The 10 Most Influential Westerns of All Time, Ranked
Despite being old and ragged, Westerns may be down, but never out. Here are 10 of the most influential movies in the genre, ranked.
Since cinema’s inception, Westerns have been one of Hollywood’s most beloved genres. Despite being a trademark of American films, the genre grew in international popularity in the ’60s, with Europe creating its own versions of the genre known as ‘Spaghetti Westerns’.
Westerns traditionally presented the audience with a wide range of macho gunslingers, traveling the length and breadth of the land on horseback, while braving many unthinkable circumstances. Despite being criticized for working on the same formulaic templates, Westerns changed with the times, branching out into new sub-genres like Neo-Westerns, anti-Westerns, and revisionist Westerns.
Though the genre may not have the same appeal it once did, its influence and cultural relevance is undeniable, as many of the greatest films that were ever made were Westerns, making the genre an integral part of cinema and movie history. Here are some of the most influential Westerns ever made, ranked.
10, Django Unchained (2012)
Aontroversial entry on the list, Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist Western might surprise a lot of readers, but Django Unchained has all the makings of a Western classic. Managing to tell a disturbing tale of slavery and revenge, Tarantino juggles many themes without botching any. Interspersed with moments of humor, heart, and a lot of bloodshed, Django Unchained is a satisfying Western experience with some of the most tense shootouts ever.
9, The Revenant (2015)
An iconic film that saw Leonardo DiCaprio win his first ever Oscar, The Revenant sees him play the role of a legendary frontiersman whose left for dead after a gnarly bear attack. Alejandro Iñarritu’s movie is a raw and brutal visual odyssey depicting one man’s fight against fate, fueled by vengeance and destruction.
8, Once Upon a Time in The West (1968)
When it comes to Sergio Leone’s 1968 classic, the only word suitable to describe the film is epic. A favorite among many of the greatest modern-day filmmakers like Tarantino and Scorsese, Once Upon a Time in the West works on an absurd yet daunting theme, as it follows a mysterious harmonica-playing stranger who protects a widow from a deadly assassin.
Sergio Leone’s classic film pits brain vs brawn, as the handsome Henry Fonda squares up against a rough and ragged Charles Bronson, giving the audience a face off for generations to come.
7, True Grit (2010)
Westerns and vengeance are synonymous. Operating on this notion, True Grit follows a young girl who witnesses her father’s murder and vows to hunt him down by enlisting the help of a veteran U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges).
A modern-day masterpiece by the Coen Brothers’ True Grit takes a realistic, modern-day approach to Westerns, avoiding the trap of romanticizing the period or the genre. Led by a strong cast and stronger performances, the film is a complete Western experience, told with a dash of satire and sentimentalism.
6, The Wild Bunch (1969)
While shootouts and gunfights were always stitched in the fabric of Westerns, Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch took things to another level. One of the early ringers of destruction, Peckinpah’s film ushered in a new wave of bullets and bloodshed, as it followed an aging group of outlaws who want to go out with one last big score. Only problem? They get set up by an enemy, leading to one of the biggest and most brutal battle scenes in movie history.
5, A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
A Fistful of Dollars is the first film in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy
4, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
A quintessential Western constituting of gunfights, morally corrupt outlaws, and gun-wielding bounty hunters, the third and final film of the Dollars Trilogy, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly wasn’t well received during its release, due to the general disapproval of the spaghetti Western genre, but overtime blossomed into a classic in the genre, responsible for catapulting Clint Eastwood to global fame.
3, The Magnificent Seven (1960)
America’s take on Kurosawa’s Japanese epic The Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven lathers a cowboy layer to Kurosawa’s samurai framework, creating an amalgamation of Eastern and Western sensibilities. This cultural exchange saw director John Sturges tread on the same narrative footsteps of Kurosawa, tweaking a few elements from the Japanese masters’ film to make it more palatable to the Western audience.
2, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
While Westerns are predominantly known for their shootouts and violence, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid does a tremendous job at creating interesting characters and giving birth to an iconic on-screen duo that is still remembered and revered in the modern-day climate of films.
Following a train robbery that goes sour, Butch and Sundance are on the run from the law and attempt to escape from America, with the authorities hot on their tail. Set against the backdrop of the barren ’60s, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid perfectly captures what life in the fast lane looked like back during the time of the Westerns.
1, Unforgiven (1992)
Documenting the transition from old to new, Unforgiven explored the happily-ever-after of gunslingers, depicting them as old and endangered. The film represented the genre as an era of the bygone ages, as it followed a widowed hog farmer named William Munny (Clint Eastwood). Living with his two young children at his farm, Munny struggled to make ends meet financially and emotionally. Old but not out, Munny is approached by a young man to carry out one last job in exchange for a lot of money. The job is bringing a corrupt sheriff to justice for brutalizing a sex worker and terrorizing a town.
