There are several Western remakes that not only stand up against the original movies that came before, but also sur their predecessors. names like John Wayne, John Ford, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood, and Sergio Leone having made their mark as icons in the genre. With movies stretching back to the start of cinema, there has naturally been plenty of room for remakes.

These remakes do more than just offer new takes on classic Western movies. Since Japanese samurai movies have a firm grasp on the same themes as American Western movies, helped popularize the spaghetti Western, American-themed Western films produced by Italian filmmakers. All of these films have been the subject of remakes or have been remakes themselves, and many remain among the best in the genre.

10 The Alamo (2004)

Based On The Alamo (1960)

Released in 1960, John Wayne directed and starred in The Alamo, a retelling of the Siege and Battle of the Alamo. Wayne took on the role of Davy Crockett while Richard Boone ed him as Sam Houston and Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie. The film was nominated for seven Oscar nominations but lost all but the Best Sound award. It remains primarily a curiosity as the only movie that Wayne directed in his long career.

In 2004, John Lee Hancock directed his version of The Alamo​​​. With Ron Howard and Mark Glazer as producers, there were high hopes for this remake. Dennis Quaid stars as Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, and Jason Patrick as Jim Bowie. The remake was more historically accurate and went a long way to show Crockett in a different light than what most people about the battle. While the original was not as historically accurate as the remake, it remains the better-reviewed of the two films, although both remain quality depictions of the same event.

9 3 Godfathers (1948)

Based On Hell's Heroes (1929)

John Ford remains one of the greatest Western directors in early Hollywood history. However, even he was not above remaking older movies and putting a fresh coat of paint on an existing story. In 1948, Ford directed the Western movie 3 Godfathers. John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, and Harry Carey Jr. star as the titular characters in a loose retelling of the classic Bible story about the Three Wise Men. It is also a remake of the 1929 William Wyler movie Hell's Heroes.

In the original movie, four men rob a bank, and three survive, escaping after killing a cashier. They find a pregnant woman, and she dies giving birth, asking them to protect her baby and return it to the father - the cashier they killed. The story follows them as they attempt to fulfill the mother's last wishes. 3 Godfathers has the same basic story but with the baby as the nephew of the town sheriff. The remake has a happier ending and is a more crowd-pleasing movie than the original.

8 El Dorado (1966)

Based On Rio Bravo (1959)

El Dorado is an interesting Western remake because it has the same director, lead actor, and screenwriter as the movie it remade. In 1959, Howard Hawks directed the movie Rio Bravo with screenwriters Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett. This movie stars John Wayne as a sheriff in a small Western town who arrests a man for murder but then faces the wrath of a powerful local rancher while awaiting the U.S. Marshal's arrival. The film was added to the National Film Registry and is considered one of Hollywood's most influential Western movies.

Seven years later, Hawkes and Brackett teamed up again to make the movie El Dorado​​​​​. This film stars John Wayne as a gunfighter who comes to help a local sheriff (Robert Mitchum) when he has to defend his town from a powerful local rancher. The setup is slightly different, but El Dorado has the same basic story as Rio Bravo, only changing the reason for the ranchers' attacks. Rio Bravo remains the better of the two, but El Dorado is still a respected Western film. Hawkes also made Rio Lobo in 1970, which is considered a second remake, also starring John Wayne.

7 Maverick (1994)

Based On Maverick (1957-1962)

Richard Donner (Superman, The Goonies) directed the 1994 Western remake of Maverick. Based on the classic TV series of the same name, the film stars Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick Jr., James Garner as his father, Zane Cooper, and Jodie Foster as con artist Annabelle Bransford. The movie sees the three working as con artists and card sharks plotting against each other to steal $250,000 in prize money.

James Garner, who played Maverick in the TV show, returns as the dad in the film.

The movie was a commercial and critical success. Reviews praised its wit and charm. Critics also commented that, while it was mostly a lighthearted film, it seamlessly switched between action and comedy. The film and the TV show on which it was based were about poker players who got into all sorts of trouble, but the TV show had them deal with more ethical dilemmas, while the movie played out as a comedy heist story. The best part is that James Garner, who played Maverick in the TV show, returns as the dad in the film.

6 Stagecoach (1966)

Based On Stagecoach (1939)

The original Stagecoach is one of the seminal Western movies in classic Hollywood history. It was the first Western directed by John Ford since his silent film days and the first Western to star John Wayne in the lead role. Both men became known for the genre, and this was where it all started. That meant the remake in 1966 had a lot to live up to. Both movies tell the story of a group of people on a stagecoach dealing with dangerous situations on their journey across the Arizona Territory.

