The 25 greatest westerns of all time

[syed putra]

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The Power of the Dog (2021)​

2021 gave us one of the great Westerns. In fact, The Power of the Dog was so good it was nominated for 12 Oscars. Some say it might even win Best Picture. Fingers crossed.

This is not really a cowboy movie. Its a lbgt propagation video.

 

[jw5]

This is not really a cowboy movie. Its a lbgt propagation video.

The list is for westerns, not cowboy movies.

 

[jw5]

The Hateful Eight (2015)​

Sam Jackson. Kurt Russel. Quentin Tarantino. Need I say more?

 

[jw5]

Forty Guns (1957)​

Barbara Stanwyck rides the high country (and everyone in it) in this racy, sexually-charged adventure. Some of the innuendos border on parody ("you think your gun will go off in my face?"), but it has so much style you won't even notice. You'll be too busy admiring the tracking shots and long takes.

 

[jw5]

My Darling Clementine (1946)​

The real-life story that inspired Clementine is fascinating. A lawman, played by Henry Fonda, returns to the town where his brother was shot. He becomes sheriff and goes after the boys who done it. It's a great story, and it feels like Ford, who won 5 Oscars, does it justice.

 

[jw5]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)​

Ford made 14 Western and Western-adjacent films, and we couldn't include them all. However, since he is the Tom Brady of Western directors, we figured it was fair to list a couple of them. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is old enough to feature references to John F. Kennedy, but it's still as fresh as anything out there. It stars John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. And draws parallels between American politics and Mexican standoffs. What could be more relevant than that?

 

[jw5]

Johnny Guitar (1954)​

There were millions of people in the West, and one assumes they didn't all look like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Of course, when you think of the West, you think of Wayne with a shotgun or Stewart with a pistol. But there were other folks as well. Vienna runs a saloon on the edge of town, and she's about as far from John Wayne as New Port is from New York. She's no good with a gun, but she likes to sleep with people who are. She's a feminist icon; the rare woman to do what she wants, when she wants, with who she wants.

 

[jw5]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)​

The Sistine Chapel of spectacles, the Grand Canyon of Westerns, the Great Wall of shootouts, and the Colosseum of killers. Sergio Leone's masterpiece is truly one of the seven wonders of the world.

 

[eatshitndie]

don’t have “once upon a time in the west”? fucked up lah. that movie has a cult following, is a cultural heritage, has historical value that it’s enshrined in the national film registry by congress.

 

[jw5]

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)​

How do you follow up on one of the biggest movies in cinema history? If you're Sergio Leone, you add more: more guns, more violence, more commentary, more close-ups and long-zooms, more desert vistas, and certainly more Ennio Morricone. What more do you want?

 

[jw5]

Hell or High Water (2016)​

Hell or High Water doesn't live up to the ambition of its director. However, what the movie does have is Chris Pine and Ben Foster as the two bank robbers. They may not be Paul Newman and Robert Redford, but they do come close.

 

[jw5]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)​

There's no topping this bromance. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are the American Jules and Jim, which means they carry guns, eat pie and ride bikes through the countryside.

 

[jw5]

Days of Heaven (1978)​

Days of Heaven is one of Terrence Malick's best, and one of the best ever. However, we weren't sure if this story of two field workers in Texas counted as a Western. Ah, what the hell. We're including it anyway for the Rockwellian imagery and golden-hour light.

 

[jw5]

Unforgiven (1992)​

We've finally made it: the final frontier of the final frontier. And what better way to ride off into the sunset than with Unforgiven?