Morgan Freeman’s two favourite western movies: “If I come across it, I’ve got to watch it”
For an actor who’s seen and done almost everything the business has to offer, it’s surprising that Morgan Freeman has only ever appeared in a solitary western.
Then again, when that western is one of the greatest in the genre’s history, there’s probably a very good reason why he never returned after starring in Clint Eastwood’s seminal Unforgiven, the director and star’s elegiac goodbye to the form of cinema that had first made him a household name three decades previously.
Freeman has appeared in multiple comic book adaptations, countless action-packed blockbusters, a fair amount of crime thrillers, more than a few broad comedies, a smattering of romances, and plenty of drama. He also lent his unmistakable tones to a number of animated projects from the voiceover booth, but traversing the dusty plains apparently remains a one-time-only deal.
Of course, after playing a major part in Unforgiven, there was realistically only one way to go but down, so maybe that’s why he’s been so hesitant to return. However, despite Freeman being a huge fan of Eastwood even before they worked together for the first time and then again on Million Dollar Baby and Invictus, the Oscar-winning classic isn’t even his favourite of the leading man’s works.
“I like all movies with Clint, but The Outlaw Josey Wales is one I can’t pass up,” he admitted to Rotten Tomatoes. “If I’m scrolling through and I come across it, I’ve got to watch it.” Eastwood’s self-directed 1976 effort is definitely a movie that deserves to reside among the upper tiers of his esteemed filmography, with Freeman just one of its many supporters.
In fact, the director and star named The Outlaw Josey Wales as the entry in his back catalogue that more people stop to talk to him about in the street than any other, but Freeman doesn’t continue his hero worship when naming his other favourite western, which arrived on the scene long before Eastwood had made his on-screen breakthrough.
“My next favourite film is Gary Cooper’s High Noon,” he offered. “Here we’re talking about the one man against many, having to stand alone. And what sticks with me about that movie is that the woman that he loved, who was completely anti-violence, stood up with him, ultimately. And at the end, when all the townspeople had run away, he took that badge off and threw it in the dirt.”
John Wayne famously wasn’t a fan of it, but ‘The Duke’ is firmly in the minority in that regard. While anybody’s collection of favourite features is entirely subjective, nobody has a leg to stand on if they aren’t of the opinion that The Outlaw Josey Wales and High Noon comfortably rank among the western genre’s finest-ever efforts
