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Joe R. Lansdale's Favorite Western Movies
by Joe R. Lansdale
January 21, 2025
Favorites lists depend on the day and memory, but I love Westerns, and I'm asked about my favorites. For a long time they didn't change much, but there have been some great ones over the last few years. I'm only including movies, not TV series or limited series. Otherwise, LONESOME DOVE would be on the list. I also avoided a lot of Western-themed films that take place well after the 1900s, like LITTLE BIG MAN and RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY. I cheat with THE WILD BUNCH and THE SHOOTIST, as they are on the margins. Had I done that, it would have included HELL AND HIGH WATER, and ... well, long list. But, for today, this moment:
1. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID is my stone-favorite Western. When it came out there had never been anything like it. An anti-Western where the heroes ran. Based on historical figures and relatively in line with what they did and what happened to them. Paul Newman and Robert Redford were at their very best here, and in fact, I'm not sure they were ever better, and that's saying something.
2. Cohen's TRUE GRIT. I like the first one, but I love this one. I think it has everything a Western should, and yet somehow feels different than most. It's also my favorite Western novel, tied with LONESOME DOVE. But this lean race horse with its unique style and real-to-life characters jumps off the page.
3. TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. Based on a good book, but I think the film may be better. Humphrey Bogart and Walter Houston are incredible. Directed by one of my favorite directors of all time, John Huston.
4. THE SHOOTIST. Wayne is fantastic in this, and so are Ron Howard and Lauren Becall. I especially liked Richard Boone as the grumpy old man seeking vengeance on the death of his brother. Jimmy Stewart has a short but fine moment as the town doctor. Wayne's last film, and it was a good one to go out on.
5. TOMBSTONE. My friend Bill Paxton was in this one as one of the Earps. Best film made about the OK Corral fight and the aftermath. It's an entertainment but manages to come closer to the truth than any film about Earp and his brothers. WYATT EARP, starring Kevin Costner, came out about the same time, but it was a snooze-fest and nowhere near as accurate.
6. THE WILD BUNCH. William Holden, Ben Johnson, Ernest Borgnine and others, directed by Sam Peckinpah, a favorite director of mine and cinematic influence on my writing. My all-time favorite Peckinpah movie is RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY.
7. MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne, directed by the great John Ford. This one gets better and better over time.
8. RIO BRAVO. Simplicity at its best. John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan, directed by another favorite director of mine, Howard Hawks.
9. THE UNFORGIVEN, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. Dark and surprising, great performances by Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman. There are days when this is number four.
10. THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, based on a good novel by Forrest Carter, who turned out to be a pen name for the racist Asa Carter, speech writer for George Wallace. Carter was a Ku Klux Klan member and so on. But he remade himself as Forrest Carter and became a writer. He wrote several books, but is best known for this one, and what was released as an autobiography, THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE. He made it up. His life is a weird mystery, but Josey Wales is a fine novel and sympathetic to the Indians. You wonder if Forrest was pulling people's legs, or if he was in fact a changed man. The film is wonderful. Exciting. Beautifully directed by Clint Eastwood, who stars as Josey Wales.
11. THE SEARCHERS. Used to be nearer the top, but some of the segments seem kind of cornball to me as I grow older, especially the one with Ken Curtis and Jeffery Hunter, which goes on long enough it could have been listed as a short feature, or a cartoon.
12. RED RIVER might have been higher on my list, but the ending is ridiculous. We get to the end, we know how it should end. They cop out. But it's an excellent film otherwise. John Wayne playing older. Howard Hawks directed, and Montgomery Clift and Walter Brennan are equally great.
13. SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. John Wayne at his best, directed by John Ford. Wayne plays an aging soldier. Lots of action, a silly bar-fight scene that would have been good had it not gone on so long and been so obviously theatrical, but man, what a beautiful film. Too many climaxes instead of just a straight ending, but that's minor considering the rest of the film.
14. APPALOOSA. Based on what might be Robert B. Parker's best novel, this one is simple and very rewatchable. Performances by Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are fantastic in this one. I still crack up at the lines "They all could shoot" and "Colt makes a heavy firearm."
15. SHANE. Love this novel. Met the author by accident once and actually had the novel SHANE with me, a battered paperback. He signed it for me. Although I preferred the black suit Shane wore to the buckskin, Alan Ladd is fantastic in this. Maybe his best film. The protoype for many to follow, and it holds up beautifully.
16. THE PROFESSIONALS. Boy, did I like this one. Starring Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode, and Robert Ryan, an excellent adventure film. Sort of THE DIRTY DOZEN as a Western.
17. THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, a series of Western shorts, all good, but some, like the title story and MEAL TICKET, better than others. Also includes a Jack London story, as well as one I read when I was knee high to a grasshopper, though it was much changed for the film, if I recall the story right. The film is better in this case. THE GAL WHO GOT RATTLED, I didn't recognize that title, but did recognize the general outline of the story by Stewart Edward White. I read him along with Bret Harte and Mark Twain when I was a kid.
18. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, starring Charles Bronson, directed by Sergio Leone. Haunting. Along with HARD TIMES, Bronson's best film.
19. THE LONG RIDERS, directed by the incredible Walter Hill, who I recently met at the premier of THE THICKET in Los Angeles. Jesse James and the Youngers story told with brothers playing brothers. The Minnesota raid, which pretty much did the boys in, is magnificently staged. It ain't history, but it's a fantastic film. David Carradine's best, I think.
20. GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND. Walter Hill again. If THE LONG RIDERS is his best, on another day, this is his best. Beautiful scenery, captures the feel of the West beautifully. The great Wes Studi plays Geronimo, Matt Damon the fresh cadet, and Jason Patric in maybe his best role. Action-packed, haunting, and nice side stories.
This list stirred the troops when I published it on my Facebook page. And it reminded me of the ones I left off. STAGE COACH might have made it another day. It's a favorite. But you can't really do a complete list like this and as I said, it changes. I also didn't include middle or late 1900s. But some do go into the early 1900s. Saying I didn't include later Westerns doesn't stop people from asking why, however. Look, this list could easily go to one hundred Westerns. There are so many bad and mediocre ones, but when I like a western, I LIKE it. Nice to have feedback.
Keep your powder dry.
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