15 Favourite Westerns

The Hateful Eight

Release Date 2015

Rating : 7.8 Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, The Weinstein Company Director: Quentin Tarantino, Martin Kitrosser, William Paul Clark Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Summary: Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception.

True Grit

Release Date 1969

Rating : 7.4 Production Companies: Paramount, Wallis-Hazen Inc. Director: Henry Hathaway, William W. Gray Stars: Kim Darby, John Wayne, Glen Campbell

Summary: The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.

For a Few Dollars More

Release Date 1967

Rating : 8.2 Production Companies: Constantin Film, PEA Director: Fernando Di Leo, Tonino Valerii, Julio Sempere Stars: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonté

Summary: Two bounty hunters are in pursuit of "El Indio," one of the most wanted fugitives in the western territories, and his gang.

Destry Rides Again

Release Date 1939

Rating : 7.6 Production Companies: Universal Pictures Director: George Marshall, Vernon Keays Stars: James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Mischa Auer

Summary: When a tough western town needs taming, the mild-mannered son of a hard-nosed sheriff gets the job.

My Darling Clementine

Release Date 1946

Rating : 7.7 Production Companies: 20th Century Fox, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Director: John Ford, Lloyd Bacon, Edward O'Fearna Stars: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature

Summary: Wyatt Earp and his brothers Morgan and Virgil ride into Tombstone and leave brother James in charge of their cattle herd. On their return they find their cattle stolen and James dead. Wyatt takes on the job of town marshal, making his brothers deputies, and vows to stay in Tombstone until James' killers are found. He soon runs into the brooding, coughing, hard-drinking Doc Holliday as well as the sullen and vicious Clanton clan. Wyatt discovers the owner of a trinket stolen from James' dead body and the stage is set for the Earps' long-awaited revenge.

A Fistful of Dollars

Release Date 1967

Rating : 7.9 Production Companies: United Artists, Constantin Film Director: Franco Giraldi, Julio Sempere, Mario Caiano Stars: Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, Gian Maria Volonté

Summary: The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit.

Django Unchained

Release Date 2012

Rating : 8.5 Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, The Weinstein Company Director: Greg Hale, Quentin Tarantino, William Paul Clark Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio

Summary: With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird

Release Date 2008

Rating : 7.2 Production Companies: Grimm Pictures, CJ Entertainment Director: Kim Jee-woon, Lee Yoon-jeong Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Jung Woo-sung

Summary: The story of three Korean outlaws in 1930s Manchuria and their dealings with the Japanese army and Chinese and Russian bandits. The Good (a bounty hunter), the Bad (a hitman), and the Weird (a thief) battle the army and the bandits in a race to use a treasure map to uncover the riches of legend.

Red Sun

Release Date 1972

Rating : 6.8 Production Companies: Producciones Balcázar, Les Films Corona Director: Terence Young, Joan Davis, Ricardo Huertas Frutos Stars: Charles Bronson, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon

Summary: In 1870, Japanese ambassador Sakaguchi and his entourage travel by train to Washington to deliver a valuable sword to the President of the United States, a gift from the Emperor of Japan. On board the same train are two robbers, Link and Gauche, ready to make their move…

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Release Date 1969

Rating : 8 Production Companies: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Campanile Productions Director: George Roy Hill, Michael D. Moore, Steven Bernhardt Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross

Summary: In late 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy is the affable, clever and talkative leader of the outlaw Hole in the Wall Gang. His closest companion is the laconic dead-shot Sundance Kid. As the west rapidly becomes civilized, the law finally catches up to Butch, Sundance and their gang. Chased doggedly by a special posse, the two decide to make their way to South America in hopes of evading their pursuers once and for all. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 1998.

Rio Bravo

Release Date 1959

Rating : 8 Production Companies: Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Pictures Director: Paul Helmick, Howard Hawks Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson

Summary: The sheriff of a small town in southwest Texas must keep custody of a murderer whose brother, a powerful rancher, is trying to help him escape. After a friend is killed trying to muster support for him, he and his deputies must find a way to hold out against the rancher's hired guns until the marshal arrives. In the meantime, matters are complicated by the presence of a young gunslinger - and a mysterious beauty who just came in on the last stagecoach.

Once Upon a Time in the West

Release Date 1969

Rating : 8.5 Production Companies: Paramount, Rafran Cinematografica Director: Sergio Leone, Giancarlo Santi Stars: Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards

Summary: As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Release Date 1967

Rating : 8.8 Production Companies: United Artists, Constantin Film Director: Sergio Leone, Giancarlo Santi, Serena Canevari Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef

Summary: While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.

Blazing Saddles

Release Date 1974

Rating : 7.7 Production Companies: Warner Bros., Crossbow Productions Director: Julie Pitkanen, John C. Chulay, Leonard S. Smith Jr. Stars: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens

Summary: A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.

The Cheyenne Social Club

Release Date 1970

Rating : 6.8 Production Companies: National General Pictures Director: Gene Kelly Stars: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Shirley Jones

Summary: Two cowboys inherit a "social club" specializing in satisfying men.