Highest-Rated Movies about 'Old West'

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Rio Bravo (1959), High Noon (1952), The Lego Movie (2014), The Shootist (1976), Winchester '73 (1950), Shane (1953), El Dorado (1967) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Old West movies.

#16. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

Storyline: A wild stallion is captured by humans and slowly loses the will to resist training, yet, throughout his struggles for freedom, the stallion refuses to let go of the hope of one day returning home to his herd.

Plot Keywords: 1800s, native american, old west, canyon, horseback riding, railroad, cowboy ...

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#17. Alferd Packer: The Musical (1993)

Storyline: Alfred Packer was a mountain guide and sole survivor of a party of pioneers that got lost in the mountains in winter. Accused and convicted of murdering and eating his travelling companions, he was to be executed by hanging.The movie begins at his trial, where he pleads his innocence to an unsympathetic audience. Only reporter Polly Pry will listen to his story, which is then related to the viewers in the form of flashbacks. As Packer and his gold-prospecting clients make their way through the forests and mountains, they encounter bemused Japanese Indians, an unimpressed group of mountain men and the brutal Rocky Mountain winter, all of which inspire the travellers to break out into song and dance.

Plot Keywords: native american, frozen body, frostbite, eye injury, drunkenness, dream, desert ...

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#18. Monte Walsh (1970)

Storyline: Monte Walsh is an aging cowboy facing the ending days of the Wild West era. As barbed wire and railways steadily eliminate the need for the cowboy, Monte and his friends are left with fewer and fewer options. New work opportunities are available to them, but the freedom of the open prairie is what they long for. Eventually, they all must say goodbye to the lives they knew, and try to make a new start.—Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>

Plot Keywords: marriage, manhunt, fugitive, gun duel, betrayal, rocking chair, character name as title ...

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#19. Ulzana's Raid (1972)

Storyline: Report reaches the US cavalry that the Apache leader Ulzana has left his reservation with a band of followers. A compassionate young officer, Lieutenant DeBuin, is given a small company to find him and bring him back; accompanying the troop is McIntosh, an experienced scout, and Ke-Ni-Tay, an Apache guide. Ulzana massacres, rapes and loots across the countryside; and as DeBuin encounters the remains of his victims, he is compelled to learn from McIntosh and to confront his own naiveté and hidden prejudice.—David Levene <D.S.Levene@durham.ac.uk>

Plot Keywords: mercy killing, violence, last stand, main character shot, main character dies, opening action scene, shooting a woman ...

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#20. The Harvey Girls (1946)

Storyline: On a train trip West to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) meets a cheery crew of young women travelling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop to provide good cooking and wholesome company for railway travellers. When Susan and her bashful suitor find romance daunting, she joins the Harvey Girls instead. The saloon across the street with its alluring worldly-wise women offers them tough competition, fair and foul, and Susan catches the eye of the Ned Trent (John Hodiak), the distant but intense proprietor of the bar.—Michael Meigs <Michael.Meigs@dos.us-state.gov>

Plot Keywords: saloon, horse and carriage, piano, pianist, singer, singing, song ...

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#21. Will Penny (1968)

Storyline: Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a "line-rider" job on a vast cattle ranch requiring him to keep trespassers and squatters moving until they're off the property. Ironically, he discovers that the mountain cabin reserved for the line rider has been appropriated by Catherine Allen and her young son, Horace, whose guide has deserted them en route to Oregon to join Catherine's husband. Too soft-hearted and ashamed to kick mother and child out just as the bitter Rocky Mountains winter sets in, he agrees to share the cabin until the spring thaw. But it isn't just the snow that slowly thaws; lonely man and woman soon forget their considerable dissimilarities and start developing a deep, if awkward and unstated, love for each another. Beyond this, Horace finds in Will the father he's never known, and Will finds in Horace the son he's never known he's wanted. The trio's little refuge is then invaded by Bible-quoting preacher Quint and his murderous family of "rawhiders", who'd earlier nearly killed Will over an imagined insult, forcing Will to defend his own "family".—Alfred Jingle

Plot Keywords: widow, help, rope, lasso, hat, long underwear, leather ...

