1. "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
   "Four Faces West"
2. "The Missing"
   "The Ballad of Little Jo"

Rounding out the Leone/Eastwood collaboration, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" pits three great Western actors as three great Western characters in the ultimate race to find salvation in the form of gold in the thick of a battlefield. Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood star in this film in which no one in the cast spoke English, except for them.

1. "The Magnificent Seven"
   "No Name on the Bullet"
2. "Dances With Wolves"
   "Cowboy"

The original "The Magnificent Seven" was made in 1960, and was based on the film "The Seven Samurai." "Magnificent" starred Yul Brynner as the leader of an unlikely band of protectors hired to defend a poor Mexican village from a group of bandits, lead by a villain played by Eli Wallach.

1. "Hang 'em High"
   "Jeremiah Johnson"
2. "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid"
   "Ramrod"

This classic western, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, is the namesake of the Sundance Film Festival, and is considered one of the greatest films of all time, not just a classic western. Penned by William Goldman ("All The President's Men"), "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" is American cinema at its finest.

1. "Lone Star"
   "The Covered Wagon"
2. "The Ballad of Little Jo"
   "A Fistful of Dollars"

Sergio Leone's brilliant "A Fistful of Dollars" begins his and Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" series, based on the Kurosawa film "Yojimbo," which follows a similar plot, only with samurai instead of gunslingers. In "Fistful," Eastwood plays his blonde gunslinger to ruthless, squinting perfection.

1. "The Outlaw Josey Wales"
   "Bad Company"
2. "Santa Fe Trail"
   "High Noon"

Gary Cooper has just the right qualities to pull off the role of Marshal Will Kane. In this classic, the role of Marshal Kane demands both believability as a hard-as-nails lawman capable of staring down the barrel of a gun without flinching, and the more subtle acting skills of a man navigating less polarized relationships with his friends and loved ones.

1. "Unforgiven"
   "Stagecoach"
2. "Shane"
   "Run of the Arrow"

Perhaps Clint Eastwood's greatest directorial effort, "Unforgiven" is a postmodern take on his earlier work as "The Man With No Name," whose story is finally given the harsh realism the earlier films always lacked. Starring Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Gene Hackman, the film's cast was remarkable.

1. "High Noon"
   "The Outlaw Josey Wales"
2. "Run of the Arrow"
   "The Searchers"

Perhaps John Wayne's most iconic performance was in John Ford's masterpiece "The Searchers," in which the black and white morality of the Western genre is stretched thin and heroes are given enough time to become villains. "The Searchers" is possibly the greatest Western of them all.

1. "Tombstone"
   "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
2. "A Fistful of Dollars"
   "Hud"

Another classic Western, "Tombstone" is also another telling of the story of the events surrounding the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This version was also a modern action/adventure film made in the 1990s, combining the cinematic traditions of both Westerns and modern action. Starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Powers Boothe, the powerhouse cast even includes small roles for actors like Charlton Heston and Billy Bob Thornton.

1. "High Plains Drifter"
   "Santa Fe Trail"
2. "Stagecoach"
   "No Country For Old Men"

Few people remember the seemingly small detail of the protagonist's return from the dead, but that's just one of the twists in this incredibly enjoyable Western. In the film, Clint Eastwood plays the titular character, training the townsfolk of Lago, people who killed him in a past life, to fight local bandits with whom he also has beef. One of Eastwood's most violent Westerns, the film also has more than its share of Eastwood one-liners.

1. "No Country For Old Men"
   "The Wild Bunch"
2. "Duel in the Sun"
   "The Outlaw Josey Wales"

In "The Outlaw Josey Wales," Clint Eastwood plays one of his least sympathetic heroes, at least by contemporary standards, being an ex-Confederate guerrilla fighter. In the film, the titular gunslinger finds himself opposing an old enemy from the war, only this time, they're out west, on opposite sides of a war over land.

1. "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
   "A Fistful of Dollars"
2. "Blazing Saddles"
   "The Long Riders"

Mel Brooks' masterpiece "Blazing Saddles" is an authentic Western classic. Shot on the same backlot as many cowboy serials, the film takes every trope of the Western genre and uses it for comedy and social commentary. The film's brilliant cast includes Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder and Western veteran Slim Pickens.

1. "Run of the Arrow"
   "The Treasure of The Sierra Madre"
2. "Santa Fe Trail"
   "Duel in the Sun"

Legendary director John Huston ("The Maltese Falcon," "The African Queen") wrote and directed this fantastic western. "The Treasure of The Sierra Madre" stars Hollywood icon Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston, the father of the film's writer/director.

