The good, the bad, and the ugly
| Dances with Wolves (1990) | $347M |
| Unforgiven (1992) | $194M |
| Maverick (1994) | $193M |
| Wild Wild West (1999) | $178M |
| Back to the Future Part III (1990) | $165M |
As long as there have been movies, there have been westerns. Although the genre was common during the silent film era, the period from 1939 through the '60s brought classics from John Ford such as Stagecoach and The Searchers as well as Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy and epic Once Upon a Time in the West. In the decades that followed, Clint Eastwood replaced John Wayne as the face of the Western hero. Acting as well as directing, Eastwood delivered powerful stories with High Plains Drifter and The Outlaw Josey Wales. During the '90s, Kevin Costner seemed poised to revive the western, winning multiple Oscars for Dances with Wolves 72. However, his subsequent westerns, including Wyatt Earp 47, failed to reach such critical and commercial heights.
Filmmakers have used the western both to entertain audiences as well as to comment on society and current events. The story of people struggling to live in an untamed and lawless land is timeless, and while the western may not be as popular today as it was 50 years ago, it's rare when a year goes by without one. This week brings the latest example of the genre: the DC Comics adaptation Jonah Hex, which seems to fall firmly into the entertainment category. Josh Brolin plays a scarred bounty hunter alongside Megan Fox as the requisite prostitute (most likely with a heart of gold). Rumors of reshoots and a lukewarm reaction to the film's trailer don't exactly bode well for Hex, but with a script from the writers of Crank, it's hard to imagine it won't be a wild ride.
Below, we take a look at the best and worst westerns of the last 25 years. Note that we have used a liberal definition of "western," including any film that adheres to traditional western story tropes even if the setting may be outside the American West during the frontier period.
| Movie | Year | Netflix | Metascore | Users | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No Country for Old Men | 2007 | 91 | 6.8 | |
| Setting: U.S.-Mexican Border, 1980 | |||||
| The classic western showdown pitting a sheriff against an unspeakable evil gets the Cormac McCarthy (The Road) treatment and is transformed into a harrowing story of how quickly a life can unravel due to random events. The Coen Brothers' take remains fiercely close to the novel, earning them Oscars for best picture, best direction and best adapted screenplay. Javier Bardem's performance as Anton Chigurh is unflinching and terrifying. |  |
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| Budget: | $25M | U.S. Gross: | $74M | ||
| 2 | Brokeback Mountain | 2005 | 87 | 8.2 | |
| Setting: Wyoming, 1963-83 | |||||
| Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star as two cowboys in a forbidden romance spanning more than 20 years. Ang Lee's solid and understated direction (for which he won an Oscar) compliments the tragic performances from the two leads. In many ways just as much a romance as a western, Brokeback Mountain overcame its art house roots, becoming a commercial hit and multi-award-winner (although it lost the best picture Oscar to Crash in a surprising upset). |  |
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| Budget: | $14M | U.S. Gross: | $83M | ||
| 3 | Unforgiven | 1992 | 82 | 9.3 | |
| Setting: Big Whiskey, Wyoming, 1880 | |||||
| Working from David Webb Peoples' (Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys) brilliant script, Clint Eastwood crafted perhaps his finest western. A critique of the traditional western hero, Unforgiven also acts as a celebration and examination of Eastwood's many different western roles. A critical and commercial smash, Unforgiven shows Eastwood at the top of his game both as a director and an actor. |  |
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| Budget: | n/a | U.S. Gross: | $101M | ||
| 4 | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | 2005 | 77 | 7.8 | |
| Setting: West Texas and Mexico, present day | |||||
| A rancher (Tommy Lee Jones) kidnaps a border patrolman (Barry Pepper) who's killed Melquiades Estrada, a local immigrant. Together, the men take an epic journey through the U.S. and Mexican border to bury Estrada in his original home. Inspired by true events, Jones directed as well as starred in this story of forced redemption, working from a script by Guillermo Arriaga (Babel). |  |
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| Budget: | $15M | U.S. Gross: | $5M | ||
| 5 | Pale Rider | 1985 | n/a | n/a | |
| Setting: California, late 1800s | |||||
| Clint Eastwood returns to his role as a mysterious man who comes to a town's aid, only this time he's also a preacher and his weapon of choice is an axe handle. Another critical hit for Eastwood, Pale Rider plays out as an homage to Shane, and was in contention for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. |  |
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| Budget: | n/a | U.S. Gross: | $41M | ||
| 6 | Shanghai Noon | 2000 | 77 | 7.5 | |
| Setting: Nevada, 1880s | |||||
| Not every western has to be laced with deep themes or a social commentary on America. Sometimes, they can just be about kicking ass and having fun. Full of Jackie Chan's amazing stunt work and Owen Wilson's signature wit, Shanghai Noon was a surprise hit, followed by a sequel (Shanghai Knights 58) in 2003. |  |
