Top 100 Best Western Movies Of All Time (2022 List)
List of Greatest Western Movies
Western genre is among the most stylish movie genre. Though not many films in this genre are produced now a days but people still love watching old and classic westerners. No genre influenced people as much as the western genre.
Films turn into classics and Dialogues(or titles) turn into proverb or catchphrase,that is the magic of this genre. Most of the western films have greed,gun fighting,betrayal and cowboys in common.
Personally what I like most in such movies is the portrayal of rough and tough outlaws who have guts of a bull, who talk less and have such perfection with gun that they can face a gang single handedly.
Clint eastwood is my favorite actor in this genre. When I saw his character Blondie (or the man with no name) in the Dollars trilogy I was so impressed that for several days I tried to stand, talk and walk like blondie. My obsession with Clintâs style further increased when I saw Unforgiven. I could never even imagine that a 60 year old person can have such attitude and machoism. No wonder he is one of the greatest actor of all time.
This page here includes the list of 100 greatest western movies. Not only these films were loved by all but also had impact on pop culture. Among the list of 100 westerners I selected my favorite 10 flicks which I consider the greatest in genre.
If you find any of your favorite western flick missing then do let me know in comments. Enjoy reading the list.
Photo Credit : Museum of Cinema
Do You Like Western Movies?
Top 100 Western movies - Vote Your favorite western film
Which Western Flick is Your favorite? Is it Clint Eastwood's or of John Wayne or may be one of Sergio Leone's western flick.
Show some love to your favorite flick and vote it up in the list
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- Unforgiven
- Once Upon a Time in the West
- High Noon
- The Treasure of Sierra Madre
- 6. Django Unchained
- The Wild Bunch
- 8. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- 9. Dances With Wolves
- True Grit (2010)
- The Searchers
- For a Few Dollars More
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
- The Magnificent Seven
- A Fistful of Dollars
- Shane
- Back to the Future Part III
- High Plains Drifter
- Stagecoach
- The Gold Rush
- 3:10 to Yuma (2010)
- True Grit (1969)
- The Outlaw Josey Wales
- 24. The Assassination of Jesse James by Coward Robert Ford
- 25. Giant
- 26. Rio Bravo
- 27. Tombstone
- 28. Little Big Man
- 29. Open Range
- 30. Blazzing Saddles
- 31. The Proposition
- 32. El Dorado
- 33. My name is Nobody
- 34. Dead Man
- 35. Legends of the Fall
- 36. The Quick and the Dead
- 37. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
- 38. Pale Rider
- 39. Red River
- 40. The Horse Whisperer
- 41. Last Man Standing
- 42. iThree Amigos
- 43. Westworld
- 44. Hang ‘Em High
- 45. Far and Away
- 46. Young Guns
- 47. City Slickers
- 48. Silverado
- 49. El Topo
- 50. Duck You Sucker
- 51. The Ox-Bow Incident
- 52. My darling Clementine
- 53. How the West was Won
- 54. Rio Grenade
- 55. Jeremiah Johnson
- 56. Fort Apache
- 57. The Professionals
- 58. The Mask of Zorro
- 59. Mccabe and Mrs. Miller
- 60. Gun fight at the O.K. Corral
- 61. Winchester ‘73
- Cowboys and Aliens
- The Missing
- Hidalgo
- Wyatt Earp
- The Cowboys
- Shanghai Noon
- Ride the High Country
- Rango
- She wore a Yellow Ribbon
- Appaloosa
- Pat Garret and Billy the Kid
- My name is Trinity
- Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia
- The Big Country
- Young Guns II
- The Shootist
- Johnny Guitar
- Two Mules for Sister Sara
- CatBallou
- Django
- 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
- The Alamo
- Cannibal! The Musical
- Maverick
- Joe Kid
- Shanghai Knights
- Bad Day at Black Rock
- Sraphim Falls
- Ned Kelly
- The Alamo
- Bandidas
- An American Tail
- Quigley Down Under
- The Sons of Katie Elder
- The Great Silence
- Harley Davidson and the Marlboro man
- Ride with the Devil
- Wild Wild West
100.Sukiyaki Western Django
Top 10 Western Movies
Below Is The list of my personal favorite Top Ten western movies.
# 10. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Together For The First Time - James Stewart - John Wayne - in the masterpiece of four-time Academy Award winner John Fo
# 9. True Grit - Retribution
Top 10 Western Movies Actor
# 1. John Wayne
# 2. Clint Eastwood
# 3. James Stewart
# 4. Kevin Costner
# 5. Henry Fonda
# 6. William Holden
# 7. Gene Hackman
# 8. Paul Newman
# 9. Robert Redford
# 10. Robert Duvall
Westerns Are Best? - Share Your View
Do you think western is best genre?
60s
- The Good The Bad and The Ugly
- Once Upon a Time in the West
- The Wild Bunch
- The Man Who Shot Libery Valance
- Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid
- The Magnificient Seven
- High Plains Drifter
- True Grit
- For a Few Dollars More
- A Fistful of Dollars
70s
- Blazzing Saddles
- The Outlaw Josey Wales
- Little Big Man
- Duck You Sucker
- Westworld
- Jeremiah Johnson
- The Shootist
- My name Is Nobody
- El Topo
- McCabe and Mrs. Miller
80s
- Young Guns
- The Pale Rider
- iThree Amigos
- Silverado
90s
- Unforgiven
- Dances With Wolves
- Back to the Future Part III
- The Mask of Zorro
- Legends of the Fall
- Tombstone
- Dead Man
- The Quick and The Dead
- City Slickers
- The Horse Whisperer
00s
- 1. 3:10 To Yuma
- 2. The Assassination of Jesse James by Coward Robert Ford
- 3. The Proposition
- 4. Open Range
- 5. The Three Burials of Melquideas Estrada
- 6. Hidalgo
- 7. Appaloosa
- 8. Shanghai Noon
- 9. The Missing
- 10. Seraphim falls
# 8. The Wild Bunch - Suddenly a new West has emerged. Suddenly it was sundown for nine men. Suddenly their day was over. Suddenly the sky was bathed in blood.
