Best Western Movies of All Time

Last Updated on 10 October 2024

The following list is the Official Definitive List of the 500 best western movies of all time.

I found 38 different ranked lists online of “best western movies of all time” and pulled them all into Excel and merged them all to get this definitive compilation. See my Methodology page for the research process that was used, including links to all 38 lists that were averaged. Below is a checklist you can print to track which ones you’ve seen, followed by the ranked list with links to IMDb.

Greatest-Western-Movies-of-All-Time-Checklist Download

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)