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The Best Westerns of All Time

The Western canon, measured: our composite score cross-references the polls, registries and awards that decided which frontier films endure.

The Western is Hollywood's founding myth-machine, and one director defined it: John Ford, whose Monument Valley films — Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, The Searchers — set the form's images and then spent the 1950s interrogating them. Around Ford sit Hawks's professionalism (Red River, Rio Bravo), Anthony Mann's psychological westerns, Leone's operatic Italian reinvention, and the elegies — The Wild Bunch, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Unforgiven — that each declared the genre dead and extended its canon instead.

Unforgiven (1992) leads with a composite score of 4.96. Top 100 of 129 films in our library.

Masters of the genre

  1. 1
    Unforgiven1992 · Clint Eastwood · United States · western, drama, crime
    4.96

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1992 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1992 #1 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1993 #1

  2. 2
    There Will Be Blood2007 · Paul Thomas Anderson · United States · drama, western, thriller
    4.26

    Rolling Stone 100 Best of the 21st Century #1 · Film Comment year-end poll 2007 #2 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2008 #2

  3. 3
    No Country for Old Men2007 · Ethan Coen, Joel Coen · United States · drama, thriller, western
    4.20

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2007 · Film Comment year-end poll 2007 #1 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2008 #1

  4. 4
    Dances with Wolves1990 · Kevin Costner · United States · drama, war, western
    3.59

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1990 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1991 #1 · Ebert's annual top 10 1990 #3

  5. 5
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid1969 · George Roy Hill · United States · comedy, drama, western
    3.27

    BAFTA Best Film winner 1971 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1969 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1970 #4

  6. 6
    The Searchers1956 · John Ford · United States · western, drama, war
    3.22

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #15 · AFI 100 (2007) #12 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72

  7. 7
    The Treasure of the Sierra Madre1948 · John Huston · United States · drama, western
    2.53

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1948 · AFI 100 (2007) #38 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1949 #8

  8. 8
    Once Upon a Time in the West1968 · Sergio Leone · Italy / United States · western, drama, action
    2.37

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #46 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #95 · Empire 500 (2008) #14

  9. 9
    The Wild Bunch1969 · Sam Peckinpah · United States · crime, western
    2.30

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #136 · AFI 100 (2007) #79 · AFI 100 (1998) #80

  10. 10
    The Power of the Dog2021 · Jane Campion · United Kingdom / United States / New Zealand · drama, western
    2.28

    BAFTA Best Film winner 2022 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2021 · Film Comment year-end poll 2021 #6

  11. 11
    Stagecoach1939 · John Ford · United States · western, drama, action
    2.24

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1940 #2 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1939 · AFI 100 (1998) #63

  12. 12
    Shane1953 · George Stevens · United States · western, romance, drama
    2.22

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1953 · AFI 100 (2007) #45 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1953 #7

  13. 13
    My Darling Clementine1946 · John Ford · United States · western, drama
    2.17

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1947 #2 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #243 · National Film Registry (inducted 1991)

  14. 14
    Once Upon a Time in America1984 · Sergio Leone · United States / Italy / France · crime, drama, thriller
    2.14

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1984 #1 · Siskel's annual top 10 1984 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #157

  15. 15
    The Good, the Bad and the Ugly1966 · Sergio Leone · Italy / Spain / Germany · western, war, drama
    1.74

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #169 · Letterboxd Top 250 #20 · Empire 500 (2008) #25

  16. 16
    The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance1962 · John Ford · United States · western, drama
    1.73

    Sarris's annual top 10 1962 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #108 · National Film Registry (inducted 2007)

  17. 17
    McCabe & Mrs. Miller1971 · Robert Altman · United States · western, drama
    1.71

    Ebert's annual top 10 1971 #2 · Siskel's annual top 10 1971 #3 · National Film Registry (inducted 2010)

  18. 18
    High Noon1952 · Fred Zinnemann · United States · western
    1.67

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1952 · AFI 100 (2007) #27 · AFI 100 (1998) #33

  19. 19
    Rio Bravo1959 · Howard Hawks, Paul Helmick · United States · western, romance
    1.61

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #101 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1959 #6 · National Film Registry (inducted 2014)

  20. 20
    Cimarron1931 · Wesley Ruggles · United States · western, drama
    1.50

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1930

  21. 21
    The Revenant2015 · Alejandro González Iñárritu · United States · western, adventure, thriller
    1.45

    BAFTA Best Film winner 2016 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2015

