The Searchers

Cast:
John Wayne , Jeffrey Hunter , Vera Miles



Director : John Ford
Year : 1968
imdb score : 8.0/10




Plot:
Ethan Edwards, returned from the Civil War to the Texas ranch of his brother, hopes to find a home with his family and to be near the woman he obviously but secretly loves. But a Comanche raid destroys these plans, and Ethan sets out, along with his 1/8 Indian nephew Martin, on a years-long journey to find the niece kidnapped by the Indians under Chief Scar. But as the quest goes on, Martin begins to realize that his uncle's hatred for the Indians is beginning to spill over onto his now-assimilated niece. Martin becomes uncertain whether Ethan plans to rescue Debbie...or kill her.

Once Upon a Time in the West

Cast:

Henry Fonda , Charles Bronson , Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale

Director : Sergio Leone
Year : 1968
imdb score : 8.8/10 rank : #19

Plot:

Story of a young woman, Mrs. McBain, who moves from New Orleans to frontier Utah, on the very edge of the American West. She arrives to find her new husband and family slaughtered, but by who? The prime suspect, coffee-lover Cheyenne, befriends her and offers to go after the real killer, assassin gang leader Frank, in her honor. He is accompanied by Harmonica on his quest to get even. Get-rich-quick subplots and intricate character histories intertwine with such artistic flair that this could in fact be the movie-to-end-all-movies.

Awards:

My Opinion:

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Cast:
Butch Cassidy (played by Paul Newman) and his partner The Sundance Kid (played by Robert Redford)





Director : George Roy Hill
Year : 1969
imdb score : 8.2/10 rank : #150



Plot:
Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford), the leaders of the Hole in the Wall Gang, are planning another bank robbery. As they return to their hideout in Hole-in-the-Wall, they find out that the gang has selected a new leader, Harvey Logan (Ted Cassidy). He challenges Butch to a knife fight, which Butch wins, using a ruse. Although Logan is defeated, Butch quickly embraces Logan's idea to rob the Union Pacific Flyer twice, agreeing with Logan that the second robbery would be unexpected and likely to involve even more money than the first.
The first robbery goes very well and the marshal of the next town (Kenneth Mars) can't manage to raise a posse. Butch and Sundance listen to his attempts, enjoying themselves. Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), is introduced; both men vie for her attention as she also goes bike-riding with Butch during a dialogue-free musical interlude, accompanied by the Oscar-winning song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."
The second robbery goes wrong. Not only does Butch use too much dynamite to blow the safe, but a second train arrives, which is carrying a posse that has been specially outfitted by E. H. Harriman to hunt Butch and Sundance. The gang flees in multiple directions, with the posse following Butch and Sundance. They try hiding in a brothel but are betrayed. They try riding double on a single horse in the hope that the posse will split up, but that fails. They then try to arrange an amnesty with the help of the friendly Sheriff Bledsoe (Jeff Corey). But he tells them they have no chance of getting one, and that they will be hunted down until they are killed by the posse.
Still on the run the next day, they muse about the identities of their pursuers. They fixate on Lord Baltimore, a famous Indian tracker, and Joe Lefors, a tough, renowned lawman, recognized at a distance by his white skimmer, or straw hat. After reaching the summit of a mountain, they find themselves trapped on the edge of a canyon. They decide to jump into the river far below, even though Sundance can't swim and would prefer to fight. Later they arrive at Etta's house and learn that the posse has been paid to stay together until they kill the two of them. They decide it's time to leave the country and head to Bolivia, a destination Cassidy had spoken about earlier.
They head to New York, then board a passenger ship, eventually arriving by train in a small Bolivian village. Sundance already resents the choice. Their first attempted bank robbery stops before it gets off the ground, as they are unable to speak Spanish. Etta teaches them the words they need. Their next robbery is clumsily executed, as Butch still needs his cribsheet. After more robberies, the duo, now known as the Bandidos Yanquis, are sought by the authorities all over Bolivia. In spite of their success, their confidence drops one evening when they see a man wearing a white straw hat on the other side of the street, and fear that Lefors is once again after them. Butch suggests going straight, so as to not attract Lefors' attention.
They get their first honest job as payroll guards in a mine, directed by an American named Garris (Strother Martin). However, on their first working day, they are attacked. Garris is killed, and Butch and Sundance are forced to kill the Bolivian robbers, the first time Butch kills anyone. They decide to return to robbery; that evening, Etta decides to leave them, sensing that their days may be numbered.
A few days later, Butch and Sundance attack a payroll mule train in the jungle, taking the money and the mule. When they arrive in the nearest town, San Vicente, a stable boy recognizes the brand on the mule's backside and alerts the local police. While Butch and Sundance are eating at a local eatery, the police arrive and a climactic gun battle begins.
The two of them find shelter in an empty house, but they're soon low on ammunition. Butch makes a run to the mule to fetch the rest of the ammunition while Sundance provides cover fire, but during his return they are both wounded. While tending to their wounds in the house, about 100 soldiers of the Bolivian cavalry arrive and surround the place.
The pair, unaware of the cavalry's arrival, discuss their next destination, with Butch pushing the English-speaking and wide-open continent of Australia. Butch tells Sundance that when they get outside and get to their horses to remember one thing. Before he can say it, Butch asks Sundance if he saw Lefors "out there". Sundance says that he didn't and Butch replies "I thought for a minute there, we were in trouble" as the two head out to meet their fate.



