The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Unforgiven: Top 5 Westerns Ever Made

This transcending effect is exactly why we love Westerns! Here are 5 of the best Westerns ever made-

“You dig!” Clint Eastwood’s famous line from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly are forever etched in our memories. Westerns do have a knack for getting inside our heads, and watching a good one makes you wish you were a rowdy bounty-hunter out to get some bandit, shooting people up and raiding trains. This transcending effect is exactly why we love Westerns! Here are 5 of the best Westerns ever made- (Read: 5 Facts about Inherent Vice starring Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin)

1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

One of John Ford’s many classic westerns, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance features an all-star cast led by James Stewart and John Wayne. The former plays a US senator whose success came from committing the titular act – Liberty Valance being a notorious outlaw – while Wayne plays a simple man who turns out to be the real hero of the piece.

2. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

There of course cannot be any list of Westerns without a couple, or even more, films from Clint Eastwood. Directed by and starring Eastwood, this is one of the earliest “revisionist” Westerns: films that attempted to portray the Old West in a far more realistic, less clear-cut way than the more simplistic good guy/bad guy movies churned out in the past. Civil War farmer Josey Wales wages a bloody war against Union soldiers and bounty hunters after his wife and son are murdered in cold blood.

3. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

A western adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, the film tells the story of seven gunmen – Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson among them – who defend a Mexican pueblo from Eli Wallach’s army of bandits. There have been rumors that this film is being remade, none other than by Quentin Tarantino!

4. Unforgiven (1992)

This is perhaps the best Western ever made, although the next entry on this list may give it some competition. Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (again!), this multiple Oscar-winning film had been shelved in the 70’s by Eastwood because he wanted to be old enough to play the main lead William Munny. It was worth the wait!

5. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The third and best-known film in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy, this Spaghetti western is arguably the most famous depiction of the violent, opportunistic American West. Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach play the titular characters, three men hunting treasure against the backdrop of the American Civil War. One of the most stylish westerns you’ll ever see! Image credit: Facebook