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1. The Searchers (1956)
directed by John Ford
featuring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie WoodIf John Ford is the greatest Western director, The Searchers is arguably his greatest film, at once a grand outdoor spectacle like such Ford classics ... More
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2. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
directed by John Sturges
featuring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James CoburnJapanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) is westernized as The Magnificent Seven. Yul Brynner plays Chris, a mercenary hired to ... More
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3. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
directed by Sergio Leone
featuring Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Jr., Gabriele FerzettiIn Sergio Leone's epic Western, shot partly in Monument Valley, a revenge story becomes an epic contemplation of the Western past. To get his hands ... More
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4. Wyatt Earp (1994)
directed by Lawrence Kasdan
featuring Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Jeff Fahey, Mark HarmonDirected by Lawrence Kasdan, this epic version of the legendary western sheriff-gunslinger's life story stars Kevin Costner as Earp, who lived from ... More
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5. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
directed by Sergio Leone
featuring Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffré, Rada Rassimov, Mario BregaIn the last and the best installment of his so-called "Dollars" trilogy of Sergio Leone-directed "spaghetti westerns," Clint Eastwood reprised the ... More
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6. The Big Country (1958)
directed by William Wyler
featuring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl IvesIn The Big Country Gregory Peck plays a seafaring man who heads west to marry Carroll Baker, the daughter of rancher Charles Bickford. Bickford is ... More
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7. Little Big Man (1970)
directed by Arthur Penn
featuring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam, Richard Mulligan, Chief Dan GeorgeRecounting how the West was won through the eyes of a white man raised as a Native American, Arthur Penn's 1970 adaptation of Thomas Berger's ... More
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8. Broken Trail (2006)
directed by Walter Hill
featuring Robert Duvall, Thomas Haden Church, Greta ScacchiSideways star Thomas Hayden Church appears alongside Academy Award-winner Robert Duvall in a dramatic mini-series shot in the classic western ... More
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9. Dances With Wolves (1990)
directed by Kevin Costner
featuring Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd "Red Crow" WestermanA historical drama about the relationship between a Civil War soldier and a band of Sioux Indians, Kevin Costner's directorial debut was also a ... More
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10. How the West Was Won (1962)
directed by George Marshall, Henry Hathaway, John Ford
featuring James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, Richard Widmark, George Peppard, Karl Malden, John WayneFilmed in panoramic Cinerama, this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic. Three legendary directors (Henry Hathaway, John ... More
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11. Red River (1948)
directed by Howard Hawks
featuring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan, Coleen GrayList of all editionsJohn Wayne -- showing off a darker side to his screen persona than we'd previously seen -- portrays Thomas Dunson, a frontiersman who, with his ... More
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12. True Women (1997)
directed by Karen Arthur
featuring Dana Delany, Annabeth Gish, Angelina JolieList of all editionsBased on a true story, this Civil War-era epic centers on the exploits of Sarah Ashby McClure (Dana Delany) and her sister Euphemia (Annabeth Gish) ... More
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13. Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)
directed by Walter Hill
featuring Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Wes Studi, Matt DamonList of all editionsWalter Hill directs John Milius's script (co-written by Larry Gross) depicting a revisionist perspective on the "Geronimo Campaign" and how Geronimo, ... More
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14. Cimarron (1930)
directed by Wesley Ruggles
featuring Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil, William Collier, Jr.List of all editionsCimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, ... More
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15. Heaven's Gate (1981)
directed by Michael Cimino
featuring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, John HurtList of all editionsA notorious artistic and financial failure, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate was blamed for critically wounding the movie Western and definitively ... More
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16. The Plainsman (1937)
directed by Cecil B. DeMille
featuring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, Helen BurgessList of all editionsOne is immediately aware that The Plainsman is a Cecil B. DeMille production in the opening scene, wherein President Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn ... More
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17. Duel in the Sun (1946)
directed by King Vidor
featuring Griff Barnett, Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Charles Bickford, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Sidney Blackmer, Sr., Harry Carey, Lillian GishList of all editionsIn David O. Selznick's florid, overheated melodrama Duel in the Sun Jennifer Jones stars as half-Native American Pearl Chavez, who everyone has ... More
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18. The Big Trail (1930)
directed by Raoul Walsh
featuring John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power, Sr.List of all editionsThe first "epic" western of the talkie era, The Big Trail is motivated by a hero's search for the murderer of his father. Twenty-three-year-old John ... More
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19. The Alamo (2004)
directed by John Lee Hancock
featuring Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Jordi Mollà, Emilio EcheverriaList of all editionsRe-teaming Dennis Quaid with John Lee Hancock, the director of 2002's The Rookie, The Alamo retells the story of the historic 1836 battle in the ... More
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20. Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
directed by John Ford
featuring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, Edward G. Robinson, Karl MaldenList of all editionsJohn Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in ... More
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21. Across the Wide Missouri (1951)
directed by William Wellman
featuring Clark Gable, Ricardo Montalban, John Hodiak, Adolphe Menjou, Maria Elena MarquesList of all editionsClark Gable is the largely nonheroic hero of the sprawling western Across the Wide Missouri. A cunning trapper who lives purely by his wits, Gable ... More
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22. Johnson County War (2002)
directed by Dave Cass
featuring Tom Berenger, Luke Perry, Michelle Forbes, Adam Storke, Burt ReynoldsList of all editionsThe backdrop for this epic Western, which aired in August 2002 on the Hallmark Channel, will be familiar to fans of the genre and students of Western ... More
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23. Lone Star (1951)
directed by Vincent Sherman
featuring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Broderick Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, Beulah BondiList of all editionsDuring the 1845 battle for Texas' independence, a cattle baron (Clark Gable) spars with an evil senator (Broderick Crawford) over the state's future ... More
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24. The Trail To Hope Rose (2004)
directed by David S. Cass, Sr.
featuring Ernest Borgnine, Lou Diamond Phillips, Lee Majors, Marina Black, Richard TysonList of all editionsAn epic-Western in the grand tradition, the made-for-cable The Trail to Hope Rose stars Lou Diamond Phillips as Keenan Deerfield, a half-Indian ... More
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25. Arizona (1940)
directed by Wesley Ruggles
featuring William Holden, Jean Arthur, Warren William, Porter Hall, Paul HarveyList of all editionsWesley Ruggles's Arizona is an epic western set in an impoverished Arizona outpost. It tells the story of the feisty, no-nonsense Phoebe Titus (Jean ... More







