AFI’s 10 TOP 10 — CHALLENGE RANK: WESTERN

Hello and welcome to “AFI’s 10 Top 10 — Challenge Rank,” this is an article series where we put to test the American Film Institute’s various list rankings through a critical and audience consensual assessment scale. We will be breaking down “AFI’s 10 Top 10” lists, right here. The “AFI’s 10 Top 10” originally broke down by genre what are the 10 best films in that specified genre. We have covered Courtroom Drama, Romantic Comedies, Mystery, and Animation in the four prior articles in the series so far, as we are now going to tackle “AFI’s 10 Top 10: Western” category. Here’s the list of films and how they ranked from “AFI’s 10 Top 10: Western”:

1.) “The Searchers”

2.) “High Noon”

3.) “Shane”

4.) “Red River”

5.) “Unforgiven”

6.) “The Wild Bunch”

7.) “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”

8.) “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”

9.) “Stagecoach”

10.) “Cat Ballou”

If you want to see the actual AFI page of the Top 10? The link is below: http://www.afi.com/10top10/category.aspx?cat=3

Now, this is how AFI ranked the best films of the western genre. But do critics and audiences agree with AFI’s consensus? Well, through a rather collective algorithm from various critical and audience aggregators, I came to forming an overall consensual ranking of the collective films from “AFI’s 10 Top 10: Western”. I was a rather surprised how things turned out here among the consensual rankings compared to AFI’s rankings but here’s how it laid out:

Consensual Placement: 10th

CAT BALLOU (1965)

AFI’S RANKING: #10

LOGLINE: A woman seeking revenge for her murdered father hires a famous gunman, but he’s very different from what she expects.

DIRECTED BY: Elliot Silverstein

STARS: Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan and Dwayne Hickman

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Cat Ballou” stayed put at #10 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment matching AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 9th

McCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971)

AFI’S RANKING: #8

LOGLINE: A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.

DIRECTED BY: Robert Altman

STARS: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois and William Devane

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” dipped 1 spot from #8 to #9 with the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 8th

SHANE (1953)

AFI’S RANKING: #3

LOGLINE: A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smoldering settler/rancher conflict forces him to act.

DIRECTED BY: George Stevens

STARS: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin and Brandon De Wilde

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Shane” plunged a whopping 5 spots, going from #3 to #8 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list. This was the biggest drop among all films on the list.

Consensual Placement: 7th

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)

AFI’S RANKING: #7

LOGLINE: Wyoming, early 1900s, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are the leaders of a band of outlaws. After a train robbery goes wrong they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heals. Their solution — escape to Bolivia.

DIRECTED BY: George Roy Hill

STARS: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross and Strother Martin

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” stayed put at #7 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment matching AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 6th

THE WILD BUNCH (1969)

AFI’S RANKING: #6

LOGLINE: An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the “traditional” American West is disappearing around them.

DIRECTED BY: Sam Peckinpah

STARS: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan and Edmond O’Brien

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “The Wild Bunch” stayed put at #6 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment matching AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 5th

HIGH NOON (1952)

AFI’S RANKING: #2

LOGLINE: A town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at high noon when the gang leader, an outlaw he sent up years ago, arrives on the noon train.

DIRECTED BY: Fred Zinnemann

STARS: Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges and Grace Kelly

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “High Noon” dropped 3 spots from #2 to #5 with the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 4th

RED RIVER (1948)

AFI’S RANKING: #4

LOGLINE: A rancher leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.

DIRECTED BY: Howard Hawks

STARS: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan and Joanne Dru

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Red River” stayed put at #4 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment matching AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 3rd

THE SEARCHERS (1956)

AFI’S RANKING: #1

LOGLINE: An American Civil War veteran embarks on a journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches.

DIRECTED BY: John Ford

STARS: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles and Ward Bond

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “The Searchers” climbed 2 spots from #3 to #1 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 2nd

UNFORGIVEN (1992)

AFI’S RANKING: #5

LOGLINE: Retired Old West gunslinger reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man.

DIRECTED BY: Clint Eastwood

STARS: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Unforgiven” scaled 3 spots from #5 to #2 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 1st

STAGECOACH (1939)

AFI’S RANKING: #9

LOGLINE: A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.

DIRECTED BY: John Ford

STARS: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine and John Carradine

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Stagecoach” ascended 9 spots from #10 to #1 with the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list. This was the biggest climb among all films on the list.

In concluding, you can see the critical consensual assessment with critics and audiences ranked many exactly in the same position or just slightly differing with only a few exceptions from AFI’s ranking list. So, how would you personally rank these top-tier western films?

Article Note: All loglines are sourced from IMDb.com.

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