There are thousands of films classified as "Westerns," and, although the history & myth of the American wild west is the classic base for the genre, it has not always been contained to a strictly American film tradition. Great Westerns have been produced across the globe from countries ranging from Italy to Canada and as far as Australia. The entire Western genre is reliant on the concept of themes and variations. The cowboys and Indians found even in childhood fantasies follow through into the presentation of the good guy against the bad man, as with the marshal and the outlaw. The development of the genre introduced new themes and offered a greater sense of realism in both violence and morality, and the history of the Western in Hollywood thus became an examination of self-created myths and a timeline of progressive and sympathetic portrayals of Native Americans in film. As with all cinema, Westerns are films to be judged by their own criteria, they must be taken out of time. The viewer will always do the justice of relating the sense of realism to what they believe to be the standards of the moviemakers. A film of 1939 is more easily compared to a film of 1948 than it is to a film of 1969, and yet still the viewer will always have a particular eye for qualities that are exceptionally timeless. And face it, with all of the grit and entertainment, all Westerns are period flicks. They are action films, they are adventure films, they are moral dramas, they are psychological crime thrillers, they are buddy pictures. They can be rural tales of hard times and hard living, or tales of glory and honor beyond deadly power. They can be masculine, yet, sometimes they can be beautiful. They are precisely Americana and they were more popular then than they are now. This guide can serve as a bare-bones introduction covering mostly all of the truly great Westerns and many near classic films, presented in chronological order, but rated accordingly.
I have excluded "modern Westerns" such as Bad Day at Black Rock, Extreme Prejudice, Lone Star, Giant, Hud, No Country For Old Men, Lonely Are the Brave, and the Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
John Ford leads all directors with 6 films included on this list. John Wayne leads all actors with 9 films included on this list. Wayne is in 4 of those Ford films. Henry Fonda is second on this list, starring in 5 films. Clint Eastwood elevated the Western within the modern industry as an actor who chose to work on Westerns beyond contractual obligation, maintaining a dedication to a genre in the midst of popular decline, and expanding his touches to the director's seat.
The modern history of the Western is divided into four periods
(1939-1952: The Era of the Traditional Western)
(1947-1962: The Era of the Psychological Western)
(1956-1969: The Era of the revisionist Western) &
(1969-present: The Era of the Deconstructionalist Western)
Scale [0-10/10]
7 - Entertaining and notable. One of the much better examples of the genre.
8 - Near classic of the genre. Probably one of the best works in an actor/director's career.
9 - Classic of the genre. An almost perfect film.
10 - Brilliant, a perfectionist's example of the genre, no doubt of historical importance.
* - Designates inclusion among 10 greatest Westerns
The Traditional Western
Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939 [10/10]: The first great feature Western. The first great John Wayne/John Ford collaboration. Excellent character acting throughout. The John Ford acting troupe was unmatched. Wayne and company take a stagecoach through Indian territory. Lots of drinking, a less notable theme found throughout all of John Ford's films. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - Thomas Mitchell.)
Destry Rides Again (George Marshall, 1939 [8/10]: The first great Western comedy with a novice deputy, Stewart, falling weak in the knees for Marlene Dietrich's arresting magnetism.)
Dark Command (Raoul Walsh, 1940 [8/10]: A very entertaining movie with John Wayne that takes place before and during the Cival War with Wayne going through political motions and later serving as a marshall fighting against raiders threatening his town. Raoul Walsh also directed such crime/action classics as White Heat and High Sierra.)
The 1930's ushered in the golden age of the serial Western and the B-Western Feature, including serial heroes ("Wild" Bill Elliott, Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Steele, The Rough Riders, George O'Brien, Tim Holt) and singing cowboys (Gene Autry, Roy Rodgers). These low-budget films were of a straight-forward formula, but essentially presented the thrones for the kings of the matinee. They were often short, and they were tailor-made for the concept of the matinee, with theaters showing several films in one picture show. However, in 1939, the genre developed the emotional and psychological nature of its characters through the expansiveness of the major feature film, as it added depth and texture to the entertainment and the writing, and it established the major themes of the Western film: the outlaw as hero (Jesse James), the taming of a town (Dodge City), the Western Comedy (Destiny Rides Again) and the multi-layered character study set against a form of conflict (Stagecoach). This guide does not cover the golden age of the B-Westerns, as there are too many feature films of surpassing greatness.
