Static Media
There’s little point denying that, quantity wise, the western genre’s heyday has long since passed. Their death bells began ringing around the 1960s or so, and while Italy carried them into the 1970s, the writing was on the wall. And yet, each decade since has seen the genre hang on with films hitting both big and small screens.
That trend has continued into the 21st century with new westerns arriving each year, and while some are just as quickly forgotten, others have already marked themselves as new classics. Many tend to earn the label of revisionist western as they engage older tropes with modern sensibilities and critiques, but all of them stand tall in the saddle as must-see westerns.
We’ve previously ranked the best westerns of all time, but keep reading for a look at the 15 best westerns made and released in the 21st century.
15. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One
Warner Bros.
The great American west of 1859 is calling, and all manner of people have answered in the form of a mass migration towards the open range. Some find suffering, some find death, but the lucky ones will struggle towards finding a new place to call home.
Kevin Costner’s love of westerns is well-documented, and “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One” kicks off his probable last hurrah in the genre as director. (His intentions have, unfortunately, outweighed his reality.) We’re still awaiting the release of the already finished second chapter, but this first film remains a grand, gorgeous ode to the best and worst of humanity.
It’s an ensemble cast (Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Michael Rooker, and more) with numerous stories weaving in and around each other, but the common thread is people looking to better their situation. Honor, courage, treachery, violence, love — Costner fills the screen with beauty, carnage, and well-crafted set-pieces leading up to an electrifying teaser of what’s to come.
14. The Hateful Eight
Miramax
A blizzard rages across the Wyoming Territory, and a stagecoach filled with simmering violence arrives at a remote, lightly occupied watering hole. Competing interests, festering greed, and a simple desire for survival will soon leave only death in its combined wake.
Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film was intended to be a novel before he decided to bring it to the screen instead, but even with its single location setting, “The Hateful Eight” delivers a memorable cinematic experience. Its inspirations run the gamut from numerous classic westerns to an unlikely sci-fi masterpiece, and from the blustering whiteout to the shadowy confines of the haberdashery’s great room, the film grabs hold with characters rich in intensity and home to sharp dialogue.
Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, and more bring life to grizzled, layered characters — none of them likable people, but all of them irresistible in their own way — and Tarantino’s script soon brings most of them to death. Past feuds and present secrets, plus a heavy dollop of both misogyny and racism, mean nobody here likes anyone else, and that’s good news for the audience.
13. In a Valley of Violence
Universal Pictures
Paul (Ethan Hawke) and his dog, Abbie, are in a wandering state of mind, and they’ve already found their share of trouble throughout the vast Southwest. It intensifies, though, when they enter the town of Denton, anger the wrong people, and are forced into a truly deadly encounter.
Don’t let his surname fool you, Ti West is a filmmaker best known for working in the horror genre. From “The House of the Devil” and the severely underrated “The Innkeepers,” to his Mia Goth trilogy (“X,” “Pearl,” “Maxxxine”), West has secured his place as a memorable horror director. “In a Valley of Violence” is the sole exception to that rule, and it’s also a damn good western (despite what its place on our West ranking suggests).
Numerous westerns start with the stranger arriving in a town where he’s not welcome, but West manages that familiar terrain with engaging characters and smartly crafted, exciting action beats. Ethan Hawke does great work as Paul, but John Travolta steals the show as a character who’d typically be the villain but finds something slightly adjacent instead.
12. The Salvation
Warner Bros.
Jon (Mads Mikkelsen) and Paul (Michael Raymond-James) are Danish soldiers who arrive in 19th century America hoping to start new lives. Their dreams are quickly interrupted, though, when an encounter with bad men leaves Jon’s family dead in the dust. Armed with weapons, anger, and the skills of a well-trained soldier, Jon sets out to make the bad men pay.
Like the film above, “The Salvation” is a western that enriches its familiar enough narrative framework with some interesting character details and a charismatic cast. Here, it’s Mikkelsen as the emotionally devastated Jon while Jeffrey Dean Morgan imbues the film’s big bad with the expected personality boost.
This is a Danish film, set in America but filmed in South Africa, and those international influences result in more than just the presence of Danish talents like Mikkelsen and director Kristian Levring. There’s a brevity to its running time, and Mikkelsen’s character is more than just a gunfighter. His military skills are utilized in the form of brainy (but deadly) guerrilla tactics adding more than just shootouts. Add in Eva Green and Jonathan Pryce, and you have a memorable 92-minute western.
11. Django Unchained
Columbia Pictures
Django (Jamie Foxx) is doomed to a life of hard slave labor before being freed by a bounty hunter named Schultz (Christoph Waltz) who takes him under his wing and trains him in the way of the gun. The pair set off to find and free Django’s wife, and a lot of people are going to die along the way.
The second of Quentin Tarantino’s three anachronistic epics, “Django Unchained” is a highly entertaining ride despite being the bested by both “Inglourious Basterds” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Tarantino blends blacksploitation with the western to deliver a stylish, action and blood strewn tale of brutal revenge and violent catharsis.
