The List of Greatest Westerns, by Decade
They aren’t all equally great. Those with their titles indented are great, but perhaps slightly less so than the others. “MfTV” means “Made for Television,” which two of these were. You can find most of these titles on Amazon: great westerns since the ’70s, great westerns ’60s and earlier
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If you’re looking for a shorter list, check near the bottom for the 13 very greatest westerns. And for 13 westerns to watch first if you’re new to westerns generally. There’s some overlap, but they’re not exactly the same thing.
2010s
True Grit—Bridges, Steinfeld, Damon (2010; Dir: Coen, Coen)
2000s
3:10 to Yuma—Bale, Crowe (2007; Dir: Mangold)
Broken Trail—Duvall, Church (MfTV; 2006; Dir: W. Hill)
Open Range—Duvall, Costner, Bening (2003; Dir: Costner)
The Missing—Jones, Blanchett (2003; Dir: Howard)

Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Jones in The Missing.
1990s
Lone Star—Cooper, McConaughey, Kristofferson, Pena, Morton (1996; Dir: Sayles)
Last of the Dogmen—Berenger, Hershey (1995; Dir: Murphy)
Tombstone—Russell, Kilmer, Elliot (1993; Dir: Cosmatos)
Last of the Mohicans—Day-Lewis, Stowe (1992; Dir: M. Mann)
Unforgiven—Eastwood, Freeman, Hackman (1992; Dir: Eastwood)
A Thousand Pieces of Gold—Cooper, Chao (1991; Dir: Kelly)
Dances With Wolves—Costner (1990; Dir: Costner)
Quigley Down Under—Selleck, Rickman (1990; Dir: Wincer)

Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
1980s
Lonesome Dove—Duvall, Jones, Cooper (MfTV; 1989; Dir: Wincer)
Pale Rider—Eastwood (1985; Dir: Eastwood)
Silverado—Kline, Costner, Glenn, Glover (1985; Dir: Kasdan)
The Grey Fox—Farnsworth (1983; Dir: Borsos; no DVD)
The Man From Snowy River—Burlinson, Douglas (1982; Dir: Miller)
The Long Riders—Keach, Carradine, Guest, Quaid (1980; Dir: W. Hill)

Richard Farnsworth as Bill Miner in The Grey Fox–probably the greatest western not currently available on DVD.
1970s
The Shootist—Wayne, Bacall, Howard, Stewart, Boone (1976; Dir: Siegel)
The Outlaw Josey Wales—Eastwood, Bottoms, George (1976; Dir: Eastwood)
The Cowboys—Wayne, Browne, Dern (1972; Dir: Rydell)
Jeremiah Johnson—Redford, Geer (1972; Dir: Pollack)
Valdez Is Coming—Lancaster (1971; Dir: Sherin; the version currently on DVD is said to be missing scenes)

Roscoe Lee Browne as Jebediah Nightlinger in The Cowboys.
1960s
The Wild Bunch—Holden, Ryan, Borgnine, Oates (1969; Dir: Peckinpah)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid—Newman, Redford (1969; Dir: G.R. Hill)
True Grit—Wayne, Campbell, Darby (Duvall) (1969; Dir: Hathaway)
Support Your Local Sheriff—Garner, Elam, Hackett (1969; Dir: Kennedy)
Hour of the Gun—Garner, Robards (1967; Dir: Sturges)
The Professionals—Marvin, Lancaster, Cardinale (1966; Dir: Brooks)
Duel at Diablo—Garner, Poitier, Travers, Andersson (1966; Dir: Nelson)
Cat Ballou—J. Fonda, Marvin (1965; Dir: Silverstein)
The Hallelujah Trail—Lancaster, Remick (1965; Dir: Sturges)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—Wayne, Stewart, Marvin (1962; Dir: Ford)
Ride the High Country—McCrea, Scott (1962; Dir: Peckinpah)
The Magnificent Seven—Brynner, McQueen (1960; Dir: Sturges)
North to Alaska—Wayne, Granger, Kovacs (1960; Dir: Hathaway)

Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
1950s
Rio Bravo—Wayne, Martin, Nelson (1959; Dir: Hawks)
Comanche Station—Scott, Akins, Gates (1959; Dir: Boetticher)
The Tin Star—Fonda, Perkins (1957; Dir: Mann)
Seven Men from Now—Scott, Marvin, Russell (1956; Dir: Boetticher)
The Searchers—Wayne, Hunter (1956; Dir: Ford)
The Man from Laramie—Stewart (1955; Dir: Mann)
The Far Country—Stewart, Brennan, Roman (1955; Dir: Mann)
The Naked Spur—Stewart, Ryan, Leigh (1953; Dir: Mann)
Shane—Ladd, Heflin, Palance (1953; Dir: Stevens)
Hondo—Wayne, Page (1953; Dir: Farrow)
High Noon—Cooper, Kelly (1952; Dir: Zinneman)
Winchester ’73—Stewart, Winters (1950; Dir: Mann)
Rio Grande—Wayne, O’Hara (1950; Dir: Ford)

John Wayne as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers.
1940s
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon—Wayne (1949; Dir: Ford)
Red River—Wayne, Clift (1948; Dir: Hawks)
Fort Apache—Wayne, Fonda, Temple (1948; Dir: Ford)
My Darling Clementine—Fonda, Mature, Darnell (1946; Dir: Ford)
The Ox-Bow Incident—Fonda, Andrews, Morgan (1943; Dir: Wellman)
Stagecoach—Wayne, Trevor (1939; Dir: Ford)

Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine.
Earlier
The Big Trail—Wayne (1930; Dir: Walsh)
Cimarron—Dix, Dunne (1931; Dir: Ruggles, Ising) Won the Oscar for Best Picture, the first western to do so. That’s the only reason it appears on this list.
Last of the Mohicans—Scott, Barnes (1936; Dir: Seitz)
The Plainsman–Cooper, Arthur (1936; Dir: DeMille)
The Virginian—Cooper, Huston (1929; Dir: Fleming)
Silents
The General (1926; Dir: Keaton)
Three Bad Men (1926; Dir: Ford)
The Great K & A Train Robbery (1926; Dir: Seiler)
Tumbleweeds—Hart (1925; Dir: Baggot)
The Iron Horse (1924; Dir: Ford)
The Covered Wagon (1923)
Mark of Zorro—Fairbanks, Beery (1920; Dir: Niblo)
Hell’s Hinges—Hart (1916; Dir: Swickard)
The Squaw Man—Farnum (1914; Dir: DeMille) Generally considered the movies’ first full-length feature.
The Great Train Robbery (1903; Dir: Porter)
The 13 Greatest Westerns:
This list is somewhat arbitrary, as all such lists are, and gets re-negotiated from time to time. But today, these are the thirteen greatest (not ten, because there were more than ten that couldn’t be left off the list).
3. Shane
4. Red River
5. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
6. Rio Bravo
9. Stagecoach
10. Unforgiven
11. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
13. The Wild Bunch
If You’ve Never Watched Westerns Much (13 for Beginners):
1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
2. Rio Bravo
4. Silverado
5. True Grit (the Original)
7. Shane
8. Stagecoach
9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
11. Last of the Mohicans (1992, but watch the 1936 version too, if you like this story)
12. Support Your Local Sheriff
13. The Searchers or Red River or She Wore a Yellow Ribbon