Greatest Westerns
AMC Movie List

Greatest Westerns

Howdy, pardner. Which cowboy classic deserves top billing?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Rio Bravo
A Howard Hawks Western with the Duke and co-stars Angie Dickinson, Ricky Nelson, and Dean Martin. 2868 8404
2 The Magnificent Seven
In this retelling of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and others team up to protect a small town. 2858 8774
3 Unforgiven
Clint Eastwood's 1992 Oscar winner examines the mythic violence of the Western, taking on the ghosts of his own star past. 2857 9249
4 The Searchers
In this John Ford classic, John Wayne plays a former soldier who goes looking for his kidnapped niece (Natalie Wood). 2850 9440
5 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Fast shooter Clint Eastwood takes on Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef in Sergio Leone's spaghetti-Western stunner. 2847 9681
6 Tombstone
Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer breathe new life into the legend of Wyatt Earp. Bill Paxton and Dana Delany co-star. 2836 9456
7 Red River
John Wayne stars for director Howard Hawks as a fortune-seeking cowboy with nothing left to lose. 2824 7336
8 True Grit
John Wayne wins an Oscar playing grumpy U.S. marshal Rooster Cogburn on a mission to avenge the death of a young girl's father. 2821 9425
9 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
John Wayne and James Stewart pair up for John Ford's exploration of truth played out through the drama of a small-town shooting. 2810 8204
10 Stagecoach
A motley group of passengers, John Wayne and John Carradine among them, travel by train through Apache territory. 2799 7027
11 Shane
A Wyoming range war is elevated to mythic status in George Stevens's drama; Alan Ladd plays the titular drifter. 2776 8566
12 High Noon
The bride (Grace Kelly) of a marshal (Gary Cooper) wants peace; he's determined to protect his town at all costs. 2770 7644
13 The Shootist
On the verge of death, John Wayne's J. B. Books settles old scores and befriends a feisty widow (Lauren Bacall) and son (Ron Howard). 2657 7433
14 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
In the second of John Ford's Cavalry trilogy, John Wayne battles and finally befriends his Arapaho foes. 2529 6977
15 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Witty pals Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) wreak havoc as members of the train-robbing Wall Gang. 2242 7582
16 A Fistful of Dollars
In the first Dollars movie, Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood create the model for countless spaghetti Westerns to come. 1856 7230
17 Dances with Wolves
A Western starring Kevin Costner and set during the Civil War era, the film was Costner's directorial debut. 1805 8015
18 Winchester '73
Lin McAdam (James Stewart) and High Spade (Millard Mitchell) take part in a marksmanship matchup in an effort to win a coveted gun. 1784 6572
19 The Wild Bunch
Sam Peckinpah's revisionist tale finds William Holden and Ernest Borgnine engaging in ferociously violent bloodshed. 742 6526
20 Once Upon a Time in the West
Another Sergio Leone epic (with an Ennio Morricone score), this one stars Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, and Charles Bronson. 690 6972
21 My Darling Clementine
John Ford directs Henry Fonda in one of the most accurate and entertaining depictions of the Wyatt Earp legend. 684 6048
22 Young Guns
Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, and Charlie Sheen are just some of the stars that pack this eighties retelling of Billy the Kid's story. -1760 6774
23 Johnny Guitar
Joan Crawford headlines as a barkeep struggling with a drifter and a rancher. A camp classic. -3825 5745
24 McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Robert Altman puts a new spin on the form, putting Warren Beatty in a frontier of hustlers, opportunists, and corporate sharks. -3966 5814