The five best westerns of all time – ranked

Don't miss out on these five genre greats

This is commonly referred to as the “Old West” or the “Wild West” between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890.

Most often, the genre is associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada.

Probably what makes the Western a beloved genre is the setting first and foremost, as the frontier is depicted as a sparsely populated, hostile region patrolled by cowboys, outlaws, sheriffs, and numerous other stock gunslinger characters.

As a result, not only do Westerns provide a good form of escapism if you’re looking for something different, but they also provide relatable characters, as the narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice, freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny.

The characteristics of the genre

As a morality drama, the classic Western film presents the conflict between wilderness and civilization.

Most commonly, stories commonly on the life of a male drifter, cowboy, or gunslinger who rides a horse and is armed with a revolver or rifle.

Typically, the male characters wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas, vests, and cowboy boots with spurs.

While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include buckskins and dusters.

Generally, women are cast in secondary roles as love interests for the male lead.

Or in supporting roles as saloon girls, prostitutes or as the wives of pioneers and settlers.

The wife character often provides a measure of comic relief, while it may also add to the plot by building conflict between the hero and villain.

In the meantime, other recurring characters include Native Americans of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians, African Americans, Chinese Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, law enforcement officers, bounty hunters, outlaws, bartenders, merchants, gamblers, soldiers (especially mounted cavalry), and settlers (farmers, ranchers, and townsfolk).

Usually, the ambience is consists of a Western music score, including American folk music and Spanish/Mexican folk music such as country, Native American music, New Mexico music, and rancheras.

Ranking the best Westerns of all time

1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Pursued by a posse after a string of robberies, the duo - along with the Sundance Kid's lover Etta Place (Katharine Ross, The Stepford Wives) - decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.

Based loosely on true events, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is now considered an all-time classic, thanks to the chemistry between its two stars, the movie's music by Burt Bacharach, and the film's iconic ending.

The Western was obviously important to Redford, who later reunited with Newman and director George Roy Hill for the Oscar Best Picture winner, The Sting.

Redford was also one of the founders of the annual major indie movie event, the Sundance Film Festival. The festival got its title from the character that the actor played in the oater.

2. Slow West

It follows a 16-year-old Scotsman named Jay (Oscar-nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog), who travels to the American frontier in search of Rose (Caren Pistorius, Unhinged), the girl he loved back home.

Along the journey, Jay meets Silas (Fassbender), an Irish bounty hunter whom the teen subsequently hires for protection.

It isn't long, however, before the pair stumble into trouble and find themselves hotly pursued by a gang of outlaws (led by Ben Mendelsohn, Animal Kingdom).

An underseen gem that is only 84 minutes in length, Slow West is full of the gorgeous vistas, cool characters and action that viewers would expect from a classic Western.

Without spoiling, however, the more the movie plays out, the more it cleverly subverts audiences' expectations of the genre, resulting in a film that puts a fresh spin on an old tale.

3. Pale Rider

The next western classic, which has 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes, is Pale Rider, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (A Fistful of Dollars, Dirty Harry).

Released in 1985, the film sees Eastwood play an enigmatic man named Preacher.

He arrives in a town where a property owner named Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) has started using a band of hooligans to terrorise a group of gold miners into giving up their territory.

“Preacher fends off the attacks and then goes directly to LaHood to negotiate,” the plot synopsis adds.

“When the miners, led by Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty), refuse the terms, LaHood sends in Marshall Stockburn (John Russell) to take down Preacher and the others.”

In particular, critics singled out Eastwood's stylish direction and his mysterious, almost mythic lead character for praise.

The movie was also a box office smash and went on to become the highest-grossing Western of the 1980s.

4. The Thicket

The Thicket, the acclaimed new Western movie starring Juliette Lewis (Yellowjackets) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), has an 81% Rotten Tomatoes score.

The Western thriller is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by cult author Joe R. Lansdale (Cold in July, Hap and Leonard).

In the film, Dinklage plays Reginald Jones, a fierce bounty hunter recruited by a desperate man (Levon Hawke, Blink Twice) to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill (Lewis).

To carry this out, Jones rallies a band of unlikely heroes, including a "grave-digging ex-slave (Gbenga Akinnagbe, The Wire) and a street-smart woman-for-hire (Leslie Grace, In the Heights)".

"Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly no-man’s-land known as…The Thicket," the plot synopsis adds.

The Western was directed by Elliot Lester (the underrated Jason Statham thriller Blitz) and also features in its cast Arliss Howard (The Killer), Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna), Macon Blair (Oppenheimer), Ned Dennehy (Peaky Blinders), as well as comedian Andrew Schulz and Metallica frontman James Hetfield.

It is also a long-time passion project for Golden Globe-winner Dinklage, who produced the movie as well. He had been attached to star in the film for around a decade.

The Thicket was released in the US in 2024 to very positive reviews, with critics praising the Western's performances, snowy scenery and dark story.

5. Open Range

Open Range is a 2003 revisionist Western directed by and starring Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, Horizon).

Based on the novel The Open Range Men, the film is set in the 19th century. Its story centres around Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall, The Godfather) and his cowhands, Charley (Costner) and Mose (Abraham Benrubi, ER), who are driving cattle across a large expanse of country.

"When Mose ventures into a sparse village to buy a few necessities, he is met with violent hostility from Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon, Layer Cake), an affluent landowner, and his right-hand man, Poole (James Russo, Beverly Hills Cop)," the plot synopsis.

"When Mose doesn't come back, Boss and Charley realise he's in trouble, so they plot to get him back and get revenge on those who captured him."

Co-starring Annette Bening (American Beauty) and Diego Luna (Andor), Open Range was a solid hit both at the box office and with critics.

The movie earned particular praise for Costner and Duvall's chemistry, as well as for the film's cinematography and climactic shootout.

Its stature has only improved since its release, with many publications - including Collider and Entertainment Weekly - placing Open Range on their lists of the best Westerns of the 21st century.