The director on his all-time favourites from the genre
1, 2 & 3. The Dollars Trilogy
Clint Eastwood was laconically iconic as mysterious gunslinger The Man With No Name in mid-Sixties epics A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.
QT says: “Right at the top, it’s got to be Sergio Leone’s trilogy, especially The Good, The Bad And The Ugly – my absolute favourite movie and the greatest achievement in the history of cinema.”
4. Day Of Anger
Also known as Gunlaw and directed by Leone protégé Tonino Valerii, this drum-tight 1967 thriller sees a bullied street sweeper become a gunfighter.
QT says: “Another one of my favourite spaghetti westerns, it stars Lee Van Cleef, who I love. What a face. A real man. I dedicated Kill Bill: Volume 2 to him.”
5. One-Eyed Jacks
Also a favourite of Martin Scorsese and David Lynch, this 1961 gem sees a bank robber hunting down his double-crossing partner.
QT says: “This underrated movie both stars and is directed by Marlon Brando – the only film he ever directed.”
6. Navajo Joe
Filmed in Spain and starring a 30-year-old Burt Reynolds in his second leading role, as a lone rider on the trail of bandits who massacred his tribe.
QT says: “Directed by Sergio Corbucci, who did the original Django, this is one of the greatest revenge movies and has one of Morricone’s most memorable scores.”
7. The Hellbenders
Another Corbucci film, also known as The Cruel Ones, this stars Joseph Cotten as a Confederate officer planning to restart the Civil War with a coffin full of stolen money.
QT says: “The great thing is, this a western with no heroes in it. Everybody is the bad guy. There’s a gal in it who’s more of a victim, but everybody is f*cked-up.”
8. Winchester ’73
James Stewart reinvented himself as a tough guy by starring in this 1950 tale of a prized rifle, passed from one ill-fated owner to another.
QT says: “Anthony Mann is one of my favourite western directors and this is his best movie by far.”
9. Little Big Man
Neglected 1970 classic starring Dustin Hoffman as 121-year-old retired gunslinger looking back on his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.
QT says: “I’m a big fan. This has a kind of a sister kinship to Django Unchained.”
10. Dances With Wolves
Kevin Costner’s Oscar-gobbling epic about an exiled Civil War lieutenant who befriends wolves and Indians.
QT says: “Yeah, really. I think it’s the best western made in the past 30 years.”
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