The Ox-Bow Incident (William Wellman, 1943 [10/10]: Hauntingly filmed. This tale about a lynch mob that crosses the boundaries of justice is one of the great Westerns. It is a perfectly realized work of art with a devestatingly moral message. Ox-Bow serves as the base for the psychological Western; One with a heart, and one with character development that matches the storytelling of a literary work. Standout perfomance by Dana Andrews.)
My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946 [10/10]: Ford's take on the Wyatt Earp legend, a classic film that exemplarifies the genre. Bravura performance by Victor Mature as Doc Holiday, who gave several stand-out performances (Kiss of Death, Cry of the City) throughout his career, but was usually just cast for his looks.)
Pursued (Raoul Walsh, 1947 [8/10]: A hybrid of noir and Western, often regarded as the first Psychological Western, but that credit goes to The Ox-Bow Incident. Pursued features Robert Mitchum, giving a stand-out performance as a man chased by killers and demons from his past. Another Walsh classic.)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Two-Disc Special Edition) (John Huston, 1948 [10/10]: 'Treasure' is one the best adventure films. However, one would never claim it to be a traditional Western, but its themes, settings, and relevance are enough for inclusion on this list. Character examination of man's struggle in greed and conflict for power in the tension of questionable trust. Three men go digging for gold. Man against man, man against nature, man against himself, keeping the secrets of wealth at any cost as they defy bandits and themselves. Walter Huston won a Best Supporting Actor Award. It's one of the greatest American films.)
*Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948 [10/10]: A masterpiece in every sense of the word. The film covers epic ground, focusing on a ranch team driving cattle across dangerous territory with a general theme of mutiny and the ensuing theme revenge. The acting is impeccable. Young Montgomery Clift, already a superior method actor in his early films, and John Wayne gives a "dark" performance that stands as one of his very best.)
Yellow Sky (William Wellman, 1948 [8/10]: Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark and posse stroll into a ghost town populated by a lone girl and her grandfather. Things get difficult when word gets around there might be gold hidden near the town.)
Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948 [8/10]: John Ford made several cavalry films. This is the first film of his cavalry trilogy, and it showcases Henry Fonda, John Wayne and Ward Bond at the top of their powers. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, the second entry, is equally as good and features a bravura performance by Wayne, showcasing arguably his greatest acting as a retiring Captain facing an almost certain Indian attack in the wake of the slaughter and defeat at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Yellow Ribbon also features Oscar-winning Color Cinematography. The last film, Rio Grande, is the weakest, but a weak John Ford film is still a high point for the genre. Rio Grande features John Wayne facing the struggles of balancing marriage with the duties of the cavalry. Ford takes this down point and turns it into the heartfelt cause for an against-all-odds rescue mission.)
Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950 [8/10]: The classic Wagon Train film. Most of the John Ford "stock" is here in full rank: Ward Bond, Harry Carey, Jr, Ben Johnson. Great transfer to DVD.)
Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann, 1950 [9/10]: Jimmy Stewart is out to find the man who has killed his father. That man is his brother. With partner Millard Mitchell in tow, whose banter with Stewart is priceless, the men get drawn into defending a camp from Indian attack. This film is the first in a very fine, classic series of Mann/Stewart collaborations including: The Man from Laramie, Bend of the River, The Far Country and The Naked Spur. All essential. Anthony Mann's Man of the West [9/10] with Gary Cooper and The Tin Star [8/10] with Henry Fonda are two of the finest Westerns of the 1950's and should be seen by any serious fan. Anthony Mann's consistency was rivaled only by John Ford, and all of his Westerns are classics of the genre.)
The Gunfighter [DVD] (Henry King, 1950 [9/10]: King sets the focus on the individual amidst a crisis, in this case, a well-known gunfighter can't outrun his reputation with other hot-shot gunslingers always looking to be the faster gun. It would be imitated by High Noon, one of the true monuments of the genre. Not a slow film, but a patient film with deliberate action and psychological examination. King and Gregory Peck would re-team in 1958 for The Bravados [8/10], a surprisingly violent revenge film that preceded many of the Spaghetti Western attitudes of the late 60's. An underrated classic and one of my personal favorites.)
