The frontier myth, built and then taken apart.
told in near real time
Ford's most beautiful and most troubling
the hangout western, and Hawks' answer to *High Noon*
*Seven Samurai* as a western, and its own landmark
the spaghetti western's peak
the opening ten minutes
the most likeable western ever made
the violence that changed what was permitted
Altman's anti-western, in mud and snow
Eastwood's sprawling middle western
the western revival's warmest entry
the Brat Pack western, endlessly rewatched
Best Picture, and the epic western revived
the genre auditing itself
endlessly quoted, and Kilmer's best work
Costner's best late western, and a great final shootout
the remake that justified itself
near-perfect
the most beautiful film of the decade
the Coens' most classical
Tarantino in 70mm, in one room
bleak, beautiful, and Bale's most restrained
non-actors, real injuries, real grace
Reichardt's gentlest film about capitalism
Hanks and Greengrass, quietly excellent
Campion's return
Scorsese's most damning
