Westerns have often been criticized as a genre offering the same, tired tropes and recycled stories – something that many blame for the genre’s ‘death’ following its huge popularity from the 1930s to the late 1960s. However, while Westerns do draw from the same well of iconography to tell their stories thanks to their setting, the genre is incredibly versatile and diverse in its storytelling. Just like the greatest films of any major, foundational genre, the best Westerns ever made are a mix of conventions executed at their peak, classic tropes being subverted to break genre boundaries, and trend-setting cinematic styles.

Even before the sub-genres of revisionist Westerns, anti-Westerns, or Neo-Westerns formally entered the filmmaker's lexicon, mid-20th-century directors have long explored the genre's possibilities beyond what audiences expect. Meanwhile, there's also no shortage of straightforward good-vs-evil stories in the best Westerns ever made, and these films make up the bulk of those that heavily influenced contemporary action and adventure storytelling today. Despite the fact that it might not be as popular as it once was, the Western genre remains a big part of the movie industry and an important part of the history of cinema.

20 The Wild Bunch (1969)

scene from The Wild bunch 1969 Western
  • Available to rent or purchase on Prime Video

Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch was a bit of a game-changer in terms of Westerns as well as action movies in general. While gunfights and violence had always been a part of these types of movies, The Wild Bunch sought to depict it as a brutal and bloody story that helped start a wave of more graphic action sequences. The movie follows a group of aging outlaws who set out to take one last big score but find themselves the targets of some powerful enemies. What makes it one of the best Westerns ever made is how The Wild Bunch culminates in one of the best battle scenes in movie history.

19 The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

scene from Ow-Box Incident 1942
  • Available to stream on Starz

Older Western movies sometimes have an unfair reputation of being simplistic stories about the men in white hats shooting at the men in black hats. However, a movie like The Ox-Bow Incident proves they could tell complex stories within the genre. Henry Fonda stars in the movie about a posse who tracks down a trio of men suspected of killing a local farmer. As tensions build, the posse becomes divided on whether to kill the men or not. Apart from being one of the best Westerns ever made, The Ox-Bow Incident's examination of morality and mob justice also means that it's one of the first true revisionist Western films.

18 The Revenant (2015)

Hugh Glass carrying another person in The Revenant.
  • Available to rent or purchase on Prime Video

In The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a fur trader who is wounded and left for dead by his treacherous companions. He is then forced to make his way back home through the unforgiving landscape. From Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu, the movie is a beautiful yet brutal odyssey. DiCaprio gives a powerful performance and is joined by Tom Hardy in a solid villainous role. Considering how much DiCaprio suffered during the making of this ode to the harsh and wild frontier, it's also quite fitting that he earned his first Best Actor Oscar win in one of the best Westerns ever made.

17 High Noon (1952)

Gary Cooper in High Noon 1952
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Not only is High Noon one of the best Westerns ever made, but it also delivers one of the best movie heroes of all time in the form of protagonist Will Kane. Gary Cooper stars as Kane, a lawman who is about to hang up his badge when an outlaw heads to town looking to settle a score with him. When no one else in town will help him, Kane stands determined to face his destiny alone. Along with being a tense Western story with a thrilling climax, it is also a morality tale about someone standing up for what is right even when no one else is willing to stand beside them.

16 A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)

Clint Eastwood smoking in A Fistful of Dollars
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The first movie in Sergio Leone’s unmatched ‘Man with No Name Trilogy’, A Fistful of Dollars popularized an entire subgenre known as the Spaghetti Western with its flawless execution and iconic style. The movie sees the Man with No Name – played by Clint Eastwood – inserting himself into a tense conflict with three warring brothers, playing the different factions off against each other. Largely responsible for catapulting Eastwood into pop culture legend, A Fistful of Dollars also features a beautiful score from composer Ennio Morricone – all of which adds up to one of the best Westerns ever made.

15 Rio Bravo (1959)

John Wayne as the Sheriff in Rio Bravo (1959)
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Directed by filmmaking legend Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, Rio Bravo follows the story of Sherriff John T. Chance, his deputy, and a hotshot sharpshooter, who sparks the ire of a ruthless gang of outlaws. This forces the heroes to take up arms to defend the titular town of Rio Bravo from the gang’s impending assault. A cornerstone of the genre, what truly places Rio Bravo among the best Westerns ever made is how it meticulously reveals what each relevant character is fighting for. Indeed, no dramatic moment is wasted in Rio Bravo - every story or conversation without a gun being fired only lends weight to the resulting action later.

