Dead Man (1995)

Johnny Depp stars in Jim Jarmusch's strange and bleak western as William Blake, an accountant from Cleveland who just moved to the crime-ridden and belligerent town of Machine, only to realize the job he moved there for has already been filled. Outcast and penniless, he is discovered drinking alone outside of a bar by Thel Russel, a beautiful brothel girl who takes him in for the night. The next morning, however, the two are awoken by Thel's old lover, the son of a powerful factory owner in Machine, who comes by to make ammends. How awkward. Needless to say, words are had, shots are fired, and Blake escapes the only survivor, fated now to live his life on the run from lawmen and cold blooded bounty hunters. Oh, and along the way he meets up with a pretty badass Indian man who calls himself Nobody (the big fella in the picture).

Personally, I'm both a fan of Jim Jarmusch and westerns, so naturally I was delighted to stumble upon this title in the Queue. Beautifully gritty black-and-white cinematography by Robby Muller, who went on to do more work with Jarmusch on movies like Ghost Dog and Cigarettes and Coffee. An awesome crunchy soundtrack scored by none other than Neil Young. All in all, I'd say what the film lacks in action and suspense (it can feel slow paced for a western at times) it makes up for in breath taking aesthetics. And like many Jarmusch films, fantastic celebrity appearances and cameos, particularly Billy Bob Thornton and Iggy Pop. Recommended for any Jarmusch or contemporary western fans. Or Iggy Pop fans.

Yojimbo (1961)

Samurai-flick meets spaghetti-western in this exciting comedy from (the brilliant) Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Sanjuro Kuwabatake (Toshiro Mifune) is one of the most bad ass and fearless ronins (masterless samurai) in all of old Japan. The only trouble is he's totally broke. So when he discovers a small town completely overrun by murderous outlaws, torn by gang civil war, and tainted by gambling and prostitution, Sanjuro decides he might be able to make an easy buck by trying to bring an end to all the vice. Mostly by way of killing off all the criminals in town, the majority of which are complete idiots.


This movie is gonna blow your mind. In just the comical use of violence alone, Yojimbo is decades ahead of its time. I kept feeling like I recognized shots from a Tarantino film or jokes from a Coen brothers movie. The soundtrack adds a theatrical and somewhat goofy attitude to the film's style, making even the most disturbing images seem harmlessly humorous. The aesthetic is flawless; a perfectly balanced composition of black and white (just check out the screen shots) with thoughtful and graceful camera movement that keeps you in the action constantly. Without a doubt one of my favorite films of all time, made by my favorite filmmaker. Definitely a must-see.

The Train Robbers (1973)

Nothing more than a formulaic western starring John Wayne. Just to clear something up now, they don't rob a single train throughout the whole film so if you're looking for a fast paced action driven western, this isn't it. Burt Kennedy directs a ragtag group of six men and a woman, each of which fills some western stereotype or another, who are in search of gold. A large group of men chases them, none of whom know how to shoot a gun very well despite being a huge posse of what are supposed to be scary people. The shoot out scenes are very few and far between, most of the movie is a slow paced ride through the desert with poor dialogue and off tempo rhythmic editing to try to keep you engaged and instill some kind of emotional response. Unless you're a huge fan of John Wayne this movie probably won't be very enjoyable for you. It offers little aesthetic value with the exception of a handful of shots, and does not have much of a message to offer like some westerns such as The Searchers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Hombre, to name a few. The one saving grace of this film is that it is well acted throughout, especially Anne Margaret, who does a good job of combining the two stereotypical western female roles. However The Train Robbers contained hardly any of the characteristics of a good western in my opinion and isn't worth a watch unless you just want to have something on in the background while you clean up your living room.

The Good, The Bad, and The Weird (2008)

Exciting, campy, South Korean western/comedy. The plot is...meh. It's basically the same plot as It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, except with murderous Korean thugs instead of American suburbanites, and the million dollars is map leading to buried treasure (boooooring). Storyline aside though, this movie is a wild ride with explosively original action scenes and a killer soundtrack. I was also really glad to see Kang-ho Song starring in this picture as "The Weird", by far my favorite South Korean actor, who you can also watch in Thirst and The Host on Watch Instantly. Song is always a delight to watch, and after watching Thirst just the other day he was almost unrecognizable in this film, his character is so radically different. Anyways, this movie is pretty absurd, but if you're just looking for a kick ass, bloody, Asian western with a hint of crass humor, don't even think twice about firing this film up. It's everything you need.