The Psychological Western
These films centered around character-driven drama and story development rather than action for the sake of entertainment. Most Westerns after 1952 are psychological Westerns. High Noon set the formula for the individual against all odds, and films for the next decade worked on that film's themes and variations. High Noon and Shane marked the popular end of the serial Western, however low-budget B-Westerns were made through the 1960's in America. Many Spaghetti Westerns of the 60's and 70's are of the same classifications, and could be considered B-Westerns.
*High Noon (Collector's Edition) (Fred Zinnemann, 1952 [10/10]: Masterfully collected perfomance by Cooper as town marshall, standing alone, in one final showdown against four killers. The whole town is against him. It's his wedding day. His wife is the beautiful Grace Kelly. His ex-flame is Mexican temptress, Katy Jurado. Lloyd Bridges, Lon Chaney Jr, Thomas Mitchell, Harry Morgan co-star. Cooper won a Best Actor award.)
*Shane (George Stevens, 1953 [10/10]: Set the standard for the gunfighter genre. Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Jack Palance star. A gunfighter comes to be a ranch hand for a family with a small farm. Cattle-punchers, a land baron and a hired killer come to push families off their lands. Ladd's Shane is brought into the action forced upon Van Heflin's family, and in the end, displays the honor of a gunfighter in the light of true courage. Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography.)
Hondo (Full Screen) (John Farrow, 1953 [8/10]: A near classic effort by Wayne in a non-Ford role. Wayne protects a woman and her son from Apache warriors. There are so many great John Wayne films and his name is so associated with the Western and is virtually synonymous with the genre that it is hard to represent all his movies. He and Clint Eastwood are the icons of the Western. He might resent me writing that, as their visions were so different, but nonetheless a true statement.)
Vera Cruz (Robert Aldrich, 1954 [7/10]: Proto-Spaghetti Western gunfighter flick with Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper. Plenty of action. Watch for Ernie Borgnine and Charles Bronson. Directed by Robert Aldrich, who directed the Dirty Dozen.)
Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar and John Ford's The Searchers are the first revisionist Westerns. The "revisionist" Western challenged popular traditions of the genre. Not all main characters were "good guys," sometimes there was no happy ending. As the style expanded, the psychological aspects of the genre corresponded to development in the authenticity of violence and in the further examination of survival and identity. They visited contemporary themes in settings of the past. Many films continued to follow the standard "High Noon" derivative of the psychological Western, the one-against-all-odds theme. The mid 1950's were the most popular years for the Western, and many production companies released movies that people felt they had sort of seen before, strangely similar in story and action, when you've seen one- you've seen them all kind of feel. Some films like Vera Cruz, The Bravados and Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks were precursors to the violence and mentality of Spaghetti Westerns and late 60's American Westerns.
Johnny Guitar (Import , All Regions), Joan Crawford (Nicholas Ray, 1954 [9/10]: Brilliant, unique Western with women in the roles of power. Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge really hate each other. Great supporting cast: Sterling Hayden, Ernest Borgnine, Ward Bond, John Carradine, Paul Fix, Royal Dano.)
*The Searchers (Two-Disc 50th Anniversary Edition) (John Ford, 1956 [10/10]: Ford's watershed masterstroke. If Ford is the master of the Western, then The Searchers is his best film. Men go searching for a young girl abducted by Indians. They search for years and the search is not an easy one. John Wayne appears not truly a good man... A classic American film that has aged as well as any film of the genre.)
Seven Men From Now (Special Collector's Edition) (Budd Boetticher, 1956 [8/10]: The greatest of the Boetticher/Scott/Kennedy flicks. Randolph Scott hunts down the seven men who murdered his wife. Lee Marvin plays his worst enemy turned temporary ally turned once-again target. The film was produced by Western guru Andrew V. McLaglen and written for the screen by Burt Kennedy. All the Boetticher/Scott Westerns are among the best examples of the genre: The Tall T, Ride Lonesome, Buchanan Rides Alone, Comanche Station and Decision at Sundown. The boxed-set is well worth picking up, as it includes all these films, but not Seven Men from Now.)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Sturges, 1957 [9/10]: Popular classic featuring top scale lead acting by Lancaster and Douglas. Sturges stands up well as a fine director of action and visual quality. Check out The Last Train from Gun Hill [8/10] with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn. Quinn's son rapes and murders a Native American woman. That woman is Kirk Douglas' wife. Douglas and Quinn are best friends. My favorite Strurges' Western.)
