Highest-Rated Movies about 'Sheriff', Sort by Popularity

Outback (1971), The Delivered (2019), Bad Company (1972), Ride in the Whirlwind (1965), Hour of the Gun (1967), The Night Stalker (1971), Unforgiven (1992), Ace in the Hole (1951) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Sheriff movies.

#16. The Hateful Eight (2015)

Storyline: Some time after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. Bounty hunter John Ruth and his fugitive captive Daisy Domergue race towards the town of Red Rock, where Ruth will bring Daisy to justice. Along the road, they encounter Major Marquis Warren (an infamous bounty hunter) and Chris Mannix (a man who claims to be Red Rock's new sheriff). Lost in a blizzard, the bunch seeks refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery. When they arrive they are greeted by unfamiliar faces: Bob, who claims to be taking care of the place while Minnie is gone; Oswaldo Mobray, the hangman of Red Rock; Joe Gage, a cow puncher; and confederate general Sanford Smithers. As the storm overtakes the mountainside, the eight travelers come to learn that they might not make it to Red Rock after all...

Plot Keywords: bounty hunter, fugitive, prisoner, sheriff, stranger, man, brooding ...

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#17. My Darling Clementine (1946)

Storyline: 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.

Plot Keywords: sheriff, cowboy, barber, schoolteacher, gambler, love interest, charming ...

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#18. Purgatory (1999)

Storyline: After outlaw Blackjack Britton (Eric Roberts) and his gang hold up a bank, they escape through a dust storm and wind up in the sleepy town of Refuge. Finding its inhabitants and sheriff (Sam Shepard) unusually passive and genteel, Blackjack and his bunch begin to take advantage, causing all manner of trouble. The gang can't fathom the town's lack of fight until they learn that Refuge is actually a purgatory for famous dead gunfighters who must resist the violence that marked their lives.

Plot Keywords: wild bill hickok, jesse james, billy the kid, doc holliday, outlaw, sheriff, gritty ...

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#19. Blazing Saddles (1974)

Storyline: The Ultimate Western Spoof. A town where everyone seems to be named Johnson is in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar (Harvey Korman), a politically connected nasty person, sends in his henchmen to make the town unlivable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor (Mel Brooks). Hedley convinces him to send the town the first Black sheriff (Cleavon Little) in the west. Bart is a sophisticated urbanite who will have some difficulty winning over the townspeople.

Plot Keywords: sheriff, gunslinger, attorney, cowboy, friend, outlandish, madcap ...

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#20. First Blood (1982)

Storyline: John J. Rambo is a former United States Special Forces soldier who fought in Vietnam and won the Congressional Medal of Honor, but his time in Vietnam still haunts him. As he came to Hope, Washington to visit a friend, he was guided out of town by the Sheriff William Teasel who insults Rambo, but what Teasel does not know that his insult angered Rambo to the point where Rambo became violent and was arrested. As he was at the county jail being cleaned, he escapes and goes on a rampage through the forest to try to escape from the sheriffs who want to kill him. Then, as Rambo's commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman tries to save both the Sheriff's department and Rambo before the situation gets out of hand.

Plot Keywords: veteran, sheriff, commanding officer, deputy, vietnam vet, brutal, gripping ...

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#21. 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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#22. Winchester '73 (1950)

Storyline: In a marksmanship contest, Lin McAdam wins a prized Winchester rifle, which is immediately stolen by the runner-up, Dutch Henry Brown. This "story of a rifle" then follows McAdams' pursuit, and the rifle as it changes hands, until a final showdown and shoot-out on a rocky mountain precipice.

Plot Keywords: sergeant, cowboy, sheriff, prostitute, outlaw, tense, spirited ...

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#23. 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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#24. Destry Rides Again (1939)

Storyline: Kent, the unscrupulous boss of Bottleneck has Sheriff Keogh killed when he asks one too many questions about a rigged poker game that gives Kent a stranglehold over the local cattle rangers. The mayor, who is in cahoots with Kent appoints the town drunk, Washington Dimsdale, as the new sheriff assuming that he'll be easy to control. But what the mayor doesn't know is that Dimsdale was a deputy under famous lawman, Tom Destry, and is able to call upon the equally formidable Tom Destry Jr to be his deputy. Featuring a career reviving performance from Marlene Dietrich as bar singer Frenchie, which could well have been the inspiration for Madeline Kahn's "Blazing Saddles" character, Lili Von Schtupp.—Mark Thompson <mrt@oasis.icl.co.uk>

Plot Keywords: sheriff, boss, drunk, singer, amusing, lighthearted, small town ...

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#25. The Defiant Ones (1958)

Storyline: When the truck that is transporting convicts has an accident on the road, the inmates John "Joker" Jackson and Noah Cullen that are chained to each other escape. They hate each other but they need to help each other to succeed in their intent of going north to jump in a train and reach freedom. Meanwhile the humane Sheriff Max Muller organizes a posse to track them down in a civilized manner and respecting justice. Joker and Cullen reach a small farm where a lonely woman helps them to get rid of their chains. She offers to drive her car with Joker and her son Billy while Cullen would escape through the swamp to the railroad. But when Joker learns that she sent Cullen to a trap, he leaves her and is shot in the shoulder by Billy. Joker seeks out Cullen to save him and when they meet each other, their former hatred has changed to friendship and respect.

Plot Keywords: criminal, prisoner, sheriff, captain, landowner, brash, endearing ...

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#26. Gun Crazy (1950)

Storyline: Since he was a child, Bart Tare has always loved guns. After leaving the army, his friends take him to a carnival, where he meets the perfect girl; Annie, a sharp-shooting sideshow performer who loves guns as much as he. The 2 run off and marry, but Annie isn't happy with their financial situation, so at her behest the couple begins a cross-country string of daring robberies. Never one to use guns for killing, Bart's dragged down into oblivion by the greedy and violent nature of the woman he loves.

Plot Keywords: sharpshooter, pacifist, newlywed, reporter, sheriff, sister, cool ...

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#27. El Dorado (1967)

Storyline: Hired gunman Cole Thornton turns down a job with Bart Jason as it would mean having to fight an old sheriff friend. Some months later he finds out the lawman is on the bottle and a top gunfighter is heading his way to help Jason. Along with young Mississippi, handy with a knife and now armed with a diabolical shotgun, Cole returns to help.

Plot Keywords: gunslinger, sheriff, tycoon, deputy, thug, spirited, gritty ...

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#28. 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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#29. The Scarlet Empress (1934)

Storyline: Young Princess Sophia of Germany is taken to Russia to marry the half-wit Grand Duke Peter, son of the Empress. The domineering Empress hopes to improve the royal blood line. Sophia doesn't like her husband, but she likes Russia, and is very fond of Russian soldiers. She dutifully produces a son -- of questionable fatherhood, but no one seems to mind that. After the old empress dies, Sophia engineers a coup d'etat with the aid of the military, does away with Peter, and becomes Catherine the Great.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Plot Keywords: noblewoman, duke, mother-in-law, count, husband, ruler, emotional ...

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#30. Remember the Night (1940)

Storyline: Just before Christmas, Lee Leander is caught shoplifting. It is her third offense. She is prosecuted by John Sargent. He postpones the trial because it is hard to get a conviction at Christmas time. However, he feels sorry for her and arranges for her bail; he also ends up taking her home to his mother for Christmas. Surrounded by a loving family (in stark contrast to Lee's own family background), they fall in love. This creates a new problem: how do they handle the upcoming trial?—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Plot Keywords: district attorney, shoplifter, sheriff, mother, love interest, amusing, emotional ...

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