Among the great Western movies in history, there have been some standout performances that immediately made the movie something special. There are some Westerns that were incredible from the opening moments, solidifying themselves as the top tier of the genre. However, in some rare cases, it was a supporting player who really made the movie shine.
While these performances might not have been at the center of the movie, even as the movie was just getting started, they managed to steal the show. As great as these performances were all the way through, they became iconic in only a few minutes and helped make these movies into the Western masterpieces they are known as today.
Michael Biehn – Tombstone (1993)
As Johnny Ringo
Tombstone has one of the greatest casts of any Western movie. While it is hard to deny that Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday is the standout performance in the movie, when it comes to the opening moments of the movie, Michael Biehn’s Johnny Ringo is the character that the audience cannot take their eyes off.
The opening scene showcases the viciousness of the villainous gang, The Cowboys, raiding a village and mᴀssacring the soldiers who killed two of their men. However, Johnny simply watches the violence unfold without taking part. It is not until an unarmed priest condemns the villains that Johnny kills him in cold blood, surprising even his comrades.
Despite the fact that Biehn doesn’t speak much in these opening moments, his silence is extremely effective. There is a chilling menace about him, suggesting that he is a man who lives for violence. It establishes him as an intimidating villain for the story.
Dean Martin – Rio Bravo (1959)
As Dude
John Wayne is a Western icon, and it is no small task to steal the show from him in the genre he helped define. However, in one of Wayne’s best movies, it is Dean Martin who gives the best performance, playing Dude, the alcoholic deputy to Wayne’s Sheriff Chance.
The opening moments of Rio Bravo play out without dialogue and serve as an incredible showcase of Martin’s layered performance. Dude enters a saloon, overcome with the desire to have a drink. Martin plays the moment brilliantly, with a mix of pain, shame, and anger.
However, when Chance is in need of help, we also get an opportunity to see how quickly Dude can put aside his addiction and back up his friend. As much as Wayne has the commanding screen presence, from that point on, Martin’s Dude is the most interesting character in the movie.
Tim Blake Nelson – The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)
As Buster Scruggs
The Coen Brothers’ Western anthology is a star-studded collection of various Western stories highlighting the violence and danger of the American frontier. While a lot of the stories can be quite bleak, the first tale, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”, is the most entertaining, thanks largely to Tim Blake Nelson’s performance as the тιтular singing cowboy.
The movie opens with Scruggs on the dusty trail, singing a delightful song and greeting us with a friendly demeanor. However, when he stops at a canteen and runs into some surly outlaws, he proves to be more ᴅᴇᴀᴅly than he lets on.
Nelson is hilarious and charming in the role, creating a character who feels like a Looney Tunes cartoon come to life. Scruggs’ story barely lasts past the first ten minutes of the movie, and while the other stories are great, none top that first Western tale.
Ben Foster – Hell Or High Water (2016)
As Tanner Howard
Hell or High Water is one of the best neo-Westerns in recent years, showing how the promise of the American Frontier led to many people struggling to hold onto that dream generations later. The movie follows two brothers, Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster), as they set out of a crime spree, robbing several banks.
While Toby is a level-headed man pushed into a desperate situation, Tanner is a wild man, more than happy to break the law. Foster infuses the role with a sense of unpredictability and danger in the opening moments as the brothers rob two banks back-to-back.
He is like an Old West outlaw who stepped into the 21st century and is ready to fight his way through it. Neither hero nor villain, Tanner is a complicated man who cares about his loved ones, but little else.
Lee Van Cleef – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
As Angel Eyes
Sergio Leone’s brilliant Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly uses the opening minutes to introduce the three main characters individually. The three men each get their chance to shine, but none of the introductions is as memorable and effective as Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes.
Angel Eyes’ first scene sees him arrive at the home of a man he was hired to kill. Van Cleef is filled with menace as he sits down at the man’s dinner table and eats while watching the man with a sinister grin. Without a word, he puts the audience on edge as a true villain who is capable of anything.
