Westerns are an American classic, filled with gunslinging cowboys, righteous sheriffs, and clever outlaws going toe to toe. The Western genre often has action films filled with blood-soaked violence and rogue heroes navigating the Wild West. The harsh and ᴅᴇᴀᴅly American frontier serves as the perfect backdrop for a classic battle between good versus evil and law versus lawlessness. The conflict between the gun-toting characters promises an action-filled adventure that keeps viewers invested and engaged with the movie.

There is no shortage of incredible Westerns, ranging from high-octane heist movies to touching tales of friendship and camaraderie. There is a vast variety of sub-genres in Western films, meaning that there is an incredible action-filled Western movie for everyone. The best Western films can perfectly blend intense gunfights and shootouts with the classic Wild West brand of revenge and justice.

10

Back To The Future Part III (1990)

Directed By Robert Zemeckis

Back to the Future Part III, the third and final installment of the Back to the Future franchise, follows Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), better known as Doc, and their misadventures in the Wild West. The science fiction Western picks up from Back To The Future Part II’s ending after Doc disappears in his iconic DeLorean and is revealed to be trapped in the past in 1885.

While Back to the Future Part III is primarily a science fiction movie, it flawlessly blends the Wild West setting with the time travel hijinks that the Back to the Future franchise is famous for. Marty and Doc struggle to return to 1985 while dealing with surviving the Wild West. Back to the Future Part III is an action-filled adventure with duels, improper use of trains, and a bear chase.

9

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Directed By Joel & Ethan Coen

The Coen brothers’ film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs might be best known for the iconic meme of James Franco casually asking “First time?” while at the gallows with a noose around his neck, fans of Westerns know the film for its thrilling portrayal of life and death in the Wild West explored through six stories. With six different stories unfolding, each with compelling leads and intriguing plots, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a thrilling and unique Western.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ six stories is a delightful mix of action-heavy stories, from Tim Blake Nelson as Buster Scruggs, a singing yet ᴅᴇᴀᴅly cowboy with a quick draw to James Franco as a cowboy on the run from the law after his failed attempt to rob a bank. The Western film is a tragic yet humorous exploration of life in the Wild West, and the six short and engaging stories make The Ballad of Buster Scruggs a must-watch Western.

8

High Noon (1952)

Directed By Fred Zinnemann

High Noon is a Western classic starring Gary Cooper as a marshal in a small town as a gang of killers threatens his town. Marshal Will Kane (Cooper) is ready to retire and move to another town with his new wife, Amy Fowler Kane (Gracy Kelly) and live a peaceful and happy life.

The entire movie builds towards the final battle between Cooper and Miller, and the ensuing shootout is a thrilling and satisfactory end to the film.

However, things take a dark turn after Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly and dangerous criminal arrested by Kane is released from prison. High Noon is a classic Western film, with a heroic upholder of the law as the main character who is conflicted by his duty to his town and his desire to live a peaceful life with his wife.

The hero’s tale sees Kane take on Miller and his entire gang on his own without the support of the townspeople he protects. The entire movie builds towards the final battle between Cooper and Miller, and the ensuing shootout is a thrilling and satisfactory end to the film.

7

Butch Cᴀssidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

Directed By George Roy Hill

Butch Cᴀssidy and the Sundance Kid is an iconic Western film loosely based on the outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, best known as Butch Cᴀssidy (Paul Newman), and his partner in crime Harry Longabaugh, best known as the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford).

After the two outlaws commit a series of train robberies, they are forced to go on the run from lawmen and avoid being caught for their numerous crimes. The dynamic between Butch Cᴀssidy and the Sundance Kid propels the movie, and Newman and Redford’s impeccable chemistry makes their relationship entertaining to watch and compelling.

Butch Cᴀssidy and the Sundance Kid is an action-packed film with multiple train robberies, bank robberies, and ᴅᴇᴀᴅly gunfights. The strong bromance between the leads along with their entertaining and action-filled adventures makes Butch Cᴀssidy and the Sundance Kid a timeless classic that audiences never tire of.

6

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Directed By Sam Peckinpah

While most Western films feature a young, dashing group of men as they embark on adventures, The Wild Bunch revolves around a group of aging outlaws in a gang that struggle to adjust to the changing world. The highly rated Western movie doesn’t shy away from the violence of the Old West, and the film features violent action and fight scenes. In the ruthlessly violent Western, the group of outlaws led by Pike Bishop (William Holden) clashes with bounty hunters in a bloody and ᴅᴇᴀᴅly shootout, and Pike escapes the survivors.

