The Best Westerns of the Last 20 Years, Ranked

7: Meek’s Cutoff (2010)​

The plot: Known for her quietly minimalist movies, indie director Kelly Reichardt, 57, might be the last person you’d expect to make a sweeping film about the Oregon Trail, but her atmospheric approach works beautifully in this tale of hardship and hunger in the high desert. A small group of settlers — including Michelle Williams, in her second of four Reichardt collaborations — heads westward in the 1840s, and when the journey takes longer than advertised and supplies run low, they begin to question whether their know-it-all guide (Bruce Greenwood, 65) might know much less than he lets on. The female pioneers are widely left out of the decision-making process until Emily Tetherow (Williams) begins to assert herself and question the dynamics at play.

​The best part: Williams’ turn as a proto-feminist pioneer heroine is one of her finest roles yet. ​

Watch it: Meek’s Cutoff, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Hulu

6: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)​

The plot: In this stylistically audacious anthology film, directors Joel (66) and Ethan Coen (64) tell six very different tales of the Old West, with a sprawling cast that includes James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Tom Waits (71) and Tyne Daly (75). The short films range tonally from the title musical about a trigger-happy singing cowboy (Tim Blake Nelson, 57) to the haunting “Meal Ticket” about an impresario (Liam Neeson, 69) who travels around the West with a gifted orator (Harry Melling), who has no arms or legs.​

The best part: “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” by David Rawlings (51) and Gillian Welch (54) earned an Oscar nod for best original song. ​

Watch it: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, on Netflix

5: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)​

The plot: Starstruck by the legendary outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt, 57), the young Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) ingratiates his way into James’ gang of train robbers, whose members include his brother Charley (Sam Rockwell, 52). As the title gives away rather bluntly, things don’t end well for the most famous outlaw in the Wild West. Slow-paced and meditative, the film was a box-office flop, but it was a big hit with critics, many of whom included it on their year-end best-of lists. ​

The best part: The cinematography by 15-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner Roger Deakins, 72, is so gorgeous that IndieWire recently named Assassination the most beautiful film of the 21st century. ​

Watch it: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube

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4: Django Unchained (2012)

​The plot: Quentin Tarantino, 58, had previously paid homage to cinematic genres like blaxploitation and kung fu films before he turned his attention to the spaghetti western with this raucous, violent epic. The formerly enslaved Django (Jamie Foxx, 53) teams up with German dentist-turned-bounty hunter King Schultz (Christoph Waltz, 65, who won an Oscar for the role) to free Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) from the cruel Mississippi plantation owner Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Tarantino would return to the western with 2015’s The Hateful Eight, in which eight strangers wait out a blizzard in a stagecoach stopover where the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. ​

The best part: Samuel L. Jakson, 72, shocked audiences as the evil Stephen, an enslaved man with undying loyalty to Candie. Jackson’s called it one of his favorite roles of all time. ​

Watch it: Django Unchained, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Hulu, Netflix, Tubi, YouTube

3: The Revenant (2015)​

The plot: Based on a true story, this brutal revenge flick follows 1820s frontiersman Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) as he fights for survival and seeks vengeance against those who left him for dead in the wintry landscape of what is now the Dakotas. DiCaprio, who got his first Oscar nomination in 1994, finally won one. The team behind the camera achieved even more impressive feats: Alejandro González Iñárritu, 58, won his second consecutive best director Oscar (the first was for Birdman), while cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, 56, won his third Academy Award in three years. ​

The best part: The much-talked-about bear mauling scene is a bone-crunching, blood-spattered sight to behold — even if you’re watching it through your fingers. ​

Watch it: The Revenant, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube

2: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)​

The plot: The 1953 Elmore Leonard short story “Three-Ten to Yuma” already yielded a film starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, but this new cinematic adaptation is such a taut thriller that you won’t mind that it’s a remake. Christian Bale stars as down-on-his-luck Arizona rancher Dan Evans, who is hired by the railroad to escort captured outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe, 57) to the title train that will take him to the territorial prison. With the help of a team that includes stagecoach guard Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), Evans must contend with Apache ambushes and Wade’s murderous gang. ​

The best part: Ben Foster is terrifying as Wade’s loyal right-hand man. ​

Watch it: 3:10 to Yuma, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play

​​1: True Grit (2010)​

The plot: John Wayne won a best actor Oscar for his cinematic adaptation of the 1968 Charles Portis novel, but this 2010 remake was far from a pale imitation. Leave it to the Coen brothers to come up with a fresh spin on the story while still remaining respectful to the genre. When her father is murdered, 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) enlists one-eyed Deputy U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges, 71) to help nab the killer (Josh Brolin, 53). Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon, 51) joins them on their hunt. Some critics went so far as to say the remake bested the original, and it went on to be nominated for 10 Academy Awards.

​The best part: One of those nominations was for the remarkably assured Steinfeld, who more than held her own opposite icons who had been acting for decades before she was even born. ​

Watch it: True Grit, on Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube