25 best western movies ever – and where to watch them
We saddle up and look back on some of the best western movies to ever light up the silver screen
Is there any better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon than moseying into your living room, donning your Stetson, grabbing your pistol (not a euphenism) and saddling up on your sofa to watch a classic western movie on your streaming service of choice?
Thought not, partner – these epic tales of cowpokes, outlaws and tough frontier justice represent some of the finest that Hollywood (and beyond) has to offer, running from 1960s classics to the revisionist takes on the genre made in more modern times.
Here are 25 of the best Western movies ever made to keep you busy – and where available, we’ve included links to where you can watch them as well.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
The third and best-known film in Sergio Leone’s imperious “Dollars” trilogy, this superb spaghetti western is arguably the most famous on-screen depiction of the violent, opportunistic American West – despite being filmed in Spain and Italy rather than the States.
Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach play the titular characters, a trio of gold-hungry men hunting treasure against the backdrop of the American Civil War (it’s actually a prequel to A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, despite being made afterwards). It’s one of the most stylish westerns you’ll ever see, and Ennio Morricone’s score is quite simply unforgettable.
Watch The Good, The Bad and the Ugly on MGM (Prime Video channel)
Django (1966)
It’s best-known now for lending its name to Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, but Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti western is iconic in its own right, spawning over 30 unofficial sequels.
Franco Nero stars as the titular drifter, dragging a coffin across a muddy landscape – and into a gruesome adventure with Gothic overtones. Corbucci refused to let the set designers clean the set after a series of downpours, giving the film its distinctively grimy look, while the film’s violence – which includes the hero having his hands brutally smashed – meant it was banned in Britain at the time of its release.
Watch Django on Shudder (Prime Video channel)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
One of John Ford’s many classic westerns, albeit with a far more claustrophobic feel than his sweeping outdoor epics, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance features an all-star cast led by James Stewart and John Wayne.
The former plays a US senator whose success came from committing the titular act – Liberty Valance being a notorious outlaw – while Wayne plays a simple man who turns out to be the real hero of the piece. A musing on how the West made men into legends, and how the reality was often very different to the myth.
Rent The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance on Prime Video
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (a solid fixture in our best western movies list, unsurprisingly), this is one of the earliest “revisionist” westerns: films that attempted to portray the Old West in a far more realistic, less clear-cut way than the more simplistic good guy/bad guy movies churned out in the past.
Eastwood plays Civil War farmer Josey Wales, who wages a bloody war against Union soldiers and bounty hunters after his wife and son are murdered in cold blood.
Rent The Outlaw Josey Wales on Prime Video
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
A western adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, the film tells the story of seven gunmen – Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson among them – who defend a Mexican pueblo from Eli Wallach’s (yes, him again) army of bandits.
Despite essentially remaking a masterpiece, John Sturges manages to give The Magnificent Seven its own character: faster-paced, less downbeat and arguably more outwardly “heroic” than the Japanese original. And of course, there’s since been yet another remake courtesy of modern-day Hollywood: Antoine Fuqua’s 2016 version starring Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke and Chris Pratt. Needless to say, it’s not a patch on Sturges’ effort.
Watch The Magnificent Seven on MGM (Prime Video channel)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and other grizzled character actors blasting the hell out of everything in an unrelentingly violent film that many critics and filmmakers consider to be one of the best western movies ever made. Where do we sign up?
A movie as much about the end of the American West in the face of advancing civilisation and technology as it is about shooting things up, Sam Peckinpah’s tale of ageing outlaws seeking one last big payday doesn’t pull any punches. A brutal, blood-soaked antidote to what Peckinpah regarded as the anaemic, uncomplicated heroic westerns of the time.
Rent The Wild Bunch on Prime Video
Stagecoach (1939)
John Wayne became a Hollywood star following his role in Stagecoach, which was also John Ford’s first ever non-silent western and his first shot in Monument Valley – the stunning rusty-coloured, mesa-filled landscape that quickly became a western staple. The movie, which depicts the fraught journey of a motley band of strangers through Apache territory, was considered by Orson Welles to be a “perfect” film; he reportedly watched it over 40 times while making Citizen Kane.