  22. 22
    Johnny Guitar1954 · Nicholas Ray · United States · western, drama
    1.37

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #122 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1955 #9 · National Film Registry (inducted 2008)

  23. 23
    Killers of the Flower Moon2023 · Martin Scorsese · United States · thriller, drama, crime
    1.29

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2023 #2 · Film Comment year-end poll 2023 #3 · Criterion Collection spine #1302

  24. 24
    Little Big Man1970 · Arthur Penn · United States · comedy, drama, western
    1.22

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1971 #3 · National Film Registry (inducted 2014) · Siskel's annual top 10 1971 #4

  25. 25
    The Big Country1958 · William Wyler · United States · western, drama
    1.20

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1958 #1 · Empire 500 (2008) #187

  26. 26
    Lone Star1996 · John Sayles · United States · crime, romance, drama
    1.17

    Sarris's annual top 10 1996 #3 · Ebert's annual top 10 1996 #4 · Siskel's annual top 10 1996 #5

  27. 27
    Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson1976 · Robert Altman · United States · western, comedy
    1.16

    Berlin Golden Bear winner 1976 · Siskel's annual top 10 1976 #8

  28. 28
    One-Eyed Jacks1961 · Marlon Brando · United States · western
    1.14

    San Sebastián Golden Shell winner 1961 · National Film Registry (inducted 2018) · Criterion Collection spine #844

  29. 29
    The Covered Wagon1923 · James Cruze · United States · romance, western, silent
    1.11

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1924 #1 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  30. 30
    Giant1956 · George Stevens · United States · drama, western
    1.08

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1956 · AFI 100 (1998) #82 · National Film Registry (inducted 2005)

  31. 31
    Django Unchained2012 · Quentin Tarantino · United States · western, action, drama
    1.00

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 2012 · Film Comment year-end poll 2012 #21 · Letterboxd Top 250 #125

  32. 32
    Meek's Cutoff2010 · Kelly Reichardt · United States · western
    0.89

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2011 #8 · Film Comment year-end poll 2011 #8 · Rolling Stone 100 Best of the 21st Century #51

  33. 33
    Dead Man1995 · Jim Jarmusch · United States / Japan / Germany · western, fantasy, drama
    0.88

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1996 #6 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1996 #3 · Criterion Collection spine #919

  34. 34
    The Ox-Bow Incident1943 · William A. Wellman, James Tinling · United States · western, drama
    0.84

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1943 · National Film Registry (inducted 1998) · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  35. 35
    True Grit2010 · Ethan Coen, Joel Coen · United States · western, drama, adventure
    0.78

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 2010 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2011 #7

  36. 36
    Blazing Saddles1974 · Mel Brooks · United States · comedy, western
    0.72

    National Film Registry (inducted 2006) · Empire 500 (2008) #115 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  37. 37
    Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid1973 · Sam Peckinpah · United States · western, biography
    0.69

    Hoberman's annual top 10 1989 #2 · Empire 500 (2008) #126 · Criterion Collection spine #1224

  38. 38
    Red River1948 · Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson · United States · western, drama, action
    0.69

    National Film Registry (inducted 1990) · NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Criterion Collection spine #709

  39. 39
    How the West Was Won1962 · John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall · United States · western, drama
    0.68

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1963 · National Film Registry (inducted 1997)

  40. 40
    Two Rode Together1961 · John Ford · United States · western
    0.60

    Sarris's annual top 10 1961 #2 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1961 #10

  41. 41
    Jauja2014 · Lisandro Alonso · United States / France / Denmark · drama, western
    0.60

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2015 #6 · Film Comment year-end poll 2015 #16

  42. 42
    The Outlaw Josey Wales1976 · Clint Eastwood · United States · western
    0.59

    National Film Registry (inducted 1996) · Empire 500 (2008) #219 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  43. 43
    Hell or High Water2016 · David Mackenzie · United States · crime, drama, western
    0.56

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 2016 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  44. 44
    Destry Rides Again1939 · George Marshall · United States · comedy, western
    0.55

    National Film Registry (inducted 1996) · NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Criterion Collection spine #1024

  45. 45
    Junior Bonner1972 · Sam Peckinpah · United States · western, drama
    0.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1972 #7 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  46. 46
    The Shootist1976 · Don Siegel · United States · western
    0.49

    Kehr's annual top 10 1976 #6 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Ebert's annual top 10 1976 #10

