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.

#1. 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: harmonica, woman in bathtub, railway station, widow, husband wife relationship, child killer, seduction ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. Rio Bravo (1959)

Storyline: Sheriff John T. Chance has his hands full after arresting Joe Burdette for murder. He knows that Burdette's brother Nathan, a powerful rancher, will go to any lengths to get him out of jail. Chance's good friend Pat Wheeler offers to help but within 20 minutes of making the offer is gunned down in the street, shot in the back. That leaves his elderly deputy Stumpy, the town drunk Dude - once a deputy and a pretty good shot when he was sober - and a young hand, Colorado, who used to work for Wheeler. Nathan Burdette meanwhile has a couple of dozen men at his disposal. Chance does his best to prepare all the while romancing a pretty gambler who goes by the name of Feathers.

Plot Keywords: gunfighter, prisoner, alcoholic, old west, gambler, cripple, sheriff ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. 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 ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. The Lego Movie (2014)

Storyline: The LEGO Movie is a 3D animated film which follows lead character, Emmet a completely ordinary LEGO mini-figure who is identified as the most "extraordinary person" and the key to saving the Lego universe. Emmet and his friends go on an epic journey to stop the evil tyrant, Lord Business.

Plot Keywords: based on toy, construction worker, computer animation, evil businessman, part live action, pirate, father son relationship ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#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: lead actor's last film, tucson arizona, el paso texas, reference to arizona, tragic hero, dark hero, western town ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. 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: winchester rifle, native american, old west, shootout, indian war, gun violence, gunfire ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. Shane (1953)

Storyline: Shane rides into a conflict between cattleman Ryker and a bunch of settlers, like Joe Starrett and his family, whose land Ryker wants. When Shane beats up Ryker's man Chris, Ryker tries to buy him. Then Shane and Joe take on the whole Ryker crew. Ryker sends to Cheyenne for truly evil gunslinger Wilson. Shane must clear out all the guns from the valley.

Plot Keywords: drink thrown into someone's face, cemetery, bare chested male, covered wagon, community, coffin, chopping wood ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. 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: alcoholic, based on novel, alcoholism, chase, sheriff, double gun holster, two gun holster ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. Open Range (2003)

Storyline: Boss Spearman, Charley Waite, Mose Harrison and Button freegraze their cattle across the vast prairies of the West, sharing a friendship forged by a steadfast code of honor and living a life unencumbered by civilization. When their wayward herd forces them near the small town of Harmonville, the cowboys encounter a corrupt sheriff and kingpin rancher who govern the territory through fear, tyranny and violence. Boss and Charley find themselves inextricably drawn towards an inevitable showdown, as they are forced to defend the freedom and values of a lifestyle that is all too quickly vanishing. Amidst the turmoil, life suddenly takes an unexpected turn for the loner Charley when he meets the beautiful and warm spirited Sue Barlow, a woman who embraces both his heart and his soul.

Plot Keywords: rifle, directed by star, prayer, coward, frontier town, cigar smoking, hired gun ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Storyline: Stranded in 1955, Marty McFly receives written word from his friend, Doctor Emmett Brown, as to where can be found the DeLorean time machine. However, an unfortunate discovery prompts Marty to go to his friend's aid. Using the time machine, Marty travels to the old west where his friend has run afoul of a gang of thugs and has fallen in love with a local schoolteacher. Using the technology from the time, Marty and Emmett devise one last chance to send the two of them back to the future.

Plot Keywords: year 1955, woman, girl next door, part of trilogy, teenage boy, kiss, irish ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. The Professionals (1966)

Storyline: A rich Texan, J.W. Grant, selects three men and invites them to his private train to offer them a contract: Rescue his wife who has been kidnapped by a Mexican revolutionary. The leader of the men, Rico, decides they would be a better team if Grant would hire one more man, an explosives expert. Grant quickly agrees and soon the four are off to complete the contract. However, while on the trail, they discover some interesting facts, like has Mrs. Grant 'really' been kidnapped?

Plot Keywords: mexico, mexican revolution, based on novel, kidnapping, train, breasts, buxom ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. Bend of the River (1952)

Storyline: Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory. They establish a settlement outside of Portland and as winter nears, it is necessary for McLyntock and Cole to rescue and deliver food and supplies being held in Portland by corrupt officials. On the trip back to the settlement, up river and over a mountain, Cole engineers a mutiny to divert the supplies to a gold mining camp for a handsome profit.—Herman Seifer <alagain@aol.com>

Plot Keywords: gunfight, western hero, hero, saved from hanging, love triangle, knife, male female relationship ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. The Man From Snowy River (1982)

Storyline: Jim Craig has lived his first 18 years in the mountains of Australia on his father's farm. The death of his father forces him to go to the low lands to earn enough money to get the farm back on its feet. Kirk Douglas plays two roles as twin brothers who haven't spoken for years, one of whom was Jim's father's best friend and the other of whom is the father of the girl he wants to marry. A 20 year old feud re-erupts, catching Jim and Jessica in the middle of it as Jim is accused of letting a prize stallion loose.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Plot Keywords: surprise ending, rescue, fistfight, brawl, western hero, two brothers, prospector ...

Movie Details Click Here!