The violence and action scenes in The Wild Bunch are chilling, brutal, and devastating. In the first shootout in the movie, countless innocent bystanders are viciously murdered as Pike uses a parade as a human shield during his escape. The bloody and violent action film is a revolutionary Western, filled with betrayal, robberies, murder, and shootouts.

5

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Directed By Joel & Ethan Coen

The Western crime thriller No Country for Old Men revolves around the chaos caused by $2 million dollars lost in a drug deal gone wrong near the Rio Grande. No Country for Old Men follows the three lead characters, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), the man who stumbles upon the missing cash, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), the ruthless hitman who won’t stop at any cost in his mission to recover the money, and Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), the sheriff investigating the crimes and overwhelmed by the violence.

No Country for Old Men is filled with twists and turns as the three main characters lead a cat-and-mouse chase and fight for their survival. The Western is a brutal and violent action movie filled with horrific murders and greed. No Country for Old Men isn’t violent for the sake of being violent, and each tragic and brutal death makes the story more compelling.

4

Tombstone (1993)

Directed By George P. Cosmatos & Kevin Jarre

Tombstone is a Western film revolving around the famous lawmen Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), and their showdown against the outlaws Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) and William Brocius, also known as Curly Bill (Powers Boothe). The outlaw gang known as the Cowboys, led by Curly Bill and his second-in-command Ringo, mᴀssacres police officers gathered for an officer’s wedding, drawing Wyatt Earp out of retirement. Tombstone focuses on the battle between Earp and his men and the Cowboys.

Tombstone is a violence-filled action Western that dramatizes the events of the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the Earp Vendetta Ride after the ambush on Virgil (Sam Elliot) and Morgan Earp (Bill Paxton). The blood-soaked action scenes in Tombstone range from the classic Western duel to all-out mᴀssacres and ᴅᴇᴀᴅly shootouts in the name of revenge. However, Tombstone’s ending is surprisingly hopeful, making it the perfect Western to rewatch.

3

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Directed By S. Craig Zahler

Bone Tomahawk is one of the darkest, most brutal, and shockingly gruesome films in the history of the Western genre. The genre-bending Western horror film revolves around a small-town sheriff, Franklin Hunt, played by Kurt Russel, and his dangerous mission to rescue missing people.

Bone Tomahawk isn’t a traditional Western, as the genre-bending film takes a sudden and ghastly turn to horror.

The search party takes a disturbingly dark and violent turn after Sheriff Hunt and his posse realize that a group of cannibals is behind the abductions. Bone Tomahawk’s gruesome death scene is chilling and elevated by the fact that the action and violence prior to Deputy Nick’s (Evan Jonigkeit) death aren’t brutal or as violent.

Bone Tomahawk isn’t a traditional Western, as the genre-bending film takes a sudden and ghastly turn to horror. While the film has a slow start, the battle scenes between Sheriff Hunt and his posse against the cannibals are compelling high-stakes scenes that make the Western unforgettable.

2

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)

Directed By Sergio Leone

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a spaghetti Western that has one of the most famous shootout scenes in history. Known as one of the greatest Westerns of all time, the Western follows a gunslinging bounty hunter, bandit, and mercenary as they fight for a cache of Confederate gold.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has an incredible cast with Blondie, also known as the Man with No Name, being played by Clint Eastwood, Tuco Ramirez, played by Eli Wallach, and Angel Eyes, played by Lee Van Cleef. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is filled with money-making schemes, betrayal, and shootouts.

The three leads constantly team up and outsmart and betray each other in their search for gold, leading to an action-filled treasure-hunting adventure. The iconic Mexican stand-off between the three main characters is one of the best climax scenes in movie history.

1

Django Unchained (2012)

Directed By Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is a subversive revisionist Western film following the тιтular Django Freeman (Jamie Foxx), a freed slave who teams up with a German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), and embarks on a mission to free his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).

The award-winning film Django Unchained is a violent action film filled with gunslingers and revenge plots. The beautifully choreographed fight scenes and the visually striking action sequences cement Django Unchained’s status as one of the best action Western films.

The action-heavy Western Django Unchained has spectacular gunfights, all of them intense, brutal, and satisfying to witness. Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a ruthless plantation owner and a formidable villain with a chilling presence on screen. Candie’s inevitable downfall and death is a well-earned and satisfying action sequence, filled with violence, death, and blood.