You know PaK, I never even considered Dances with Wolves as a Western, but I guess it's got all the elements. Maybe I need to re-watch it. In case you're curious, this conversation is also taking place on our Future of Classic Talk forum: http://blogs.amctv.com/future-of-classic/talk/2008/06/best-westerns.php

IN MY OPINION....THE BEST WESTERNS(TO ME):
1. MAGNIFICENT 7
2.THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
3.HANG'EM HIGH
4.SHANE
5.THE GUNFIGHTER
6.THE BIG COUNTRY
7.HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER
8.THE LONG RIDERS
9.ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
10.FLAMING STAR
11.MAKENNA'S GOLD
12.THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON
13.THE LEFT-HANDED GUN
14.THE BEGUILED

hay what about Lonesome Dove

I think that's what is great about these polls, there are always some of our favorites like maesj1 said lonesome dove that are left out and ones that we fell should be higher or not as high. But in this instance I have to agree with the most recent of AFI's 100 greatest movies of all time list which had John Wayne's The Searchers # 12 (which by the way jumped 84 spots when the list from the original 1998 list, the biggest jump of any movie). Plus it is ranked by numerous sources as the greatest western of all time. Usually I am not one to agree with lists but in this case I must. The Searchers is the greatest western of all time.

I personally don't believe any one person should decide what movie should or shouldn't be on the list, but my vote goes to Shane as the best all time western.

I think its better to name the best cowboys;
GARY COOPER
GREGORY PECK
JOEL MC CREA
VAN HELFLIN
ERROL FLYNN
GLENN FORD
RANDOLFH SCOTT
MARLIN BRANDO
JOHN WAYNE
GEORGE BRENT
RICHARD WOODMARK
HENRY FONDA
WALACE BEERY
MONTGOMERY CLIFF
LEE J COBB
ALAN LADD
ANTHONY QUINN

CLINT EASTWOOD HAS TO GET IN LINE AFTER THESE GUYS. AND I CAN WATCH THESE GUYS ALL DAY

The absolute best western ever made was "The Wild Bunch" made in 1969, directed by Sam Peckinpah, with William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien,
Warren Oates and Ben Johnson.

This is the greatest and it did not make the above list. You can look it up.

Claude

I like a lot of westerns, but I can't think of one that stands out as the best, I like The Big Country with it's score, story and cinematography. It is probably the most complete of all of them. The rest that I like are good but have their flaws. Shane would be great if it did not have some hokey hollywood type scenes like when Shane flips his gun into his holster after the climactic shootout and don't forget the fact that he did that before the guy with the shotgun took a shot of him, it's not a plausible sequence of actions. But the look and feel of the movie is great. I like the Magnificent Seven but it's like a very entertaining B picture and a great score. I like The Good The Bad and the Ugly, but it's over long and not really a good piece of movie making, I just find it entertaining. The Searchers is entertaining but overly sentimental. I like the Appaloosa but there is not much of a score to go with it. High Plains Drifter is interesting and supposedly a sequel to Shane, but again there's not much of a score with it. Unforgiven is good, but again not much of a score to speak of. The Horse Solders is a Civil War picture but looks more like a western to me and is entertaining and a good score. Dances With Wolves is entertaining but it still does not seem to elevate beyond good enertainment, it has a fairly good score but there is not much of it. Hud is one of the more realistic works but is still basically just good entertainment. Westerns don't tend to lend itself to anything more than good entertainment at best. If you don't have a great score, cinematography and great script with great acting and directing it's not the best one made. I find that most who rate movies rate them more for subjective reasons than sensible practical ones. There needs to be a balance and there needs to be plausible aspects to the story telling or it can't be the masterpiece people think it is. It's very hard to make an entertaining picture, even harder to make a masterpiece. I am not sure one has ever been made in the catagory of westerns. I'd have to think long and hard to come up with one that has no weaknesses in it. One movie made in 1958 might come close to that estimate is not really classified as a western but it has all the classic elements to one is called Wind Over the Everglades with Byrle Ives, Christopher Plumber and even Gypsy Rose Lee. So far I have not been able to find a copy of it made either on tape or DVD, it's too bad, it's a great movie.

The greatest Western is perhaps Shane, the Searchers, Winchester 73 Jimmy Stewart, Fort Apache, Horse Soldiers, Cheyenne Autumn with Richard Winmark,How The West Was Won, Santa Fe Trail with Errol Flynn, and of course Rio Grande. There are others but I don't have the time.