Highest-Rated Movies about 'Lawman'

Unforgiven (1992), High Noon (1952), Tombstone (1993), Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008), Destry Rides Again (1939), True Grit (2010), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Ride the High Country (1962) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Lawman movies.

#1. Unforgiven (1992)

Storyline: The town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming is full of normal people trying to lead quiet lives. Cowboys try to make a living. Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett (Gene Hackman) tries to build a house and keep a heavy-handed order. The town prostitutes just try to get by.Then a couple of cowboys cut up one of them. Dissatisfied with Bill's justice, the prostitutes put a bounty on the cowboys. The bounty attracts a young gun billing himself as "The Schofield Kid" (Jaimz Woolvett), and aging killer William Munny (Clint Eastwood). Munny reformed for his young wife, and has been raising crops and two children in peace. But his wife is dead. Farm life is hard. And Munny is no good at it. So he calls his old partner Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), saddles his ornery nag, and rides off to kill one more time, blurring the lines between heroism and villainy, man and myth.

Plot Keywords: one last job, widower, police brutality, regret, sex, train, writer ...

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#2. High Noon (1952)

Storyline: On the day he gets married and hangs up his badge, Marshal Will Kane is told that a man he sent to prison years before, Frank Miller, is returning on the noon train to exact his revenge. Having initially decided to leave with his new spouse, Will decides he must go back and face Miller. However, when he seeks the help of the townspeople he has protected for so long, they turn their backs on him. It seems Kane may have to face Miller alone, as well as the rest of Miller's gang, who are waiting for him at the station.

Plot Keywords: one against many, morality, quick draw, real time, gunfight, brawl, fistfight ...

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#3. Tombstone (1993)

Storyline: After success cleaning up Dodge City, Wyatt Earp moves to Tombstone, Arizona, and wishes to get rich in obscurity. He meets his brothers there, as well as his old friend Doc Holliday. A band of outlaws that call themselves The Cowboys are causing problems in the region with various acts of random violence, and inevitably come into confrontation with Holliday and the Earps, which leads to a shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.

Plot Keywords: two gun holster, arizona territory, shoulder holster, shootout at a train station, historic figure, duel, cigar smoking ...

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#4. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)

Storyline: Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free lance, " goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: infidelity, iraq war, irony, las vegas nevada, lawyer, limousine, lizard ...

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#5. 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: deputy, corruption, western town, card cheat, lawlessness, bar shootout, singer ...

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#6. True Grit (2010)

Storyline: Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with "true grit," Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and surprises on the journey, and each has his or her "grit" tested.

Plot Keywords: revisionist western, based on novel, public execution, spanking, dragged by a horse, 1870s, snake ...

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#7. 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: mountain, war veteran, fence, euthanasia, lawman, veteran, one armed man ...

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#8. Ride the High Country (1962)

Storyline: Aging ex-marshal Steve Judd is hired by a bank to transport a gold shipment through dangerous territory. He hires an old partner, Gil Westrum, and his young protege Heck to assist him. Steve doesn't know, however, that Gil and Heck plan to steal the gold, with or without Steve's help. On the trail, the three get involved in a young woman's desire to escape first from her father, then from her fiance and his dangerously psychotic brothers.

Plot Keywords: miner, 1890s, brothel, brother brother relationship, carnival, domestic violence, redemption ...

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#9. True Grit (1969)

Storyline: The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy, Mattie Ross, (Kim Darby), on a mission of "justice", which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne), because he has "grit", and a reputation of getting the job done. The two are joined by a Texas Ranger, La Boeuf, (Glen Campbell), who is looking for the same man (Jeff Corey) for a separate murder in Texas. Their odyssey takes them from Fort Smith, Arkansas, deep into the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) to find their man.

Plot Keywords: revenge, alcoholic, based on novel, based on book, texas ranger, texas, revisionist western ...

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#10. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

Storyline: It's 1881 in New Mexico, and the times they are a'changing. Pat Garrett, erstwhile travelling companion of the outlaw Billy the Kid has become a sheriff, tasked by cattle interests with ridding the territory of Billy. After Billy escapes, Pat assembles a posse and chases him through the territory, culminating in a final confrontation at Fort Sumner, but is unaware of the full scope of the cattle interests' plans for the New West.

Plot Keywords: death of father, man punching a woman, lying in wait, knife throwing, hanging, drunkenness, death ...

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#11. Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Storyline: Bandit and Cledus are two truck-driving southerners who accept a dare from big-shots Big and Little Enos to pick up a truckload of beer from Texas and return it to them within a specified amount of time. Picking it up is simple enough, but as they are leaving Texas, Bandit unwittingly picks up Carrie, a hitchhiking bride-to-be who just left her groom, Junior, at the altar. Junior, however, is the son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice. And when Buford and Junior discover what has happened, they go on a "high-speed pursuit" across the Southeast to catch the bandit.

Plot Keywords: sheriff, coors beer, trucker, road movie, police chase, police officer, highway patrol ...

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#12. The Sugarland Express (1974)

Storyline: Lou-Jean, a blonde woman, tells her husband, who is imprisoned, to escape. They plan to kidnap their own child, who was placed with foster parents. The escape is partly successful, they take a hostage, who is a policeman and are pursued through to Texas...

Plot Keywords: texas, based on true story, child custody, chase, texas ranger, jail break, fugitive ...

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#14. 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: title spoken by character, desert, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, farm, farmhouse, knife, drunkenness ...

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#15. Cahill, United States Marshal (1973)

Storyline: J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks, so when his two young boys want to get his attention they decide to rob a bank. They end up getting more than they bargained for.—Christopher D. Ryan <cryan@direct.ca>

Plot Keywords: bank robbery, cigar smoking, shot to death, blood, cowboy hat, cowboy boots, cowboy ...

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