The film ends with a freeze frame sepia tone shot of the pair exiting the house firing their guns, while a voice is heard ordering: "Fuego!" ("Fire!") accompanied by the sound of dozens of rifles being fired in three consecutive volleys.


,

High Noon

Cast:
Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly



Director : Fred Zinnemann
Year : 1952
imdb score : 8.3/10 rank : #118



Plot:
Will Kane (Gary Cooper), the longtime marshal of Hadleyville, New Mexico Territory, has just married pacifist Quaker Amy (Grace Kelly), turned in his badge, and is preparing to move away to become a storekeeper. Soon after, the town learns that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a criminal Kane brought to justice, is due to arrive on the noon train. Miller had been sentenced to the gallows, but was pardoned for reasons never stated in the film. In court, he had vowed to get revenge on Kane and anyone who got in his way. His three gang members wait for him at the station. The worried townspeople encourage Kane to leave, hoping to defuse the situation.
Kane and his wife leave town, but Kane, fearing that the gang will follow and hunt them down on the open prairie, turns back. He reclaims his badge and scours the town for deputies—even interrupting Sunday church services in order to do so—but it becomes clear that while many townspeople profess to admire Kane, none, except a 14 year-old boy, is willing to lend a hand. His deputy, Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), resigns, because he wants the glory of facing Frank Miller for himself. Only his former lover, Helen Ramírez (Katy Jurado), supports him, but there is little she can do to help. Disgusted, she sells her business and prepares to leave town. Kane's wife threatens to leave on the noon train with or without him, but he stubbornly refuses to give in. In the meantime, Pell heads for the saloon, orders a bottle of whisky, and sits down at a table to drink, alone.
While drinking, Pell observes Kane passing by the saloon, and follows him to the stables. In the stables, Kane admits to Pell that he has thought about leaving town, but that he reconsidered. In attempt to force Kane to leave town, Pell begins to saddle up a horse for Kane, but Kane momentarily hesitates and then turns and walks away. Pell then punches Kane from behind and a knockdown drag-out fistfight ensues, which Kane eventually wins, but which results in Kane being covered in dirt, with a contusion on his jaw. Kane goes to the barber shop to get cleaned-up, where hammering suggests that Kane's coffin is being built in the back room while Kane reclines in the barber's chair. Kane returns to the sheriff's office and shortly before noon
prepares his last will and testament.



In the end, Kane faces the four gunmen alone. He guns down two of Miller's men, though he himself is wounded in the arm. Helen Ramirez and Amy both board the train, but Amy gets off when she hears the sound of gunfire. Amy chooses her husband's life over her religious beliefs and kills the third gunman by shooting him in the back. Miller then takes her hostage and offers to trade her for Kane. Kane agrees, coming out into the open. Amy, however, claws Miller's face, causing him to release her. Kane then shoots and kills Miller. Then, as the townspeople emerge, Kane contemptuously throws his marshal's star in the dirt and leaves town with his wife.