1. "The Vanishing American"
   "Bad Company"
2. "The Virginian"
   "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is a story that has been told in book, film, and song, but this film is the definitive version in the popular imagination. In the film, John Wayne plays the tough guy killed by violent criminal Valance, played by Lee Marvin, and Jimmy Stewart plays Ransom Stoddard, the ordinary man who took up arms against Valance when his reign of terror threatened to lead to him obtaining legitimate state power.

1. "The Magnificent Seven"
   "Tombstone"
2. "The Vanishing American"
   "Jeremiah Johnson"

Jeremiah Johnson is the hero played by Robert Redford in "Jeremiah Johnson", a 1972 movie with a decidedly old fashioned conflict that felt a lot like a parable about the Vietnam War at the time it came out. Directed by Sydney Pollack, "Jeremiah Johnson" is a great Western made with an artist's eye.

1. "Tombstone"
   "Wyatt Earp"
2. "Doc Holliday"
   "Gunfight At The O.K. Corral"

The classic true story about law versus lawlessness in the old West has been made several times, but many fans of the story consider this version to be definitive. Starring film legends Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster as Holliday and Earp, respectively, the film's cast gave its performances tremendous weight.

1. "The Alamo"
   "The Magnificent Seven"
2. "3:10 to Yuma"
   "The Shootist"

The original 1957 version of "3:10 to Yuma" was a dark psychological Western. In it, Van Helfin and Glenn Ford face off as the rancher and suspect, respectively, in a story by none other than Elmore Leonard, author of "Get Shorty" and other brilliant stories.

1. "The Alamo"
   "No Name on the Bullet"
2. "Hang 'em High"
   "Lone Star"

A classic Clint Eastwood Western, "Hang 'em High" is a classic revenge tale, in which several colorful bad guys get their comeuppance when Eastwood's U.S. Marshal is ordered to arrest them, not kill them. Of course, not all the bad guys go peacefully, and Eastwood's character has to lay down the law.

1. "Duel in the Sun"
   "Hang 'em High"
2. "Ramrod"
   "One-Eyed Jacks"

"Duel in the Sun" is unusual among classic Westerns in that it isn't about a posse chasing criminals or an outlaw looking for his final score. Instead, "Duel in the Sun" follows heroine Pearl Chavez, as when she goes to live with relatives in the wake of her parents' murder-suicide, she falls for a pair of brothers who settle their love triangle with a duel.

1. "Santa Fe Trail"
   "Run of the Arrow"
2. "Duel in the Sun"
   "Stagecoach"

John Ford's "Stagecoach" was his 1939 collaboration with John Wayne who, being young enough, played "The Ringo Kid," a young gun on the stagecoach full of misfits headed west. There, they find out that Geronimo and his warriors are in the area, making their trip suddenly dangerous. While they navigate this dangerous frontier, the group bonds, becoming vulnerable to each other along the road.

1. "No Country For Old Men"
   "One-Eyed Jacks"
2. "The Virginian"
   "Barbarosa"

Considered a modern classic, "No Country For Old Men" follows an ages-old plot with archetypal characters in a modern era, while remaining utterly a Western. In the film, Javier Bardem's "Anton Chigurh" cuts a bloody swathe through the American southwest, hunting the $2 Million in posession of Josh Brolin's "Llewelyn Moss," while Tommy Lee Jones's "Sheriff Bell" is in hot pursuit.

1. "Hud"
   "Dances With Wolves"
2. "The Alamo"
   "Cowboy"

Although the story has been told numerous times and under a variety of titles, "The Alamo," starring John Wayne, remains the iconic, classic of the class. In this version of the Alamo story, Wayne plays Davy Crockett, Richard Widmark plays Jim Bowie, Laurence Harvey plays William Barret Travis, and John Wayne's son Patrick plays James Bonham.

1. "Ramrod"
   "The Wild Bunch"
2. "The Treasure of The Sierra Madre"
   "No Country For Old Men"

Sam Peckinpah is renowned for this violent film, in which fighting and gunplay are portrayed with grim realism, and "The Wild Bunch" is considered the zenith of his work in the Western genre. In this film, Ernest Borgnine and William Holden lead a cast in the roles of their lifetimes.

1. "The Covered Wagon"
   "Dances With Wolves"
2. "Lone Star"
   "No Name on the Bullet"

Directed by and starring Kevin Costner, "Dances With Wolves" was the first Western to win the Best Picture Academy Award since 1931. The story follows John Dunbar, a Civil War soldier sent to watch over a remote area, where he becomes friendly with the native Lakota and, surreally, the local wolves.

1. "The Virginian"
   "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid"
2. "Stagecoach"
   "Shane"

"Shane" is the story of a gunslinger who wants to settle down, tries to, but is forced to resume his life of violence when justice calls upon him to take up arms against evil. The film is best remembered for the ending, when Joey, the son of the woman Shane loves, calls out to him as he rides away, dead on his horse.