  47. 47
    Ulzana's Raid1972 · Robert Aldrich · United States · western, war
    0.47

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Sarris's annual top 10 1972 #8 · Siskel's annual top 10 1972 #10

  48. 48
    The Overlanders1946 · Harry Watt · United Kingdom / Australia · drama, western
    0.47

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1948 #9 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  49. 49
    Ride in the Whirlwind1966 · Monte Hellman · United States · western
    0.46

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1968 #9 · Criterion Collection spine #735

  50. 50
    In Old Arizona1928 · Raoul Walsh, Irving Cummings · United States · western
    0.45

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1929

  51. 51
    The Alamo1960 · John Wayne · United States · western, war, drama
    0.45

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1960

  52. 52
    The Naked Spur1953 · Anthony Mann · United States · western
    0.45

    National Film Registry (inducted 1997) · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  53. 53
    The Gunfighter1950 · Henry King · United States · western
    0.44

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Criterion Collection spine #1053 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  54. 54
    Bacurau2019 · Kleber Mendonça Filho · Brazil / France · sci-fi, drama, western
    0.43

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2019 #4

  55. 55
    Cry Macho2021 · Clint Eastwood · United States · drama, western
    0.43

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2022 #4

  56. 56
    The Magnificent Seven1960 · John Sturges · United States · western, drama, action
    0.42

    National Film Registry (inducted 2013) · Empire 500 (2008) #217

  57. 57
    The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford2007 · Andrew Dominik · United States · biography, western, drama
    0.41

    Rolling Stone 100 Best of the 21st Century #87 · Empire 500 (2008) #396

  58. 58
    Ride the High Country1962 · Sam Peckinpah · United States · western
    0.39

    National Film Registry (inducted 1992) · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  59. 59
    Winchester '731950 · Anthony Mann · United States · western
    0.39

    National Film Registry (inducted 2015) · Criterion Collection spine #1248

  60. 60
    3:10 to Yuma1957 · Delmer Daves · United States · western
    0.39

    National Film Registry (inducted 2012) · Criterion Collection spine #657

  61. 61
    El Dorado1966 · Howard Hawks · United States · western
    0.38

    Sarris's annual top 10 1967 #3 · Ebert's annual top 10 1967 #15

  62. 62
    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia1974 · Sam Peckinpah · United States / Mexico · action, thriller, western
    0.36

    Roger Ebert's Great Movies · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  63. 63
    El Mariachi1992 · Robert Rodriguez · Mexico / United States · action, thriller, crime
    0.34

    National Film Registry (inducted 2011) · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  64. 64
    True Grit1969 · Henry Hathaway · United States · western, drama
    0.32

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Ebert's annual top 10 1969 #8

  65. 65
    The Ballad of Cable Hogue1970 · Sam Peckinpah · United States · comedy, drama, western
    0.32

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Sarris's annual top 10 1970 #8

  66. 66
    Wells Fargo1937 · Frank Lloyd · United States · western
    0.30

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1938 #9

  67. 67
    For a Few Dollars More1965 · Sergio Leone · Italy / Germany / Spain · western, action
    0.30

    Letterboxd Top 250 #250 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  68. 68
    The Great Silence1968 · Sergio Corbucci · France / Italy · western, drama
    0.29

    Empire 500 (2008) #386 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  69. 69
    The Big Sky1952 · Howard Hawks · United States · western
    0.28

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  70. 70
    Near Dark1987 · Kathryn Bigelow · United States · horror, western
    0.28

    Kehr's annual top 10 1987 #7 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  71. 71
    Forty Guns1957 · Samuel Fuller · United States · western
    0.27

    Criterion Collection spine #954 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  72. 72
    The Shooting1966 · Monte Hellman · United States · western
    0.27

    Criterion Collection spine #734 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

  73. 73
    The Ballad of Buster Scruggs2018 · Ethan Coen, Joel Coen · United States · western, comedy, drama
    0.26

    Film Comment year-end poll 2018 #14

  74. 74
    The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith1978 · Fred Schepisi · Australia · western
    0.25

    Kehr's annual top 10 1981 #3

  75. 75
    El Topo1970 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · Mexico · western, drama
    0.24

    Roger Ebert's Great Movies · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  76. 76
    The Great Train Robbery1903 · Edwin Stanton Porter · United States · crime, western, action
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 1990)

  77. 77
    The Bargain1914 · Reginald Barker · United States · silent, western
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2010)

