50 best Western films of all time, according to critics

- Director: Lisandro Alonso
- Metascore: 77
- Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes

Viggo Mortensen stars in "Jauja" as Captain Gunnar Dinesen. After Dinesen's daughter runs away with a soldier, he must travel into unknown worlds to find her. The film claimed the FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

- Director: Tom Dey
- Metascore: 77
- Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes

Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) attempts to save a princess who has been kidnapped and brought to the United States. Along the way, he teams up with the train robber Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson). This is the first movie in the "Shanghai" series, the second being "Shanghai Knights."

- Director: Jennifer Kent
- Metascore: 77
- Runtime: 2 hours 16 minutes

Set in Tasmania in 1825, "The Nightingale" follows a young Irish woman as she sets out to pursue revenge with the help of an Aboriginal tracker with his own agenda. Viewers should take note—the film is so graphic and brutal that audiences walked out of multiple theatrical screenings.

- Director: Don Siegel
- Metascore: 77
- Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes

John Bernard Books led a long life as a talented shootist, but now he is suffering from cancer and searching for the best way to die. Books was John Wayne's final film role; he himself died of stomach cancer a few years after the film was released.

- Director: John Huston
- Metascore: 77
- Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes

Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable star in the story of a divorced woman and an aging cowboy. At the time, Monroe was married to Arthur Miller, who wrote the film's screenplay. Their union unraveled during filming in part because Monroe discovered Miller's notebook, in which the writer described how he truly felt about her. Gable died of a heart attack just days after filming ended, and Monroe died about a year and a half later.

- Director: Fred Schepisi
- Metascore: 78
- Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

Country music legend Willie Nelson stars in this '80s Western about the unusual partnership between a young, inexperienced farmhand and a famous outlaw. An often overlooked film, "Barbarosa" has been critically praised for its acting, relative levity, and storytelling.

- Director: Jacques Audiard
- Metascore: 78
- Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes

Set in Oregon during the California gold rush, a pair of assassins known as the Sisters brothers chase down a man who claims to have developed a formula for finding gold. John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix star as the titular duo.

- Director: John Sayles
- Metascore: 78
- Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes

After the skeleton of a despised sheriff is discovered, the current sheriff, Sam Deeds, begins an investigation into the murder. "Lone Star" was highly rated by critics and nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for writing.

- Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
- Metascore: 79
- Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes

The Coen brothers wrote and directed this Western anthology, which follows six stories set in the American frontier. Each chapter has a different cast, featuring actors like James Franco, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits, and Zoe Kazan.

- Director: John Farrow
- Metascore: 79
- Runtime: 1 hour 23 minutes

Based on a short story by Louis L'Amour, "Hondo" stars John Wayne as an army dispatch rider who becomes the de facto protector for a widow and her young son after they find themselves in the middle of a Native American battle. The movie is unique among Westerns of the era as it is one of the few to be shot in 3D, a popular technology in the '50s.

- Director: Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes

"Sweetgrass" is a documentary about shepherds working in the mountains of Montana. Anthropologist Lucien Castaing-Taylor directed the film with his wife Ilisa Barbash. The film won the audience award at the 2010 International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra Punto de Vista.

- Director: John Carroll Lynch
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes

"Lucky" marks one of the final roles of Harry Dean Stanton, a prolific character actor who had roles in everything from "Cool Hand Luke" to "The Avengers." In this slow-moving drama, he plays an aging cowboy who's coming to terms with his own morality and wrestling with spiritual issues.

- Director: Felipe Gálvez Haberle
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes

In this Chilean production, three men are paid to protect an estate purchased by a wealthy businessman only to discover that their real job is to decimate a native population. The film won the FIPRESCI prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

- Director: Sam Peckinpah
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes

A pair of bounty hunters set off in Mexico on the trail of a man wanted by a wealthy father for impregnating his daughter. It stars Warren Oates, Emilio Fernández, Gig Young, and Robert Webber, with an appearance from Kris Kristofferson as a biker. While now critically revered, the movie was trounced by critics when it was originally released.

- Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes

"True Grit" is a Coen brothers adaptation of a novel by Charles Portis, which had already been made into a movie in 1969. Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross, a girl seeking to avenge her father's death. She hires U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to assist her.

- Director: Delmer Daves
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes

In this mid-century classic, a down-on-his-luck cattle rancher agrees to escort a captured outlaw to the train that will bring him to jail. The escapade, of course, turns into a classic game of cat and mouse as the outlaw's gang does their best to free him.

- Director: George Marshall
- Metascore: 81
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

James Stewart is Thomas Jefferson Destry Jr., a deputy sheriff who wants to keep the peace in the lawless town of Bottleneck without using guns. Marlene Dietrich plays Frenchy, a not-to-be-trusted saloon singer. The film is based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Max Brand.

- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Metascore: 81
- Runtime: 2 hours 45 minutes

A freed enslaved man (Jamie Foxx) journeys to save his wife (Kerry Washington) from a Mississippi plantation, accompanied by a German bounty hunter. Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed the film, which is his highest-grossing movie in the U.S.

- Director: Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho
- Metascore: 82
- Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes

A remote town in Brazil disappears off satellite maps, loses its cellular service, and empty coffins appear at the side of the road. The town's oddball cast of characters then must defend themselves against corrupt and greedy politicians and businesses. Former President Barack Obama listed it as one of his favorite movies of 2020.

- Director: John Ford
- Metascore: 82
- Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes

Three fugitive bank robbers—played by John Wayne, Harry Carey Jr., and Pedro Armendáriz—risk capture to take care of a newborn baby. John Ford had directed an earlier silent version of the film, titled "Marked Men," with Harry Carey Sr.

- Director: Fred Zinnemann
- Metascore: 82
- Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes

A classic example of a meat pie Western, "The Sundowners" follows the rising tensions in one family as half its members desire a more settled lifestyle. In contrast, the other half prefers their current, nomadic sheep-herding existence. Although it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, the movie didn't ultimately bring any trophies home.

- Director: Sergio Leone
- Metascore: 82
- Runtime: 2 hours 46 minutes

A harmonica-wielding stranger teams up with a desperado to save a widow in this spaghetti Western. While initially receiving mixed reviews, "Once Upon a Time in the West" has since received many accolades, including being named as one of Time magazine's 100 greatest films of all time.

- Director: Henry Hathaway
- Metascore: 83
- Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes

John Wayne takes top billing in the story of gruff, one-eyed U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, who sets off to help avenge a killing, accompanied by a teenage girl (Kim Darby) and a Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell). Elvis Presley is said to have been considered for the Texas Ranger role, but when his manager Col. Tom Parker wanted Presley to get top billing, the part went to Campbell.

- Director: Radu Jude
- Metascore: 84
- Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes

Set in 19th-century Romania, an enslaved man has run away from his enslaver's home after having an affair with his wife. A local policeman is hired to find him. The film won director Radu Jude the Silver Bear Award for best director at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

- Director: George Stevens
- Metascore: 84
- Runtime: 3 hours 21 minutes

This Western epic stars Rock Hudson as a Texas cattle rancher, Elizabeth Taylor as his wife, and James Dean as cowhand Jett Rink. It was Dean's last movie role. The young actor had major roles in only three films before he was killed in an auto collision accident in 1955, before "Giant" was released. George Stevens won an Oscar for Best Director.

- Director: Kelly Reichardt
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes

This Western survival film follows a group of settlers traveling across an Oregon desert. It becomes apparent that their guide is lost. The ensemble cast includes Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson, and Neal Huff.

- Director: Clint Eastwood
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes

Clint Eastwood directed, produced, and stars in this highly lauded Western. Eastwood plays William Munny, a retired bandit who takes on one final job in hopes of putting the money toward his failing farm. It won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Film Editing.

