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| The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) ranked best Western of all time |
Welcome to our Reel
Fives pre-launch movie rankings for the
best Western movies of all time. After an extensive online search we found 96
published rankings for Westerns, Reel Fives has taken all of those rankings and
aggregated them into definitive rankings for the top 89 Western movies of all
time. For each ranked list of top movies for the Western film genre we found
online, we have taken the top five ranked western films. The original sources
of rankings on top Westerns are included at the bottom of this post and include
rankings created by movie experts as well as Western movie rankings from
polling sites, such as ranker.com.
Westerns find excitement in the
unruly wild, wild West. Instead of car chases, Western films use horses and
duels. An outlaw, a bounty hunter, and a confederate soldier reluctantly stick
together in a hunt for gold in the all-time best Western film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
The film captures everything great about Westerns: a shootout, a game of cat
and mouse, and strong lead characters whose motivations are morally ambiguous.
John Wayne stars as Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956), ranked second. In a classic cowboys versus
Indians plotline, Edwards must rescue his niece from an Indian tribe while
working with his biracial nephew Martin (Jeffery Hunter). Ms. McBain (Claudia
Cardinale) arrives to Utah from New Orleans expecting to join her family,
instead she finds them dead in Once Upon
a Time in the West (1968), ranked third. A stranger known as Harmonica
(Charles Bronson) decides to protect her and extract revenge. This movie shows
another theme illustrated in Westerns: men protecting women from danger. In Westerns, women
need men to rescue and protect them from bandits and outlaws alike.
Many Western movies share similar
plotlines in that they take place somewhere out west, the characters are either after or
running away from someone, people are (or planned) to be shot, and there is a
sidekick to the hero. While this formula can appear to be static, it is not, because when a Western is done well, the formula is hardly noticed. High Noon (1952), ranked fifth, uses
some of the above formula and since it won four Oscars for Best Lead Actor
(Gary Cooper), Best Film Editing, Best Music (Original Song), and Best Music
(Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture), it worked well. Marshal Will Kane
(Cooper) just married Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), but he must leave his wife to
confront Frank Miller (Ian McDonald), a killer he put into prison and who has
been released. The town turns against him, leaving Kane to defend himself. In Shane (1953), ranked sixth, Shane (Alan
Ladd) wants to settle, but other ranchers have a different idea. Shane has to
fight them off in order to start his new life out west. The film also won one
Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color. Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), ranked seventh, won four Oscars, including Best Writing and Best Cinematography. Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and
the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) team together to rob trains, but they cannot
run from the law forever. They get driven out of the west, so they head south
to escape prison. These films demonstrate the wonderful simplicity of perfecting
a singular theme. While Westerns tell similar stories, they also know how to
keep reinventing their plots to keep audiences coming back.
The rankings pay homage to the
classics. Westerns, unlike other genres, are an older, more well defined genre.
Westerns did not require the newest technology and that is why the film
industry produced so many of them. They were easy to make and the story lines
had to be tinkered with just enough to make them different. The films are
nostalgic and we like that because that is the genre. In a time where anyone
can Google anyone else, Westerns represent a time where one could reinvent
oneself and become somebody totally different. Men horse backing in an open
dessert or a classic duel between the hero and bad guy, where good will always
prevail, Westerns are welcomed nostalgia. We do like that the genre is still going
strong. Films such as True Grit (2010),
ranked eighth, and Django Unchained (2012),
ranked twelfth, continue to push the genre forward while still paying homage to
the classic films before them.
