In the Press.
York’s Best Western Monkbar Hotel Asks What’s The Best Western Ever?
Trigger happy! Best Western Monkbar Hotel’s Darrell Burnham, Nikki Brannan with Trigger the horse. Picture by Malcolm Rouse
What is the best cowboy film ever made? That’s the question a York hotel wants to know.
To mark a decade as a member with the Best Western organisation, the city’s Monkbar Hotel is asking what is the best Western of all time?
The hotel’s ten years with the world-wide marketing organisation coincides with the 45th anniversary of the release of the classic spaghetti western, A Fistful of Dollars; the 40th of Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, and the 50th of Rio Bravo starring John Wayne.
The hotel, located in the heart of York, will be asking all guests who stay, or attend an event, to name their all time favourite film of the genre. It will also be posting an online form on its website to allow as many people as possible to join in the survey.
Monkbar hotel director June Nelsey said: “As we are celebrating our tenth anniversary of being affiliated to Best Western, we decided it would be interesting to find out what the public think is the best Western ever made.
“My favourite is the John Wayne classic, True Grit. It is just a fantastic film. Wayne plays US Marshal ‘Rooster’ Cogburn, and he won an Oscar for his performance. In my view this film knocks the socks off the rest. This is the best Western of all time and many Yorkshire folk will agree as we are known for our true grit!”
June said other films she felt that would rate very highly included The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’; The Magnificent Seven; Gunfight at the OK Coral and High Noon.
She added: “It’ll be really interesting to find out what the public rank as their best Western. Even though it might throw up some surprises, I’ll bet my bottom dollar that the winner will feature either John Wayne or Clint Eastwood in the lead role.”
The on-line survey can be found at www.monkbarhotel.co.uk/my-best-western/
The competition will run until May 31 – Clint Eastwood’s birthday. Those taking part will be entered into a prize draw to win a weekend break at The Best Western Monkbar Hotel.
March 16, 2009