With filming to take place in Spain’s Almería, where The Good, The Bad And The Ugly was shot, Strange Way Of Life is a film that aims to revive the western genre in modern times. Pedro Almodóvar will direct Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke in a half-hour story about two gunslingers that reunite after 25 years (per Collider).

The western genre, originated by Italian directors in the '60s who directed low budget stories about the gritty Wild West, appeals to the most mythic history of America. Seeing a renaissance with films that build on the old notions but experiment with new ideas, the Western genre has had great works after its first stages in the '60s. Ranker lists the 10 best westerns released after 1989.

Note: Ranker lists are live and continue to accrue votes, so some rankings may have changed after this publishing.

Hostiles (2017)

Captain Blocker looking across the prarie in Hostiles

Starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, and Wes Studi, Hostiles follows an infamous US Army officer who is tasked with escorting a Cheyenne war chief and his family through dangerous territory back to Montana.

Related: 8 Best Characters In Tarantino Western Films

A brutal depiction of the interaction between a growing American civilization and the last remnants of the indigenous population, Hostiles shows the struggle to survive in a land with no laws, neither legal nor moral. As the the Army officer and the Cheyenne chief, who once were confronted in war, see themselves buried in the agonic brutality that surrounds them, they make peace for the past wrongs. It's a hard-knock film about the barbarity of the West during the last years of the 19th century.

The Revenant (2015)

Hugh Glass carrying another person in The Revenant.

Set in the grimy and cold present-day Dakotas, this adventure drama film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu presents the vengeance quest of a frontiersman played by Leonardo DiCaprio. When he is left for dead after a bear attack, he goes through the unforgiving American wilderness to kill the man who betrayed him, played by Tom Hardy.

The Revenant, although not set in the Far West but rather in the North frontiers with Canada, presents the relentlessness needed to survive in wild America, through the Oscar-winning agony and outlasting of DiCaprio’s Glass. In a world with no laws where everyone and everything poses a threat to survival, only the most gritty and ruthless thrive. A trope usually seen in the western genre, but this time translated to a more natural and raw scenario.

Hell Or High Water (2016)

Ben Foster leaning against a post an Chris Pine sitting in a pickup truck in Hell or High Water.

This 2016 film follows a duo of brothers who go on a bank-robbing spree to save their family ranch and the two Texas Rangers that track their steps.

With a score produced by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, characters clearly defined in their outlaw and sheriff roles, and raw violence, this critically acclaimed film ticks many of the boxes of the genre. However, the honor and appreciation for the fierce life seen in spaghetti westerns are replaced by cynical desperation that takes hold of the desolated and poor Texas countryside. The idealized, noble western fantasy gives way to its skeptical post-modern remnants, which develop in stories like Hell Or High Water.

Wind River (2017)

Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner in Wind River

This neo-western murder mystery stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as a wildlife officer and a FBI agent who investigates the death of an indigenous 18-year-old woman on an American Indian reservation.

Directed by Taylor Sheridan, who also wrote Hell Or High Water, Wind River is a bitter tale about the desolation that impends on the still wild and cold lands of the Native American reservations. Some tropes of the Western genre are base for the movie, like a sheriff (in the form of a game tracker) who seeks justice in a state of lawlessness, but beyond that, it explores the dread and brutality experienced by Native American women and is sure to impact the viewer by when the credits roll.

3:10 To Yuma (2007)

Christian Bale and Russell Crowe on horseback in 3:10 to Yuma

Adapted from the 1957 same-name film, James Mangold’s 3:10 To Yuma follows a rancher struck by drought that decides to take on the job of delivering a notorious outlaw to a train that wil carry him to trial.

Related: 10 Best Gunslinger Movies Of All Time, Ranked By IMDb

Russell Crowe and Christian Bale’s leads make the film an exciting tribute to the classic Western, with intense action and a compelling story filled with moral confrontations and gunfights. The construction of the two protagonists and the detailed production are main points to 3:10 To Yuma being an enjoyable modern western that evokes the thrill of the genre.

Dances With Wolves (1990)

Kevin Costner holding a flag in Dances with Wolves

Starring Kevin Costner as John J. Dunbar, a Union Army Lieutenant who looks for calm from the 1860s hostility in America, this 1990 film is also his directorial debut. The extended cut is 236 minutes long.

Related: The 10 Best Western Movie Protagonists

From the perspective of fed-up John Dunbar, a gradual and immersive contrast is built between the violence and dirt of the settlers and the harmony of the plains and its inhabitants. A different approach to the genre, a romantic portrait of the philosophical clash that happened on the American frontier, and the evolution of a man stuck in the middle of it.

True Grit (2010)

Mattie and Rooster riding horses in True Grit

Adapted from Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name, True Grit is the Coen brothers’ second shot at the western genre. The story follows a 14-year-old girl who hires a drunken lawman to chase the man that killed her father.

After breaking all the rules while simultaneously retaining the most important tropes of the genre in No Country For Old Men, the Coen brothers took a more formal and reverential approach to the genre in this film. With spectacular cinematography from legendary Roger Deakins, eccentrically great performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld, and an emotional story right from the soul of the genre, True Grit is a tribute to the wild beauty of the West.

Tombstone (1993)

The Earp brothers and Doc Holiday descend on the O.K. Corral.

Starring figures like Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, and Bill Paxton, Tombstone is based on the confrontation between outlaws and lawmen that took place in 1880s Arizona.

This film gathers the most brutal and charismatic of the men that lived in the era and sets a story where lawlessness is the law, and where the lines between criminal and sheriff are blurry. Contrasted with other western films, Tombstone is chaotic and sloppy, the equivalent of the saloon where bottles fly, the music is followed by gunfire and drunkards go flying out the window.

Open Range (2003)

Characters with cowboy hats in Open Range

Directed, co-produced, and starring Kevin Costner, a western aficionado, this 2003 film is based on Lauren Paine’s novel "The Open Range Men." It follows a group of open range cattlemen who enter a quarrel with a powerful Irish rancher who hates the ones of their kind.

Robert Duvall and Costner’s cowboys avoid the violence of the cities by recluding in nature, but turn to it when necessary. The corrupt rancher uses his power and brute force to keep his hold over the town and hates the “free grazers” for coming near to his lands and defying his authority. During their confrontation, the open range cowboys stick to their moral code, while their enemies treacherously use all means to finish the challengers. Open Range is the clash of the honorable freedom of the Old West, against the corrupt confinement of progress.

Unforgiven (1992)

A silhouette of two riders in Unforgiven

Directed, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven follows a once ruthless assassin turned into a recluded father and widower. 

Unforgiven is set up as a western since its first shot, but as the character go on with their paths the traditional lines of good and bad begin to fade. Eastwood’s William Munny, haunted by his past, undertakes not redemption or a heroic mission, but a hunt for two men whose deserving of dying is dubious. The town he terrorizes is not corrupt, and neither is his sheriff, who only wants to keep order. But as the things he has done catch up to him, Munny leaves shame and regret aside and embraces what he once was. The best modern film that discreetly shatters the rules of the genre, while remaining a classic western gem.

Next: 10 Greatest Western Movies, According To Ranker