10 Westerns You Need To Watch After Playing Red Dead Redemption 2
1. The Proposition
Bit of a departure of around 9,000 miles for the top spot. Penned and scored by none other than Nick Cave, The Proposition takes place in the Australian Outback, but is no less a western than any other. The film neatly draws many parallels, between First Peoples and Indigenous Australians, between Bushrangers and Gunslingers, between violence and...well, violence.
Rockstar go so far as to credit it as one of the primary influences on the original Red Dead Redemption's tone, and John Hillcoat - the film's director - was the man behind the RDR machinima short The Man From Blackwater.
The Proposition is punishingly bleak, following Guy Pearce's dishevelled outlaw Charlie Burns as a local police captain hands him an impossible ultimatum: to kill his older brother in exchange for his younger brother's freedom. Against the sweltering heat of the outback, Burns faces corrupt lawmen, territorial tribal fighters and bounty hunters even dirtier and more wicked than himself. The film's surreal, atmospheric soundtrack, gorgeous cinematography and moments of brutal violence punctuating long stretches of quiet reflection lend a feeling of dreamlike detachment from the whole affair - not that it's a dream you'd find especially pleasant.
The film deals with many grim and difficult themes, including loyalty and distrust, bitter resentment and devastating familial loss. Barely a moment passes where the viewer is afforded respite, and every second of The Proposition will have the viewer dreading what horrors its savage world will unleash next.