- Director: George Stevens
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes

The saga of a Western land conflict between cattlemen and settlers was supposed to be shot in 48 days with a budget of less than $2 million. Instead, it took 75 days to shoot and cost more than $3 million, in part due to a long editing process. The lines "Shane! Shane! Come back!" became iconic.

- Director: Howard Hawks
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes

John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and James Caan star in the story of a gunfighter and a sheriff caught up in a battle between rival ranchers over water rights. Howard Hawks also directed such acclaimed films as "Scarface," "His Girl Friday," "To Have and Have Not," "The Big Sleep," and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." A scene of Caan impersonating a Chinese man is often edited out of television rebroadcasts of "El Dorado" as racist.

- Director: Chloé Zhao
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes

Chloé Zhao directed this Western drama, which centers on Brady Blackburn, a young man struggling to find his purpose after a brain injury halts his rodeo career. "The Rider" won the Art Cinema Award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

- Director: Robert Greene
- Metascore: 87
- Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes

Robert Greene's documentary centers on a town bordering Arizona and Mexico. The community grapples with its past by holding a reenactment of a day that occurred 100 years earlier when 1,200 immigrant miners were deported.

- Director: John Ford
- Metascore: 87
- Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes

Directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" was one of the most expensive Westerns made up to that point with a budget of $1.6 million. The second installment in the so-called "Cavalry trilogy," the movie follows an army captain on the brink of retirement whose last mission is to bring a group of women to safety before their settlement is attacked by Native Americans.

- Director: David Mackenzie
- Metascore: 88
- Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes

Described by The Guardian as being "so good it's criminal," "Hell or High Water" tells the story of two brothers who rob a series of banks to save their family farm and the pair of Texas Rangers who are attempting to stop them. Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, and Gil Birmingham star in the Oscar-nominated production.

- Director: Warwick Thornton
- Metascore: 88
- Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes

Set in the Australian outback, "Sweet Country" explores what happens when an Aboriginal farmer kills a white man in self-defense and is forced to flee for his life. Warwick Thornton directs this Western featuring Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, and Hamilton Morris.

- Director: Fred Zinnemann
- Metascore: 89
- Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes

Will Kane (Gary Cooper) faces a dilemma when outlaws threaten to kill him. His wife (Grace Kelly) wants him to leave town rather than defend himself. A number of U.S. presidents have listed "High Noon" as one of their favorite films.

- Director: Jane Campion
- Metascore: 89
- Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes

With a whopping 12 Academy Award nominations, "The Power of the Dog" was undeniably one of the best movies of 2021. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons, the movie follows a troubled family—two brothers, one of their wives, and her child—as they attempt to live harmoniously and wrestle with the secret truths they harbor within themselves. If that synopsis sounds vague, it's because the movie itself intends to be subtle, slow, and confusing.

- Director: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross
- Metascore: 89
- Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes

This documentary by the Ross brothers focuses on the small border towns of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico. It explores the lives of the residents in these communities with intimate storytelling capturing their daily experiences in the context of increasing drug-related violence and tensions along the border. The film is the third installment of the filmmakers' Americana trilogy.

- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Metascore: 89
- Runtime: 3 hours 26 minutes

Based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann, "Killers of the Flower Moon" tells the true story of the Osage Nation murders after oil was discovered on their reservation. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, the Martin Scorsese-directed film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, and Jesse Plemons.

- Director: Sergio Leone
- Metascore: 90
- Runtime: 2 hours 58 minutes

This epic spaghetti Western stars Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach as rough characters seeking Confederate gold. Italian director Sergio Leone did not speak English, and he had to use an interpreter to communicate with his English-speaking actors. The film is part of a trilogy that includes "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More."

- Director: Kelly Reichardt
- Metascore: 90
- Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes

Set in the mid-19th century, long before the Oregon territory where it takes place was fully settled, "First Cow" is a buddy film that follows a quiet chef and a Chinese outlaw who hitch their fortunes together with grim outcomes. Nominated for dozens of awards, the film isn't as high-action as the other entries on this list. Still, it's a valuable watch with much to say about the perils of capitalism and the joys of companionship.