One thing that stands out in the remake is the eclectic cast, which includes names like Red Buttons, Bing Crosby, Slim Pickens, Ann-Margret, and Van Heflin. This made the cast almost overshadow the film's story, but the remake somehow remained entertaining. Even Quentin Tarantino praised the film, saying it stands "proudly alongside the John Ford version" (via Pure Cinema Podcast).

5 3:10 To Yuma (2007)

Based On 3:10 To Yuma (1957)

Both versions of 3:10 to Yuma are critically acclaimed films that offer much to the Western movie genre. The original film starred Glenn Ford as Ben Wade, a ruthless outlaw who is arrested after a train robbery in which he kills two men. Van Heflin stars as rancher Dan Evans, who agrees to help transport Wade to the train station to catch a train to Yuma for his trial. The film then sees Dan and Ben develop an uneasy relationship as Dan fights off outlaws and revenge-seeking cowboys.

The original movie was entered into the National Film Registry in 2012, but five years before that, James Mangold directed the remake. In this version, Russell Crowe plays the outlaw, and Christian Bale is the rancher hired to transport him. The two movies have drastically different endings, and the shocking change in the 3:10 to Yuma remake helps differentiate it from the original. The Western remake also received two Oscar nominations.

4 True Grit (2010)

Based On True Grit (1969)

John Wayne stars as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, an aging marshal hired by a young girl named Mattie (Kim Darby) to apprehend the man who killed her father. At the same time, a young Texas Ranger named Le Boeuf (Glen Campbell) is also seeking the killer and s up with the two on the hunt. The film won Wayne an Oscar for Best Actor, the only time he had ever won the award.

However, the remake was just as good, if not better, and proved that the Coen Brothers could do a straight Western without the quirky dialogue and absurdist situations they mastered over the years. Jeff Bridges played the U.S. Marshal in the remake, with Matt Damon as the Texas Ranger and Hailee Steinfeld as young Mattie. With a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, the film earned 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

3 Ned Kelly (2003)

Based On Ned Kelly (1970)

Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom star in the 2003 Australian Western Ned Kelly, based on the life of the bushranger and outlaw of the same name. Ledger plays Kelly, a young man arrested and imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. He becomes an outlaw upon his release when he is falsely accused of a crime once again. The film received mixed reviews but picked up 12 AACTA Award nominations as one of Australia's best films of the year.

The story of Ned Kelly was made into at least eight films, with other satires and related movies on top of those. Of these releases, the 2003 version remains the best of the best, although it is important to note that The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906 is recognized as the first-ever feature-length film in history (via NFSA). The next most notable version was the 1970 release, which starred Mick Jagger as Ned. However, Ledger's performance as Kelly helps the remake stand tall above the 1970 release.

2 The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Based On The Magnificent Seven (1960) & Seven Samurai (1954)

The Magnificent Seven has a legacy like almost no other Western movie remake. The original movie was a Japanese samurai film called Severn Samurai, which saw seven samurai warriors team up to protect a town from bandits. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, it remains considered one of the greatest and most influential films in history. Six years later, John Sturgis remade it as a Western called The Magnificent Seven, which saw seven men teaming together to protect a small Mexican village from marauding bandits.

That remake was also considered one of the best of all time, this time in the Western genre, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2013. However, there was also a remake of the Western that arrived in 2016 that was just as entertaining, with Denzel Washington in the lead and Antoine Fuqua as director. While more of a Hollywood film than the previous version, it is still a faithful adaptation with fantastic gunfights and action sequences.

1 A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Based On Yojimbo (1961)

One of the most adapted and influential movies is Akira Kurosawa's samurai masterpiece, Yojimbo. The movie follows a wandering rōnin and master swordsman who arrives in a small town and learns about two warring gangs that have torn the town apart, putting the regular citizens in danger. The rōnin realizes that the violence won't stop unless both sides are dead, so he plots to bring down both groups from the inside by plotting a fateful final battle.

Yojimbo received a sequel called Sanjuro and a spaghetti Western remake by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, called A Fistful of Dollars. The format is mostly the same, with the wandering stranger showing up in a small town and helping free them from the warring gangs tearing it apart. It received two sequels, with The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly being the most famous of the trilogy. Yojimbo was remade other times, including in other Westerns (Django) and gangster movies (Last Man Standing). However, A Fistful of Dollars is easily the best Western remake of all time.

Source: Pure Cinema Podcast, NFSA