Entertainment
The Best Western Movies Of The '70s
List Rules
Vote up the best Western films that were released in the 1970s.
The Western is one of the most important genres in cinema history. It redefined what it meant to be a hero, and it redefined how stories were told on camera. Though the great Western heroes were on their way out in the '70s, it was still a tremendous decade for the genre. These are the best '70s Western movies, ranked from best to worst by fan votes. Some of these great 1970s Westerns fall in the line with the classic Western storyline of a lone gunman saving the day, while others on this list are uproarious comedies that almost flip the genre on its head.
What are some of the movies one can expect to find on this list? Throughout the 1970s, Clint Eastwood served as a cowboy for a new generation. Some of his best films, including The Outlaw Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter, and Two Mules for Sister Sara, all came out during the decade. The Frisco Kid is another good Western movie that was released in the 1970s.
Blazing Saddles is not only one of the best Westerns of the 70s, but it is still considered one of the funniest films of all time. Other great movies featured here include Westworld, The Shootist, and Jeremiah Johnson.
What is the best Western from the 70s?? Give the best movies a thumbs up and please add any great cowboy films you think might be missing from this list!
Ranked by
- 1Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood) watches helplessly as his wife and child are murdered, by Union men led by Capt. Terrill (Bill McKinney). Seeking revenge, Wales joins the Confederate Army. He refuses to ...more - 2Robert Redford, Will Geer, Stefan Gierasch
- Released: 1972
- Directed by: Sydney Pollack
A Mexican-American War veteran, Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford), heads to the mountains to live in isolation. Woefully unequipped for the task at hand, Johnson is fortunate to come across a ...more - 3Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill
- Released: 1973
- Directed by: Clint Eastwood
In this Western, a drifter with no name (Clint Eastwood) wanders into a small town, where his gun-slinging abilities are in high demand. When the drifter rides into Lago, he is met with incredulity ...more - 4John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, James Stewart
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Don Siegel
J.B. Books (John Wayne, in his final film role) is an aging gunfighter diagnosed with cancer who comes to Nevada at the turn of the 20th century. Renting a room from widowed Bond Rogers (Lauren ...more - 5John Wayne, George Kennedy, Scott Walker
- Released: 1973
- Directed by: Andrew V. McLaglen
Cahill U.S. Marshal is a 1973 American Western film in Technicolor starring John Wayne as a driven lawman in a black hat. The film was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and filmed on location in ...more - 6Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, Armando Silvestre
- Released: 1970
- Directed by: Don Siegel
Two Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film starring Shirley MacLaine set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel. It was ...more - 7Gregory Peck, Desi Arnaz, Jack Warden
- Released: 1973
- Directed by: Ted Kotcheff
After a bank robbery goes wrong, outlaw Billy Two Hats (Desi Arnaz Jr.) is captured by Sheriff Gifford (Jack Warden). Billy's partner, Arch Deans (Gregory Peck), rescues him, but during the escape ...more - 8Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn
- Released: 1974
- Directed by: Mel Brooks
In this satirical take on Westerns, crafty railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new ...more - 9Richard Harris, Judith Anderson, Jean Gascon
- Released: 1970
- Directed by: Elliot Silverstein
In 1825, English big game hunter John Morgan (Richard Harris) is captured and enslaved by a Sioux tribe, forced to labor for tribal matriarch Buffalo Cow Head (Judith Anderson) as a common pack ...more - 10Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J. Cobb
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Michael Winner
During a drunken spree in the small Wild West town of Bannock, one of a half-dozen workers from a nearby ranch accidentally shoots an innocent man. Bannock's marshal, a righteous man named Jered ...more - 11Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Robert Altman
Charismatic gambler John McCabe (Warren Beatty) arrives in a mining community and decides to open a brothel. The local residents are impressed by his confident demeanor and fast talk, but crafty ...more - 12Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, John Saxon
- Released: 1972
- Directed by: John Sturges
In New Mexico, one-time bounty hunter Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) owns a ranch where a nearby group of Mexican revolutionaries, led by Luis Chama (John Saxon), fights for their rightful land after the ...more - 13Burt Lancaster, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke
- Released: 1972
- Directed by: Robert Aldrich
When word arrives that Apache warrior Ulzana has assembled a war party and left the reservation, the United States Army pegs veteran tracker McIntosh (Burt Lancaster) and Apache Ke-Ni-Tay (Jorge ...more - 14John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern
- Released: 1972
- Directed by: Mark Rydell
A grizzled veteran rancher, Wil Andersen (John Wayne) is almost ready to embark on a big cattle drive when his crew abruptly quits to join in a gold rush. Left with no alternative, Anderson enlists ...more - 15Paul Newman, Victoria Principal, Anthony Perkins
- Released: 1972
- Directed by: John Huston
Saved from near death by a young Mexican girl, a former outlaw sets himself up as sole arbiter of the law in a small town. The town prospers as Judge Bean robs and hangs anyone with money that comes ...more - 16John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Hara
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: George Sherman
The avenging head of the McCandle clan returns to his estranged family and leads the search for his kidnapped grandson. Big Jake sets off, his sons in tow, to deliver the ransom to the kidnappers, ...more - 17John Wayne, Geoffrey Deuel, Forrest Tucker
- Released: 1970
- Directed by: Andrew V. McLaglen
Kind-hearted, fatherly John Chisum (John Wayne) owns a large ranch in Lincoln County, New Mexico, in the 1870s. With the help of his faithful sidekick, Pepper (Ben Johnson), and a hot-headed young ...more - 18John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O'Neill
- Released: 1970
- Directed by: Howard Hawks
Union leader Cord McNally (John Wayne) is protecting a routine gold shipment when his troops are attacked by Confederate forces. Not only does he lose the gold, but one of his strongest officers is ...more - 19Jeff Bridges, Barry Brown, Jim Davis
- Released: 1972
- Directed by: Robert Benton
Out of the frying pan and into the fire: Civil War draft dodger Drew Dixon (Barry Brown) avoids the horrors of war by fleeing west, only to become mixed up with a gang of lawless youths led by the ...more - 20James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan
- Released: 1973
- Directed by: Sam Peckinpah
Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is ordered by Governor Wallace (Jason Robards) to go after the outlaw Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) because the cattle businessmen want him caught. Although ...more - 21John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Zerbe
- Released: 1975
- Directed by: Stuart Millar
Sequel to the Oscar-winning "True Grit" finds the trigger-happy Rooster trying to win back his law badge by hunting a gang of bandits and a stolen shipment of explosives. His job is not made any ...more - 22Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam
- Released: 1970
- Directed by: Arthur Penn
Little Big Man is a 1970 American revisionist Western directed by Arthur Penn and based on the novel Little Big Man by Thomas Berger. It is a picaresque comedy about a white male child raised by the ...more - 23James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Elam
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Burt Kennedy
When traveling con man Latigo Smith (James Garner) drifts into a small Western town, he decides to take advantage of a local rivalry between gold-mining factions. Recruiting the shifty Jug May (Jack ...more - 24Burt Lancaster, Susan Clark, Jon Cypher
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Edwin Sherin
When rancher Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher) hoodwinks local lawman Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster) into shooting an innocent man, Valdez is remorseful and tries to take up a collection for the widow. Tanner ...more - 25Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Jill Ireland
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Tom Gries
When diphtheria breaks out at Fort Humboldt, a train is dispatched with medical supplies and relief troops. Also on board are Utah's governor (Richard Crenna), his mistress (Jill Ireland), a marshal ...more
