In every decade since the inception of cinema, Westerns have been a staple for moviegoers, consistently undergoing new evolutions and sometimes entire regenerations. With every decade has come a new genre-defining addition to the Western canon, which began with simple, short black-and-white pictures at the end of the 19th century, experienced revolutionary upheaval in the 1960s due to Italian innovation, and has seen recent remodelling with popular neo-Western films. Throughout these changes have been constant thematic, artistic, and narrative traits that define what it means to be a Western – timeless messages about violence and greed that transcend eras and ensure that the genre is relatable for all audiences.
Westerns have ascended many legendary filmmakers and actors to stardom, whilst also having a remarkable track record for excellent adaptations from the genre’s eclectic literary oeuvre. Though some decades have seen greater success for the category than others (acclaimed 21st-century Westerns have been much less abundant than ones from the 1960s, for example) each has had its own irable offering. With that said, here is the best Western film from every decade since the dawn of moviemaking.
1 1890s & 1900s: The Great Train Robbery (dir. Edwin S. Porter)
There is only one remaining Western film created before the turn of the 20th century, British short film Kidnapping by Indians (1899), and it surely deserves an honorable mention on this list. However, for its historical significance and innovative use of film techniques, The Great Train Robbery (1903) remains the greatest of the two decades. Directed by filmmaking pioneer Edwin S. Porter, The Great Train Robbery is generally acknowledged as being the first narrative film to successfully establish continuity of action between noncontinuous shots, and follows a posse’s capture of violent bandits. Its success at the time led to the establishment of permanent nickelodeons, which would later evolve into modern movie theaters.
2 1910s: Hell’s Hinges (dir. Charles Swickard)
Set in the wayward titular town, Hell’s Hinges (1916) tells the story of the meek Reverend Robert Henley and his sister Faith as they suffer the slings and arrows of frontier life, which is, as ever, filled with treacherous saloonkeepers, notorious gunslingers, and falls from grace. An entire village was built and then razed by flame for the film’s climax, which propelled Hell’s Hinges to critical acclaim and notoriety. Known also for ascending William S. Hart (already 50 by the time of his feature film debut) to the biggest star in the genre, outlaw Blaze Tracy is noted for being neither irredeemable nor pure-hearted, an aspect prevalent in many future contributions to the Western canon.
3 1920s: Greed (dir. Erich von Stroheim)
Erich von Stroheim’s silent psychological Western Greed (1924) – whose first (and now lost forever) cut was 9 hours long, cut down from 85 hours of original footage – was a film so extravagantly made that it redefined what cinema could do. The story follows the misfortunes of lottery-winning Trina (Zasu Pitts) as she is caught up in a malevolent love triangle pervaded by jealousy and ambition. Though the story of the film’s production is perhaps more infamous than the by-the-numbers plot is memorable, Greed certainly remains a masterpiece of filmmaking, often regarded as Stroheim’s greatest achievement, and contrasted the Roaring ‘20s with a bleak introspection on poverty that was nuanced for the time.
4 1930s: Stagecoach (dir. John Ford)
One of two John Ford pictures to make it onto this list, Stagecoach (1939) is a transcendent adaptation of an Ernest Haycox short story, following a group of eclectic strangers traveling through dangerous Apache territory. It’s credited with providing John Wayne his breakout Western movie role, sparking a career that will be forever coupled with the genre. Tense right the way through but contrasted by sumptuous vistas of Monument Valley and the New Mexico plains, The Searchers is generally seen as the first ‘adult’ Western and brought about a new era for the genre. However, its simplistic and racist portrayal of Native Americans has rightly been criticized by more contemporary audiences.