3:10 to Yuma (Special Edition) (Delmer Daves, 1957 [9/10]: A taut psychological Western about a man (Van Heflin) trying to collect a reward by bringing an outlaw (Glenn Ford) he holds at gunpoint to the train to Yuma prison, and justice. Ford's posse is on their heels. It's a cat-and-mouse situation. Beautiful black & white cinematography and mesmerizing music. The recent remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe was good.)
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959 [9/10]: Popular classic with Wayne and Dean Martin. Remade by John Carpenter as Assault on Precinct 13. The anthesis to High Noon. John Wayne holds a man in jail at the threat of a small army of hired killers and doesn't have much help but sticks it out with a drunk, a cripple and a young gunslinger. The story was remade twice by Hawks - 1967's El Dorado and the less satisfying Rio Lobo, made in 1970.)
Warlock (Edward Dymtryk, 1959 [7/10]: A notorious Wyatt Earp-like town tamer and his right hand man make a bid to provide a small town with protection, however, this does not sit well with the new town marshal, who recently abandoned his outlaw gang to enact the full realization of doing the right thing. Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn and Richard Widmark all shine throughout.)
The Magnificent Seven (Special Edition) (John Sturges, 1960 [8/10]: Popular classic about mercenaries defending a small Mexican town from Bandits. A remake of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. Features a most enjoyable, star-making performance by Steve McQueen.)
The Revisionist Western: After The Searchers
*The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962 [10/10]: Ford's last brilliant work is a swan song for Stewart and Wayne, and features one of the truly great plot structures in the genre, a story from the past that serves as an examination of myth and the examination of power and loss through the duty of self-sacrifice. Ford actually creates and destroys a myth, and the twists of the story choreograph some of the most honest character development in any Western. The law of the East against the law of the West. One of the best casts John Ford ever assembled. Liberty Valence examines the mythology of the gunfighter, the shortness of a legacy, the understanding of what becomes a legend, the fish-out-of-water scenario as an culmination of both personal sacrifice and courage, not to mention the power of the individual thrown into the working throes of democracy. My favorite John Ford film.)
Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, 1962 [10/10]: The first deconstructionalist Western, a goodbye for Scott and McCrea, a literal farewell to traditions performed through the guise of "aging cowboys." Ride the High Country serves as the base for the conflict of hard men on the grounds of a relentless amorality that reveals a powerlessness in heroism, but also shows the measure of what a man is willing to give for his life and what he believes in. Beyond betrayal, what men will do for money, for duty and for honor, and the passing of the era of the cowboy. The trademark violence of Peckinpah's later work was just beginning here, as this was his first film.)
*The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966 [10/10]: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach are all looking for Yankee gold. The Cival War is going on, throw them into the middle of it. Three stories intertwine. This is a violent film. It is a primary example of both the Epic Western and the Spaghetti Western, Leone helmed a perfect film, it will always seem half as long as it really is. Ennio Morricone was one of the greatest composers of film scores, he was a genius, this is some of his most memorable work. Check out the prior two films in the Man With No Name Trilogy -- Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.)
The Professionals (Special Edition) (Richard Brooks, 1966 [8/10]: Highly entertaining tale of hired guns going to Mexico to retrieve a stolen bride for a wealthy husband. Smart action and a great plot. With a great performance by Burt Lancaster. Lots of action. A decade earlier Brooks also directed the near-classic The Last Hunt [9/10], but that film is not on DVD. The film stars Robert Taylor as a closed-minded, no-nonsense buffalo hunter who begins on a course of revenge spurned by his brutishness, but later challenges many of his beliefs and prejudices when he has an affecting encounter with Native Americans and also the man he was out to kill.)
Will Penny (Tom Gries, 1967 [7/10]: Charlton Heston vehicle about a cowboy who, after a dangerous run-in with a psychotic preacher and his family, finds himself looking after a small boy and his mother. A slow, methodical film that only Heston could pull off.)
*Once Upon a Time in the West (Special Collector's Edition) (Sergio Leone, 1968 [10/10]: Leone bridged art house sensibility with the Man With No Name Triology. It is unlike any other Western. It belongs in any serious collection. My personal favorite. Charles Bronson is set to find Henry Fonda and kill him. Henry Fonda is a hard killer who will stop at nothing to do what he does. Jason Robards is the man Henry Fonda has framed a murder on. The beautiful Claudia Cardinale comes to own the the land her new family has been slaughtered over because Fonda & co. want to own it for railroad ground. People have vested interests and forms of betrayal, self-interest, helplessness and alliance come to the forefront. Classic Morricone soundtrack.)
