Weirdest Western

[Mike D.]

Saw an ad about Cowboys and Aliens the other day, and it made me think about weird westerns. What is your favorite weird western? Mine would have to be "Dead Man" with Johnny Depp. Filmed entirely in black and white, it has a certain gritty 'feel' to it. I am a Depp fan, so that might be why I like it. Has any one else seen this one?

[anthony martin]

Yes,I like that one too.It was good to see Robert Mitchum one last time.The indian mistaking Depp's character William Blake for the 18th century poet was both funny and bizarre.It's an interesting approach-existentialist, surrealist and satiric of older western movie conventions.It is a definetely weird but worthwhile watch!

[Phantom Stranger]

You want weird westerns? Well then try these:

Billy The Kid vs Dracula
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein s Daughter
Curse Of The Undead
The Phantom Empire
The Burrowers

just to name a few

[Buck Grizzly]

Terror in a Tiny Town.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

I think the name of the film was Purgatory or at least it had 'purgatory' in the title.  Supposedly it was a town in which all the 'good badguys' & 'bad goodguys' had to spend some time before getting on a stage which took them, I suppose, to heaven.  Nobody in town carried a gun. The 'good badguys/bad goodguys' included Hickok & Billy the Kid.  Some bad badguys invade the town & ultimately force the 'good badguys' & 'bad goodguys' to strap on iron & settle the matter.  I saw it in Tombstone several years back when I was there for an 'Earpie' gathering.  I'd never seen it before, I've never seen it since, & I didn't recognize a single actor.  However, it was one wierd movie.  When a 'bad badguy' got killed an Indian, who seemed to have no other purpose, picked up the carcass, loaded it on a mule, took it to a canyon with a fire in the bottom, & threw it in the fire.

[Gay Mathis]

Purgatory was a TNT movie in 1999

http://www.tvacres.com/west_tv_movies.htm

This supernatural made-for-cable western movie starred Sam Shepherd as the town sheriff who maintains the peace in the frontier town of Refuge without the aid of a gun. When a gang of outlaws and their cruel leader Blackjack (Eric Roberts) stumble upon the quaint town of Refuge, they feel they are in control until the group's youngest member recognizes the sheriff as Wild Bill Hickok and the town doctor (Randy Quaid) as Doc Holiday. Trouble is, they're both dead. The rowdy criminals soon discover they have been traveling a spiritual crossroads for gunfighters and find themselves in the mythical land known as Purgatory.

[Dirtrider]

Dang, Gay, Ah thought it was mah third marriage..........

[Wolfgang]

Rather fun movie I thought.  Have it on DVD and have been known to watch it again a couple of times.  Some of the leads in it I have seen doing small parts in other films.  Very well made film.

[Mike D.]

Charley, I kinda remember that one. I believe it had Randy Quaid in it. And when the goodbadguys did the right thing, they were spirited off in a black carriage.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Apparently, at least as I recall it, Billy the Kid's girlfriend got into the stage & tried to get him to go with her, but he wouldn't get in.  It was one strange movie.

[Mike D.]

Yeah, Billy was played by Donnie Wahlberg. Eric Roberts was in it, too. It had a really funny quote in it I still remember; "I feel like I was eaten by a coyote and crapped off a cliff."

[William E. Shaw]

A couple from my 'Yoot'...

Valley of the Gwangi and Mighty Joe Young come to mind.

[anthony martin]

Mike,

  Afew days ago I rented the dvd of The Dead and the Damned,a rather amateurish low budget cowboy/zombie film.Some of the acting is just o.k. while some is painful.The old west town featured lots of plywood and the makeup and special effects were also low budget.Basically an alien meteorite infects all the miners and townspeople and they become mindless rotting flesh eaters(like many of our politicians).We have a bounty hunter trying to get his man,a cliched indian character while they try to avoid getting killed.Still,it has a couple of genuinely chilling moments and despite it's over the top cheesiness I'd recommend it in the so bad it's good category!