The 25 most iconic westerns in cinema history

You just ain't makin' a Western list without The Searchers, son. The most beloved of all Westerns, this 1956 classic sees John Ford and John Wayne teaming up for a timeless journey through vast, uncharted territory. It opened the door to a new frontier: one without heroes, morals, or romance. The genre would never be the same. 

As we said, the genre went through some changes after The Searchers. There were more bad guys than ever, more bodies than your local morgue, and enough blood to fill a swimming pool. With 13 outlaws on hand, Sam Peckinpah took that change to new heights. 

There are a handful of Robert Altman movies that get votes as his best, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller is one of them. Part of what makes it unique is that it's a cowboy movie in which the main character isn't a cowboy. Instead, he's a normal man roped into the world of outlaws and shootouts due to his profession. Warren Beatty is just some guy who wants to run a brothel. What's so bad about that?

2021 gave us one of the great Westerns. In fact, The Power of the Dog was so good it was nominated for 12 Oscars, even receiving Best Picture buzz at the time.

If nothing else, Stagecoach deserves recognition for being the first true Western. However, it's also a truly great film. John Wayne plays a cowboy who rides a stagecoach across Indian territory. Is it action-packed? Of course, it is! Those Indians aren't going to shoot themselves! But it's also a great character study, with enough nuance to keep the racism at arm's length.  

Some call Red River the best Ford movie he never made. While it certainly owes a debt to the work of Ford, the film stands on its own merits. John Wayne and Thomas Dunson are both excellent in the lead roles, but it's Howard Hawks who winds up stealing the show. 

Jimmy Stewart plays a sharpshooter searching for the man who killed his father. There are no laughs or one-liners; just a cowboy, his partner, and a landscape as empty as the those who wander it. 

What is a Japanese samurai movie doing on our list? Well, Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is as much a western as any--featuring a village under attack, bandits, scouts, men for hire, and plenty of standoffs. The film also inspired The Magnificent Seven and what many consider to be the first space Western, Star Wars. 

Tommy Lee Jones does his best old-guy-at-the-Y impression: he moves like he's on his last legs, but keeps running up and down the court anyway. His opponent is Javier Bardem, who can shoot like nobody else out there. The final showdown is one for the ages...between 70-80. 

Django is one of those Spaghetti Westerns with an awesome soundtrack. Some of it doesn't hold up. Maybe we don't need Django acting like a frat boy. The action aspects, though, still crackle, and the theme song will be stuck in your head for days on end. 

After the success of Red River, Hawks decided to make another Western. This time, Wayne plays a sheriff, not a cattle rancher. Exactly how much of this is supposed to be played for laughs is a bit murky, though, because the film starts to build to a big showdown. Before that, it's just a really fun hangout with some great characters. 

Clint Eastwood has made a few man-on-the-run Westerns. Cry Macho was a bit of a slog, but Outlaw Josey Wales has a lot going for it. For starters, Eastwood is in the starring role, and it doesn't glorify violence like his early stuff and has real things to say about society. It might even be his best film, I reckon. 

Every Antonioni movie is a Western--they all center around lonely wanderers, barren landscapes, and people living off the grid. Heck, this one literally takes place in a desert. Jack Nicholson would rather relax in Africa than return to America, which might as well be a mirage in the distance. He assumes a dead man's identity and becomes A Man With No Name. Don't go in expecting shootouts, though. The Passenger is closer to Wim Wenders than Sergio Leone.  

This is one of those classic Westerns from back in the day. A hero rides into town, sees a group of criminals and decides to do something about it. The difference is that Shane--like its title character--packs a punch. 

Sam Jackson. Kurt Russell. Quentin Tarantino. Need I say more? 

Barbara Stanwyck rides the high country (and everyone in it) in this racy, sexually-charged adventure. Some of the innuendos border on parody ("you think your gun will go off in my face?"), but it has so much style you won't even notice. You'll be too busy admiring the tracking shots and long takes. 

The real-life story that inspired Clementine is fascinating. A lawman, played by Henry Fonda, returns to the town where his brother was shot. He becomes sheriff and goes after the boys who done it. It's a great story, and it feels like Ford, who won 5 Oscars, does it justice. 

Ford made 14 Western and Western-adjacent films, and we couldn't include them all. However, since he is the Tom Brady of Western directors, we figured it was fair to list a couple of them. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is old enough to feature references to John F. Kennedy, but it's still as fresh as anything out there. It stars John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. And draws parallels between American politics and Mexican standoffs. What could be more relevant than that? 

There were millions of people in the West, and one assumes they didn't all look like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Of course, when you think of the West, you think of Wayne with a shotgun or Stewart with a pistol. But there were other folks as well. Vienna runs a saloon on the edge of town, and she's about as far from John Wayne as New Port is from New York. She's no good with a gun, but she likes to sleep with people who are. She's a feminist icon; the rare woman to do what she wants, when she wants, with who she wants. 

The Sistine Chapel of spectacles, the Grand Canyon of Westerns, the Great Wall of shootouts, and the Colosseum of killers. Sergio Leone's masterpiece is truly one of the seven wonders of the world. 

How do you follow up on one of the biggest movies in cinema history? If you're Sergio Leone, you add more: more guns, more violence, more commentary, more close-ups and long-zooms, more desert vistas, and certainly more Ennio Morricone. What more do you want? 

Hell or High Water doesn't live up to the ambition of its director. However, what the movie does have is Chris Pine and Ben Foster as the two bank robbers. They may not be Paul Newman and Robert Redford, but they do come close. 

There's no topping this bromance. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are the American Jules and Jim, which means they carry guns, eat pie and ride bikes through the countryside. 

Days of Heaven is one of Terrence Malick's best, and one of the best ever. However, we weren't sure if this story of two field workers in Texas counted as a Western. Ah, what the hell. We're including it anyway for the Rockwellian imagery and golden-hour light. 

We've finally made it: the final frontier of the final frontier. And what better way to ride off into the sunset than with Unforgiven?