My favourite Westerns (ranked)
by Teyss | created - 03 Dec 2019 | updated - 08 Dec 2022 | PublicExcludes contemporary settings (e.g. The Misfits, The Lusty Men, Lonely Are the Brave). Listed roughly by preference (1 = preferred).
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1. The Searchers (1956)
Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
An American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond
Votes: 96,384
2. My Darling Clementine (1946)
Passed | 97 min | Drama, Romance, Western
After their cattle are stolen and their brother murdered, the Earp brothers have a score to settle with the Clanton family.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs
Votes: 25,772
3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Approved | 123 min | Drama, Western
A senator returns to a Western town for the funeral of an old friend and tells the story of his origins.
Director: John Ford | Stars: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin
Votes: 82,359
4. High Noon (1952)
PG | 85 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
A town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 110,254 | Gross: $9.45M
5. 7 Men from Now (1956)
Approved | 78 min | Western
A former sheriff blames himself for his wife's death during a Wells Fargo robbery and vows to track down and kill the seven men responsible.
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Randolph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin, Walter Reed
Votes: 5,997
6. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Approved | 178 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè
Votes: 811,905 | Gross: $6.10M
7. The Left Handed Gun (1958)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Western
After his employer is murdered by rival cattlemen, a troubled and uneducated young cowboy vows revenge on the murderers.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Paul Newman, Lita Milan, John Dehner, Hurd Hatfield
Votes: 4,651
8. Man of the West (1958)
Not Rated | 100 min | Western
A reformed outlaw becomes stranded after an aborted train robbery with two other passengers and is forced to rejoin his old outlaw band.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O'Connell
Votes: 9,172
9. Hombre (1967)
Approved | 111 min | Drama, Western
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Native Americans, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone, Diane Cilento
Votes: 13,847
10. Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
GP | 116 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
When a former Civil War soldier saves a nun from a gang of bandits, they team up to help the Mexicans in their war against the French.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, Manolo Fábregas, Alberto Morin
Votes: 30,600 | Gross: $11.50M
11. Johnny Guitar (1954)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Western
After helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady
Votes: 19,760
12. The Shooting (1966)
G | 82 min | Drama, Western
A mysterious woman persuades two cowboys to help her in a revenge scheme.
Director: Monte Hellman | Stars: Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, Will Hutchins, Warren Oates
Votes: 6,435
13. Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
GP | 108 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for their warriors in single combat on the early frontier.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Robert Redford, Will Geer, Delle Bolton, Josh Albee
Votes: 35,019 | Gross: $47.74M
14. The Naked Spur (1953)
Passed | 91 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker
Votes: 12,670
15. Fort Apache (1948)
Passed | 128 min | Drama, Western
At Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Pedro Armendáriz
Votes: 19,704
16. Little Big Man (1970)
PG-13 | 139 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Native Americans and fighting with General Custer.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam
Votes: 37,917 | Gross: $31.56M
17. Ride the High Country (1962)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Western
An ex-union soldier is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr
Votes: 14,850
18. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
PG | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
In 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin
Votes: 226,819 | Gross: $102.31M
19. True Grit (2010)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin
Votes: 357,747 | Gross: $171.24M
20. 5 Card Stud (1968)
Approved | 103 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
The players in an ongoing poker game are being mysteriously killed off, one by one.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Inger Stevens, Roddy McDowall
Votes: 4,412
21. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
PG-13 | 166 min | Western
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
Votes: 349,299 | Gross: $5.32M
22. Rancho Notorious (1952)
Approved | 89 min | Western
After the murder of his fiancée, a Wyoming ranch hand sets out to find her killer.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Gloria Henry
Votes: 5,533
23. Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
G | 82 min | Drama, Western
Three cowboys, mistaken for members of an outlaw gang, are relentlessly pursued by a posse.
Director: Monte Hellman | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Cameron Mitchell, Millie Perkins, Katherine Squire
Votes: 4,404
24. Ride Lonesome (1959)
Approved | 73 min | Western
A bounty hunter (Randolph Scott) escorts a killer (James Best) to be tried for murder, but allows the man's outlaw brother (Lee Van Cleef) to catch up with them to have a showdown over a previous shocking murder.