| Top 89 Westerns based on 96 published rankings | |
| Percent of online top fives movies appear in shown | |
| 1 . The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966): 51.0% | |
| 2 . The Searchers (1956): 38.5% | |
| 3 . Once Upon a Time in the West (1968): 34.3% | |
| 4 . Unforgiven (1992): 34.3% | |
| 5 . High Noon (1952): 32.2% | |
| 6 . Shane (1953): 19.7% | |
| 7 . Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): 18.7% | |
| 8 . True Grit (2010): 13.5% | |
| 9 . The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948): 11.4% | |
| 10 . For a Few Dollars More (1965): 11.4% | |
| 11 . Dances with Wolves (1990): 10.4% | |
| 12 . Django Unchained (2012): 10.4% | |
| 13 . The Magnificent Seven (1960): 10.4% | |
| 14 . Red River (1948): 10.4% | |
| 15 . The Wild Bunch (1969): 10.4% | |
| 16 . Tombstone (1993): 9.37% | |
| 17 . The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962): 8.33% | |
| 18 . The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976): 8.33% | |
| 19 . Stagecoach (1939): 7.29% | |
| 20 . The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007): 7.29% | |
| 21 . A Fistful of Dollars (1964): 7.29% | |
| 22 (tied). Rango (2011): 7.29% | |
| 22 (tied). 3:10 to Yuma (1957): 7.29% | |
| 24 . High Plains Drifter (1973): 5.20% | |
| 25 . McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971): 5.20% | |
| 26 . No Country for Old Men (2007): 5.20% | |
| 27 . Blazing Saddles (1974): 5.20% | |
| 28 . Lonesome Dove (1989): 4.16% | |
| 29 . Django (1966): 4.16% | |
| 30 . The Great Silence (1968): 4.16% | |
| 31 . Open Range (2003): 4.16% | |
| 32 . Brokeback Mountain (2005): 3.12% | |
| 33 . Rio Bravo (1959): 3.12% | |
| 34 . Bone Tomahawk (2015): 3.12% | |
| 35 . My Darling Clementine (1946): 3.12% | |
| 36 . Destry Rides Again (1939): 2.08% | |
| 37 (tied). Little Big Man (1970): 2.08% | |
| 37 (tied). The Revenant (2015): 2.08% | |
| 39 (tied). The Proposition (2005): 2.08% | |
| 39 (tied). Dead Man (1995): 2.08% | |
| 39 (tied). Rio Grande (1950): 2.08% | |
| 39 (tied). The Hateful Eight (2015): 2.08% | |
| 43 . Back to the Future Part III (1990): 2.08% | |
| 44 (tied). A Bullet for the General (1966): 2.08% | |
| 44 (tied). Duel in the Sun (1946): 2.08% | |
| 46 . The Wind (1928): 2.08% | |
| 47 . Virginia City (1940): 2.08% | |
| 48 (tied). The Comancheros (1961): 1.04% | |
| 48 (tied). Massacre Time (1966): 1.04% | |
| 48 (tied). Toy Story 3 (2010): 1.04% | |
| 48 (tied). The Great Train Robbery (1903): 1.04% | |
| 48 (tied). The Big Sky (1952): 1.04% | |
| 48 (tied). Appaloosa (2008): 1.04% | |
| 54 (tied). The Squaw Man (1914): 1.04% | |
| 54 (tied). Pure Country (1992): 1.04% | |
| 54 (tied). Requiescant (1967): 1.04% | |
| 54 (tied). El Dorado (1966): 1.04% | |
| 54 (tied). Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973): 1.04% | |
| 59 (tied). Straight Shooting (1917): 1.04% | |
| 59 (tied). A Thunder of Drums (1961): 1.04% | |
| 59 (tied). The Big Gundown (1966): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Meek's Cutoff (2011): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). The Mercenary (1968): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Face To Face (1967): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Shanghai Noon (2000): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Winchester '73 (1950): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Forty Guns (1957): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Companeros (1970): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Riders of the Purple Sage (1918): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Broken Trail (2006): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). The Ox-Bow Incident (1943): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Ride the High Country (1962): 1.04% | |
| 62 (tied). Winter's Bone (2010): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). 8 Seconds (1994): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Tears of the Black Bear (2000): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). The Quick and the Dead (1995): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Day Of The Outlaw (1959): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). True Grit (1969): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Duck, You Sucker (1971): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Shoot The Living, Pray For The Dead (1971): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Wild Wild West (1999): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). El Topo (1970): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). A Fistful of Dynamite (1971): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). The Iron Horse (1924): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Pale Rider (1985): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Ride Lonesome (1959): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). Quigley Down Under (1990): 1.04% | |