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#22. Firecreek (1968)

Storyline: Farmer and family man Johnny Cobb moonlights as a two dollar a month Sheriff with a homemade badge in the quiet little town of Firecreek. When a gang of freebooters passes through, their leader Larkin, who is suffering from a minor wound, agrees to spend the night. The gang members prove to be vicious, sadistic sociopaths who take advantage of the frightened townspeople, humiliating them for their own perverse amusement. Although Larkin disapproves of their behavior, his leadership role is tenuous, and he is reluctant to test it by exercising control over his men. The mild-mannered Cobb faces a series of challenges from the gang's antisocial behavior. Things come to a head when Meli, an Indian woman with a mixed race child, incurs an attempted sexual attack by one of gang. Arthur, a simpleton stable boy, comes to her aid and accidentally kills the attacker. Cobb locks up Arthur to keep him safe, but when the Sheriff leaves town to visit his wife, who is struggling in labor, there is no one to control the gang. Cobb decides the time has come to act.—duke1029

Plot Keywords: prison, preacher, pitchfork, native american, midwife, mental retardation, lynching ...

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#23. Valdez Is Coming (1971)

Storyline: The town constable, Bob Valdez, is forced to kill someone accused by Frank Tanner of being a murderer. Valdez asks Tanner for monetary help for the man's wife, but he is ridiculed and almost killed by Tanner's henchmen. Valdez recovers and summons up his days in the U.S. Cavalry in order to fight them. Valdez wounds one of the henchmen and sends him back to Tanner with the message, "Valdez is coming."—Robbie Burns <burnodo@usit.net>

Plot Keywords: arizona desert, arizona, arizona territory, fog, ambush, honor, chase ...

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#24. The Last Hurrah (1958)

Storyline: Outlaw Clint Hollister escapes from jail with the help of Marshal Jake Wade, because once Clint did the same for him. Jake left Clint just after, but Clint finds him back and forces Jake to lead him to a loot Jake buried one year ago when he quitted Clint's gang.—Yepok

Plot Keywords: saloon, siege, street shootout, guilt, male male relationship, male female relationship, homosexual subtext ...

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#26. Rio Lobo (1970)

Storyline: Bent on unearthing the cynical traitor who sold information to the enemy and caused the death of a dear brother-in-arms, the battle-tested former Union cavalry officer, Colonel Cord McNally, teams up with a pair of ex-Confederates after the Civil War. Now, as honest friends, the three companions ride into Rio Lobo--a dusty town in the middle of the desert overcome by corruption--to bring to justice the one who sold McNally out; however, the town is rife with the betrayer's murderous cut-throats. Can McNally avenge his bosom buddy and clean up Rio Lobo?—Nick Riganas

Plot Keywords: wrongful imprisonment, gash in the face, extortion, end of war, dynamite, deputy sheriff, horse and wagon ...

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#27. Appaloosa (2008)

Storyline: 1882, New Mexico Territory. Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are itinerant lawmen, hired by desperate towns as marshal and deputy. The city fathers of Appaloosa hire them after Randall Bragg, a newly-arrived rancher with money and a gang of thugs, disrupts commerce and kills three local lawmen. Cole and Hitch contrive to arrest Bragg and bring him to trial, but hanging him proves difficult. Meanwhile, a widow has arrived in town, Allison French, pretty, refined, and good-natured. Virgil falls hard, and it seems mutual, but there may be more to Allie than meets the eye. Can friendship and skill with a gun overcome a pernicious villain and green-eyed jealousy?

Plot Keywords: horseback riding, trust, telescope, unfaithfulness, train, applause, tooth knocked out ...

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#28. Seraphim Falls (2006)

Storyline: In the 1860s, five men have been tracking a sixth across Nevada for more than two weeks. They shoot and wound him, but he gets away. They pursue, led by the dour Carver, who will pay them each $1 a day once he's captured. The hunted is Gideon, resourceful, skilled with a knife. Gideon's flight and Carver's hunt require horses, water, and bullets. The course takes them past lone settlers, a wagon train, a rail crew, settlements, and an Indian philosopher. What is the reason for the hunt; what connects Gideon and Carver? What happened at Seraphim Falls?

Plot Keywords: river, flashback, falling from a tree, waterfall, underwater scene, rifle, escape ...

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#30. Rebel in Town (1956)

Storyline: Ex-Confederate Bedloe Mason and his four sons ride into a small Western town with robbery in mind. Hearing a suspicious "click," Wes Mason whirls and shoots dead a boy playing with a cap pistol. The Mason clan then flees but Gray Mason, feeling remorse, decides to return to the town. He winds up at the home of John and Nora Willoughby who, unknown to him, are parents of the dead boy. Nora recognizes him as one of the Confederates but keeps quiet, wishing to avoid more violence. However, when John learns of Gray's true identity, he determines to avenge his son's death.—dinky-4 of Minneapolis

Plot Keywords: held at gunpoint, betrayal, mob, lynch mob, secret, cell, fistfight ...

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