Rent Stagecoach on Prime Video
Rio Bravo (1959)
John Wayne makes yet another appearance in our best western movies list, this time as a small town sheriff who assembles a ragtag band of allies (Dean Martin among them) to stop an outlaw from busting his murderer brother out of jail. This is an archetypal western that ticks all the boxes and has clear-cut “goodies” and “baddies” – but it’s certainly among the best of its period.
Unforgiven (1992)
Clint Eastwood bought up the rights to the tale of ageing gunfighter William Munny in the 1970s, then dutifully sat on it for a couple of decades until he was old enough to play the lead role himself.
It was certainly worth the wait. Eastwood’s masterful and dark deconstruction of the western myth (he also directed the film) and his own Man With No Name persona, is like a fine vintage to be savoured. Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman deliver excellent support in arguably the best western movies of the 1990s – and one of the best movies from that period full-stop.
Rent Unforgiven on Prime Video
The Searchers (1956)
John Wayne westerns are often thought of as looking back at the Old West through rose-tinted specs but The Searchers – possibly his finest collaboration with director John Ford – gives the lie to that idea. The film follows embittered Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards as he hunts for his niece, abducted by Comanches years before; so virulent is his racism that there’s no guarantee he won’t kill her if he discovers that she’s gone native.
Keep an eye out for the film’s iconic shots, including the closing scene in which Edwards stands alone in a doorway, cut off from his family – they’ve been referenced in everything from Lawrence of Arabia to Star Wars to Saving Private Ryan.
Rent The Searchers on Prime Video
My Darling Clementine (1946)
John Ford’s classic western plays fast and loose with the details of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, but its tale of lawmen and outlaws is the perfect expression of the clash between civilisation and the anarchic Wild West. Henry Fonda’s on top form as Wyatt Earp, introducing the values of law and order to the frontier, while Ford uses the landscape of Monument Valley to paint a romantic picture of the Old West.
Rent My Darling Clementine on Apple TV
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Brat Pitt gets top billing as Jesse James, the infamous real-life frontier outlaw that spawned a thousand myths, but it’s Casey Affleck who steals the film as his associate Robert Ford.
A shifty, twitchy fellow who hero-worships Pitt’s bandit leader, he’s a modern celebrity stalker transposed to the world of the Old West. As his obsession curdles into hatred of his idol, so director Andrew Dominik deconstructs the myth of the noble highwayman hero. One of the best western movies of the 21st century.
Rent The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford on Prime Video
Tombstone (1993)
“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance put it – and Tombstone is an appropriately operatic retelling of one of America’s founding myths: the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Kurt Russell is his usual grizzled self as Wyatt Earp, but it’s Val Kilmer who steals the show, bringing a boozy, woozy charm to the consumptive Doc Holliday. “I’m your huckleberry…”
Winchester ’73 (1950)
The first collaboration between director Anthony Mann and James Stewart, this noir-ish revenge film follows Stewart’s pursuit of the man who killed his father – and stole the titular rifle. In a neat storytelling gimmick, we follow the rifle as it passes from one hand to another – a handy way for Mann to give us a whistle-stop tour of the Wild West, from Indians to dancehall girls.
Rent Winchester ’73 on Prime Video
True Grit (2010)
Purists will always argue that the 1969 version of True Grit was superior, but they’re only saying that because it had John Wayne in it. The Coen brothers pay willing tribute to the dusty genre, with Jeff Bridges in fine form as the perma-sozzled US Marshal Rooster Cogburn, cajoled into tracking down an on-the-run murderer – but it’s young Hailee Steinfeld’s steely Mattie Ross that gives the 21st century cut its compelling human heart.
Watch True Grit on Paramount+ (Prime Video channel)
Rango (2011)
Not your typical western gunslinger, Rango is the story of the eponymous chameleon’s journey from family pet to accidental hero. Its cast of crazy creatures (voiced by Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Ray Winstone and Bill Nighy, among others) makes for an animated treat that’s a cut above your bog standard sub-Pixar effort. And the visuals, created with the help of legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, conjure up a uniquely skewed take on the look of the Old West.
