10 Greatest Westerns That Defined The Genre
The Western genre of movies is a staple in Hollywood, and there are a few films that helped to elevate and define the classic genre.
The Western genre of cinema has, since its origin during the earliest days of American cinema, played a vital role in exploring the history and mythology of the United States. Centered around the rough and rugged American frontier of the nineteenth century, these films have had a profound influence on American culture, establishing some of cinema’s best tropes and archetypes. Often centered around gunslingers and lawmen, the genre has produced many great movies.
Westerns, like any genre, owe their success to some influential and transformational films, some so captivating that their success lifted the genre for a new generation. Ranging from tales of frontier justice in a lawless land to the rebellion of outlaws against corruption, these films continue to be some of the strongest in cinema. Some Westerns continue to have their impact felt today, and their significance cannot be denied.
10. The Shootist Was A Fitting Final Movie For John Wayne
The Shootist
A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 83% | Paramount+ |
The Shootist was an interesting movie because it combined a few Western tropes into one, and was one of the first films to be as much a commentary on its genre as an original story. The movie tells the story of retired gunslinger JB Books, who learns that he has cancer and seeks a way to live out his last days in peace. However, when news spreads of his presence, he faces a series of challengers looking to make a name for themselves as the man who killed Books.
In many ways, The Shootist laid the foundation for movies like Unforgiven as it explored a more grounded and somber western, one that focused on characters over gunfights. The movie was also the last to star John Wayne before he died in 1979, marking a genuine end of an era for its genre. The story was as much about the end of Brooks as it was about the end of Wayne and the classic Western film.
9. The Searchers Helped Create The Western Epic
The Searchers
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.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 94% | Rent/buy online |
The Searchers tells the story of Ethan Edwards, a veteran of the American Civil War who, following the murder of his brother’s family at the hands of the Commanche, sets off to rescue his nieces. After cobbling together a posse of deputized lawmen, including his nephew, Edwards rides out into the desert to find them.
The Searchers is a story told over several years as Edwards refuses to give up on his nieces, culminating in a famous raid scene that leaves him victorious. The movie helped establish the “Western epic,” a type of Western that traded small-town settings for protracted odysseys that took heroes on long journeys that made good use of the story’s picturesque backdrop. The movie was even the origin of Wayne’s iconic line, “That’ll be the day.”
8. Unforgiven Is Genre Deconstruction At Its Best
Unforgiven (1992)
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.”
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 96% | Rent/buy online |
Unforgiven has something of a love/hate reputation with some Western fans as it set out to deconstruct everything that had defined its genre throughout its heyday. The movie stars Clint Eastwood, himself synonymous with Old West movies, as an aging gunfighter, William Munny, who takes up a job to avenge a group of abused prostitutes in the small town of Big Whiskey.
Unforgiven takes the classic, idyllic Western and flips it on its head, casting its characters as far more broken, imperfect, and vulnerable figures than the standard gunslinger. The movie offers a bleak but realistic look at the nature of violence in its dangerous setting and is successful in demystifying the Old West.
7. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Defined The Spaghetti Western
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
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.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 97% | Max |
Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy tells the story of the “Man With No Name,” a nameless gunslinger who, in his pursuit of money, plays the role of hero in corrupt and violent towns. In the trilogy’s final chapter, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, the man allies with petty crook Tuco, one that soon turns sour. However, when the two men are each given one-half of the location of some buried gold, they must work together to trek across the desert to their new fortune.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is widely considered to be the defining ‘Spaghetti Western’ movie as it combines epic storytelling with swashbuckling adventure. The entire trilogy changed the face of the genre for decades to come, and established Eastwood, Leone, and Ennio Morricone as powerful figures in American cinema, each in their own right.
6. Shane Followed A Gunslinger Unable To Escape His Past
Shane
A weary gunfighter in 1880s Wyoming begins to envision a quieter life after befriending a homestead family with a young son who idolizes him, but a smoldering range war forces him to act.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 97% | Hoopla |
The lone gunslinger seeking a better life has been a common trope throughout Westerns, and the genre has Shane in large part to thank. The film follows its titular hero as he seeks out a life of honest work, but gets pulled into aiding a family against the corrupt and violent henchmen of a powerful man intent on running the family off their land.
