Cormac McCarthy's Best Westerns?
Rank McCarthy's Westerns
What would you rank McCarthy’s Western works and why?
Here is the list
Blood Meridian (1985)
All the Pretty Horses (1992)
The Crossing (1994)
Cities of the Plain (1998)
No Country For Old Men (2005)
The Counselor (2013)
The Counselor - There are a few redeeming moments in this screenplay. With a topic as wide-ranging as the cartels Cormac could have taken this so many places. But, it felt like many of Cormac’s strengths were missing here.
Cities of the Plain - From what I could tell, Cormac adapted the first 80% of the novel straight from the screenplay and added the original ending. He added some nature, characterization, and stories in the first part, but it runs dry like most of his screenplays. If the first 80% was written like the last 20% this would be near the top of the list. The ending of this novel is devasting.
No Country For Old Men - I feel like the novel outshines the movie tenfold. But, now we are entering the territory of Western masterpieces on this list. Cormac in his old age gained the ability to write a beautiful elder character. In “The Orchard Keeper” I feel like Arthur Ownby is a great elderly character but is distant (and crazy. One could say this is the last real novel McCarthy wrote. “The Road” was written very fast to McCarthy’s standards and was a speculative fiction novel. The Passenger had been being worked on since the 1960s. Stella Maris really isn’t a novel. So, McCarthy’s crisp, minimalistic prose infused with nature really shines here as he closes out a long career as a novelist.
All The Pretty Horses
This has one of the more straightforward plots, characterization, and romance arcs of any McCarthy novel. This is his debut into his new southwest minimalistic style that would continue through “The Counselor.” The more I read this novel the more I understand its contrast and layers. In my last reread I discovered the rape of Rawlins and some other really fun stuff! I think a lot of people hate this one because of its popularity but I view it as a very strong novel.
Blood Meridian
This made my bones hurt to put in second. But, there is something soulful missing in “Blood Meridian.” I love Holden, the storyline, the beautiful nature scenes, and all the locations the Glanton Gang rides through. I’ve been visiting a lot of these locations in Arizona, Mexico, New Mexico, and California. However, there is something I connect with more in “The Crossing.”
The Crossing - I think the “The Crossing” beats out Blood Meridian because of a couple of elements.
Plot/Narrative Elements - There is a more cohesive plot, characterization, and classical narrative elements. This wouldn’t normally matter, but “The Crossing” has 15,000 more words and has complete arcs in plot, characterization, and themes.
Characters and Story: Without Holden, Blood Meridian would be much weaker. And as we talked about yesterday how seriously do we take Judge Holden? I love what he embodies and how it represents the energy of the story, but I don’t personally take too much away from Holden. But, in “The Crossing” we experience accurate takes on God, Nature, love, and loss with Billy and the other cast of characters telling small stories. At some level, it feels Chaucerian. The Wolf scene awakened my mind to a new aspect of environmental consciousness when I read it in high school. Blood Meridian has only opened my mind to the extent of human violence. That’s not hard to find in horror movies and shock media.
I could go on, but I’m sure you guys get the point! What are your picks?
I've yet to read his screenplays, just the novels so far, but I agree with your ranking. The Crossing is a heartbreaking masterpiece and, as you said, is Chaucerian in its way with the interesting characters and their stories. I'm relatively new to Cormac having read all of his novels in the past 12 months but this community you're creating here is fantastic and I hope to see it continue to grow!
Here is the order of my favorite Cormac McCarthy westerns. I may think differently later about this order.
#6 The Counselor
#5/#4 Undecided which order: All the Pretty Horses and Cities of the Plain
#3 No Country for Old Men
This hold a special place in my heart because this along with The Road is what introduced me to McCarthy. I appreciate this book the more I read it. There is also an excerpt/short story taken out of this book that appeared in a magazine and can be found online. It is called "Agua." I must have read that about 30 times, and serves it serves as a good short story. A theme I really like about No Country is the commentary on the violence of the world and how awful it is. Then there is also the dream stuff that isn't touched on as much in the film (which I still really like). I also really like when McCarthy goes into dreams in his works too. And another reason why I like no Country a lot is because I'm a sucker for action thrillers. Which I'm sure the Logic Bro side of me is like, really bro?
#2 The Crossing
However, I can easily see this as number 1. And think this is a highly underappreciated novel of McCarthy's. One of my favorite books as well.
#1 Blood Meridian
Like you, Ian. I can go on all of these picks as well. Here is just a brief discussion of some of them and their order. By the way, I'm sure I said this before, but your content is making me want to get into McCarthy more. Thank you!