Our list might be contentious. Deal with it, partner.
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The western—and by extension, cowboy—may be the only cinematic genre that, on first glance, feels uniquely American. The lone no-named figure venturing forth into the wild, into the frontier, into the lawless unknown regions of a country still unearthing its identity. Of course, there are a few caveats. Like how many of the genre’s ancestors were wielding samurai swords, not colt revolvers. And how the ground on which Clint Eastwood and others shot was by the Mediterranean, not beneath the American blood meridian. Plus, the genre’s most famous director grew up in Rome. So yeah ... so much for Americana.
Still, the western / cowboy film remains a genre close to the American’s heart and always in our adventure-loving imagination. Thus our current selection.
And yeah, yeah, yeah, we could go down the list of Clint Eastwood’s (or John Wayne's) filmography, and after Pale Rider, and Hang ’Em High, and Higher Plains Drifter, hell, just about half this list will have Eastwood’s mug on it. Instead, we’re gonna mix things up a bit and try and sample some variety. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of John Ford and Sergio Leone and the spaghetti western—so don’t go gettin’ your chaps all in a bunch. But we’re expanding to include some modern attempts (however uneven) as well as genre-twists and foreign influences on this Americana of American genres.
Okay, enough of this slow standoff. Here are the 34 best “western” and cowboy movies of all time.
Unforgiven (1992)
Unforgiven marks a sort of mature capstone to Clint Eastwood's reign as outlaw king. Wearier and more solemn than Eastwood's previous western work, Unforgiven reflects on many of the American myths the western genre first perpetuated. It's the place to either end or begin your survey of the "western."
Seven Samurai (1954)
What is a Japanese samurai epic doing on this list? Well, Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is as much western as any—featuring a village under peril, bandits, scouts, and plenty of violence in the wild. The film also influenced The Magnificent Seven and may be one of the first hero assembly movies ever.
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Speaking of, we might as well mention America’s 1960 Kurosawa retelling. Its staying power likely owes much to its cast and score, and while it’s hard to beat the original Japanese version of the story, The Magnificent Seven is essential viewing for fans of the western.
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
The film marks the apogee of Eastwood and Leone spaghetti western cinema. Filmed in Italy and Spain and featuring some of the best acting performances you'll see in the genre, the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is as beautiful, as masterful, and as epic as any western you'll ever see. It is the Western film par excellence.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
While many western films feature lone heroes and solitary riders, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is all about the relationship between the titular leads. Paul Newman and Robert Redford make for maybe the most classic duo of any western film ever.
The Searchers (1956)
You just ain't writtin' a Western movies list without a John Ford movie, son. Well here's our John Ford movie—maybe his most famous—and what would be the standard for the genre just before Leone rode into town.
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Shane (1953)
Shane is the archetypal western narrative: the lone mysterious rider settles into town, escaping some unknown previous life, only to be called forth once more to save the town from conflict. Modern works like James Mangold's Wolverine installment Logan as well as many an episode of The Mandalorian have paid tribute.
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
The escort mission is staple western and 3:10 to Yuma (we’re talking about the 1957 version here) is just about as western as western films come. The thematic here—as in so many films after—is justice. And that’s a slippery thing, partner.
Hostiles (2017)
The 20th century doesn't contain all the western gold. Scott Cooper's Hostiles helps update the genre by better depicting the brutality of American military forces and by giving us one of the western's best characters in Christian Bale's Cpt. Joseph J. Blocker.
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Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
Shot to look like an older western, Meek’s Cutoff delivers the aesthetics of the genre while also injecting a more modern sensibility to its narrative. The result is anything but romantic frontier action.
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
It's the first of Leone's "The Man with No Name" trilogy and the film that began Eastwood's ascent into western superstardom. Consider this also our praise for the second of the trilogy, A Few Dollars More (1965). The western has been reimagined.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
On its own terms, No Country for Old Men is may be the best film of this entire collection. Its western elements include theft, danger, and pursuit across the desert, though the story, based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, meditates on nearly every existential issue under the blood red sun.
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The Dark Valley (2014)
The main character of this film is the Winchester 1873 lever-action repeating rifle. No other movie on this list best illustrates the technology of frontier violence. The film is a slow burn and you'll have to read subtitles (the film is in German), but for something less conventional and certainly less enamored with cartoonish violence, you'll want to give it a watch.
The Revenant (2015)
The Revenant is more than Leo spitting, eating, and climbing into an actual carcass. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu and DOP Emmanuel Lubezki found maybe the best way to shoot a frontier epic: with high-tech digital cameras and in natural light. And with CGI bears.
Rio Bravo (1959)
Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo is a line-up-and-play-football kind of western movie: no moral quandaries or ambiguities, just straight up gunslinging drama and fun.
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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Just about as long as its title, the film is an historical epic, chronicling exactly that: Robert Ford's killing of outlaw Jesse James. Score, acting, cinematography; this film does everything right.
Tombstone (1993)
By God, we haven't included a Sam Eliott mustache yet. Well, here we are. Still, the film probably belongs to Val Kilmer as Wyatt Earp's sidekick, Doc Holliday.
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Joan Crawford leads what has become a kind of campy classic and a much-needed reaction to a genre overly saturated with men. Some call it a "feminist" western movie, but, hell, can't we just call it a "good western movie," full stop?
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Stagecoach (1939)
John Ford’s 1939 classic helped turn John Wayne into a western movie star. If we were ranking these movies, we’d probably be putting this one pretty low on the list (meaning pretty close to the top 3). The depiction of its Native American characters, however, like many films on this list, might leave a bad taste.
Red River (1948)
Let’s stay on the John Wayne train. Almost ten years after Stagecoach, Wayne is now a megastar, cranking out movies like a gunslinger firing off impossibly many rounds. The movie lacks some of the mythic strength of Stagecoach, but it’s still a good watch.
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