Jamie Foxx infuses Django with an abundance of personality and intensity, a performance that exchanges the grim glee of Franco Nero’s Django — definitely seek out his 1966 film that inspired “Django Unchained” – for a righteously angry aggression. Christoph Waltz’s Schultz balances him out as the calmer, wittier mentor, while Leonardo DiCaprio has the time of his life playing the vilest of villains.
10. The Revenant
20th Century Fox
Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a fur trapper in early 19th century America. He’s witness to the wanton cruelty and destruction of his fellow pioneers, but he does little to combat it. A vicious bear attack, the murder of his son, and betrayal by a fellow trapper changes him, though, and vengeance for all consumes him.
Sure, there may be a little bit of bloat on Alejandro González Iñarritu’s “The Revenant,” but it’s only there to keep everyone from freezing to death. A Midwest winter grips the land in cold, and that life-threatening weather is just one of the dangers facing every character here. Once life’s perilous predicament is established, Iñarritu unleashes an epic tale of revenge with cinematic beauty, chest-thumping emotion, and technical prowess. On that last bit, the film’s production was a grueling endeavor as evidenced by these behind-the-scenes glimpses.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, a man whose privileged comfort gives way to gnarly violence and a hunger for justice, is put through the wringer along the way. Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, and Forrest Goodluck are along for the unrelenting survival journey, while Tom Hardy discovers too late that doing the wrong thing can sometimes, in a just world, be the last thing you do.
9. Rango
Paramount Pictures
A pet chameleon accidentally falls out of his owner’s car on a road trip through the Mojave Desert, and he quickly discovers he’s not quite cut out for the wild life. He heads to the small critter town of Dirt, introduces himself as Rango, and immediately gets caught up in duels, conspiracies, and romance.
Gore Verbinski wanted to relax a bit after finishing his epic “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy, so he decided to make an animated western. “Rango” is a bright, beautifully animated tale that riffs most directly on Sergio Leone’s “Man with No Name” films while also offering up nods to the likes of “Chinatown” and “El Topo.” It’s an homage, but it’s one that combines that love for the classics with a fresh voice, cartoon thrills, and plenty of laughs.
Johnny Depp voices Rango, and he’s bolstered by a supporting cast that includes Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina, Harry Dean Stanton, and more. Timothy Olyphant even makes an “appearance” as, essentially, the wandering spirit of Clint Eastwood’s most famous cowboy. It’s a fun, vibrant time whether or not you catch all the western genre references, and it’s arguably the best film released by Nickelodeon for the big screen.
8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Warner Bros.
Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) wants nothing more than to be a part of Jesse James’ (Brad Pitt) gang. His older brother is already in, and Bob gets there soon enough, but admiration soon withers beneath the weight of jealousy and greed, leading to an act of treachery and cowardice.
The unnecessarily long title makes “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” impossible to spoil, but knowing what happens doesn’t diminish the film in the slightest. Andrew Dominik’s best film is an epic told with an eye for intimacy, humanity, and the small moments in between the highs. It’s a reckoning, of sorts, for the myth of the Old West and the gunfighters who traveled it, and while it bombed in theaters, its greatness remains evident.
Brad Pitt’s James is a somber, melancholic man who has outgrown the world, while Casey Affleck gives a memorably unsettling and sad performance as a little man with the opposite problem. Cinematographer Roger Deakins delivers off-kilter beauty, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis offer up a haunting score, and supporting players like Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Zooey Deschanel, and more add to the rich tapestry of time in retreat.
7. Slow West
Lionsgate
Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a Scottish teenager in love. The young woman he’s infatuated with, Rose (Caren Pistorius), has left for America with her father, so Jay follows intent on declaring his love and starting a life together. Unfortunately for him, both the people and the landscape of America’s West are far from welcoming.
It shouldn’t go unnoticed that nearly half of the films on this list are directed by non-Americans. While the western is an American creation, there’s something fascinating about seeing it explored through someone else’s eyes. John Maclean’s “Slow West” uses its simple premise to comment on everything from the mythologizing of the frontier spirit to the messiness of masculinity.
Smit-McPhee’s Jay is a slim, proper lad immediately at odds with the violent energy of 19th century America, while Michael Fassbender’s stoic bounty hunter sits as a false hero, making this one of his best movies. The action is exciting and impactful, the story doesn’t quite go where you’re expecting, and it’s ultimately far funnier than you’re expecting a violently cynical western to be. Bonus, Ben Mendelsohn and his epic fur coat steal the film.
6. The Harder They Fall
Netflix
Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) was just a boy when a vicious outlaw named Rufus (Idris Elba) killed his parents and carved a reminder into the child’s forehead. Years later, Nat is an outlaw himself with his own gang and a penchant for armed robbery. Plans change, though, when he’s given the chance to cross paths with Rufus one last time.
The most discussed aspect of Jeymes Samuel’s “The Harder They Fall” is its cast and characters. The majority of them, including all of the leads, are black actors playing characters based upon real-life black figures. It’s an eye-opening reminder that black cowboys were a very real part of the American West, and happily, it’s also a wildly entertaining western built from an abundance of unlikely inspirations.
