Best Western Movies of All Time
The following list is the Official Definitive List of the 500 best sci-fi movies of all time.
I averaged 38 different ranked lists of “Best western movies of all time” to get this definitive compilation. Since some were rather old, I included a couple lists of “Best westerns since 2000.” See my Methodology page for the research process that was used, including all 38 lists that were averaged.
Below is a checklist you’re welcome to download, followed by the list of 500 movies in ranked order.
- The Searchers (1956) – included on 32 of the 38 lists
- Unforgiven (1992) – included on 35 of the lists
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – included on 32 lists
- High Noon (1952) – included on 31 lists
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) – included on 31 lists
- Stagecoach (1939) – included on 28 lists
- The Wild Bunch (1969) – included on 30 lists
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) – included on 31 lists
- Rio Bravo (1959)
- Red River (1948)
- Shane (1953)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
- The Magnificent Seven (1960)
- My Darling Clementine (1946)
- True Grit (2010)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- Django Unchained (2012)
- Dances with Wolves (1990)
- The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
- Winchester ’73 (1950)
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
- Tombstone (1993)
- The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
- Blazing Saddles (1974)
- For a Few Dollars More (1965)
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
- Johnny Guitar (1954)
- True Grit (1969)
- Open Range (2003)
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
- No Country for Old Men (2007)
- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
- The Gunfighter (1950)
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
- High Plains Drifter (1973)
- The Shootist (1976)
- Django (1966)
- Little Big Man (1970)
- The Power of the Dog (2021)
- Ride the High Country (1962)
- The Shooting (1966)
- Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
- 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
- The Naked Spur (1953)
- Hell or High Water (2016)
- Vera Cruz (1954)
- Fort Apache (1948)
- Hidalgo (2004)
- One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
- El Dorado (1966)
- Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
- The Revenant (2015)
- Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
- Forty Guns (1957)
- Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
- 7 Men from Now (1956)
- The Rider (2017)
- The Great Silence (1968)
- The Hateful Eight (2015)
- Dead Man (1995)
- The Professionals (1966)
- Giant (1956)
- Destry Rides Again (1939)
- The Man from Laramie (1955)
- Logan (2017)
- Lone Star (1996)
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
- Lonesome Dove (1989)
- Hang ‘Em High (1968)
- How the West Was Won (1962)
- El Topo (1970)
- Cat Ballou (1965)
- Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
- Rancho Notorious (1952)
- Duck, You Sucker! (1971)
- Shanghai Knights (2003)
- Appaloosa (2008)
- Pale Rider (1985)
- The Big Country (1958)
- Rio Grande (1950)
- Silverado (1985)
- The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
- The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
- 3 Godfathers (1948)
- Dodge City (1939)
- Old Yeller (1957)
- The Tall T (1957)
- The Quick and the Dead (1995)
- Bone Tomahawk (2015)
- Hombre (1967)
- Ulzana’s Raid (1972)
- McLintock! (1963)
- A Bullet for the General (1967)
- Pursued (1947)
- Ride Lonesome (1959)
- Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
- A Man Called Horse (1970)
- Hondo (1953)
- The Great Train Robbery (1903)
- Greed (1924)
- Brokeback Mountain (2005)
- Hud (1963)
- The Cowboys (1972)
- The Proposition (2005)
- Maverick (1994)
- Bacurau (2019)
- Day of the Outlaw (1959)
- Bend of the River (1952)
- Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)
- The Big Gundown (1966)
- City Slickers (1991)
- The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
- All the Pretty Horses (2000)
- Sweet Country (2017)
- The Alamo (1960)
- Duel in the Sun (1946)
- Broken Arrow (1950)
- The Dark Tower (2017)
- The Yearling (1947)
- The Homesman (2014)
- Hostiles (2017)
- Angel and the Badman (1947)
- The Man from Snowy River (1982)
- Back to the Future Part III (1990)
- My Name Is Nobody (1973)
- Westworld (1973)
- Wind River (2017)
- Quigley Down Under (1990)
- Western (2015)
- The Magnificent Seven (2016)
- Buck and the Preacher (1972)
- The Missouri Breaks (1976)
- The Westerner (1940)
- The Virginian (1929)
- Wagon Master (1950)
- The Long Riders (1980)
- The Beguiled (1971)
- Slow West (2015)
- Bisbee ’17 (2018)
- The Big Trail (1930)
- The Misfits (1961)
- Duel at Diablo (1966)
- Paint Your Wagon (1969)
- The Far Country (1954)
- Heaven’s Gate (1980)
- Rango (2011)
- The Sisters Brothers (2018)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
- Nevada Smith (1966)