The impact Shane had on the Western genre is hard to overstate and has even been carried into modern cinema through the neo-western, with films like Logan directly acknowledging this influence. With a perfectly ambiguous ending, Shane is a story of a man drawn to do what’s right, no matter the cost.
5. Tombstone Reinvented Westerns For Modern Cinema
Tombstone
A successful lawman’s plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 73% | Hulu |
Tombstone was made during a slump period for the Western genre. Although movies like Young Guns had renewed interest in these movies, they had mostly capitalized on the star power of their cast. In Tombstone, the genre experienced a rebound as the tale of Wyatt Earp’s vendetta against the Cochise County Cowboys was adapted into the gunslinger’s best film portrayal.
Tombstone traded in the typically long, drawn-out nature of Western movies and added a heavier dose of action than was typical. With a powerful cast that included Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn, and Sam Elliott, the movie paved the way for the return of the genre, and the ’90s saw the creation of projects like a Kevin Costner Wyatt Earp movie. In the eyes of critics, the modern Western era began with the 1993 classic.
4. Both Versions Of True Grit Gave The Western Its Best Tale Of Justice
True Grit
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father’s murderer.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 95% | Paramount+ |
The original 1969 John Wayne True Grit was a mostly faithful adaptation of the classic story by Charles Portis, but it was the Coen Brothers’ adaptation that perfected the story. Both films, which follow a young girl hiring a Marshal to exact vengeance upon her father’s murderer, adapted the seminal novel into a quintessential tale of justice.
When the original True Grit was released, it won over audiences and critics alike, earning John Wayne his only Oscar. The film perfected the idea that Westerns worked best when they focused on the characters’ journeys, both literally and figuratively.
3. The Outlaw Josey Wales Is A Western Epic
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Missouri farmer Josey Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 91% | Rent/buy online |
Based on the Asa Earl Carter novel The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales, 1976’s The Outlaw Josey Wales follows its hero as he’s driven into the arms of the Confederate army by the murder of his family at the hands of Union militia. However, when his unit is sold out, Josey is left on the run, leading him to find companionship with a growing group of diverse travelers.
The Outlaw Josey Wales is interesting in that it explores a rare sympathetic look at a dedicated Confederate soldier, giving Wales an understandable motivation, even if it lands him on the wrong side of the Civil War. The original novel is often thought of as something of a personal atonement by its author, Asa Earl Carter, who was once a speechwriter for prominent segregationists. The movie added a touch of social conscience and depth to its tumultuous era in a way few stories had before or since.
2. The Magnificent Seven Is Synonymous With Its Genre
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 89% | MGM+ |
While Western movies long predated the 1960s, The Magnificent Seven undeniably set a new standard for what audiences could expect from the genre. Based on Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai, the movie centers around a small Mexican village that, after being terrorized by bandits, hires a group of gunslingers to protect them. With an all-star cast that includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson, the film follows the hired guns as they become friends and earn one another’s respect.
The Magnificent Seven remains a master class when it comes to Hollywood adapting stories from Japanese cinema, something that has a rich history in the Western genre. Whether it was the assortment of major stars under one banner or the brilliant final battle, the film set a new standard for ensemble Westerns.
1. High Noon Used The Western For Political Commentary
High Noon
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.
| Rotten Tomatoes Score | Streaming |
| 94% | Prime Video |
1952’s High Noon tells the story of a lone town Marshal, Will Kane, in his efforts to rally the townspeople to aid him in his effort to keep a murderer, Frank Miller, and his gang at bay. Troubled by the prospect of his decent town falling back into the moral decay and violence it had seen with Miller around, Kane is left dismayed when every person he approaches refuses to help, all offering their excuses.
High Noon is widely considered to be the first revisionist Western, a movie that added some depth and nuance to the genre, abandoning the older, idyllic, and romantic view people had of the genre and its era. It’s also seen as a political rallying cry, one that deals with apathy and selfishness from the townspeople, who leave Kane alone to face off with Miller.