Samuel’s film kicks off with a nod to “Death Rides a Horse” before finding its own vibrant, thrilling, and beautifully shot voice. Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. ensures the action sequences are electric and the landscape gorgeous while maintaining stylish touches throughout, and the cast — which also includes Elba, Regina King, Zazie Beetz, Delroy Lindo, RJ Cyler, and more — absolutely shines.
5. The Proposition
Sony Pictures
Charlie (Guy Pearce) is in a real pickle. Part of a thieving gang with his two brothers, he’s given the choice of either letting his younger brother be hanged for their participation in a vicious crime or killing his older brother who was the one truly responsible. Life and death on the Australian frontier are messy business with few survivors.
“The Proposition” is an Australian western combining the character beats and visual touches of its American counterparts with the bleak, uncompromising atmosphere of Outback cinema. Director John Hillcoat crafts an all-encompassing tale of family, honor, justice, and the cold-hearted truth that is human nature. It’s as unapologetically mean as it is utterly engrossing.
The always great Guy Pearce plays Charlie as a man torn between blood and morality, family and conscience, and his struggle adds depth to a character already knee-deep in misery. Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, John Hurt, and more bring weathered faces and lives to life as men made either witness or participant to the vileness of an untamed land. Cruelty abounds, but beauty sits between the violence.
4. Hostiles
Entertainment Studios
Capt. Blocker (Christian Bale) has done his duty for the United States, a duty that has seen him take numerous lives along the way, and he is ready to retire. He’s given one last mission, though, and it is going to hurt. After years spent fighting and killing Native Americans, he’s tasked with safely escorting a Cheyanne chief back home.
As should be expected with a film by Scott Cooper, “Hostiles” is a starkly brutal look at an ugly chapter in this country’s history. Racial hatred, violent impunity, and scars both physical and mental inform every character here, but the journey they’re on offers a chance at changing that. Still, hard lessons don’t come easy.
Christian Bale’s Blocker is a man torn by past deeds performed in service of his country, and while he doesn’t quite regret them, he is troubled. (See where this film lands on our ranking of Bale’s best movies.) Wes Studi’s native chief exists as his own character even while serving in some ways as a Blocker’s persistent and wrinkled conscience. It’s complicated and confused, with characters at risk of drowning in their own history, and it offers no easy outs for anyone.
3. The Good, the Bad, the Weird
CJ Entertainment
Three men vying for the same treasure face a hail of bullets, unending challenges, and expected treachery across the barren landscape of Manchuria. One is a bounty hunter, another is an assassin, and the third is a thief, and you just know they’re headed for a three-way standoff before the credits roll.
Kim Jee-woon’s “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” obviously isn’t shy about its spaghetti western inspiration — see our ranked list of the best spaghetti westerns here — but this kimchi western still flows with personality, style, and character all its own. Kim is a stylish filmmaker capable of crafting wickedly appealing characters and electrifying set-pieces into an energetic and hugely entertaining time.
Just as Sergio Leone did with his “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” cast, Kim nails his trio with actors who embrace their roles with abandon. Jung Woo-sung personifies the heroic and honorable, Lee Byung-hun makes for a pitch perfect and incredibly stylish villain, and Song Kang-ho is the most joyously irresponsible wild card with his own dark secret. Both homage and purely Korean, this is an undeniably fun western.
2. True Grit
Paramount Pictures
It’s the late 19th century, and a teenager named Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) is seeking justice for her murdered father. She’s itching to do it herself but smart enough to know she can’t, so she hires a gruff and grizzled U.S. Marshal named Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) as her gunslinger.
Remaking a classic film seems ill-advised but having not learned from their experience with “The Ladykillers,” Joel & Ethan Coen chose to give it another try anyway. This time out they struck gold as “True Grit” is every bit as great (and arguably better?) as the John Wayne original. It’s a simple, straightforward tale of vengeance at its core, but the Coens infuse it with wit, character, commentary, and a genuine sense of fun.
Jeff Bridges is as defined by this role as he is by The Dude (“The Big Lebowski”), and he mesmerizes as a cranky bastard who can’t help but be both lovable and entertaining. He also went above and beyond when it came to some of the fil’s stunts. Supporting turns by Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and more help flesh out the landscape and add pops of unexpected humor and vitality throughout.
1. Open Range
Buena Vista
Boss Spearman and Charley Waite (Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner) are cattlemen moving a herd across the vast open plains of Montana when trouble rears its head. A rancher named Denton Baxter labels the men and their cattle as trespassers on his land, and while Boss and Charley attempt to avoid violence, Denton gives them no choice.
Kevin Costner has acted in westerns both good (“Wyatt Earp”) and great (“Silverado”), but he’s always at his best in the ones he also directs (“Dances with Wolves,” “Horizon: An American Saga”). “Open Range” is not just his best western outing, it’s also the best western of the 21st century so far.
His Charley is a simple man trying to forget a violent past, but the heart of the film belongs to Robert Duvall as Boss. Costner wisely and comfortably plays second fiddle to Duvall resulting in two terrific performances and a genuine friendship between the characters. The film is beautifully shot and an honest love letter to a time and a place, and when the action hits it’s with a powerful immediacy. The final shootout, like the film itself, is an all-timer.