1. "Blazing Saddles"
   "The Shootist"
2. "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
   "The Magnificent Seven"

Made in the waning years of the life of Western legend John Wayne, "The Shootist" feels like a parable about his life. In the film, Wayne's gunfighter is too good to get killed, but this means he is condemned to a slow and painful death at the hands of nature. Made just three years before Wayne's death, this Don Siegel film's amazing cast includes a young Ron Howard, Jimmy Stewart and Lauren Bacall.

1. "Bad Company"
   "The Alamo"
2. "Hang 'em High"
   "Tombstone"

"Bad Company" is a classic western of the 1970s, and very much embraces the themes of the decade's films, including tragic irony. In the film, a group of young men (including one played by a very young Jeff Bridges) set out to become masters of the frontier, only to find their lives devolve into violence and death.

1. "Jeremiah Johnson"
   "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid"
2. "The Wild Bunch"
   "Once Upon A Time In The West"

Considered by many fans of Sergio Leone to be his finest Western, "Once Upon A Time In The West" stars one of the best casts of the era. Jason Robards is "Cheyenne," and Charles Bronson is "Harmonica," two outlaws (one wrongfully accused). The two come to the defense of Claudia Cardinale's Jill, a widow whose husband and family were killed by Frank, the assassin played by screen legend Henry Fonda.

1. "Jeremiah Johnson"
   "The Shootist"
2. "Barbarosa"
   "Santa Fe Trail"

"Santa Fe Trail" (1940) saw the changing of the guard in Hollywood, with stars of the old and new both taking part. The film stars iconic action movie actor Errol Flynn, famed movie star Raymond Massey and even midcentury journeyman and future U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

1. "The Treasure of The Sierra Madre"
   "Red River"
2. "Ramrod"
   "Duel in the Sun"

In the popular imagination, John Wayne always plays heroes. Some of them are twisted, but all are protagonists. In "Red River," Wayne's character is a cruel man who drives his cowboys to turn on him, putting Montgomery Clift's "Matt" in charge, changing Matt's relationship with Wayne's "Dunson" from that of mentor/student to enemies.

1. "Cowboy"
   "Barbarosa"
2. "Blazing Saddles"
   "The Magnificent Seven"

"Barbarosa" is both the title of this film and one of its star characters, played by none other than Willie Nelson. In the film, Karl Westover, a man played by a very young Gary Busey, is on the run having accidentally killed a man, finding himself in a strange action comedy in the old west.

1. "Barbarosa"
   "Hud"
2. "The Long Riders"
   "One-Eyed Jacks"

"One-Eyed Jacks" is a classic Western with a classic American actor: Marlon Brando. Directed by Brando, the film took years to shoot, and, slipping into his heavier phase, Brando put on weight during the shoot, making his character "Rio" look heavier coming out of jail than when he went in.

1. "¡Three Amigos!"
   "Four Faces West"
2. "The Three Amigos"
   "Dances With Wolves"

"¡Three Amigos!" stands as one of the greatest Western comedies of all time, with the genius of Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short leading the cast. In the film, the three play early Hollywood stars whose on-screen exploits are believed to be real by the people of a Mexican village, and when the trio fall on hard times they take on what they think is an acting job, facing the bandits terrorizing the village, only to find out they've bitten off more than they can chew.

1. "Ramrod"
   "Barbarosa"
2. "Jeremiah Johnson"
   "One-Eyed Jacks"

Released in 1947, "Ramrod" follows heroine Connie Dickason as she hires Dave Nash (played by western movie star Joel McCrea) to help her defend her inheritance against Frank Ivey, a ruthless cattleman who will stop at nothing to get his hands on her property. Of course, it pays to have the right gunmen defending the good guys.

1. "A Fistful of Dollars"
   "Lone Star"
2. "Hud"
   "The Ballad of Little Jo"

"Hud," named for Paul Newman's bad-boy character, is a typical "aren't young people just awful" movie of the 1960s. Still, it's also a wonderful portrayal of a dysfunctional family in the old west, with pressures coming from the environment, as well as the social circle. In the film, Hud is portrayed as the irredeemable young man who cares only for his own pleasure, in the face of a father whose principles are to be admired, not rebelled against, despite them doing nothing to avert family tragedies.

1. "Bad Company"
   "Tombstone"
2. "Blazing Saddles"
   "The Virginian"

"The Virginian" is both the name of this 1946 film and the name of its protagonist. In "The Virginian," a schoolteacher from the east arrives in a western town, and two cowboys fall in love with her. One is involved in a gang of thieves, and the other, The Virginian, has to step in to stop them while protecting the woman he loves.