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The Western genre is among the most prominent in film history, as it was quintessential within the definition of American culture during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Early Westerns served as the perfect form of populist entertainment, as it featured easily recognizable heroes, loathsome villains, and a great sense of adventure and suspense. However, the rise of the New Hollywood era in the 1970s changed the scope of the Westerns, as many darker films that inverted expectations were able to succeed.
Westerns are not quite as popular today as they once were, as the best Western stories tend to be told on great television shows like Justified, Westworld, Outer Range, The English, and Deadwood among many others. However, there are certainly many relics from the past that are very worthy of being rediscovered. Here are the ten most overlooked Westerns, ranked.
10 ‘Barbarosa’ (1982)
Directed by Fred Schepisi
Image via Universal Pictures Barbarosa was one of the few Westerns that became popular during the 1980s, as the decade was primarily dominated by science fiction blockbusters like E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, The Empire Strikes Back, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Although its approach to the genre felt quite classical, Barbarosa perfected the “buddy cop” movie formula that would later become popularized by the Lethal Weapon series.
Barbarosa featured a great team up between Willie Nelson and Gary Busey, who had such wildly different sensibilities that any scenes between them were completely electrifying. While Nelson is obviously one of the most beloved country artists of all-time, his great performance in Barbarosa suggests that he really should have tried to be an action star more often, as he has a real sense of screen presence that is undeniable.
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Barbarosa
Release Date February 19, 1982
Director Fred Schepisi
Cast Gary Busey , Willie Nelson , Isela Vega , Gilbert Roland , Danny De La Paz , Alma Martinez , George Voskovec , Sharon Compton , Howland Chamberlain
Runtime 90 minutes
Character(s) Karl Westover , Barbarosa , Josephina , Don Braulio , Eduardo , Juanita , Herman Pahmeyer , Hilda , Emil
Writers William D. Wittliff
Producers Martin Starger
9 ‘Jane Got A Gun’ (2016)
Directed by Gavin O’Connor
Image via The Weinstein Company Jane Got A Gun had a rocky road to get to theaters, as the film was pushed back several times due to the original director Lynne Ramsay dropping out shortly before shooting was scheduled to begin. While Ramsay is certainly a great director who could’ve made an interesting take on the genre, Gavin O’Connor is a seasoned director with a lot of experience making action, and was able to successfully make an exhilarating little thriller.
Jane Got A Gun is as entertaining as it is because of the performances, with Natalie Portman’s role as a defiant frontier woman forced to defend her property being the standout. While Ewan McGregor is often referenced as being one of the most charismatic living actors, he was able to play a genuinely nasty villain in Jane Got A Gun, and the film benefits from his intensity.
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Jane Got A Gun
Release Date December 31, 2015
Runtime 98
Writers Brian Duffield , Anthony Tambakis
8 ‘Buck and the Preacher’ (1972)
Directed by Sidney Poitier
Image via Columbia Pictures Buck and the Preacher was a notable directorial effort from Sidney Poiter, who is often regarded as being one of the greatest actors of all-time. Given that Poitier became the first Black actor to ever win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Lilies of the Field, it is no surprise that the films that he made had the goal of being more representative and diverse than some of the classic Westerns that audiences may have already been familiar with.
Buck and the Preacher is an exhilarating action thriller that also managed to unpack the ugliness of slavery that permeated the American frontier. It is a testament to Poitier’s abilities as a director that he was able to make a largely entertaining film that still succeeded in offering insight about the dark side of America’s past in the West.
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Buck And The Preacher
Release Date April 28, 1972
Runtime 102 Minutes
Main Genre Western
Writers Ernest Kinoy
Studio(s) E & R Productions , Belafonte Enterprises
Distributor(s) Columbia Pictures
7 ‘The World to Come’ (2021)
Directed by Mona Fastvold
Image via Bleecker Street The World to Come was sadly not given the full theatrical rollout that it deserved, as the film was only released in select theaters in February of 2021, when many cinemas were still closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this may have been a way to qualify the film for attention for the Academy Awards, it was sadly overlooked, meaning that for the most part it has been forgotten.
The World To Come is an emotionally devastating look at two couples whose romantic lives intersect during the frontier era, and features terrific performances from Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby, Katherine Waterston, and Christopher Abbott. Some may assume that the Western genre is generally reserved for more socially conservative viewers, but The World To Come examined the growth of LGBTQ relationships, and how they fit into a far more regimented period in America’s cultural and political history.
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The World To Come
Release Date September 6, 2020
Director Mona Fastvold
Runtime 98
Main Genre Drama
6 ‘Lone Wolf McQuade’ (1983)
Directed by Steve Carver
Image via Orion Pictures Lone Wolf McQuade is one of the best movies that Chuck Norris has ever made, as it totally embraced what made him such a unique movie star. Norris can’t exactly be described as a “good” actor, as he doesn’t even have the versatility that made Bruce Willis or Sylvester Stallone such legends of the action genre. That being said, Norris is pretty excellent whenever he gets to show off the extraordinary martial arts skills that he has perfected over the course of his fighting career, and that is exactly what he gets to do in Lone Wolf McQuade.
