Highest-Rated Movies about 'American West', Sort by Popularity

Bad Company (1972), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), The Big Country (1958), Buffalo Boys (2018), The Shootist (1976), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Little Big Man (1970), Lonely Are the Brave (1962) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best American West movies.

#2. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Storyline: Jill McBain travels to the wild frontier; Utah - where she and her new husband planned to settle down. Upon arrival, she finds him and his children dead. There's a lot of land, and potential, but there's those who want to take it - at any cost. Even if it means killing a man and his kids.

Plot Keywords: gunslinger, mercenary, tycoon, wife, thrilling, brutal, gutsy ...

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#3. The Big Country (1958)

Storyline: Retired, wealthy sea Captain James McKay arrives in the vast expanse of the West to marry fiancée Pat Terrill. McKay is a man whose values and approach to life are a mystery to the ranchers and ranch foreman Steve Leech takes an immediate dislike to him. Pat is spoiled, selfish and controlled by her wealthy father, Major Henry Terrill. The Major is involved in a ruthless land war, over watering rights for cattle, with a rough hewn clan led by Rufus Hannassey. The land in question is owned by Julie Maragon and both Terrill and Hannassey want it.

Plot Keywords: captain, fiancée, family patriarch, land owner, rancher, son, rousing ...

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#4. Buffalo Boys (2018)

Storyline: In 19th-century Java, a brutal massacre and the murder of Sultan Hamza by Captain Van Trach and his Dutch soldiers force Arana, Jamar and Suwo -- the sultan's brother and infant sons -- to flee the country, bringing them halfway around the world to the American Wild West. After working the railroads and learning the cowboy way of life, Arana tells the boys it's time to return to their homeland and avenge their father's death.

Plot Keywords: soldier, sultan, brother, son, runaway, cowboy, thrilling ...

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#5. The Shootist (1976)

Storyline: John Books an aging gunfighter goes to see a doctor he knows for a second opinion after another doctor told him he has a cancer which is terminal. The doctor confirms what the other said. He says Books has a month maybe two left. He takes a room in the boarding house and the son of the woman who runs it recognizes him and tells his mother who he is. She doesn't like his kind but when he tells her of his condition, she empathizes. Her son wants him to teach him how to use a gun. Books tries to tell him that killing is not something he wants to live with. Books, not wanting to go through the agony of dying from cancer, tries to find a quicker way to go.

Plot Keywords: gunslinger, outlaw, innkeeper, son, sheriff, ex-lover, gritty ...

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#6. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

Storyline: From the time John J. Macreedy steps off the train in Black Rock, he feels a chill from the local residents. The town is only a speck on the map and few if any strangers ever come to the place. Macreedy himself is tight-lipped about the purpose of his trip and he finds that the hotel refuses him a room, the local garage refuses to rent him a car and the sheriff is a useless drunkard. It's apparent that the locals have something to hide but when he finally tells them that he is there to speak to a Japanese-American farmer named Kamoko, he touches a nerve so sensitive that he will spend the next 24 hours fighting for his life.

Plot Keywords: stranger, tough guy, sheriff, pretty woman, gritty, tense, desert ...

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#7. Little Big Man (1970)

Storyline: Jack Crabb is 121 years old as the film begins. A collector of oral histories asks him about his past. He recounts being captured and raised by indians, becoming a gunslinger, marrying an indian, watching her killed by General George Armstrong Custer, and becoming a scout for him at Little Big Horn.

Plot Keywords: indian, gunslinger, historian, reverend, pioneer, wild, amusing ...

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#8. Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Storyline: In order to free his best friend Paul Bondi from jail, cowboy Jack Burns gets himself imprisoned only to find out that Bondi does not want to escape. Thus Burns breaks out on his own and is afterwards being chased in the mountains by sheriff Johnson with a helicopter and jeeps.—Volker Boehm

Plot Keywords: cowboy, sheriff, wife, deputy, friend, disheartening, somber ...

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#9. The Little Fugitive (1953)

Storyline: When he sustains a rodeo injury, star rider Jeff McCloud returns to his hometown after many years of absence. He signs on as a hired hand with a local ranch, where he befriends fellow ranch hand Wes and his wife Louise. Wes has big dreams of owning his own little farm, and rodeo winnings could help finance it. Wes convinces Jeff to coach him in the rodeo ways, but Louise has her doubts. She doesn't want her man to end up a broken down rodeo bum like Jeff McCloud. Despite Louise's concern, the threesome hit the road in their Woody, chucking a secure present for an unknown future. Will they find success or sorrow? This picture features plenty of rodeo action and thrills.—Thomas McWilliams <tgm@netcom.com>

Plot Keywords: young boy, brother, friend, bully, carnival worker, charming, winsome ...

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#10. Vanishing Point (1971)

Storyline: Kowalski works for a car delivery service. He takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to take from Colorado to San Francisco, California. Shortly after pickup, he takes a bet to get the car there in less than 15 hours. After a few run-ins with motorcycle cops and highway patrol they start a chase to bring him into custody. Along the way, Kowalski is guided by Supersoul - a blind DJ with a police radio scanner. Throw in lots of chase scenes, gay hitchhikers, a naked woman riding a motorbike, lots of Mopar and you've got a great cult hit from the early 70's.

Plot Keywords: driver, radio dj, ex-lover, drug dealer, hitchhiker, police officer, gripping ...

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#12. The Glass Castle (2017)

Storyline: A young woman reflects on her unconventional upbringing at the hands of her artsy, nonconformist parents, which sometimes resulted in the family living in poverty. Now married to a man who works in finance in New York, she faces criticism from her parents that she's betrayed their values..

Plot Keywords: free spirit, father, mother, son, daughter, emotional, heartwarming ...

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#13. Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Storyline: After an outlaw unknowingly leads a band of cannibalistic Troglodytes into the peaceful western town of Bright Hope, the monsters kidnap several settlers, including the wife of a local rancher. Despite his injured leg the rancher joins a small rescue party with the sheriff, his aging deputy and a strong-willed gunslinger. What follows is a journey into hell on earth as the posse comes to realize it is up against a foe whose savagery knows no bounds. The film takes place at the turn of the century around the border of what is now Texas and New Mexico.

Plot Keywords: sheriff, doctor, cannibal, outlaw, husband, lawman, chilling ...

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#14. 3 Godfathers (1948)

Storyline: Fugitive bank robbers Robert (John Wayne), William (Harry Carey Jr.) and Pedro (Pedro Armendáriz) stand at a desert grave. Caring for the newborn infant of the woman they just buried will ruin any chance of escape. But they won't go back on their promise to her. They won't abandon little Robert William Pedro. Director John Ford's Western retelling of the Biblical Three Wise Men tale remains a scenic and thematic masterpiece. Ford adds color to his feature-film palette, capturing stunning vistas via cinematographer Winton C. Hoch, who would win two of his three Academy Awards for Ford films. Again, populist-minded Ford asserts that even men of dissolute character can follow that inner star of Bethlehem to their own redemption.

Plot Keywords: bank robber, cattle rustler, sheriff, mother, baby, intense, passionate ...

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#15. Dodge City (1939)

Storyline: Dodge City. A wide-open cattle town run by Jeff Surrett. Even going on a children's Sunday outing is not a safe thing to do. What the place needs is a fearless honest Marshal. A guy like Wade Hatton, who helped bring the railroad in. It may not help that he fancies Abbie Irving, who won't have anything to do with him since he had to shoot her brother. But that's the West.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Keywords: sheriff, deputy, girl, thief, cattle rustler, frenetic, thrilling ...

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