Best Western Movies of All Time
The 50 highest rated western movies ever made, ranked by viewer ratings on TMDB. Only titles with a large number of votes are included, so the list reflects lasting favourites rather than passing hype.
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1
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.
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2
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.
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3
Django Unchained (2012)
With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
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4
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Two bounty hunters both pursue the brutal and sadistic bandit, El Indio, who has a large bounty on his head.
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5
El Infierno (2010)
After being deported back to Mexico, a man has no choice but to join the vicious drug cartel that has corrupted his hometown in order to survive.
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6
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Two jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the way of their journey.
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7
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as…
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8
Unforgiven (1992)
William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former…
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9
Redeeming Love (2022)
A young couple's relationship clashes with the harsh realities of the California Gold Rush of 1850. Angel, experiencing love for the first time and facing demons unsurmountable, runs from the new life she doesn't believe she deserves. When…
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10
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
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11
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is…
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12
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the…
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13
Rio Bravo (1959)
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
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14
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception.
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15
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
Against impossible odds, Spirit, a young mustang, sets out across the majestic wilderness to regain his freedom and save his homeland. Along the way, he forms a friendship with a young Lakota brave, outwits a squadron of soldiers, and…
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16
The Searchers (1956)
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
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17
Duck, You Sucker (1971)
At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a…
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18
High Noon (1952)
Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his…
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19
Bacurau (2019)
Bacurau, a small town in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their community has vanished from most maps.
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20
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.
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21
Giant (1956)
Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the…
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22
Stagecoach (1939)
A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.
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23
The Wild Bunch (1969)
An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
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24
Tombstone (1993)
Legendary marshal Wyatt Earp, now a weary gunfighter, joins his brothers Morgan and Virgil to pursue their collective fortune in the thriving mining town of Tombstone. But Earp is forced to don a badge again and get help from his notorious…
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25
The Revenant (2015)
In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.
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26
They Call Me Trinity (1970)
The simple story has the pair coming to the rescue of peace-loving Mormons when land-hungry Major Harriman sends his bullies to harass them into giving up their fertile valley. Trinity and Bambino manage to save the Mormons and send the bad…
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27
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.
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28
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Three brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find one of their brothers dead and their cattle stolen. They decide to take revenge on the culprits.
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29
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.
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30
Little Big Man (1970)
Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.
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31
Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)
The two brothers Trinity and Bambino are exchanged by two federal agents and take advantage of the situation to steal a huge booty hidden in a monastery by a gang of outlaws.
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32
Legends of the Fall (1994)
In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by…
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33
El Dorado (1966)
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
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34
Red River (1948)
Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and…
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35
Old Henry (2021)
A widowed farmer and his son warily take in a mysterious, injured man with a satchel of cash. When a posse of men claiming to be the law come for the money, the farmer must decide who to trust. Defending a siege of his homestead, the farmer…
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36
High Plains Drifter (1973)
A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.
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37
Shane (1953)
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
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38
True Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
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39
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
While slowly adapting to the grueling life of a mountain man in the Rocky Mountains, Jeremiah Johnson encounters the Crow and Flathead tribes as well as hunters, trappers and settlers, all of whom call these mountains home.
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40
Dead Man (1995)
On the run after committing murder, an accountant encounters a strange Native American man who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
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41
Hell or High Water (2016)
A divorced dad and his ex-con brother resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family's farm in West Texas.
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42
True Grit (2010)
Following the murder of her father by a hired hand, a 14-year-old farm girl sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. Marshal she can find—a man with 'true grit'—Reuben J. 'Rooster' Cogburn.
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43
My Name Is Nobody (1973)
Jack Beauregard, an aging gunman of the Old West, only wants to retire in peace and move to Europe, but a young gunfighter known as "Nobody" who idolizes Beauregard wants him to go out in a blaze of glory. So, he arranges for Jack to face…
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44
The Rider (2018)
Once a rising star of the rodeo circuit, and a gifted horse trainer, young cowboy Brady is warned that his riding days are over after a horse crushed his skull at a rodeo. In an attempt to regain control of his own fate, Brady undertakes a…
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45
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Crafty railroad worker Bart becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the citizens of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new protector.…
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46
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
In Arizona in the late 1800s, infamous outlaw Ben Wade and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans, struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch,…
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47
Django (1966)
A coffin-dragging gunslinger and a prostitute become embroiled in a bitter feud between a Klan of Southern racists and a band of Mexican Revolutionaries.
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48
Spirit Untamed (2021)
Lucky Prescott's life is changed forever when she moves from her home in the city to a small frontier town and befriends a wild mustang named Spirit.
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49
Open Range (2003)
A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.
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50
Pale Rider (1985)
A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.