- Sweetgrass (2009)
- Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
- They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
- Shanghai Noon (2000)
- Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
- Will Penny (1967)
- 7 Women (1965)
- Aferim! (2015)
- The Paleface (1948)
- The Missing (2003)
- Shenandoah (1965)
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
- Day of Anger (1967)
- News of the World (2020)
- Major Dundee (1965)
- Young Guns (1988)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (2008)
- The Horse Soldiers (1959)
- They Call Me Trinity (1970)
- The Claim (2000)
- Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013)
- The Unforgiven (1960)
- Legends of the Fall (1994)
- Deadwood: The Movie (2019)
- Tall in the Saddle (1944)
- Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot! (1967)
- The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
- Silver Lode (1954)
- Man of the West (1958)
- Near Dark (1987)
- Tall Tale (1995)
- There Will Be Blood (2007)
- Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
- Jesse James (1939)
- The Plainsman (1936)
- Yellow Sky (1948)
- Last of the Dogmen (1995)
- The War Wagon (1967)
- Wyatt Earp (1994)
- Canyon Passage (1946)
- Requiescant (1967)
- Ride with the Devil (1999)
- Face to Face (1967)
- Viva Zapata! (1952)
- Cowboy (1958)
- In Old Arizona (1928)
- Big Jake (1971)
- Bad Company (1972)
- Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)
- Blood on the Moon (1948)
- Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
- The Hired Hand (1971)
- The Comancheros (1961)
- Rio Lobo (1970)
- Union Pacific (1939)
- The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)
- Chisum (1970)
- Death Rides a Horse (1967)
- Track of the Cat (1954)
- The Horse Whisperer (1998)
- Decision at Sundown (1957)
- Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
- Jauja (2014)
- A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
- The Harder They Fall (2021)
- Dead Man’s Burden (2012)
- Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
- Red Hill (2010)
- Badlands (1973)
- Desperado (1995)
- Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955)
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
- The Fastest Gun Alive (1956)
- Monte Walsh (1970)
- North to Alaska (1960)
- The Keeping Room (2014)
- Joe Kidd (1972)
- The Mark of Zorro (1920)
- The Ballad of Little Jo (1993)
- Compañeros (1970)
- The Tin Star (1957)
- The Train Robbers (1973)
- Broken Trail (2006)
- Rancho Deluxe (1975)
- Rooster Cogburn (1975)
- True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)
- Honky Tonk (1941)
- The Hellbenders (1967)
- The Salvation (2014)
- The Shadow Riders (1982)
- Tom Horn (1980)
- The Lone Ranger (2013)
- Cimarron (1931)
- Warlock (1959)
- Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
- The Gold Rush (1925)
- Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)
- Santa Fe Trail (1940)
- Becoming Bulletproof (2014)
- Young Guns II (1990)
- The Covered Wagon (1923)
- Never Grow Old (2019)
- The Lusty Men (1952)
- Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)
- Tumbleweeds (1925)
- The Mercenary (1968)
- Barbarosa (1982)
- Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
- The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
- Oklahoma! (1955)
- The Grey Fox (1982)
- The Wind (2018)
- Westward the Women (1951)
- The Undefeated (1969)
- Run of the Arrow (1957)
- Blackthorn (2011)
- The Violent Men (1955)
- Don’t Fence Me In (1945)
- Friendly Persuasion (1956)
- The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)
- The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
- Way Out West (1937)
- The Alamo (2004)
- 3 Bad Men (1926)
- Cimarron (1960)
- The Mountain Men (1980)
- Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
- The Left Handed Gun (1958)
- Streets of Laredo: Lonesome Dove (1989)
- El Mariachi (1992)
- Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys (2013)
- Man Without a Star (1955)
- The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
- The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972)
- Son of Paleface (1952)
- The Big Sky (1952)
- Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
- I Shot Jesse James (1949)
- Of Mice and Men (1992)
- The Retrieval (2013)
- Apache (1954)
- The Frisco Kid (1979)
- Billy the Kid (1930)
- My Little Chickadee (1940)
- Sabata (1969)
- Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
- Saddle in the Wind (1958)
- Old Henry (2021)
- Four Faces West (1948)
- Mystery Road (2013)
- Broken Lance (1954)
- Ten Wanted Men (1955)
- Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde (2013)
- Yahsi Bati – The Ottoman Cowboys (2009)
- Monte Walsh (2003)
- The Electric Horseman (1979)
- The Wind (1928)
- Little Woods (2018)
- Skin Game (1971)
- Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
- The New Land (1972)
- Comes a Horseman (1978)
- Five Fingers for Marseilles (2017)
- The Outlaw (1943)
- The Warrior’s Way (2010)
- A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
