The western is one of cinema's most celebrated genres. Broadly defined, a western is any film that embodies the struggles and harsh realities of life on the frontier. Because the "wild west" of the late 1800s and early 1900s was largely unregulated and uncontrollable, conflicts abounded. The looming danger of everyday life on the frontier and the inherently cinematic backdrop of mountains, deserts, and wilderness combine to create a uniquely cinematic atmosphere that has inspired hundreds of classic films.
Westerns' popularity peaked in the mid-20th century, but the genre remains beloved to this day. Of the more recent additions to the genre, which are the best (according to Rotten Tomatoes)?
The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada - 85%
The great Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars as Pete Perkins in 2005's The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. After Pete's ranch hand and longtime friend Melquiades Estrada is wrongfully killed by a police officer, Pete kidnaps the officer, exhumes Estrada's dead body, and heads for Mexico, where he promised to give him his burial.
The film benefits from Jones' pitch-perfect direction and powerful lead performance, as well as a great script from Guillermo Arriaga, who penned all three of acclaimed director Alejandro G. Inarritu's first films, Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel.
The Proposition - 85%
If you think the American west is an unforgiving landscape, try living a day in the Australian outback, the setting for 2005's The Proposition. Guy Pearce stars as Charlie, an outlaw whose younger brother is in custody after a gunfight. A lawman offers him a deal that could potentially secure his brother's release: he must hunt down and kill his older brother, Arthur, who's also wanted for various crimes.
Critics hailed this film as both a thought-provoking morality tale and an unflinchingly realistic depiction of life in one of the harshest environments of them all.
The Nightingale - 86%
Director Jennifer Kent is best known for her disturbing horror film, difficult film to watch. It's a simple story about a woman on the hunt for the man who committed an unspeakable act of cruelty against her and her family.
The film takes place in 1825, in present-day Tasmania, but its themes and textures are timeless and relevant as ever. Viewer beware: this is a tough film to stomach. But critics found it worthwhile for those who can handle it.
Meek's Cutoff - 86%
2011's Meek's Cutoff was perhaps too slow and contemplative for mainstream audiences to fully embrace, but it nonetheless received widespread critical acclaim, making it one of the highest-ranking westerns of the 21st century. It's a straightforward "man vs. nature" story about a group of settlers who get lost in the wilderness, and who must rely on the help of a captured Native who offers to guide them to a water source.
Director Kelly Reichardt and star Michelle Williams re-united for this film, previously having collaborated on the terrific micro-budget indie, Wendy and Lucy.
News Of The World - 86%
In theaters now, 2020's Greengrass' other works, but still delivers on thrilling action sequences and high-stakes emotional drama.
Hanks and Greengrass previously teamed up for the acclaimed biopic Captain Phillips in 2013, and, like that film, this one is earning rave reviews.
The Sisters Brothers - 87%
The title is a tad confusing, but the plot of the darkly comic western, The Sisters Brothers, is actually quite straightforward. Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly star as two brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters. They're assassins on their way to California to hunt down a gold prospector in the mid-1800s.
Phoenix and Reilly are excellent together, making for one of the great on-screen duos in recent movie history. The film won the Best Director prize at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, and was one of the best-reviewed films of that year.
Brokeback Mountain - 87%
Director Ang Lee's his masterful direction, which was bolstered by the gorgeous cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto.
Brokeback Mountain was denied the Best Picture Oscar in a notoriously questionable decision by the Academy, who instead voted for Crash. Nonetheless, it's still considered one of the best films of its decade, and one of the best modern westerns.
There Will Be Blood - 92%
Paul Thomas Anderson's insatiable appetite for money and power that defined much of early American entrepreneurship.
The writing, the performances, the cinematography, and the chilling score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, combine to make There Will Be Blood a bonafide masterpiece.
No Country For Old Men - 93%
Cormac McCarthy novels often read like screenplays, straightforwardly narrating events without much in the way of flowery description. The Coen brothers' page t0 screen adaptations, No Country For Old Men is among the most faithful to its source material, and that's for the best.
Actor Javier Bardem won an Oscar for his haunting portrayal of Anton Chigurh, one of the most iconic villains in cinema history, and the film itself won 4 Oscars overall, including Best Picture.
Hell Or High Water - 97%
Director David Mackenzie's 2016 hit Hell or High Water is perhaps the purest embodiment of the western since the genre's heyday, over half a century ago. Ben Foster and Chris Pine star as brothers who plan a series of robberies against the bank that is getting ready to foreclose on their family's property. Sheriff Marcus Hamilton, played by Jeff Bridges, is hot on their trail.
Every classic western genre element - family, honor, friendship, morality, and, yes, mortality - is explored in this endlessly entertaining crime caper, making it the best-reviewed western of its time.
