The Top 30 Western Movies of All time

by samrat_an | created - 20 Dec 2014 | updated - 20 Dec 2014 | Public

A list of 30 Movies of The Western Genre that has etched a permanent place in my heart and soul. These are the very movies that built my love for that class of movies.

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1. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

PG-13 | 166 min | Western

82 Metascore

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: 348,982 | Gross: $5.32M

2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Approved | 178 min | Adventure, Western

90 Metascore

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: 810,846 | Gross: $6.10M

3. Django Unchained (2012)

R | 165 min | Drama, Western

81 Metascore

With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.

Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington

Votes: 1,694,083 | Gross: $162.81M

4. The Big Country (1958)

Passed | 166 min | Drama, Romance, Western

61 Metascore

A New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston

Votes: 21,110

5. Rio Bravo (1959)

Passed | 141 min | Drama, Western

93 Metascore

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson

Votes: 68,030 | Gross: $12.54M

6. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

R | 99 min | Action, Drama, Western

65 Metascore

A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.

Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volontè, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy

Votes: 232,560 | Gross: $14.50M

7. The Wild Bunch (1969)

R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

98 Metascore

An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.

Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien

Votes: 90,332 | Gross: $12.06M

8. 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: 8,805 | Gross: $2.50M

9. The Gunfighter (1950)

Approved | 85 min | Western

94 Metascore

Notorious gunfighter Jimmy Ringo rides into town to find his true love, who doesn't want to see him. He hasn't come looking for trouble, but trouble finds him around every corner.

Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker

Votes: 12,515

10. For a Few Dollars More (1965)

R | 132 min | Drama, Western

74 Metascore

Two bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a gang of outlaws led by a psychotic Mexican bandit, who is plotting an audacious bank robbery.

Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè, Mara Krupp

Votes: 274,540 | Gross: $15.00M

11. Unforgiven (1992)

R | 130 min | Drama, Western

85 Metascore

Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner Ned Logan and a young man, The "Schofield Kid."

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris

Votes: 435,999 | Gross: $101.16M

12. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

98 Metascore

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: 132,389 | Gross: $5.01M

13. Keoma (1976)

R | 105 min | Drama, Western

A half-breed ex-Union gunfighter attempts to protect his plague-ridden hometown from being overridden by his racist half-brothers and a Confederate tyrant.

Director: Enzo G. Castellari | Stars: Franco Nero, William Berger, Olga Karlatos, Orso Maria Guerrini

Votes: 6,185

14. Open Range (2003)

R | 139 min | Action, Drama, Romance

67 Metascore

A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.

Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna, Abraham Benrubi

Votes: 78,130 | Gross: $58.33M

15. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

PG | 135 min | Western

69 Metascore

Missouri farmer Josey Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George, Bill McKinney

Votes: 79,807 | Gross: $31.80M

16. Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Approved | 107 min | Drama, Western

A fiercely independent cowboy gets himself locked up in prison to escape with an old friend.

Director: David Miller | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, Michael Kane

Votes: 9,944

17. The Proposition (2005)

R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Western

73 Metascore

A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.

Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Emily Watson, Richard Wilson

Votes: 54,977 | Gross: $1.90M

18. Yellow Sky (1948)

Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Western

A pistol-packing tomboy and her grandfather discover a band of bank robbing bandits taking refuge in the neighboring ghost town.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Robert Arthur

Votes: 5,759

19. Red River (1948)

Passed | 133 min | Drama, Western

96 Metascore

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: 34,358

20. True Grit (2010)

PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western

80 Metascore

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: 357,411 | Gross: $171.24M

21. Duck, You Sucker! (1971)

PG | 138 min | Drama, War, Western

77 Metascore

A low-life bandit and an I.R.A. explosives expert rebel against the government and become heroes of the Mexican Revolution.

Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Romolo Valli, Maria Monti

Votes: 37,485 | Gross: $0.70M

22. Dances with Wolves (1990)

PG-13 | 181 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

72 Metascore

Lieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.

Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant

Votes: 290,478 | Gross: $184.21M

23. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

PG | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

66 Metascore

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: 226,661 | Gross: $102.31M

24. Tombstone (1993)

R | 130 min | Biography, Drama, History

50 Metascore

A successful lawman's plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating.

Directors: George P. Cosmatos, Kevin Jarre | Stars: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton

Votes: 166,171 | Gross: $56.51M

25. High Noon (1952)

PG | 85 min | Drama, Thriller, Western

89 Metascore

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: 110,135 | Gross: $9.45M

26. High Plains Drifter (1973)

R | 105 min | Drama, Mystery, Western

69 Metascore

A gun-fighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago and is hired to bring the townsfolk together in an attempt to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan

Votes: 64,490 | Gross: $15.70M

27. Django (1966)

Not Rated | 91 min | Action, Drama, Western

75 Metascore

A coffin-dragging gunslinger and a prostitute become embroiled in a bitter feud between a Klan of Southern racists and a band of Mexican Revolutionaries.

Director: Sergio Corbucci | Stars: Franco Nero, José Canalejas, José Bódalo, Loredana Nusciak

Votes: 30,979 | Gross: $0.03M

28. Viva Zapata! (1952)

Approved | 113 min | Biography, Drama, History

The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of President Porfirio Díaz in the early 20th century.

Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Wiseman

Votes: 12,453

29. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

74 Metascore

Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach

Votes: 102,493 | Gross: $4.91M

30. Compañeros (1970)

R | 115 min | Action, Comedy, Western

A Swedish arms dealer and a Mexican peon team up to rescue the intellectual leader of the Revolutionary cause, while taking part in numerous misadventures along the way.

Director: Sergio Corbucci | Stars: Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Fernando Rey, Iris Berben

Votes: 4,973 | Gross: $0.02M



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