Related: 20 Best John Wayne Movies Ranked

14 Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid watching from a mountain perch.
  • Available to stream on Max

Between its incredible pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in its title roles, subversion of the typical genre narrative, and famous ending, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is undoubtedly among the best Westerns ever made. The movie follows outlaws Butch Cassidy and his younger companion Sundance, as they commit a series of train robberies – subsequently being forced to flee to Bolivia to escape the law. Although several critics – including Roger Ebert – disliked the film initially, the movie has since earned a reputation as one of the classics of the genre and was even nominated for four Academy Awards.

13 Dances With Wolves (1990)

Kevin Costner kneeling in the Wild West in Dances with Wolves.
  • Available to stream on Showtime

One of the best Kevin Costner Western movies was also directed by Costner himself. Dances With Wolves stars Costner as an officer assigned to a Civil War outpost where he forms a bond with the Native American people of the area. The movie is a sprawling and gorgeous Western that is more interested in the quiet human moments than big action sequences. Combined with its pristine cinematography, Dances With Wolves makes for an engrossing large-scale story. In 2007, the National Film Registry solidified its status as one of the best Westerns ever made by picking the movie for preservation.

12 The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)

Characters outside a tent in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)
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Based on the 1935 novel of the same name by B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre sees three impoverished men – played by Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston – set out to strike gold in Mexico. The movie explores the pitfalls and insidious influence of greed, taking some dark turns for a Western of its time. Subverting the traditional good-vs-evil narrative that remains a staple of the best Westerns ever made, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of John Huston’s finest-ever directorial efforts. In 1949, The Writers Guild of America conferred it with the award for Best Written Western.

11 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

James Stewart fires a gun in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  • Available to stream on Prime Video, MGM+, and Paramount+

With John Ford in the director’s chair, as well as the likes of John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, and Vera Miles in front of the camera, it’s no surprise that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance became such a huge hit. Telling the familiar story of an underdog – James Stewart’s Ranse Stoddard – who’s forced to take on a merciless outlaw – Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance – the movie succeeds through its unique style of storytelling and how it plays with the notion of the Western myth. It's one of the best Westerns ever made for paving the way for more psychological films in the genre.

Related: Every John Ford & John Wayne Western, Ranked

10 Unforgiven (1992)

Unforgiven-Clint-Eastwood
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When Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven was released in 1992, the Western genre was seen as dead for the most part. However, this dark and complex tale subverted many of the Western genre's tropes to tell a powerful story. The movie was a huge success and was hailed for its more critical portrayal of the West’s supposed ‘heroes’ – with Eastwood’s protagonist Munny having committed countless murders of men, women, and children before the events of the movie. Unforgiven’s greatest strengths lie in its lack of Hollywood gloss, making its story feel somehow bleaker yet more human, even when compared to some of the best Westerns ever made.

9 For A Few Dollars More (1965)

Man With No Name and Col. Douglas in For A Few Dollars More
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For A Few Dollars More serves as the middle chapter of the fantastic Man with No Name Trilogy, with Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone teaming up to deliver another all-time classic. After Eastwood’s Manco and Lee Van Cleef’s Colonel Douglas Mortimer set their sights on the same bounty, the two men join forces to take down the vicious outlaw El Indio. Like many classic movies, For A Few Dollars More wasn’t particularly well-received upon its release but has since been ranked highly among the best Westerns ever made, with Leone’s stylish direction setting the movie apart from others of its ilk.

8 Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)

Three gunmen at a train station in the opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West
  • Available to stream on Paramount+ and MGM+

As overused as the term has become, there’s no other word to accurately describe Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West than epic. Boasting an ensemble cast featuring the likes of Charles Bronson and an against-type Henry Fonda, the movie spins a sprawling, revisionist yarn about violence in the Old West. A firm favorite among many of the greatest contemporary filmmakers - including Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese - Once Upon A Time in the West’s initially lukewarm reviews eventually gave way to widespread acclaim, with the movie now being regarded as one of the best Westerns ever made.

