The Best Westerns You Probably Haven’t Seen

In the iconic “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” one of nine Westerns in which Ford directed Wayne, a retiring cavalry veteran is assigned a final mission to thwart a potential frontier war. Amidst the tumult, romantic tensions rise among the troops. The film, part of Ford’s “Cavalry Trilogy,” was well-received and notably earned an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

“McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” is an anti-Western, subverting genre conventions. John McCabe is a gambler in 1902 Washington state who builds a successful brothel with a madam, Constance Miller. Their prosperity attracts dangerous attention, leading to a tragic end.

Once informally dubbed “Othello on the Range,” “Jubal” is about a cowboy, Jubal Troop, who is given shelter on a large ranch, where he finds himself entangled in a web of deceit, jealousy, and violence involving the ranch owner, his wife, and a resentful cattleman.

Stewart plays a bounty hunter seeking justice for a murdered marshal. Forced to rely on two untrustworthy strangers, he embarks on a tumultuous journey through the Rocky Mountains. The film, noted for its original screenplay, marks the third Western collaboration between director Mann and Stewart.

“Hud” depicts the tension between a moral patriarch, Homer Bannon, and his self-centered son, Hud, amidst a threatening cattle disease outbreak. The film was celebrated for its revisionist take on the Western genre, and won three Academy Awards.