The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci, 1968 [8/10]: One of the best Spaghetti Westerns, worth reading the extended plot synopsis. Klaus Kinski = genius. The Spaghetti Western is not appropriately covered in this guide, but fans must remember Corbucci's 1966 classic, the coffin hauling, machine gun wielding Django.)
Hang 'Em High (Ted Post, 1968 [8/10]: A revenge Western that brought the Spaghetti Western to America. Eastwood is lynched and left for dead, but he survives, and he then forces his will of revenge. Established Eastwood as a box-office star and ranks alongside 1973's High Plains Drifter [7/10], which Eastwood directed and starred, as near-masterpieces.)
The Deconstructionalist Western
These Westerns actively revisit their own history, their own individual mythologies, and they break those notions down with only the "genre" being the common ground, subverting ideas such as: the notion of a "hero" and the boundaries of self-parody. These films are the self-realization of the genre at the end of the revisionist strand. One permanent effect in film came in the sympathetic presentation of Native Americans in film and a more unglamorized, realistic portrayal of the Wild West.
*The Wild Bunch - The Original Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Sam Peckinpah, 1969 [10/10]: Brilliant and savage, Peckinpah redefined the genre. A classic in every sense of the word. Violence and bloodshed. Unrelenting. If you become a Peckinpah fanatic, it is worth your time to check out his other Westerns: Major Dundee, The Ballad of Cable Hogue and Pat Garret & Billy the Kid.)
*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) (George Roy Hill, 1969 [10/10]: Two bandits go to Bolivia on the lam and run into trouble with the Bolivian army. A classic Buddy Film and one-of-a-kind Western. Expanded the grounds of the Western. A superb film judged by any criterea. Sundance and The Wild Bunch reinvented American Cinema. Paul Newman was a brilliant actor. Newman starred in 1967's Hombre [8/10] - directed by Martin Ritt and presented as a revision of "Stagecoach," and standing as one of the best Westerns of the late 60's.)
Monte Walsh [VHS] (William Fraker, 1970 [8/10]: A near classic of the genre. Two men march on in the dying wild west. The aging cowboy rests as one of the most elegant themes that can prevail in a Western. Poetic and naturalistic. Lee Marvin and Jack Palance star.)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971 [10/10]: Altman's classic deconstructionalist anti-Western -- of sorts -- is one of the innovative greats in the genre. Deals with the rise of a man in an setting of small-town power, it is like a complete movie made from the town sequence in Ride the High Country. Bad men come looking for a man who finds out he is in over his head and faces the fall of excessive pride. Leonard Cohen soundtrack, music from the master. Julie Christy is one of the most beautiful actresses. Great actress too, but beautiful.)
Jeremiah Johnson (Sydney Pollack, 1972 [8/10]: Wilderness survival at its most visually beautiful, Johnson is unique in the canon of Western films. Johnson becomes an Indian fighter out in the snow, a man alone. Self-reliance grows into the exercise of power. Johnson becomes a legendary figure amongst the Native Americans. A threat. An equal enemy.)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976 [9/10]: This classic effort concenrs a dangerous, lone fugitive pursued by U.S. Cavalry and Texas Rangers. Eastwood's gunfighter is taken out of and then thrust back into the boundaries of "family," but at once he is their protector as he is an unstoppable force always moving forward.)
The Shootist (Don Siegel, 1976 [8/10]: John Wayne's last film is an eloquent and poetic work. An aging gunfighter, having learned he is dying from terminal cancer, cannot escape the final approach of outlaws and comes to fully understand the only true honor of his lifestyle will come in the choice of his death. Action-maestro Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) directed this melancholy film. Like Ride the High Country and Monte Walsh, this film corresponds the decline of the aging gunfighter with the decline of the west in the face of changing times. I prefer this Wayne performance to his Oscar-winning turn in True Grit [7/10].)
The Man From Snowy River (George Miller, 1982 [8/10]: One of the more unique Westerns to come out in the past 30 years. Visually stunning. Young love set amidst a struggle over the control of cattle land in Australia. Brilliant dual role and double performance by Kirk Douglas.)
