The Best 1940s Western Movies

Ranker Film
Updated July 8, 2019 13.1K votes 1.2K voters 21.7K views
Over 1.2K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best 1940s Western Movies
Voting Rules
Vote up your favorite Western films that were released in the 1940s.

The Western genre is truly what took movies to new heights, and in the '40s, Western movies took over cineplexes as a form of escapism during a tumultuous time in global politics. These are the best 1940s Western movies, ranked from best to worst by user votes. Some of these great 1940s Westerns featured lone riders saving the day, some of the other classic films on this list leaned more towards comedy rather than drama.

What movies can you expect to see on this best 40s Western movies list? Though he'd been acting for decades, some of John Wayne's most popular films came out in the 1940s. Dark Command and A Lady Takes a Chance are two great Wayne Westerns that were released in the decade. My Darling Clementine is another great Western from the 1940s. The Wild West got the funny treatment when The Marx Brothers starred in the 1940 film, Go West. Other good films that appear on this top 1940s Western movies list include The Ox-Bow Incident, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Blood on the Moon.

Do you have a favorite 1940s Western? Make sure to vote up your favorites!
Photo: Public Domain / Via Wikimedia Commons
Ranked by
  • Red River
    1

    Red River

    John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan
    309 votes
    • Released: 1948
    • Directed by: Howard Hawks
    Headstrong Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) starts a thriving Texas cattle ranch with the help of his faithful trail hand, Groot (Walter Brennan), and his protégé, Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift), an orphan ...more
  • She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
    2

    She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

    John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar
    288 votes
    • Released: 1949
    • Directed by: John Ford
    The last job of Calvary Captain Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) before retirement is to soothe relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians after Custer's last stand. At the same time, he must ...more

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  • The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
    3

    The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

    Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt
    257 votes
    • Released: 1948
    • Directed by: John Huston
    In this classic adventure film, two rough-and-tumble wanderers, Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt), meet up with a veteran prospector, Howard (Walter Huston), in Mexico and head into the ...more

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  • Fort Apache
    4

    Fort Apache

    John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple
    257 votes
    • Released: 1948
    • Directed by: John Ford
    When arrogant and stubborn Civil War hero Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) arrives in Arizona with his daughter, Philadelphia (Shirley Temple), to assume command of the Fort Apache ...more
  • My Darling Clementine
    5

    My Darling Clementine

    Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature
    283 votes
    • Released: 1946
    • Directed by: John Ford
    In the middle of a long cattle drive, Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find their cattle stolen, and one of the brothers ...more

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  • The Ox-Bow Incident
    6

    The Ox-Bow Incident

    Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan
    233 votes
    • Released: 1943
    • Directed by: William A. Wellman
    In this classic Western, wanderers Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Henry Morgan) ride into a small Nevada town plagued by cattle thieves. Initially suspected of being the rustlers themselves, ...more

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