5 1940s: The Ox-Bow Incident (dir. William A. Wellman)
Based on Walter Van Tilburg Clark of the same name, William Wellman’s The Ox-Bow Incident starring Henry Fonda is a nuanced, devastating perusal of revenge and mob (posse) mentality. Charting a small town’s pursuit of alleged rustlers and murderers, this relatively violent-light film is unapologetic in its damning assessment of the effects of lawlessness and pride. Clint Eastwood’s favorite Western of all time, The Ox-Bow Incident remains a masterful contemplation of man’s brutality and determination to see punishment through – even if unjust. It’s a timeless story that treads numerous delicate waters, including toxic masculinity, fatherhood, and the presumption of innocence principle.
6 1950s: The Searchers (dir. John Ford)
Often regarded as the best classical Western of all time, John Ford’s magnum opus The Searchers (1956) is a grand, sweeping tapestry straight out of the golden era of Hollywood. It details John Wayne’s Ethan as he seeks to find the two young daughters of a Texan homesteader after their kidnapping by Comanches. On his Homeric odyssey, Ethan’s motivations slowly evolve into racist, murderous ones, all portrayed exquisitely by Wayne in his greatest-ever performance. With narrative influences going back all the way to the very first Western, Kidnapping by Indians (1899), The Searchers encomes all that is beloved about the genre, while the poignancy of the final shot can never be overstated.
7 1960s: Django (dir. Sergio Corbucci)
The ‘60s was arguably the Western genre’s greatest decade, with the emergence of the Italian (Spaghetti) Western spearheaded by legendary filmmakers Sergio Corbucci and Sergio Leone. The former’s Django (1966), which gave Franco Nero his breakthrough role as the titular anti-hero, could easily have been beaten by any one of the Dollars and Once Upon a Time trilogies. However, Corbucci’s answer to Leone’s groundbreaking spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars (1964) upped the ante with a refined, bloody mosaic that only an auteur could hope to create. Spawning over thirty unofficial sequels in the decades to come, Django’s legacy is undoubtedly colossal, and it ought to be in the conversation for the greatest Western of all time.
8 1970s: Duck, You Sucker! / A Fistful of Dynamite / Once Upon a Time… the Revolution (dir. Sergio Leone)
Sergio Leone’s successes continued through the 1970s with the continuation of his Once Upon A Time trilogy, which began in 1968 with the critically acclaimed Once Upon a Time In the West. Duck, You Sucker! (1971) was the second installment and has been much overlooked by contemporary audiences, not least because it is chronologically sandwiched between West and Once Upon a Time in New York. With a typically towering score by Ennio Morricone (although it borders on the bizarre at times), Duck, You Sucker! never strays too far from the formula that made the Dollars trilogy so popular but still manages to evolve the genre to help audiences get past what Leone saw as Western fatigue.
9 1980s: Lonesome Dove (dir. Simon Wincer)
https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/lonesome-dove
Oft-overlooked and wrongly so, Lonesome Dove was a four-part miniseries developed by CBS and played over the course of four consecutive nights in 1989. Loyally based on Larry McMurtry’s sprawling 850-page novel of the same name, the story follows the of the Hat Creek Cattle Company as they bravely drive a herd from Texas to Montana. It’s an odyssey brought to life by some of the best chemistry ever put to film as Robert Duvall’s spirited Gus and Tommy Lee Jones’ taciturn Woodrow Call playfully butt heads, and though the adventure is mired by loss and violent tragedy, the bittersweet conclusion best encapsulates what a Western ought to be.
10 1990s: Unforgiven (dir. Clint Eastwood)
Having grown tired of his apparent typecasting as a gunslinger by the early 1990s, Clint Eastwood decided that Unforgiven (1992), directed by and starring himself, would be his last venture into the Western genre. Using David Webb Peoples’ original screenplay, Eastwood created a paragon of thematic resonance that earned him Academy Awards for Picture and Director. Following the gradual relapses of a retired and sober outlaw, Unforgiven epitomizes the many strengths of the Revisionist Western by underlining that a man’s survival and aging do not constitute virtuousness. Though comparisons to Homer’s Iliad are well-trodden, Achilles and Eastwood’s Will Munny’s respective reluctance to accept violent destinies give Unforgiven the mythic quality it deserves.
