10 Greatest Western Movies of the Last 100 Years, Ranked
Looking at the best movies from the past 100 years of any genre is almost the same as looking at the best movies of any genre, admittedly. That’s because cinema is a relatively new medium, at least compared to, say, art forms like paintings, theater, or novels, and there are only so many movies – at the time of writing – that are older than 100 years, let alone more than 100 years old and great.
That’ll change in time, of course, because if you were looking at dramas or romance/war movies, Citizen Kane and Casablanca (respectively) are nearing a century old. But Westerns are what’ll be looked at below, and in the interest of trying to represent movies from most of cinema history, the oldest movie here was released in the 1930s, and the newest came out in the 21st century.
10
‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969)
Almost a buddy comedy first and a Western second, however you want to define Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the most important thing is that it’s awesome. It’s about the two titular characters and their untouchable bromance, as well as how they both survive while on the run from various enemies they’ve made during their time spent living as outlaws.
It’s a movie that’s quite relaxed at times, though it still manages to feel like it’s always going somewhere, and the pacing is pretty great for a film of its age. Also, Robert Redford and Paul Newman are undeniably iconic together, as a pair, making it a little sad that there was only one other movie after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that they starred in (The Sting, which is also a classic, albeit certainly not a Western).
9
‘Stagecoach’ (1939)
The oldest film featured here, Stagecoach is also one of the best Westerns John Ford ever directed, and though he didn’t exclusively make Westerns, they were the sorts of films his name was most associated with. And that goes for frequent collaborator John Wayne, who appeared in Stagecoach’s ensemble cast, with all the main characters being on board a single stagecoach, traveling through dangerous terrain.
It’s old-fashioned, sure, but Stagecoach is also old, so it gets a pass. It’s about a bunch of people trying to get from one point to another, and so it’s one of those “journey over the destination” kind of adventure movies. Stagecoach feels old without feeling too creaky, and you can see how it proved influential on certain Westerns going forward; all the ones that were able to make use of more advanced filmmaking techniques and technology.
8
‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)
No Country for Old Men is set only a couple of decades or so before its year of release, meaning it’s not a Western in the traditional sense, but still counts as a more modern one about more or less contemporary times. It’s about three men who rarely ever meet, but they’re all tied together by a bunch of money that’s left at the site of a drug deal turned deadly.
So, the movie starts with death, and then there’s a bunch of death throughout the whole thing, too, since Anton Chigurh might as well be the Grim Reaper; an assassin with a Terminator-esque desire to reclaim the money left at the location of that aforementioned deadly drug deal. So, No Country for Old Men is also a crime movie and a particularly dark thriller on top of being an engaging – and always intense – spin on certain Western movie conventions.
7
‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ (1948)
Undeniably one of the best movies Humphrey Bogart ever starred in, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre also has him playing one of his darkest-ever roles. In fact, the whole movie was probably the bleakest Western made up until that point, though it’s more of a neo-Western than a traditional one, a bit like No Country for Old Men, seeing as it was set in more contemporary times (1925, rather than during the Old West period).
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is about three men who set off into dangerous territory looking for gold, with the journey ultimately challenging them all both physically and morally.
Essentially, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is about three men who set off into dangerous territory looking for gold, with the journey ultimately challenging them all both physically and morally. Bad things happen, with the film exploring greed and the things it can compel someone to do, but not in a way that feels preachy or dated. It’s a film that still holds up excellently, even with it being more than three-quarters of a century old.
6
‘The Searchers’ (1956)
Almost two decades on from Stagecoach, John Ford and John Wayne made The Searchers, which would have to be the best Western either man was involved with, and one that had a similarly simple premise to Stagecoach. The Searchers, in essence, is about trying to find a young girl who gets kidnapped, but the search does indeed go on for an immensely long time, proving challenging in unexpected ways physically, emotionally, and mentally.
It’s pretty dark for a movie that’s also very colorful, but it’s not overly grim, or bleak in a way that sacrifices a certain engaging quality. The Searchers is compelling as an emotional and visceral (for its time) Western, and then there’s some other stuff you can dive into thematically if you’re so inclined. There’s more under the surface, in other words, even before taking into account just how remarkable the whole movie is on a technical front, too.
5
‘The Wild Bunch’ (1969)
A film that begins and ends with two very alarming (for their time) sequences of violence, The Wild Bunch takes no prisoners and was – for quite a while – probably the darkest non-spaghetti Western out there. Its narrative concerns some outlaws who are all aging and feel the need to pull off one last, big score before moving on from their lives of crime… or, failing that, maybe they can all go out with a bang.
It’s fittingly a movie that feels uncompromising and explosive while also being about uncompromising individuals making their mark on the world and taking risks. Sam Peckinpah himself certainly took a bunch of risks making this one, even by his standards, but the result was a Western that feels admirably ahead of its time and still impressively raw all these decades later.
4
‘High Noon’ (1952)
High Noon is probably most noteworthy for taking place in real-time, or something very close to it, and doing so well before shows like 24 – or, more recently, The Pitt – made it cool. It’s about a sheriff who finds out a fearsome criminal he previously imprisoned is headed toward his town on a day that’s important for other reasons, and so he has to try and find other people to help defend both himself and the town in question.
So, High Noon is mostly a drama, and not really an adventurous sort of Western, since it sticks to the one location, for the most part, but it works incredibly well and doesn’t feel as limited as a plot synopsis might make it sound. It’s one of the earliest and overall best revisionist Westerns, and justifiably stands as the most iconic Gary Cooper movie, too (whatever happened to that guy? The strong, silent type).
3
‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966)
Like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is also about a trio of morally questionable characters (not all equally morally questionable) searching for a hidden fortune, but it’s a bit lighter and perhaps more conventionally entertaining. It’s also more of an epic, and one of the most thrilling ever made, even if it does take its time at certain points, especially early on.
It’s all in service of what eventually ends up being one of the best endings in cinema history, and that – plus a bunch of other things – makes The Good, the Bad and the Ugly one of the more approachable Westerns ever made, even if you don’t usually like the genre all that much. It is arguably the best Western Sergio Leone ever made, or maybe that title should go to…
2
‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ (1968)
…Once Upon a Time in the West, which was released a couple of years after The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and was also an epic, albeit one that marched to a different (and slower) beat. It’s a bittersweet film about several characters whose lives all intersect in interesting – and sometimes dramatic – ways, all at a point in history when the Old West period seems to be coming to an end.
Leone directed one other Western after Once Upon a Time in the West, called Duck, You Sucker, which also felt like a cinematic funeral for the Western genre, or maybe the Old West as a whole, but it was a good deal more somber and nihilistic. Once Upon a Time in the West just strikes a perfect tone, and is beautiful in ways that are hard to put into words… maybe because so much of that beauty shines through in how the film looks and sounds (Ennio Morricone’s score is untouchably good).
1
‘Unforgiven’ (1992)
A few years after starring in three Sergio Leone Westerns, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Clint Eastwood also started directing movies, and so it wasn’t long before he tried his hand at directing Westerns, too. Unforgiven is easily the best of the bunch, and saw him starring in the movie as well as being its director, playing an aging outlaw who finds an opportunity to atone for his past when he learns of a recent injustice in a nearby town.
Eastwood delivers a great performance here, as do Morgan Freeman and (briefly) Richard Harris, but Gene Hackman might well steal the show, playing one of the greatest villains in the history of the Western genre. He and everyone else are perfectly cast, and Unforgiven is similarly perfectly directed, written, and all the other things. It’s about as good as a Western movie can get, so why not call it the best one of the last 100 years?
