A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

[7] Clint Eastwood catapulted to fame after starring in this low-budget Italian western (an unofficial remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo) about a wandering gunfighter who rides his mule into a ramshackle town on the U.S./Mexico border looking to make a quick buck.…
San Antonio (1945)

San Antonio (1945)

[6] In this Technicolor western, Errol Flynn courts a dance hall performer (Gentleman Jim's Alexis Smith) while trying to prove her boss (Paul Kelly) has been stealing and selling other men's cattle. San Antonio is a beautiful but unusual studio western, favoring…
Santa Fe Trail (1940)

Santa Fe Trail (1940)

[5] Errol Flynn's third western casts him as dutiful West Point cadet Jeb Stuart, sent to Kansas to quell an abolitionist rebellion led by the pious John Brown (Raymond Massey). The film pairs Flynn with future president Ronald Reagan as a grinning…
How the West Was Won (1962)

How the West Was Won (1962)

[8] Debbie Reynolds and George Peppard get the lion's share of screen time in the all-star epic western How the West Was Won. The film chronicles the Prescott family as they charge west in the 1830s, encountering river pirates, deadly rapids, Civil…
Young Guns (1988)

Young Guns (1988)

[5] Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, and Lou Diamond Phillips lead an ensemble cast in this film based loosely on the life of William H. Bonney, aka 'Billy the Kid'. Billy (Estevez) is an aimless street kid in 1870s New Mexico when he's…
Blazing Saddles (1974)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

[8] Co-writer/director Mel Brooks (High Anxiety, Robin Hood: Men in Tights) picks at the scab of American racism during the post-Civil Rights Movement to tremendously comedic effect with the Western parody Blazing Saddles. When a small frontier town stands in the way…
Union Pacific (1939)

Union Pacific (1939)

[8] Director Cecil B. DeMille sets a love triangle against America's efforts to create the trans-continental railroad in Union Pacific. Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity) gets top billing as the Irish daughter of the engineer in charge of building the railroad. She falls…
Maverick (1994)

Maverick (1994)

[8] This comedic western from director Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, The Goonies) succeeds largely on the charm of stars Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner, as well as a clever script by William Goldman (The Ghost and the Darkness, Butch Cassidy…
Wild Rovers (1971)

Wild Rovers (1971)

[5] William Holden and Ryan O'Neal co-star as Montana ranch hands who rob a bank and flee to Mexico in this leisurely-paced 'hangout' western from writer/director Blake Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Victor/Victoria). Holden plays the elder cowboy who wonders how he'll get…
Tombstone (1993)

Tombstone (1993)

[7] Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer lead an all-star ensemble in this true story of 1881's infamous showdown between reluctant lawmen and a gang of criminal cowboys previously depicted in 1957's Gunfight at the OK Corral and told again in 1994's Wyatt…