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| Budget: | $55M | U.S. Gross: | $57M | ||
| 7 | 3:10 to Yuma | 2007 | 76 | 6.5 | |
| Setting: Arizona, 1870s | |||||
| An action-packed story of the unlikely friendship that develops between a criminal and a man desperate to be a hero, 3:10 to Yuma features solid performances from Christian Bale, Russell Crowe and Ben Foster (Pandorum). A modest success, Yuma is an effective remake of the 1957 adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel. |  |
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| Budget: | $55M | U.S. Gross: | $54M | ||
| 8 | Tombstone | 1993 | n/a | n/a | |
| Setting: Arizona, 1881-82 | |||||
| The story of the Earps and Doc Holliday versus the Clantons gets the full ensemble treatment with a cast including Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Powers Booth. Even with such a crowd, Kilmer steals the entire movie with his engrossing, humorous, and lethal take on Doc Holliday. Released the same year as Kevin Costner's bloated Wyatt Earp, Tombstone became an under the radar success and remains a cult classic. |  |
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| Budget: | $25M | U.S. Gross: | $57M | ||
| 9 | Serenity | 2005 | 74 | 9.2 | |
| Setting: Outer space, early 2500s | |||||
| The setting is outer space and the heroes have space ships rather than horses, but just about everything else in Serenity is a western, down to the dialogue, the clothing and even a (futuristic) post-civil war setting. A hit with the fans of the short-lived TV show Firefly (to which this film was a sequel of sorts), Serenity garnered critical acclaim and demonstrated how many western themes are timeless. |  |
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| Budget: | $39M | U.S. Gross: | $26M | ||
| 10 | The Proposition | 2005 | 73 | 8.4 | |
| Setting: Australian Outback, 1880s | |||||
| One of the best examples of an unromanticized western, The Proposition has no clear hero or villain, just real people living, fighting and dying in a lawless time. John Hillcoat (The Road) directs rocker Nick Cave's script with unflinching bluntness, showing just how unforgiving and raw the west could be (even if this west is in Australia). |  |
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| Budget: | n/a | U.S. Gross: | $2M | ||
| Movie | Year | Netflix | Metascore | Users | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold | 1994 | n/a | n/a | |
| Setting: American Southwest, 1990s | |||||
| Another example of a sequel that exists solely to make money rather than adding to the original, City Slickers II sees Billy Crystal return to the West, this time to find treasure belonging to Curly (Jack Palance). Employing the tired cliché of a twin brother to bring Palance back from the first City Slickers film (a box office hit in 1991), this sequel did little more than retread familiar ground. |  |
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| Budget: | n/a | U.S. Gross: | $44M | ||
| 2 | Wagons East! | 1994 | n/a | n/a | |
| Setting: Western U.S. and territories, 1860s | |||||
| With a tagline of "They came. They saw. They changed their minds," Wagons East's marketing campaign predicted the movie-going public's reaction at theaters. A group of frontier settlers decide the West isn't for them after all, so they hire John Candy to take them back east. Naturally, wackiness ensues. Tragically, Wagons East! was Candy's last film, as he died of heart attack during filming. |  |
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| Budget: | n/a | U.S. Gross: | $4M | ||
| 3 | American Outlaws | 2001 | 25 | 8.5 | |
| Setting: American Midwest, 1860s | |||||
| Casting then up-and-coming Colin Farrell as Jesse James was the first of many missteps in American Outlaws, a lazy retelling of the James legacy. Coming across as little more than a Young Guns clone, the film quickly came and went without making a mark. |  |
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| Budget: | $35M | U.S. Gross: | $13M | ||
| 4 | September Dawn | 2007 | 25 | 4.0 | |
| Setting: Utah, 1857 | |||||
| Jon Voight and Terence Stamp star in this overly dramatized retelling of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, where a wagon train of 120 people was brutally slaughtered. Barely noteworthy for the small amount of controversy it created, September Dawn was trashed by the critics and rejected by the movie going public. |  |
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| Budget: | $11M | U.S. Gross: | $1M | ||
| 5 | The Postman | 1997 | 29 | 5.3 | |
| Setting: Northwestern U.S., 2013 | |||||
| Using a future post-apocalyptic setting as a stand-in for the untamed West, Kevin Costner's The Postman once again tells the story of a flawed hero protecting the innocent from a power-hungry mad man. A self-congratulatory exercise in ego, The Postman is three hours of cliche topped off with a sappy ending. A notorious critical and commercial disaster, The Postman showed that Costner could make something even worse than Waterworld. He fared far better with his more conventional 2003 western Open Range. |  |
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| Budget: | $80M | U.S. Gross: | $18M | ||
What do you think?
What is your favorite recent western? Are you looking forward to Jonah Hex? Let us know in the comments section below.
