Highest-Rated Movies about 'Western Films', Sort by Popularity

The River's Edge (1957), Ride a Crooked Trail (1958), Last of the Comanches (1952), The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017), Column South (1953), Copper Canyon (1950), Star in the Dust (1956), Hollywood Round-Up (1937) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Western Films movies.

#1. The River's Edge (1957)

Storyline: A Sheriff goes into Mexico in search of a man wanted back in the States. Finding him, he starts back. But it's a long way back, he has a reluctant captive, and there are unfriendly Indians along the way. The Sheriff admits his life has been a failure but this mission he plans to accomplish.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: husband, wife, criminal, police officer, ex-convict, offbeat, sultry ...

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#2. Ride a Crooked Trail (1958)

Storyline: After robbing a bank Murphy assumes the identity of his pursuer, a famous US Marshal, when he stumbles into a town and is confronted by the local judge, Matthau. Murphy is forced to remain as the new Marshal; an old flame, Scala, nearly unmasks him by accident, only to be forced to assume the ruse of being Murphy's wife. The "couple" given a house and respectability, which neither has had before. They maintain the charade to avoid hurting a young orphan boy, Matthau's ward. Scala is torn by her loyalty to boyfriend planning to rob the bank and growing feelings for Murphy.—Rita Richardson

Plot Keywords: fugitive, bank robber, marshal, old flame, husband, wife, judge ...

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#3. Last of the Comanches (1952)

Storyline: It's 1876 and all the Indians are at peace except the Comanches lead by Black Cloud. When Black Cloud wipes out a town, only six soldiers are left and they head for the nearest fort. In the desert they are reinforced by members of a stagecoach and find some water at a deserted mission. Pinned down by Black Cloud they send an Indian boy who was Black Cloud's prisoner on to the fort while they try to bargain with Black Cloud whom they learn is without water.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: cavalryman, stagecoach driver, comanche warrior, cowboy, gory, brutal, raw ...

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#4. The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)

Storyline: When cowboy Lefty Brown witnesses the murder of his longtime partner, the newly-elected Senator Edward Johnson, he strikes out to find the killers and avenge his friend's cold-blooded murder. Tracking the outlaws across the vast and desolate Montana plains, Lefty stumbles across a young wannabe gunslinger, Jeremiah, and an old friend, a former hard-drinking pal turned U.S. Marshal, to help deliver the men to justice. After a gunfight with the outlaws leaves Jeremiah wounded, Lefty returns home with the names of Johnson's killers only to find that he is being accused of his friend's murder by the governor. With the tables turned Lefty must evade the law, get the Marshal to stop drinking again, and prove his innocence by exposing the powerful men ultimately responsible for Johnson's death.—AsH edited by Richardh120

Plot Keywords: cowboy, partner, senator, killer, gunslinger, old friend, brooding ...

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#5. Column South (1953)

Storyline: As Lt. Jed Sayre struggles to prevent pre-Civil War tensions and a racist commanding officer from triggering war between the U.S. Cavalry and Navajo Indians, he finds his efforts are being undermined by the machinations of Confederate sympathizers.—Michelle Sturges

Plot Keywords: union boss, native american, prospector, lieutenant, confederate soldier, corporal, patriotic ...

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#6. Copper Canyon (1950)

Storyline: A group of copper miners, Southern veterans, are terrorized by local rebel-haters, led by deputy Lane Travis. The miners ask stage sharpshooter Johnny Carter to help them, under the impression that he is the legendary Colonel Desmond. It seems they're wrong; but Johnny's show comes to Coppertown and Johnny romances lovely gambler Lisa Roselle, whom the miners believe is at the center of their troubles.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: marksman, rebel, miner, ex-soldier, brooding, profound, intense ...

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#7. Star in the Dust (1956)

Storyline: Sheriff Jorden of Gunlock (John Agar) is planning to hang Sam Hall (Richard Boone), who shot three farmers found on cattle land, at sundown. At the casino, betting is 8 to 3 he won't make it. The cattlemen are set to rescue Sam. The farmers hope to lynch him before he can be rescued, and Hall schemes for escape with his girl Nellie Mason (Colleen Gray). But Sheriff Jorden is most concerned with finding out who hired Hall: a leading suspect is the Sheriff's future brother-in-law.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: sheriff, farmer, brother-in-law, fiancée, villager, suspenseful, brooding ...

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#8. Hollywood Round-Up (1937)