- Director: Sam Peckinpah
- Metascore: 92
- Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes

Two lawmen agree to accompany a cache of gold across the mountains only to face a crisis of conscience when the temptation to steal it arises. According to Turner Classic Movies, the movie was the genesis of director Sam Peckinpah's favorite theme to explore in film, namely the decline of the West.

- Director: John Ford
- Metascore: 93
- Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes

This story of passengers on a besieged stagecoach is John Wayne's first starring role in a John Ford film. Wayne had worked as an extra, a stuntman, and an actor in other low-budget productions. Wayne wore his own cowboy hat, which he would continue to wear in several Westerns until 1959, when it started falling apart.

- Director: Robert Altman
- Metascore: 93
- Runtime: 2 hours

Warren Beatty and Julie Christie play a gambler and a sex worker who team up as business partners in a remote town that comes under threat for its mining riches. Set in the Pacific Northwest mining town of Presbyterian Church, Roger Ebert said the movie "was a perfect film and one of the saddest he has ever seen."

- Director: Howard Hawks
- Metascore: 93
- Runtime: 2 hours 21 minutes

A sheriff (John Wayne) teams up with the town drunk (Dean Martin); an elderly deputy named Stumpy (Walter Brennan), and a young cowboy (Ricky Nelson), to help keep the murderous brother of a wealthy rancher in jail. Director Howard Hawks gave his daughter, Barbara Hawks, writing credit on the film for giving him the idea to throw dynamite, she is listed under the pseudonym B.H. McCampbell.

- Director: Henry King
- Metascore: 94
- Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes

Gregory Peck plays Jimmy Ringo, a gunfighter who runs into his estranged wife. Even though trouble seems to follow him everywhere, he hopes to convince her he has been reformed and win her back. The film focuses on themes of guilt and regret, setting it apart from the more action-oriented Westerns of the time.

- Director: John Ford
- Metascore: 94
- Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes

John Wayne plays a Confederate Army veteran tracking down Comanche Indians who massacred his family, burned their ranch, and kidnapped his young niece. The film is based on the novel by Alan LeMay and inspired by the true-life story of Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped by Comanches in 1836.

- Director: John Ford
- Metascore: 94
- Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes

When U.S. Sen. Ranse Stoddard returns to the West to attend a funeral, he is forced to rehash his past, including the truth regarding the killing of an infamous outlaw. This black-and-white film was directed by John Ford and stars James Stewart, John Wayne, and Vera Miles. For the movie, Ford returned to filming on sound stages and in monochrome lending to the melancholic undertones of the film.

- Director: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson
- Metascore: 96
- Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes

A fictionalized account of the first cattle drive along the Chisholm Trail, from Texas to Kansas, "Red River" stars John Wayne and Montgomery Clift as a father-son team with different ideas about how to best get the job done. Hollywood history fans may be interested to know that the iconic Red River D belt buckles—which are so often associated with Wayne fandom—stemmed from this film as the wrapped gift the actor gave to several of his co-stars and crew.

- Director: John Huston
- Metascore: 98
- Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes

Penniless Americans Fred Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) go on a gold-prospecting trip, joined by an older prospector named Howard. Director John Huston won the Academy Award for Best Director, and his father, Walter Huston, who played Howard, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Bogart was not nominated for playing Dobbs, which was considered a snub.

- Director: Sam Peckinpah
- Metascore: 98
- Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes

William Holden and Ernest Borgnine play gang members heading to Mexico to execute one final heist as the traditional America West dies around them in the early 20th century. The movie used more than 90,000 rounds of blank ammunition, and Warner Bros. said in publicity material for the film that it was more ammunition than had been used in the Mexican Revolution.

Additional writing by Madison Troyer. Story editing by Cynthia Rebolledo. Additional editing by Paris Close. Copy editing by Meg Shields. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.