The Grey Fox [VHS] (Philip Borsos, 1983 [8/10]: A lesser known work. It features, however, one of the brilliant performances in the career of actor Richard Farnsworth. Overall, a well done crime drama/period piece about a train robber.)
Lonesome Dove (Simon Wincer, 1989 [10/10]: Well made TV miniseries worth admission alone for Robert Duvall. Helped in revitalizing the genre. Shakespearian elements, great character acting, a long work, but completely engrossing.)
Dances with Wolves - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) (Kevin Costner, 1990 [9/10]: An epic Western. A beautiful film. It's one of the finest examples of the Native American Western, and the success of the film is measured on its own grand scale. It's definitely not overrated, and though Goodfellas might be a better film, it took real guts to make Dances With Wolves, and people were surprised by what Kevin Costner could do, much in the way that they were with Mel Gibson's Braveheart. Oscar Winner for Best Picture, Best Cinematography and Best Director)
*Unforgiven (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Clint Eastwood, 1992 [10/10]: The greatest. Western gothic as the setting for Eastwood's complete deconstrution of the genre. I just like to say that Unforgiven has more to do with Cormac McCarthy than it does with The Shootist. The violent upturn at the end completes the entire genre. Retired gunfighter picks up his guns and goes on one last job in desperate times. There are struggles in every form, demons of the past, the hard effects of a killer's life, the excessively brutal force of the law. Eastwood serves up his own brand of justice. Winner of Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor from the Academy Awards.)
Tombstone (George P. Cosmatos, 1993 [8/10]: One of many variations on the O.K. Corral story. You know people like your movie when it can be found every couple of hours somewhere on television everyday of the year. Popular, yet still effective, and full of action. Excellent acting by Val Kilmer.)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995 [9/10]: Jarmusch's surreal, post-Modern take on the Western, mythologies and the "fish out of water" scenario. Watch for a grandaddy performance by Robert Mitchum as a visceral big boss man.)
Open Range (Kevin Costner, 2003 [8/10]: This was the last great Western that I watched. Perfect timing and production. The final shootout is great. A big credit to Costner for helping to keep the genre alive.)
The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005 [9/10]: Across the board, check this one out. About a brother given a proposition to kill his older brother in order to save his younger brother, plotted tensely against the backdrop of the Aboriginal conflict with the colonials. Screenplay and music by Nick Cave, a true original genius.)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007 [8/10]: A beautifully photographed and methodically acted masterpiece. Very long for some tastes, too art-oriented for others. People either love it or they hate it. Music by Nick Cave, making his second appearance on this list.)
Top 10 Westerns:
10. High Noon (1952)
9. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
8. Red River (1948)
7. Shane (1953)
6. The Wild Bunch (1969)
5. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
4. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962)
3. The Searchers (1956)
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
1. Unforgiven (1992)
Films Referenced In This Guide:
Jesse James (Henry King, 1939 [7/10]
Dodge City (Michael Curtiz, 1939 [7/10]
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949 [9/10]
Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950 [6/10]
Bend of the River (Anthony Mann, 1952 [7/10]
The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann, 1953 [9/10]
The Far County (Anthony Mann, 1955 [7/10]
*The Man from Laramie (Anthony Mann, 1955 [9/10]
The Last Hunt (Richard Brooks, 1956 [8/10]
The Tall T (Budd Boetticher, 1957 [8/10]
Decision at Sundown (Budd Boetticher, 1957 [6/10]
The Tin Star (Anthony Mann, 1957 [8/10]
Buchanan Rides Alone (Budd Boetticher, 1958 [6/10]
*The Bravados (Henry King, 1958 [8/10]
*Man of the West (Anthony Mann, 1958 [9/10]
*Last Train from Gun Hill (John Sturges, 1959 [8/10]
Ride Lonesome (Budd Boetticher, 1959 [7/10]
Comanche Station (Budd Boetticher, 1960 [6/10]
One-Eyed Jackis (Marlon Brando, 1961 [7/10
Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964 [8/10]
For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965 [8/10]
Major Dundee (Sam Peckinpah, 1965 [6/10]
Django (Sergio Corbucci, 1966 [7/10]
El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1967 [7/10]
*Hombre (Martin Ritt, 1967 [8/10]
True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969 [7/10]
Rio Lobo (Howard Hawks, 1970 [4/10]
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Sam Peckinpah, 1970 [8/10]
High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood, 1973 [7/10]
Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, 1973 [8/10}
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