Kind of interesting to learn that only people who agree with treblig1958 are part of the "civilized world". I've seen every Western, of any significance, several times and while Shane had a great fight scene in the store and has been described as the first "adult" western, it would not make it into the top ten in my book. You may have missed the disclaimer in my post that stated these were JMO. However, I can state as absolute fact that I am a member of "the civilized world".
As some other members of the civilized world have commented, Red River, The Searchers, Open Range, Broken Trail, High Noon(I don't think anyone even mentioned High Noon), Lonesome Dove, 3:10 to Yuma(the newer one), and many others were as good as Shane, or better, IMO(that means In My Opinion). I liked Appaloosa but had a very difficult time understanding the dialogue, due to my diminished hearing ability and the way Ed and Viggo spoke their lines. We get so few westerns anymore, at all, that I look forward with excitement to the few we do get. Thank God for Tom Selleck, Sam Elliot and Robert Duvall. Nearly all the older greats are gone. As to Shane, Alan Ladd was a very handsome man with only modest acting ability, much like Clark Gable. The acting in more recent movies is so much better than that in most of the older "classics" it's often hard to compare. Another lesser known favorite of mine is "The Fastest Gun Alive" with Glenn Ford. Clint Eastwood never became a "great", IMO.
Best to you,