Related: Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time Trilogy Ranked Worst To Best

7 Django Unchained (2012)

Candie smokes a cigarette while his hand bleeds in Django Unchained
  • Available to stream on Tubi

It may come as a shock to see a film as recent as 2012’s Django Unchained being called one of the best Westerns ever made. However, no other movie has shone a brighter light on the revisionist Western genre in the 21st century than Django Unchained. Managing to tell a harrowing story about slavery and vengeance while somehow filling it with humor, heart, and blood-soaked action, Quentin Tarantino keeps a lot of plates spinning with Django Unchained – without dropping a single one. The result is a movie that’s satisfying on almost every conceivable level – with its dialogue, characters, and nail-biting tension culminating in one of the most thrilling shootouts ever.

6 The Magnificent Seven (1960)

The heroes lined up with their guns in The Magnificent Seven
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The highly influential Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was inspired by John Ford's foundational Western films when he made the 1954 classic Seven Samurai. Director John Sturges continued the prevalent cultural exchange of the time by looking to Seven Samurai to produce one of the best Westerns ever made: 1960's The Magnificent Seven. In this movie, Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, and James Coburn lead seven mismatched but determined gunslingers in the defense of a small Mexican village being targeted by outlaws. The Magnificent Seven was remade in 2016, but even with several Hollywood A-listers cast among the titular heroes, the modern version could scarcely match this timeless classic.

5 True Grit (2010)

Jeff Bridges with a pistol in True Grit
  • Available to stream on Prime Video and MGM+

Director Henry Hathaway's True Grit from 1969 allowed John Wayne to reinvent his image as a Western star, and it resulted in one of the best Westerns ever made. However, the 2010 reboot starring Jeff Bridges as the curmudgeonly Cogburn takes this story to a whole new level. Arguably more authentic to the Charles Potis novel of the same name on which the 1959 movie was based, the 2010 remake of True Grit captures the tale's darkly comedic sensibilities and eccentric version of the wild, wild west. To be fair, Joel and Ethan Coen's neo-noir, comical style is objectively a much better fit for the inherent weirdness of the novel compared to Hathaway's conventional directing.

4 The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)

Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly
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The go-to answer for most long-time genre enthusiasts when asked which are the best Westerns ever made, Sergio Leone’s 1968 classic The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. As the grand finale of the Man with No Name Trilogy, every single aspect of the movie - from its memorable Ennio Morricone score to its perfectly stylized direction - has become iconic. Following the exploits of Eastwood’s Blondie, as he competes with the nefarious Angel Eyes and the foolish Tuco for a stash of Confederate gold, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’s striking visuals, beautiful score, and relentless tension helped launch the movie into pop culture legend.

3 Stagecoach (1939)

The cast of Stagecoach (1939)
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To say that John Ford's Stagecoach is widely regarded as one of the best Westerns ever made would be an understatement. John Wayne plays the Ringo Kid, an outlaw tasked with protecting a stagecoach journeying through tremendously dangerous and harsh territories. Meanwhile, the passengers of the stagecoach are comprised of a sex worker who was driven out of town, an alcoholic doctor, a cavalry officer and his pregnant wife, and several others. Nearly every person who survived the frontier is represented in Stagecoach, allowing the movie to explore almost every facet of the wild west without ever truly straying from traditional Western genre staples. Stagecoach may be the first true revisionist Western in history.

2 The Hateful Eight (2015)

Major Warren in the haberdashery in The Hateful Eight
  • Available to stream on Netflix

Inspired by the darkest elements of the best Westerns ever made on both film and television, The Hateful Eight may be the greatest modern effort to tell an original story that fully banks on the genre's most crucial conventions. There's a stagecoach stop, a lawman taking an outlaw to justice, a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and most importantly, eight individuals who all fall into the classic mysterious stranger Western archetype. In line with this ambitious vision, director Quentin Tarantino and cinematographer Robert Richardson resurrected widescreen lenses from the 70s to achieve the stunning shots. The legendary Ennio Morricone also won his first and only Oscar for Best Original Score for The Hateful Eight.

1 The Searchers (1956)

John Wayne in Searchers with Jeffrey Hunter
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There are several reasons why John Ford's The Searchers is largely considered one of the best Westerns ever made. For starters, it is a nearly perfect epic Western that sees both director John Ford and star John Wayne at their respective creative peaks. While previous movies like Stagecoach and The Ox-Bow Incident laid the foundations for revisionist Westerns, The Searchers elevated the sub-genre by introducing an antihero with more than an undercurrent of racism. Based on a real story, the plot never shies away from the ugly truths about the frontier - all while deftly balancing violence, drama, and comedy. The rawness of the underlying social commentary only adds to the increasingly tense atmosphere of The Searchers.