So many films, so little time

In between compiling various county election returns, which kept me at work until 1 a.m. Wednesday morning and sleeping, an activity I approached with a rare fervor Wednesday night, I have been reading "The Rough Guide to Westerns."
It's a wonderful book, full of enough intriguing details about the classic film genre to relieve my mind of the stress of general election coverage at the newspaper.
As with Rough Guide's book of gangster films, which I read last month, the Western guide lists "50 Essential" films, provides biographical detail of screen icons and makes me want to SEE MOVIES, which is the book's greatest attribute.
It makes me want to see John Sturges' "Bad Day at Black Rock," a contemporary Western from 1954 about the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
It makes me want to see Anthony Mann's "Man of the West," a dark film starring Gary Cooper and hailed by Jean-Luc Godard.
It makes me want to see Budd Boetticher's "The Tall T," one of the collaborations between Randolph Scott and Quentin Tarantino's favorite Western director.
Sadly, many of the films are difficult to find around here, including at the local library.
Thanks to this Western book, however, I will keep trying to find them.