Description :-
The wild bunch was a film that was equally hated and loved by the audience at the time of its release.The reason of hate was due to its controversial graphic violence.The film focuses on the betrayal,greed and gun fight that is symbol of western films.The climax scene of the film is considered as one of the most influential scene in the history of film making.The bloody gun fight shown at the end inspired many other films to experiment with violence in movies.This 1969 classic then inspired many controversial and violent movies of the 70s.
Director :- Sam Peckinpah
Star-Cast :- William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Ryan
Plot :- A Aging outlaw tries to survive in the changing world.
# 7. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - The nearer they get to their treasure, the farther they get from the law.
Description :-
Treasure of the Sierra Madre explores the theme of greed and corruption that is often shown in the western films.The film is adaption of novel of same name by B. Traven.The novel was published in 1927 and revolves around a treasure hunt by a group of people.Both the novel and movie were set in 1920s.Though the movie was not a hit at the time of release.People didn't accepted Humphrey Bogart as a western hero.But later on it turned to be the most classic film of all time.John Huston won an Oscar too for the film.
Director :- John Huston
Star-Cast :- Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston and Tim Holt
Plot :- 3 friends set up a journey in search of gold.Will they return successful?
# 6. High Noon - There Is Nothing Under The Sun Like The High Adventure Of "High Noon"!
Description :-
Portrayal of Will kane by Gary cooper in this western film is considered to be one of the greatest character ever portrayed on screen.He was awarded the prestigious Oscar for his electric performance.Though the film was criticized by many critics and actors like john wayne as it depicted cowardice character.But later on the fact was accepted that no one would ever dare to do what Will kane did in the wild west.
Director :- Fred Zinnemann
Star-Cast :- Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly and Thomas Mitchell
Plot :- A Marshall has to face a gang of killers by himself.
# 5. Once Upon a time in the west - There were three men in her life. One to take her... one to love her... and one to kill her.
Description :-
Sergio Leone was master in making spaghetti Western movies (a sub genre of western in which Italian actor and director presents the far west).The film tells the epic tale of 'How the west was won?'The movie was simply brilliant and was huge success at box office.The plot of the movie is awesome and those who expect this movie to be just another western movie are wrong.In fact Sergio Leone redefined western genre by this movie.The portrayal of character was brilliant specially the character played by Sir Henry Fonda.
Director :- Sergio Leone
Star-Cast :- Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Claudia Cardinale
Plot :- A Stranger saves a widow from a being murdered.
# 4. The Searchers - He had to find her... he had to find her...
Description :-
Most of the people consider and agrees that John wayne is the greatest Western hero of all time and John Ford is the greatest Western movie director.The reason behind this is The Searchers,a western film which is not only a classic western movie but also favorite film of many mainstream actor and directors.The film was chosen as the greatest movie of all time by AFI. Not only the film has great plot but also has excellent cinematography which depicts the far west lands and deserts beautifully.John wayne and John ford collaborated many times together specially in western genre and The searchers is their best work.
Director :- John Ford
Star-Cast :- John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter and Vera Miles
Plot :- A Civil war veteran searches for his abducted niece.
# 3. Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid - Not that it matters, but most of it is true.
Description :-
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was among the earlier film of the famous duo of Blue eyed Paul newman and Robert Redford (who is older version of Brad pitt). This western movie is a blend of buddy film,spaghetti western and heist film.Butch cassidy is played by Paul newman.Cassidy is intelligent and want to get rich quick.Sundance kid (played by Robert Redford) is sharpshooter and has a girlfriend too.The film was inspired from the famous and notorious train robber Butch Cassidy and his wild bunch of which Sundance was a member.
Director :- George Roy Hill
Star-Cast :- Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross
Plot :- The adventures of two western robbers.
# 2. Unforgiven - Starring Clint Eastwood
Description :-
Eastwood has always admired western movies.His love for western movies could be seen from his filmography which lists a dozen of western films as actor,director or producer.If 'Dollars Trilogy' was his best western movie as an actor then Unforgiven was his best western film as a Director.The film is about an aging western law who is living in era when western is turning to modern world and western heroes are becoming myths and legends.Eastwood was clever like his mentor Sergio leone while choosing actors for this classic.Morgan freeman did good job and Gene Hackman's performance won him an Academy award.In total the film won 4 academy awards Including best picture and Best director.
Director :- Clint Eastwood
Star-Cast :- Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman
Plot :- A retired hitman comes back to complete one last task.
# 1. Dollars Trilogy - A Fistful Of Dollars,For Few Dollars More,The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Description :-
Clint eastwood stars as a rough and tough western cowboy in Sergio leone's Spaghetti Westerns Dollars Trilogy(Also Known as Man With No Name Trilogy).Though Leone's intention was not to make a trilogy.But all the three western films were about the adventures of the Man With No Name.
The series first movie was Fistful of dollars which transformed the TV actor Eastwood into a western hero with critical acclaim. The second movie of the Series was For a few Dollars more which continued the adventure of anti-hero Blondie.But the most famous movie of the trilogy was The Good,The Bad and the ugly which has on going civil war as a backdrop in the plot.Eastwood continued delivering his best performances and the other man who grabbed attention was Eli Wallach.A masterpiece trilogy that pays tribute to the western genre.
Director :- Sergio Leone
Star-Cast :- Clint Eastwood
Plot :- The adventures of "Man With No Name" in the western deserts.