This classic movie genre is far from dead.
On the big screen, it wasn’t just John Wayne and Henry Fonda doing the shooting.
But then, just like that, the sun seemed to set on the Western.
Jamie Foxx in ‘Django Unchained’; Clint Eastwood in ‘Unforgiven’; Hailee Steinfeld in ‘True Grit’.Credit:Columbia/The Weinstein Company/Kobal/Shutterstock; Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection; Lorey Sebastian/Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
On Nov. 9, 1990,Dances With Wolvesopened in theaters and revitalized a classic genre.
Here are our picks for the best modern Westerns since 1990.
He assembles a team, including U.S.
Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox in ‘Back to the Future Part III’.Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
If you’re a Western nerd, you’ll appreciate Verbinski’s deeply felt love for the genre.
(Find me another PG-rated movie that pays homage toEl Topo.)
But anyone can appreciate howRangouses CGI animation to bring a new gross-glossy grandeur to the Western.
Matt Damon and Henry Thomas in ‘All the Pretty Horses’.Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection
It’s amoral fun for all ages.
and Em, a pair of siblings who own a horse ranch for Hollywood productions.
Looking to capture evidence of it on film, O.J.
Richard Jenkins and Kurt Russell in ‘Bone Tomahawk’.Caliber Media Company
and Em assemble a crew and contend with the violent flying object of unknown origins.
The film nicely nods in the direction ofJim Jarmusch’sDead Man, but becomes satisfyingly physical in its closing sequences.
But Quentin Tarantino dreams of a different, wilder West.
Hilary Swank in ‘The Homesman’.Dawn Jones 2013
For instance, how different are the vast wastelands ofGeorge Miller’s postapocalypse from the unsettled American West?
And Max Rockatansky is a twist onShanewith a dab of nuclear radiation mixed in.
The climactic shoot-out, which goes on for 25 incredible minutes, is an absolute corker.
Tommy Lee Jones in ‘The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada’.Europa Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection
What could go wrong?
Really, the proposition inThe Propositionis almost beside the point.
For decades, killing was Eastwood’s business…and business was good.
Regina King, Idris Elba, and LaKeith Stanfield in ‘The Harder They Fall’.DAVID LEE/NETFLIX
Otis “Cookie” Figowitz (John Magaro) is a baker traversing with fur trappers in 1800s Oregon.
Heck, it’s practically an anti-movie.
But the movie never loses sight of its strange protagonists and the unique understanding that develops between them.C.H.
Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck in ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’.Sailor Bear
Sayles' story is sprawling, but never shaggy.
It has a rich, almost-novelistic complexity, juggling characters and time periods with the grace of an acrobat.
It casts a spell you won’t want to shake.C.N.
Johnny Depp voices Rango in ‘Rango’.Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
With its cat-and-mouse setup and well-captured West Texas landscape, this is the template for sturdy contemporary Western filmmaking.
Or by the fact that it spoils how the movie is going to end.
The pleasure comes from watching this beautiful, intense, and moody thriller unfurl.
Daniel Kaluuya, Brandon Perea, and Keke Palmer in ‘Nope’.Universal Pictures
His portrayal of the famed outlaw is equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying.
Michael Fassbender (standing) and Kodi Smit-McPhee in ‘Slow West’.A24/Courtesy Everett Collection
Tim Blake Nelson in ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’.NETFLIX
Sharon Stone in ‘The Quick and the Dead’.TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Django Unchained’.Andrew Cooper/Courtesy Everett Collection
Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.Jasin Boland/Courtesy Everett Collection
Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris in ‘Appaloosa’.New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection
Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall in ‘Open Range’.Touchstone Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Guy Pearce in ‘The Proposition’.First Look Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Clint Eastwood in ‘Unforgiven’.Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas in ‘Desperado’.Columbia Pictures/Getty
John Magaro in ‘First Cow’.Everett
Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano in ‘There Will Be Blood’.Mary Evans/PARAMOUNT VANTAGE/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection
Johnny Depp in ‘Dead Man’.Ronald Grant/Courtesy Everett Collection
Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer in ‘Tombstone’.Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Barbara Colen in ‘Bacurau’.Everett Collection
Michelle Williams in ‘Meek’s Cutoff’.Oscilloscope Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Russell Crowe and Peter Fonda in ‘3:10 to Yuma’.LIONSGATE
Jeff Bridges in ‘True Grit’.Wilson Webb/Courtesy Everett Collection
Chris Cooper in ‘Lone Star’.Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Carlos Gallardo in ‘El Mariachi’.Everett Collection
Ben Foster and Chris Pine in ‘Hell or High Water’.Lorey Sebastian/CBS Films/courtesy Everett Collection
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in ‘Brokeback Mountain’.Focus Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’.Melinda Sue Gordon/Apple
Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck in ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’.Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection
Kodi Smit-McPhee and Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘The Power of the Dog’.KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX
Javier Bardem in ‘No Country for Old Men’.Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection
