5) Wolf Creek (2005)
Often dismissed as a grisly peer of Hostel and the Saw canon, Wolf Creek’s nomadic psychopath somehow manages to make the vastness of the Australian outback feel claustrophobic. Though much of the dialogue is trite, the director’s feel for an alien landscape of meteor craters, derelict mines and straight roads is commendable.
4) No Country for Old Men (2007)
After firing blanks for several years, the Coen brothers returned to form in 2007 with No Country for Old Men, and like so much that is great in American culture, the frontier is in this film’s DNA. The scene in which a rottweiler chases Josh Brolin through the Texan tundra into the early dawn is masterly cinema.
3) The English Patient (1997)
Anthony Mingella’s masterpiece combines the sweep of Merchant Ivory productions with the moral precariousness of Ondaatje’s novel. The closing scenes in the desert scapes of North Africa – in which Fiennes’ character attempts to rescue Scott Thomas’ -count among the most moving in modern times.
2) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
No film can ever maintain dramatic momentum over 227 minutes quite like Lawrence of Arabia. Peter O’Toole’s luminous performance and Maurice Jarre’s legendary, arching anthem are matched by loving cinematography, from the billowing sands of the Hejaz to the red rocks of Transjordan. Lawrence of Arabia is truly the king of all epics.
1) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The romance of the wilderness is at the very core of Butch and Sundance. As the movie’s centrepiece, Paul Newman and Robert Redford beat a retreat through the spectacular, silent landscapes of Colorado with their pursuers a distant presence on the horizon.