Lone Wolf McQuade does a great job at applying Western themes to a modern setting. Even though it might be best described as a “guilty pleasure,” Lone Wolf McQuade is so deliciously entertaining that it is hard to not get swept up by its sheer goofiness.
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Lone Wolf McQuade
After helping the local police with some horse thieves, a Texas Ranger aims at a drug lord with arms trade as well. They're interested in the same woman and they're both into martial arts.
Release Date April 15, 1983
Director Steve Carver
Runtime 107 minutes
Writers B.J. Nelson
Studio(s) 1818 Productions , Orion , Top Kick Productions
Distributor(s) Orion Pictures
5 ‘Quigley Down Under’ (1990)
Directed by Simon Wincer
Image via MGM Quigley Down Under is one of the better Australian Westerns ever made, as the country began to see a resurgence in the genre thanks to the groundbreaking success of what George Miller did with the Mad Max franchise. Although he is best known for his roles on iconic television shows like Magnum P.I. and Jesse Stone, Tom Selleck gives one of the best performances of his career in Quigley Goes Down.
Although the film mixes in enough comedy to be routinely entertaining, Quigley Goes Down features a genuinely great villainous performance from Alan Rickman, who wasn’t just trying to imitate his role as Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard. Rickman was just so good at being a genuinely nasty villain with almost no redeeming qualities that Selleck was able to come off as even more heroic in comparison.
4 ‘The Missouri Breaks’ (1976)
Directed by Arthur Penn
Image via United Artists The Missouri Breaks is often referred to as one of the last Westerns of the “New Hollywood” era, as the industry would become more insistent on trying to replicate the blockbuster success of Jaws and Star Wars in the last few years of the 1970s. Ironically, director Arthur Penn was also credited with beginning this era of artistic experimentation when his crime thriller Bonnie & Clyde evoked both criticism and controversy upon its debut in 1967.
The Missouri Breaks may have been a critical and commercial disappointment when it was first released in theaters, but it features some truly extraordinary work from Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando. While some may argue that the film is a little bit too old-fashioned, there’s nothing wrong with “playing the hits” if the craftsmanship and production values are good as they are in The Missouri Breaks.
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The Missouri Breaks
Release Date May 19, 1976
Director Arthur Penn
Runtime 126 Minutes
Main Genre Western
Writers Thomas McGuane , Robert Towne
3 ‘Joe Kidd’ (1972)
Directed by John Sturges
Clint Eastwood in Joe Kidd Joe Kidd was one of the more important Westerns in Clint Eastwood’s career, as he was marketing himself as an American star after collaborating with Sergio Leone on the Italian production of “The Man With No Name” trilogy, which had wrapped up with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly back in 1966. Although John Strugres is much more of a traditionalist filmmaker than Leone, he was still able to take advantage of the unique star power that made Eastwood one of the coolest movie heroes ever.
Joe Kidd doesn’t waste time on explosions, as the film is less than 90 minutes, and almost immediately gets into the action. It’s not an epic like Once Upon A Time in the West or The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but Joe Kidd is a very entertaining little adventure flick with some truly great shootout scenes.
2 ‘The Missing’ (2003)
Directed by Ron Howard
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing The Missing was the first Western that Ron Howard ever directed, which is somewhat surprising considering that he is one of the most versatile directors of all-time. The Missing is certainly one of the darkest films that Howard ever worked on, as it focuses on a lonely gunslinger (Tommy Lee Jones) who comes to aid his daughter (Cate Blanchett) when her children are kidnapped by a band of savages.
The Missing is quite violent, and at times includes some genuinely upsetting moments of body horror. That being said, the film is also a very interesting commentary on the challenges of father-daughter relationships, and the excellent performances by Jones and Blanchett are certainly enough to elevate the material and make it far more engaging on an emotional level. As with all of Howard’s films, The Missing is impeccably well shot and put together.
Release Date November 26, 2003
Runtime 130
Writers Thomas Eidson , Ken Kaufman
Budget $60 Million
Studio(s) Imagine Entertainment
Distributor(s) Columbia Pictures
1 ‘Appaloosa’ (2008)
Directed by Ed Harris
Image via New Line Cinema Appaloosa was a deliberately old-fashioned Western from Ed Harris, who proved himself to be just as talented as a director as he was as an actor. Harris and Viggo Mortensen star as two hired gunslingers who are assigned to protect a small town from a gang of criminals, even though they both begin to fall in love with an enigmatic woman (Renée Zellweger). It’s the rare western that is equally balanced between drama, romance, and action.
Even though the narrative is one that Western fans may already be quite familiar with, Appaloosa has a remarkable attention-to-detail when it comes to building out its world and acknowledging the social stigmas of the frontier era. Harris also has a great sense of pacing and suspense, which makes it only a little bit disappointing that he has not directed more Westerns within the past few years.
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Appaloosa
In the Old West town of Appaloosa, two lawmen, hired to bring order, confront a ruthless rancher who imposes his will on the townspeople. As they uphold the law, complications arise with the arrival of a new woman in town, challenging their partnership and the stability they seek to establish.
Release Date September 19, 2008
Runtime 114 minutes
Main Genre Crime
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