Method Actors in Westerns

Even truly serious actors can't resist the pull of the Wild West but which one does cowboy best?

rank title points votes your vote

1 Paul Newman
As The Left-Handed Gun, Newman amiably fills in for James Dean as Billy the Kid. 18 40

2 Marlon Brando
The former sex symbol adds his own outlaw flavor to both The Missouri Breaks and One-Eyed Jacks. 7 31

3 Dustin Hoffman
In Little Big Man, Hoffman becomes a Forrest Gump of the American frontier. 3 35

4 Jack Nicholson
In Monte Hellman's counter-cultural Western, The Shooting, Nicholson rides out on a manhunt through spooky environs. 1 31

5 Dennis Hopper
As the star of the Outback biopic Mad Dog Morgan, Hopper is branded, tortured, and worse. -2 30

6 Warren Beatty
Beatty's shaggy-dog performance in Robert Altman's against-genre McCabe & Mrs. Miller makes the Wild West look new again. -2 34