When the violence does occur, Angel Eyes proves how ᴅᴇᴀᴅly he can be, shooting down the man and then killing his young son, who comes to avenge his father. Immediately, Van Cleef makes himself out to be one of the greatest Western movie villains.
Gene Hackman – Unforgiven (1992)
As Sheriff Little Bill Daggett
Unforgiven came at a time when Westerns seemed to be on their way out in Hollywood. However, Clint Eastwood revitalized the genre with this clever subversion of the tropes and kind of stories that typically get told in these movies. That includes Unforgiven‘s villain, Sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman).
The movie opens with a Sєx worker getting brutally ᴀssaulted, and Little Bill arriving to sort out what should be done with the man responsible. Little Bill speaks about protecting his town and avoiding further bloodshed by showing mercy. While these are all things a hero sheriff would say in most Westerns, Hackman says it with complete menace.
Hackman’s performance alone sells the tone of Unforgiven, showing the dark reality of a Western story like this. Little Bill is a successful lawman and one who wants to keep order in his town. However, in these early moments, it is clear he has done so by ruling through fear.
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit (2010)
As Mattie Ross
The Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit is a terrific Western adventure with an amazing cast, including Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. However, with all those established movie stars, it is Hailee Steinfeld who steals the show in her very first movie.
The opening scenes of True Grit introduce audiences to Steinfeld’s Mattie Ross, a young girl seeking justice for the murder of her father. Steinfeld has the most complicated character of the whole movie, but she immediately nails the stubborn determination and childish naivety of Mattie, quickly making her an endearing hero.
Steinfeld received an Oscar nomination for her performance and has since gone on to make an impressive career for herself, but it is hard to top how brilliant she was in bringing Mattie to life.
Charles Bronson – Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
As Harmonica
Once Upon a Time in the West has one of the greatest opening scenes in Western movie history, with Sergio Leone showing his confidence in long, dialogue-free sequences. It all leads to the unforgettable introduction of Harmonica, which helped make Charles Bronson an action icon in only a few minutes.
The sequence sees three gunmen at a train station ahead of the train arriving, from which Harmonica gets off. He coolly regards the threatening men and their horses, asking if they brought one for him. After the thugs laugh and suggest their short one horse, Harmonica replies, “No, you brought two too many,” then guns the men down.
Even though the majority of the opening is focused on the three gunmen, the arrival of Harmonica is built up so effectively that he immediately becomes a transfixing character. His calm showdown, though outnumbered, makes him the ideal Spaghetti Western hero.
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained (2012)
As Dr. King Schultz
After playing one of the most memorable movie villains of the 21st century in Inglourious Basterds, Christoph Waltz returned for another Quentin Tarantino movie, playing an endearing hero. Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as a freed slave who goes on a mission to rescue his wife.
As much as it is Django’s story, Waltz steals the show as Dr. King Schultz, a dentist-turned-bounty hunter who frees Django and becomes his partner. The opening scene of Schultz emerging from the darkness to greet the slaves and their cruel slave owners has Waltz commanding the screen with his performance.
He is friendly and funny, and when the slave owners pull guns on him, he seems more alarmed by the rudeness than actually scared. He also proves himself to be more than capable of taking care of himself out in the wild South.
Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men (2007)
As Anton Chigurh
No Country for Old Men is another neo-Western that helped redefine Western movies in the 21st century with its dark, bleak, and violent story. Much of that is embodied in the character of Anton Chigurh, played brilliantly in an Oscar-winning performance by Javier Bardem.
With his strange haircut, Chigurh is not an immediately intimidating man. However, the first ten minutes of the movie show him in police custody as he proceeds to violently strangle a police officer to death with a look of wild determination on his face. He then steals a man’s car, using a horrific captive bolt pistol.
Bardem’s chilling performance in the opening scene set the tone for the movie, putting the audience on the edge of their seat and ready for a grim take on the Western. It is a perfect introduction to one of the greatest villains in cinema history.