| 75 (tied). The Ridiculous 6 (2015): 1.04% | |
| Western Movie Ranking Sources | |
| Rotten Tomatoes | List of top 100 (link) |
| Stuff | List of top 25 (link) |
| IMDb | List of top 492 (link) |
| Most Wanted Western Movies | List of top 20 (link) |
| The Guardian | List of top 10 (link) |
| Ranker | List of top 276 (link) |
| Time Out | List of top 50 (link) |
| American Cowboy | List of top 100 (link) |
| Gayot | List of top 10 (link) |
| Film School WTF | List of top 100 (link) |
| Good Movies List | List of top 50 (link) |
| Movie Fone | List of top 57 (link) |
| Entertainment Weekly | List of top 25 (link) |
| We Got This Covered | List of top 10 (link) |
| IGN | List of top 25 (link) |
| AZ Central | List of top 10 (link) |
| Mrqe | List of top 45 (link) |
| Film Crave | List of top 10 (link) |
| List Challenges | List of top 43 (link) |
| News Max | List of top 7 (link) |
| Cheat Sheet | List of top 5 (link) |
| The Spaghetti Western Database | List of top 20 (link) |
| The Top Tens | List of top 10 (link) |
| Mubi | List of top 48 (link) |
| Screen Rant | List of top 15 (link) |
| Hollywood | List of top 20 (link) |
| Reelz | List of top 10 (link) |
| Movie-Film-Review | List of top 100 (link) |
| AFI'S 10 Top 10 | List of top 10 (link) |
| Reel Good | List of top 10 (link) |
| Taste Of Cinema | List of top 30 (link) |
| Games Radar | List of top 50 (link) |
| Joblo | List of top 10 (link) |
| IMDb | List of top 100 (link) |
| Execupundit | List of top 10 (link) |
| Most Wanted Western Movies | List of top 20 (link) |
| Mud Mosh | List of top 10 (link) |
| Trakt | List of top 8 (link) |
| Film Vandaag | List of top 100 (link) |
| AlloCine | List of top 195 (link) |
| Sky | List of top 100 (link) |
| InfoPlease | List of top 10 (link) |
| List Challenges | List of top 164 (link) |
| PopVortex | List of top 50 (link) |
| Box Office Mojo | List of top 82 (link) |
| Ebay | List of top 10 (link) |
| Movie Mail | List of top 10 (link) |
| Canada | List of top 10 (link) |
| The Book Bag | List of top 5 (link) |
| Top Twenty Lists | List of top 20 (link) |
| IMDb | List of top 7705 (link) |
| Cascity | List of top 100 (link) |
| Letterboxd | List of top 10 (link) |
| Knoowy | List of top 25 (link) |
| Hollywood | List of top 25 (link) |
| Greatest Movies | List of top 10 (link) |
| Listology | List of top 100 (link) |
| Ranker | List of top 37 (link) |
| Digital Dream Door | List of top 100 (link) |
| Listal | List of top 100 (link) |
| Augustus Worth | List of top 7 (link) |
| Mubi | List of top 20 (link) |
| Behind The Blue | List of top 5 (link) |
| What Culture | List of top 20 (link) |
| Alle 10 Lijstjes | List of top 10 (link) |
| News Day | List of top 10 (link) |
| Western Films | List of top 10 (link) |
| Virgin Media | List of top 10 (link) |
| Listal | List of top 10 (link) |
| Games Radar | List of top 50 (link) |
| Buzzle | List of top 5 (link) |
| I Check Movies | List of top 500 (link) |
| Screen Junkies | List of top 10 (link) |
| A Cowboy's Life | List of top 10 (link) |
| Fistful-Of-Leone | List of top 100 (link) |
| IMDb | List of top 20 (link) |
| The Film Box | List of top 10 (link) |
| About Entertainment | List of top 10 (link) |
| The Cinemaholic | List of top 10 (link) |
| Movies.MMGN | List of top 10 (link) |
| Top For | List of top 10 (link) |
| Film School Hooligans | List of top 10 (link) |
| Top-10-List | List of top 10 (link) |
| Tellwut | List of top 10 (link) |
| Movie Top 10 | List of top 10 (link) |
| Alans kitchen | List of top 100 (link) |
| Yo Expert | List of top 10 (link) |
| Letterboxd | List of top 20 (link) |
| Listal | List of top 5 (link) |
| Help Hair | List of top 7 (link) |
| Chad Chandler | List of top 10 (link) |
| Fluxli | List of top 17 (link) |
| Fluxli | List of top 37 (link) |
| Fluxli | List of top 22 (link) |
| Fluxli | List of top 15 (link) |
| Rusty Bee | List of top 5 (link) |
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