McCabe is included (kinda like how usually one of the five Best Picture nominees is actually decent, to satisfy the "people interested in good movies" demo.)
Cat Ballou, when I saw it as a teenager, was kinda fun. I suppose it does have nostalgia value. I don't necessarily expect critical perfection. But that one just stands out as odd.
Seven Men from Now? Probably not that many. I saw The Naked Spur recently and thought it was similar and amazing.
Oh, it seems weird to me to think of McCabe as my favorite western, but I think it probably is.
Another one that should be a contender for the list over Cat Ballou:
The Outlaw Josey Wales.
Although Unforgiven probably made that unlikely.
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