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, James Best
Votes: 6,607
25. Rawhide (1951)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A stagecoach stop employee and a stranded woman traveller find themselves at the mercy of four desperate outlaws intent on robbing the next day's gold shipment.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Hugh Marlowe, Dean Jagger
Votes: 3,142
26. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Passed | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Western
Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet
Votes: 17,454 | Gross: $11.75M
27. Duel in the Sun (1946)
Passed | 129 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Beautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
Directors: King Vidor, Otto Brower, William Dieterle, Sidney Franklin, William Cameron Menzies, David O. Selznick, Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 9,490 | Gross: $20.41M
28. The Man from Laramie (1955)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Western
Newcomer Will Lockhart defies the local cattle baron and his sadistic son by working for one of his oldest rivals.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp, Cathy O'Donnell
Votes: 12,016
29. Colorado Territory (1949)
Approved | 94 min | Western
Outlaw Wes McQueen escapes jail to pull a railroad robbery but, upon meeting pretty settler Julie Ann, he wonders about going straight.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, Henry Hull
Votes: 3,179
30. The Last Hunt (1956)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Western
In 1883 South Dakota, two buffalo hunters start a personal feud over a captured squaw and a stand-off with a Dakota raiding party over some stolen horses.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Lloyd Nolan, Debra Paget
Votes: 1,810
31. Comanche Station (1960)
Approved | 73 min | Drama, Western
A man saves a woman who had been kidnapped by Comanches, then struggles to get both of them home alive.
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Randolph Scott, Nancy Gates, Claude Akins, Skip Homeier
Votes: 4,427
32. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
PG | 126 min | Drama, Western
Tom Logan is a horse thief. Rancher David Braxton has horses, and a daughter, worth stealing. But Braxton has just hired Lee Clayton, an infamous "regulator", to hunt down the horse thieves; one at a time.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Kathleen Lloyd
Votes: 12,217 | Gross: $14.00M
33. The Shootist (1976)
PG | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart
Votes: 26,848
34. Pursued (1947)
Passed | 101 min | Western
A boy haunted by nightmares about the night his entire family was murdered is brought up by a neighboring family in the 1880s. He falls for his lovely adoptive sister but his nasty adoptive brother and mysterious uncle want him dead.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Teresa Wright, Robert Mitchum, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger
Votes: 3,838
35. True Grit (1969)
G | 128 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian Territory.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Jeremy Slate
Votes: 51,461 | Gross: $31.13M
36. Red River (1948)
Passed | 133 min | Drama, Western
Dunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.
Directors: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson | Stars: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan
Votes: 34,423
37. The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Western
When a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn
Votes: 24,966 | Gross: $1.64M
38. There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
R | 126 min | Comedy, Western
A charming but totally ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison. He enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates
Votes: 5,237 | Gross: $0.64M
39. Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
Passed | 95 min | Western
A marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for his role in the rape and murder of the marshal's Native American wife.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman
Votes: 8,810 | Gross: $2.50M
40. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,500 | Gross: $5.01M
41. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In Vinegaroon, Texas, former outlaw Roy Bean appoints himself the judge for the region and dispenses his brand of justice as he sees fit.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Paul Newman, Ava Gardner, Roy Jenson, Gary Combs
Votes: 9,342 | Gross: $16.53M
42. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
R | 120 min | Drama, Western
A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, William Devane
Votes: 27,672 | Gross: $8.20M
43. Man in the Wilderness (1971)
GP | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Left for dead after a bear attack, a fur-trapper recuperates and pursues his former companions through dangerous Indian territory.
Director: Richard C. Sarafian | Stars: Richard Harris, John Huston, Henry Wilcoxon, Percy Herbert
Votes: 3,479
44. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
Broke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr, Leora Dana
Votes: 21,679
45. Day of the Outlaw (1959)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Western
Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal
Votes: 4,426
46. The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Approved | 92 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Biopic loosely based on the last 18 years of Jesse James' life and focused on the relationship between brothers Jesse and Frank James.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Hope Lange, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 1,698
47. I Shot Jesse James (1949)
Passed | 81 min | Western
Bob Ford murders his best friend Jesse James in order to obtain a pardon that will free him to marry his girlfriend but is plagued by guilt and self-disgust.
Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Preston Foster, Barbara Britton, John Ireland, Reed Hadley
Votes: 2,505
48. One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Not Rated | 141 min | Drama, Western
After robbing a bank in Mexico, Dad Longworth absconds with the loot leaving his partner Rio to be captured by the Rurales. Rio escapes prison but struggles with his conflicting desires to love Dad's stepdaughter Louise and to get revenge.
Director: Marlon Brando | Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Pina Pellicer, Katy Jurado
Votes: 13,290 | Gross: $9.37M
49. The Great Silence (1968)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Western
A mute gunfighter defends a young widow and a group of outlaws against a gang of bounty killers in the winter of 1898, and a grim, tense struggle unfolds.
Director: Sergio Corbucci | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Vonetta McGee
Votes: 18,120 | Gross: $0.05M
50. The Professionals (1966)
PG-13 | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode
Votes: 18,851 | Gross: $19.54M
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