Storyline: One of three films made by Columbia circa 1936-37 based on behind-the-scenes film making with a "western" setting ("The Cowboy Star", "Hollywood Round-up" and "It Happened in Hollywood"), plus RKO weighed in the same year with George O'Brien's "Hollywood Cowboy." It had been done before, RKO's 1933 "Scarlet River", and would be done again, "Shooting High" from 20th Century-Fox and Republic's "Bells of Rosarita", among others with a western setting, but this Coronet production with Buck Jones may well be the best of the lot as it devotes more footage to actual film-making both on studio sets and locations. One out-of-the norm plot incident has the studio head Lew Wallace offering a job to a fading star Carol Stevens, with a semi-apology for casting her in what he calls an "outdoor special" and she calls a "horse opry", and this scene in a B-western leaves no doubt that the B-western and it people were near the bottom of Hollywood's pecking order. The stereotypes are there, with Shemp Howard's over-zealous "assistant director" (who does calm down and gets more real when he loses his whistle), the ego-ridden "star" in Grant Drexel, and the deserving-to-be-the-star relegated to stand-in and stunts Buck Kennedy, but the remaining crew and player roles are realistic (especially the real stuntmen playing stuntmen). Buck Kennedy is the stand-in and double for star Grant Drexel and is fired when he has a fight with the bullying Drexel over Drexel's treatment of leading lady Carol Stephens. The movie company is on location, and a group of gangsters led by Eddie Kane and Lester Dorr, posing as another movie company, come to the location town and talk the banker into letting them film a fake holdup in his bank, but the holdup is real and the out-of-work Buck, whom they hire as the fall guy to cover their getaway, is left holding the bag and jailed by town sheriff Slim Whitaker. Things get worse for Buck before they get better. A mid-point sequence has hotel clerk George R. Beranger, who dreams of being a western star, performing a twittering, ballet-slippering audition for the checking-in film company by quoting lines from a western and asking them to identify the film. Shemp Howard guesses "Little Women."—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: actress, actor, director, gangster, concierge, stuntman, melodramatic ...

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#9. Santa Fe Passage (1955)

Storyline: Scout and wagon-train guide Kirby Randolph hates all Indians, particularly Kiowa Chief Satank, whose massacre of an entire wagon-train of settlers led by Kirby, has led to his ostracism and neither he nor his pal Sam Beekman can get jobs. Aurelie St. Clair, who owns half of an ammunition shipment for sale in Santa Fe to Mexican insurrectionaries, protests when he partner Jess Griswold hires Kirby and Sam as guides. When Kirby saves them all from a wild horse stampede instigated by Satank, she changes her mind and she and Kirby fall in love, although Kirby does not realize she is half-Indian. Jess, who is also in love with Aurelie and wanting to get rid of Kirby, sends his servant Chavez to Satank offering to deliver Kirby to the Chief in return for safe passage for the wagon train. But, Satank plans to get both Kirby and the wagon train.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: native american, scout, engaging, gripping, wilderness, ranch, wagon ...

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#10. Black Patch (1957)

Storyline: A New Mexico Town Marshal, Clay Morgan, known as 'Black Patch' since he had lost an eye in the Civil War, takes his job seriously, especially after an old friend, Hank Danner, arrives in town with his wife, Helen, who formerly loved Morgan. Danner is suspected of a bank robbery and Morgan has to arrest him. Crooked saloon-owner , "Frenchy' De Vere, sees a chance to get the bank loot, and he helps Danner escape and has him killed. Morgan is accused of the killing but nothing is proved and the bank money remains missing. Carl, a young man who Danner helped when he was being bullied, goes to Helen, who also thinks Morgan killed her husband. Carl gets Danner's gun and starts practicing with it until he becomes the fastest-gun in town, with one possible exception...Morgan, the man he intends to kill.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: marshal, old friend, wife, suspect, saloon owner, gunslinger, brooding ...

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#11. Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)

Storyline: Hodiak, Brian, Derek and Teal have just been released from prison. They return to Tomahawk Gap, now a ghost town, to retrieve the money that they stole and was buried by a partner somewhere in the town. While hunting, the Indians attack, and a life and death battle ensues.—Terry Brooks <TEXICANTBROOKS@NETSCAPE.NET>

Plot Keywords: apache, bandit, con man, gang leader, gory, sultry, thrilling ...

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#13. Arrowhead (1953)

Storyline: Chief of Scouts Ed Bannon narrowly avoids an Apache ambush while working with the cavalry stationed at Fort Clark, Texas. The US Army is trying to talk peace with the Apaches and move them to reservations in Florida, and they take Bannon's efforts as detrimental to their new policies, so they fire him. When the Apache chief's son Torinada returns from an Eastern education, Bannon becomes highly suspicious of his motives based run-ins with Torinada in the past. Bannon continues shadowing the proceedings to the chagrin of both the US Army and the Apache warrior.—Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>

Plot Keywords: chief, scout, cavalry captain, apache, native american, native american chief, amusing ...

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#14. The Land That Time Forgot (1975)

Storyline: After a German U-Boat sinks their ship, several survivors manage to take control of the boat. Bowen Tyler is the son of an American shipbuilder and Captain Bradley an experienced seaman. After several tussles with the German crew, they find themselves on a strange island. There they find a place where several stages of Earth's evolution co-exist at the same time. As a result several types of humans are found as well as prehistoric dinosaurs. There are also active volcanoes which all add up to a challenge to survive.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: sailor, soldier, captain, pretty woman, german, suspenseful, engaging ...

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#15. The Kansan (1943)

Storyline: Wounded while stopping the James gang from robbing the local bank, a cowboy wakes up in the hospital to find that he's been elected town marshal. He soon comes into conflict with the town banker, who controls everything in town and is squeezing the townspeople for every penny he can get out of them.—frankfob2@yahoo.com

Plot Keywords: cowboy, marshal, banker, townspeople, bank robber, bystander, brooding ...

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