- The Oklahoma Kid (1939)
- Red Sun (1971)
- Cheyenne (1947)
- The Last Movie (1971)
- The Virginian (1946)
- Little Big Horn (1951)
- The Great Race (1965)
- American Outlaws (2001)
- The Iron Horse (1924)
- Rawhide (1951)
- Alias Jesse James (1959)
- Death of a Gunfighter (1969)
- Doc (1971)
- Keoma (1976)
- The Nightingale (2018)
- The Hanging Tree (1959)
- Night Passage (1957)
- Buffalo Bill (1944)
- Virginia City (1940)
- Stars in My Crown (1950)
- Bad Bascomb (1946)
- Hearts of the West (1975)
- The Desert Bride (2017)
- Two Rode Together (1961)
- Riders of the Purple Sage (1996)
- Arrowhead (1953)
- Let the Bullets Fly (2010)
- The Last Christeros (2011)
- Bronco Billy (1980)
- Garden of Evil (1954)
- Destry (1954)
- The Vanishing American (1925)
- North West Mounted Police (1940)
- The Secret of Convict Lake (1951)
- The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)
- Trail of Robin Hood (1950)
- The Sheepman (1958)
- Four of the Apocalypse (1975)
- In a Valley of Violence (2016)
- Stagecoach (1966)
- Arizona (1940)
- Ramrod (1947)
- Riders of Destiny (1933)
- Bomb City (2017)
- Tears of the Black Tiger (2000)
- Bite the Bullet (1975)
- Dead Birds (2004)
- The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
- Bandolero! (1968)
- Junior Bonner (1972)
- The Return of Frank James (1940)
- Dark Command (1940)
- The Phantom Empire (1935)
- The Spoilers (1942)
- No Name on the Bullet (1959)
- Western Union (1941)
- The Kentuckian (1955)
- Belle of the Nineties (1934)
- The Furies (1950)
- Wild Bill (1995)
- The Spoilers (1930)
- Posse (1975)
- Silver River (1948)
- Fighting Caravans (1931)
- Jane Got a Gun (2015)
- River of No Return (1954)
- Secrets (1933)
- Badman’s Territory (1946)
- Seraphim Falls (2006)
- Wild Wild West (1999)
- Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
- Lawman (1971)
- Davy Crockett and The River Pirates (1956)
- The Texans (1938)
- Gunsmoke (1953)
- Valdez Is Coming (1971)
- The Appaloosa (1966)
- Breakheart Pass (1975)
- Go West (1940)
- Rocky Mountain (1950)
- Crossfire Trail (2001)
- Go West (1925)
- Return to Lonesome Dove (1993)
- Springfield Rifle (1952)
- Last Stand at Saber River (1997)
- The Lone Ranger (1956)
- The Indian Fighter (1955)
- The Squaw Man (1914)
- Devil’s Doorway (1950)
- They Came to Cordura (1959)
- Cold Mountain (2003)
- Jubal (1956)
- Frontier Marshal (1939)
- The Last Hunt (1956)
- North and South (1985)
- The Last Wagon (1956)
- Conagher (1991)
- The Bravados (1958)
- Hell’s Heroes (1929)
- Johnny Concho (1956)
- The White Buffalo (1977)
- 5 Card Stud (1968)
- The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968)
- The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958)
- The Moonlighter (1953)
- The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
- Thunderheart (1992)
- Man With the Gun (1955)
- The Cimarron Kid (1952)
- Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)
- The Man from the Alamo (1953)
- Firecreek (1968)
- Distant Drums (1951)
- Goin’ South (1978)
- Dakota (1945)
- Man in the Saddle (1951)
- Houston: The Legend of Texas (1986)
- The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959)
- Annie Oakley (1935)
- Comanche Station (1960)
- Lightning Jack (1994)
- The Wonderful Country (1959)
- Tex (1982)
- The Virginian (1914)
- Last Man Standing (1996)
- The Duel at Silver Creek (1952)
- The Squaw Man (1918)
- Valley of the Sun (1942)
- The Desperadoes (1943)
- Hour of the Gun (1967)
- The Hallelujah Trail (1965)
- Three Amigos (1986)
- The Cowboy Way (1994)
- The Law and Jake Wade (1958)
- The Rounders (1965)
- The Nevadan (1950)
- Waterhole #3 (1967)
- Calamity Jane (1953)
- Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
- Texas (1941)
- The Squaw Man (1931)
- Rangers of Fortune (1940)
- Charro! (1969)
- Bad Lands (1939)
- Santa Fe (1951)
- Brimstone (2016)
- The Outrage (1964)
- The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
- The Way West (1967)
- Frontera (1980)
- A Lawless Street (1955)
- The Iron Mistress (1952)
- The Charge at Feather River (1953)
- Gunfight at Comanche Creek (1963)
- The Man from Monterey (1933)
- Navajo Joe (1966)
- The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)
- Trooper Hook (1957)
- Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979)
- The Tall Stranger (1957)
- The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
- The Spoilers (1942)
- Hangman’s Knot (1952)
- Pony Express (1953)
- Alvarez Kelly (1966)
- Nevada (1944)
- A Gunfight (1971)
- Sweetwater (2013)
- Rustlers’ Rhapsody (1985)
- Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
- Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
- Fort Worth (1951)
- 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
- Bad Girls (1994)
- Colt 45 (1950)
- Cattle Drive (1951)
- Westward Ho (1935)
- Young Billy Young (1969)
- Ride Him, Cowboy (1932)
- San Antonio (1945)
- Border River (1954)
- Shalako (1968)
- The Lonely Trail (1936)
- Journey to Shiloh (1968)
- The Quick Gun (1964)