The Good The Bad & The Ugly

Cast:
Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach




Director : Sergio Leone
Year : 1966
imdb score : 9.0/10 rank : #4

Plot:
In a desolate ghost town during the American Civil War, bandit Tuco ("The Ugly," Eli Wallach) narrowly shoots his way past three bounty hunters to freedom. Miles away, Angel Eyes ("The Bad," Lee Van Cleef) interrogates a former soldier Stevens (Antonio Casas) about a missing man named Bill Carson (Antonio Casale) and a cache of Confederate gold, shooting Stevens and his son after the interrogation but not before Angel Eyes also collects a bounty given to him by Stevens to kill Angel Eyes' employer; Angel Eyes then collects his bounty for the killing from his employer and then shoots him. Meanwhile, Tuco's journey across the desert leads him into a group of bounty hunters, who prepare to capture him when they are approached by Blondie ("The Good," Clint Eastwood), a mysterious lone gunman who challenges the hunters to a draw, which he wins with lightning speed. Initially elated, Tuco is enraged when Blondie delivers him to the local authorities for the reward money. Hours later, as Tuco awaits his execution, Blondie surprises the authorities and frees Tuco, the two later meeting to split the reward money, revealing their lucrative money-making scheme. The two repeat the process at another town before Blondie, weary of Tuco's incessant complaints, abandons him in the desert. A livid Tuco rearms himself in a nearby town and surprises Blondie in his hotel room in the middle of a skirmish between Union and Confederate troops. As Tuco prepares to kill Blondie by fashioning a noose and forcing Blondie to put it around his neck, a cannonball demolishes the room, allowing Blondie to escape.
Following a relentless search, Tuco ambushes Blondie and marches him across the harsh desert. As Blondie collapses from dehydration, Tuco prepares to kill him when a runaway carriage appears on the horizon. Inside, Tuco discovers a dying Bill Carson, who reveals that Confederate gold is buried in a grave in Sad Hill cemetery but falls unconscious before naming the grave. When Tuco returns with water, he discovers Carson dead and Blondie slumped against the carriage. As he passes out, Blondie says that he knows the name on the grave. Tuco takes Blondie, both disguised as Confederate soldiers, to a Catholic mission, allowing Blondie time to recover before the two leave, still disguised as Confederate soldiers. They inadvertently encounter a force of Union soldiers (which they mistakenly thought as Confederate soldiers due to grey dust on their uniforms), who capture and march them to a Union prison camp.
At the camp, Corporal Wallace (Mario Brega) begins a roll call, and Tuco answers for Bill Carson, catching the attention of Angel Eyes, now a Union Sergeant stationed at the camp. Angel Eyes has Wallace torture Tuco into revealing Sad Hill Cemetery, but confesses that only Blondie knows the name on the grave. Angel Eyes offers Blondie an equal partnership in recovering the gold. Blondie agrees and rides out with Angel Eyes and his posse while Tuco, being transported by train to his execution, escapes from his captors. Blondie and Angel Eyes and his posse stop at a war-ravaged town to rest. Tuco, on the other hand is put on a train with a goon ordered to kill him. However, Tuco tells the goon he has to pee and jumps off the train with the goon. He then beats the goon's head with a brick, killing him and lets the train cut their chain so that he is free to go. Across town, Tuco aimlessly wanders through the wreckage, oblivious to the bounty hunter that survived in the beginning of the movie (Al Mulock), who tracks and ambushes Tuco. Despite the surprise, Tuco kills the bounty hunter. Blondie leaves to investigate the gunshot, finding Tuco and informing him of Angel Eyes's involvement. The two resume their old partnership, skulking through the wrecked town and killing Angel Eyes' henchmen before discovering that Angel Eyes has escaped.
Tuco and Blondie locate Sad Hill Cemetery where they discover a great battle brewing between large Union and Confederate forces, separated only by a narrow bridge. Eager to disperse the standing armies, Blondie and Tuco wire the bridge with dynamite. During the process, the two trade information, with Tuco revealing Sad Hill Cemetery and Blondie saying that the name on the grave is Arch Stanton. The two detonate the bridge and take cover as the two armies angrily resume their battle. The next morning, the Confederate and Union soldiers have moved on. Tuco abandons Blondie to retrieve the gold for himself and stumbles upon the sprawling Sad Hill Cemetery. Frantically searching the sea of makeshift tombstones, Tuco finally locates Arch Stanton's grave. As he digs, Blondie appears and offers him a shovel. Moments later, the two are ambushed by Angel Eyes, who holds them at gunpoint. Blondie kicks open Stanton's grave to reveal only a skeleton. Declaring that only he knows the real name of the grave, Blondie writes it on a rock in the middle of the graveyard and tells Tuco and Angel Eyes that "two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're going to have to earn it."

The three stare each other down, calculating alliances and dangers in a famous five-minute Mexican standoff before suddenly drawing. Blondie shoots Angel Eyes, who rolls into an open grave, while Tuco discovers that Blondie unloaded his gun the night before. Blondie directs Tuco to the grave marked "Unknown" next to Arch Stanton's. Tuco digs and is overjoyed to find bags of gold inside, but is shocked when he turns to Blondie and finds himself staring at a noose. Seeking a measure of revenge for what Tuco has done to him, Blondie forces Tuco atop a grave marker and wraps the noose around his neck, binding Tuco's hands before disappearing with his share of the gold. As Tuco screams for mercy, Blondie's silhouette returns on the horizon, aiming a rifle at Tuco. As Tuco screams in rage, Blondie fires and severs the noose rope, dropping Tuco face-first onto his share of the gold. Blondie smiles as Tuco screams at him and then rides off into the frontier.