u/BrandNewOriginal

*And by "best western comedies," I'm not actually referring to comedies set at one of the franchise locations of the Best Western motel chain. (Though if you know of any good comedies set at a Best Western – or even a Best Buy – by all means feel free to share.)

Seriously (?), what are your favorite comedy westerns? Your number 1, top 5, 7, 10... whatever. I think I've only ever seen Blazing Saddles (love it) thus far myself.

(Note: I realize this is probably not the first post on this subject on this subreddit, but I'm relatively new here, and it's more fun to interact with y'all rather than search old posts.)

Okay, so first of all, yes, my post title is a quote from the 1980 comedy Airplane!, where it is very much a joke. (And I love Airplane!) But my question is real: do you like the so-called "sword and sandal" movies of the classic era (and beyond?). I'm not necessarily an aficionado myself – my favorite classic film genres are probably film noir, westerns, and screwball comedies – but I can enjoy an exotic epic getaway with a cast of thousands (or seeming thousands) on occasion. Off the top of my head, I've seen Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953), Land of the Pharaohs (1955), The Ten Commandments (1956), Spartacus (1960), Barabbas (1961), El Cid (1961), and The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964). (I may or may not be forgetting one or two.) I like these well enough in some ways to varying degrees, while the one "sword and sandal" movie that I truly love is Ben-Hur (1959); that's one of my very favorite movies (and not just for the gay subtext, ha ha!). I love the epic quality of Ben-Hur, but it's also a very personal story – an "intimate epic," as they say, a term I've also heard applied to Lawrence of Arabia (1962), for instance.

Anyway, just wondering about people's thoughts on the genre. Do you like these movies? If so, which are your favorites? What are your thoughts on the use and impact of Cinemascope and Technicolor, for instance? What about the mix (in DeMille, for instance) of religiosity and titillation? Are other movies too "pious"? Also, how broad do you consider the genre to be? Does it include movies based on Greek myth, for instance? (Say, Ulysses from 1954? Jason and the Argonauts from 1963?)

Another Redditor recently posted his thoughts about Sidney Lumet's 1957 classic-era film 12 Angry Men, and it was an interesting discussion. But it also got me thinking about the barely-remembered Angry Man series* in general (*I don't think they actually called them "franchises" back then), and I was wondering if anyone else has been lucky (or unlucky?) enough to see these movies? They're obscure to the point that they're not even listed on imdb (!) – I guess it's a very rare case of the twelfth movie in a series thoroughly outclassing its predecessors (though I would make the maybe obvious argument that the original movie – that is, The Angry Man – is the best). The only other situation like this that comes to mind is the Malcolm franchise, with Malcolm X apparently the only movie in the series that anyone has ever actually seen... I mean, did the first nine Malcolm movies even make it straight to home video??

Anyway, below is a list I've compiled of all the Angry Man movies – at least as I remember them. Personally, I wish they would have stuck to one type of title (say, the number of angry men/the adjective/the word for "man" or "men" – "5 Ornery Fellows," for instance), but I guess variety is the spice of life, after all. Have any of you seen any of these? What are your favorites? What are the stinkers? (I thought 10 Hot Hombres was a real low point myself, the nadir of the series.) Have I forgotten any titles – or perhaps misremembered any of them? Please join in the discussion!!

Additional note: Though technically not part of the series, I'm also fond of Abbott and Costello Meet the Angry Man – even if [SPOILER ALERT] the Angry Man just turns out to be Bud Abbott himself.

(In case you're wondering, yes, it was a rather long, slow day at my day job. And no, I'm not planning on quitting. But nobody laughed at my jokes in the comments on the other person's post, so I obviously had to make my own.)

The movies:

1. The Angry Man
2. The Angry Man 2 (aka After the Angry Man)
3. The Angry Man 3: 3 Angry Men (originally released as The Angry Man 3 – in 3-D!)
4. Bride of the Angry Man
5. The Angry Man 5: 5 Ornery Fellows
6. Kid Gloves: Son of the Angry Man(?)
7. The Incensed 7 (the first of the two Angry Man westerns, a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Hara ga tatsu Samurai Seven)
8. 8 Chafed Chaps
9. The Good, the Bad, and the Angry Man (note the use of the Oxford comma)
10. 10 Hot Hombres (ugh)
11. 11 Ill-Tempered Blokes (a very slight improvement over 10 Hot Hombres)
12. 12 Angry Men
13. Angry Man (they just removed the "The" from the title!)
14. Angry Man vs. Predator (again, no "The")
15. Rocky Balboa

Am I the only one who thinks that Linda Darnell and Katy Jurado could be sisters – maybe even twin sisters? Well, maybe not twin sisters, but in fact, I've sometimes confused them with each other a little – probably largely the result of Darnell's role in the classic western My Darling Clementine (1946) and Jurado's in High Noon (1952). In fact, I think they were both very beautiful women and talented actresses who gave memorable performances. (Note: I've scrambled the pics a bit to keep you guessing [or not].)

This isn't so much a question, actually: I want to read the book first since I mostly want to form my own visual images. But it's such a long book, and I'm a very slow reader! And I'm really (Tommy Lee) Jones-ing to watch the miniseries! So I'm tempted to watch the miniseries first – but I think I'll hold out.

I guess my main question is: what are your thoughts on the book and the movie, especially if you've both read the book and seen the movie? Do you prefer one over the other? I know a lot of people will often say of a book and movie that "the book was better," but I generally find things to appreciate in good movies adapted from good books, and Lonesome Dove seems to be quite well-regarded in both mediums.

Thoughts? Also, do you have any other especially strong recommendations for western book/movie combinations?