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
For the musically-minded, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is notable for its cast, which includes Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan among its leading lights. A feuding director (Sam Peckinpah) and production company (MGM) led to a poor release cut, but catch the 1988 re-release of Peckinpah’s original vision and you’ll see why PG&BTK is rightly regarded as a classic of the western genre.
Rent Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid on Prime Video
McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971)
Intellectual auteur Robert Altman was never going to make a straight-up, old-fashioned western, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller gleefully subverts many of the genre conventions. Warren Beatty’s McCabe is not a virtuous, salt-of-the-earth hero but a scheming gambler, while Julie Christie’s Mrs. Miller is an opium-addicted sex worker – and one without a heart of gold at that.
But rules were made to be broken, and America’s foremost film critic Roger Ebert considered McCabe & Mrs. Miller to be the illustrious Altman’s greatest movie. We’d be remiss if it didn’t get a spot in our best western movies line-up.
Rent McCabe & Mrs. Miller on Prime Video
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Mel Brooks lends his comedic touch to the western genre in this satirical comedy starring Cleavon Little as the first African-American sheriff in the West and Gene Wilder as booze-ridden gunslinger Jim. Breaking the fourth wall in the most blatant way imaginable, the fight scene which spills out into the Warner Brothers lot and across other film sets, eventually culminating just outside the premiere of the film itself, is the highlight of Brooks’ provocative comic masterpiece.
Watch Blazing Saddles on BBC iPlayer
Rent Blazing Saddles on Prime Video
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Netting four Academy Awards, this classic western paired up Paul Newman and Robert Redford as the loveable outlaw duo trying to outrun the law before their past catches up with them. An epic musical score and top-shelf performances from the two screen legends earn it a well-deserved place in the United States National Film Registry.
Watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on Disney+
Pale Rider (1985)
Yet another appearance for Clint Eastwood in our list, who produces and directs as well as starring as a taciturn preacher who, for a man of the cloth, seems strangely well-versed in the use of firearms. The plot is pretty standard western fare, with Clint protecting a group of downtrodden townspeople from a gang of thugs (in fact it’s almost a remake of Shane). However, the religious overtones and air of mystery surrounding the lead character make Pale Rider our pick of the genre as far as the 1980s are concerned.
Rent Pale Rider on Prime Video
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
The final installment in the Back to the Future trilogy sees Marty McFly travel back to the Wild West to save Doc Brown from a terrible fate at the hands of Biff’s ancestor Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen. Ditching the flying cars and darker undercurrents of the first sequel, Part III is a freewheeling romp through dozens of western movie clichés, from swinging saloon doors to quick-draw showdowns. Great Scott!
Watch Back to the Future Part III on Now Cinema
High Noon (1952)
High Noon tells its story in real time, as Gary Cooper’s soon-to-retire marshal Will Kane discovers that a notorious criminal he once brought to justice is due to arrive in town at, well, high noon. Knowing that a dust-up is surely coming, Kane attempts to unite the townspeople behind him in preparation for a fight. High Noon is reportedly Bill Clinton’s favourite film; during his presidency he screened it no fewer than 17 times at the White House.
Shane (1953)
Along with High Noon, Shane is probably the most famous western movie of the 1950s. Slavishly following the genre’s conventions to the letter (it may, in fact, have established several of these conventions itself) it follows a gunslinging drifter whose attempts to settle into a peaceful life are disrupted by a dispute between cattle ranchers and settlers. The cinematography, full of epically sweeping blue-skied vistas, won the movie an Oscar.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Sergio Leone put away the crowd-pleasing antics of his Dollars trilogy to create two and half hours of cinematic history with this scorched-earth homage to the gritty realities of homesteading on the wild frontier. Expertly paying homage to practically every film in the western genre, Leone helps Henry Fonda finds his dark side and gives Charles Bronson his own theme tune (supplied, of course, by long-term Leone sidekick Ennio Morricone). Wonderful stuff.
Rent Once Upon a Time in the West on Prime Video
Stephen Graves
Online Deputy Editor 
