Westerns ride high on Prime in October, with eight films from the genre among the best offerings this month on the streaming service. Prime also offers movies that raise issues about morality as well as several about the struggle for civil rights in the United States.
To determine the best movies to stream on Prime this October, 24/7 Tempo developed an index using average ratings on IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon, and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, as of early October 2023, weighting all ratings equally. We considered only movies with at least 5,000 audience votes on either IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes, and ruled out documentaries. Data on streaming availability, also current as of early October, comes from the streaming guide Reelgood. Directorial credits are from IMDb.
Among the Westerns on Prime in October are some of the genre’s greatest films. These include “Stagecoach” (1939), “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” (1962), “Red River” (1948), “Eldorado” (1966), “The Big Country” (1958), and “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968). These films were helmed by some of cinema’s most accomplished directors – John Ford (the first two), Howard Hawks (the next two), William Wyler (“The Big Country”), and Sergio Leone. (Here’s a list of the 30 best Westerns ever made.)
The quest for justice and civil rights in the United States is examined in “Selma” (2014), taking its title from the site of one of the famous marches for voting rights, and “Till” (2022), about the horrific murder of a young Black man in Mississippi. Movies that probe issues of morality include “Serpico” ( 1973), about police corruption in New York City, and Stanley Kubrick’s classic World War I movie “Paths of Glory” (1957) – widely hailed as one of the best war movies of all time.
Two of the top six films on our list belong to controversial director Roman Polanski, and each won Oscars — “Chinatown” (1974) and “The Pianist” (2002).
25. El Dorado (1966)
> IMDb user rating: 7.6/10 (25,687 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (12,709 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (23 reviews)
> Directed by: Howard Hawks
24. Till (2022)
> IMDb user rating: 7.2/10 (12,151 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 97% (984 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (189 reviews)
> Directed by: Chinonye Chukwu
23. Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (81,784 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (495 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (339 reviews)
> Directed by: Shaka King
22. Inherit the Wind (1960)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (30,791 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (9,656 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (26 reviews)
> Directed by: Stanley Kramer
21. Red River (1948)
> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (29,715 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (8,571 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (30 reviews)
> Directed by: Howard Hawks
20. Charade (1963)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (72,875 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (42,943 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (50 reviews)
> Directed by: Stanley Donen
19. Stagecoach (1939)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (46,215 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (14,658 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (45 reviews)
> Directed by: John Ford
18. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (629,868 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (299,429 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (113 reviews)
> Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
17. Scarlet Street (1945)
> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (15,674 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 88% (3,697 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (16 reviews)
> Directed by: Fritz Lang
16. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (73,496 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (31,403 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (60 reviews)
> Directed by: John Frankenheimer
15. The King’s Speech (2010)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (683,883 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (144,700 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (298 reviews)
> Directed by: Tom Hooper
14. The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 7.6/10 (82,141 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (4,708 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (220 reviews)
> Directed by: Tyler Nilson & Michael Schwartz
13. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (357,833 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (241,507 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (194 reviews)
> Directed by: Terry George
12. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (72,528 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (23,742 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (48 reviews)
> Directed by: John Ford
11. His Girl Friday (1940)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (56,106 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (24,333 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (67 reviews)
> Directed by: Howard Hawks
10. The Big Country (1958)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (16,962 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (5,532 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (11 reviews)
> Directed by: William Wyler
9. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (14,002 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (5,423 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (30 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Reisner
8. Memento (2000)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (1,169,429 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (381,352 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (181 reviews)
> Directed by: Christopher Nolan
7. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (30,166 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (11,972 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (37 reviews)
> Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch
6. Chinatown (1974)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (309,557 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (78,076 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (76 reviews)
> Directed by: Roman Polanski
5. Paths of Glory (1957)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (199,155 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (35,412 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (62 reviews)
> Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
4. The Gold Rush (1925)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (106,473 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (20,591 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (50 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (314,446 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (65,906 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (65 reviews)
> Directed by: Sergio Leone
2. The Pianist (2002)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (836,046 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (253,429 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (184 reviews)
> Directed by: Roman Polanski
1. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (520,850 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 99% (50,000 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (465 reviews)
> Directed by: Joseph Kosinski