  78. 78
    Hell's Hinges1916 · William S. Hart, Charles Swickard, Clifford Smith · United States · western, silent
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 1994)

  79. 79
    Wild and Woolly1917 · John Emerson · United States · comedy, western, silent
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2002)

  80. 80
    Daughter of Dawn1920 · Norbert A. Myles · United States · silent, western, romance
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2013)

  81. 81
    Sky High1922 · Lynn Reynolds · United States · western, silent, drama
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 1998)

  82. 82
    The Iron Horse1924 · John Ford · United States · western, silent
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2011)

  83. 83
    Clash of the Wolves1925 · Noel M. Smith · United States · western, silent
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2004)

  84. 84
    The Big Trail1930 · Raoul Walsh · United States · western
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2006)

  85. 85
    Under Western Stars1938 · Joseph Kane · United States · western, action, musical
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2009)

  86. 86
    Melody Ranch1940 · Joseph Santley · United States · western
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2002)

  87. 87
    The Tall T1957 · Budd Boetticher · United States · western
    0.23

    National Film Registry (inducted 2000)

  88. 88
    The Proposition2005 · John Hillcoat · Australia / United Kingdom · western, drama, crime
    0.20

    Film Comment year-end poll 2006 #30

  89. 89
    The Homesman2014 · Tommy Lee Jones · France / United States · western, drama
    0.18

    Film Comment year-end poll 2014 #45

  90. 90
    The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada2005 · Tommy Lee Jones · France / United States / Mexico · western, drama
    0.18

    Film Comment year-end poll 2005 #49

  91. 91
    The Proud Ones1956 · Robert D. Webb · United States · western
    0.18

    Kurosawa's 100 favorite films

  92. 92
    Serenity2005 · Joss Whedon · United States · action, sci-fi, western
    0.17

    Empire 500 (2008) #383

  93. 93
    She Wore a Yellow Ribbon1949 · John Ford · United States · western, war
    0.17

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  94. 94
    Viva Zapata!1952 · Elia Kazan · United States · biography, drama, war
    0.17

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  95. 95
    Paint Your Wagon1969 · Joshua Logan · United States · comedy, romance, musical
    0.17

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  96. 96
    Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here1969 · Abraham Polonsky · United States · western, drama
    0.17

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  97. 97
    Pale Rider1985 · Clint Eastwood · United States · western
    0.17

    Kehr's annual top 10 1985 #7

  98. 98
    Wild Bill1995 · Walter Hill · United States · action, biography, western
    0.17

    Kehr's annual top 10 1995 #7

  99. 99
    The Furies1950 · Anthony Mann · United States · western, film-noir, drama
    0.16

    Criterion Collection spine #435

  100. 100
    Jubal1956 · Delmer Daves · United States · western
    0.16

    Criterion Collection spine #656

The American genre, in four acts

The Western is the only genre the movies fully invented and fully interrogated within a single century, and its canon reads like a four-act play. Act one is consolidation: John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) took a disreputable B-movie form, gave it Monument Valley, ensemble psychology and John Wayne, and made it respectable — the film's National Film Registry induction and its place on the AFI's original 1998 list mark how completely it defined the template. Act two is the genre's midcentury dominance, when Westerns were the largest single share of Hollywood's output and its best directors used the form to say complicated things plainly.

Act three is doubt. Ford himself supplied the pivot with The Searchers (1956), whose hero is a racist obsessive and whose most famous shot — a door closing on a man who can never come inside — questions everything the genre had celebrated. The critics' polls have ratified that reading over decades: The Searchers now ranks among the highest American films on the Sight & Sound list, a standing it did not have in its own era. Then the Italians arrived: Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), shot in Spain with a fistful of Ennio Morricone, stripped the form to myth and style, and audiences worldwide — the community canons especially — have never let it go.

The elegy that closed the frontier

Act four belongs to Unforgiven (1992). Clint Eastwood, the spaghetti Western's own icon, made the genre's formal apology: a film in which every killing is ugly, every legend is a lie retold for money, and the man who does the final violence has spent the whole film insisting he isn't that man anymore. The Academy gave it Best Picture, the AFI ranked it, and the Registry preserved it — institutional consensus that the Western's most canonical late statement is the one that unmakes it.

Ranked by composite score, this page holds all four acts in one column, which is precisely what a single publication's list cannot do: the founding myth, the doubting masterpiece, the foreign reinvention and the elegy, each carrying the specific fingerprint of the sources that canonized it.