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Best Western Movies of the 1970s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
49 western films from the 1970s are in our catalog; the 49 best are ranked below. Top of the list is The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), at 7.8 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 6.9. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The White Buffalo, 6.2 on IMDb against 25 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Outlaw Josey Wales '1976 | Western | 7.8 | 91% | 69 | 7.5 | Clint Eastwood |
| 2 | Blazing Saddles '1974 | Western / Comedy | 7.7 | 89% | 73 | 7.2 | Mel Brooks |
| 3 | Jeremiah Johnson '1972 | Western | 7.6 | 92% | 75 | 7.3 | Sydney Pollack |
| 4 | McCabe & Mrs. Miller '1971 | Drama / Western | 7.6 | 85% | 93 | 7.2 | Robert Altman |
| 5 | The Emigrants '1971 | Drama / Western | 8.0 | 94% | - | 7.4 | Jan Troell |
| 6 | Little Big Man '1970 | Western / Comedy / Drama | 7.5 | 91% | 63 | 7.4 | Arthur Penn |
| 7 | Duck, You Sucker '1971 | Western | 7.5 | 92% | 77 | 7.7 | Sergio Leone |
| 8 | The Shootist '1976 | Western | 7.6 | 81% | 77 | 7.1 | Don Siegel |
| 9 | High Plains Drifter '1973 | Western / Drama / Mystery | 7.4 | 91% | 69 | 7.3 | Clint Eastwood |
| 10 | They Call Me Trinity '1970 | Action / Comedy / Western | 7.4 | - | - | 7.5 | Enzo Barboni |
| 11 | The Cowboys '1972 | Western / Drama / Action | 7.4 | 75% | 52 | 7.1 | Mark Rydell |
| 12 | My Name Is Nobody '1973 | Comedy / Western | 7.3 | 100% | 68 | 7.3 | Tonino Valerii |
| 13 | Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid '1973 | Western / Drama | 7.2 | 60% | 53 | 7.2 | Sam Peckinpah |
| 14 | Trinity Is Still My Name '1971 | Comedy / Western | 7.2 | - | - | 7.4 | Enzo Barboni |
| 15 | El Topo '1970 | Drama / Western | 7.2 | 80% | 65 | 7.1 | Alejandro Jodorowsky |
| 16 | The Ballad of Cable Hogue '1970 | Comedy / Western / Action | 7.2 | 94% | - | 7.0 | Sam Peckinpah |
| 17 | Big Jake '1971 | Western | 7.1 | 75% | 57 | 6.8 | George Sherman |
| 18 | Daisy Town '1971 | Animation / Comedy / Western | 6.9 | - | - | 6.9 | René Goscinny |
| 19 | Lawman '1971 | Western | 7.0 | 73% | 52 | 6.5 | Michael Winner |
| 20 | Two Mules for Sister Sara '1970 | Western | 7.0 | 71% | 62 | 7.0 | Don Siegel |
| 21 | Soldier Blue '1970 | Western / Drama | 6.9 | 38% | - | 6.8 | Ralph Nelson |
| 22 | Ulzana's Raid '1972 | Western | 7.0 | 90% | - | 6.9 | Robert Aldrich |
| 23 | Keoma '1976 | Western / Action / Drama | 7.0 | - | - | 6.8 | Enzo G. Castellari |
| 24 | Red Sun '1971 | Western | 6.8 | 40% | - | 6.8 | Terence Young |
| 25 | There Was a Crooked Man... '1970 | Western | 6.8 | 82% | 72 | 6.8 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| 26 | Westworld '1973 | Sci-Fi / Western | 6.9 | 83% | 77 | 6.8 | Michael Crichton |
| 27 | A Man Called Horse '1970 | Western / Drama | 6.8 | 87% | 46 | 6.5 | Elliot Silverstein |
| 28 | Hannie Caulder '1971 | Drama / Western | 6.4 | 60% | 48 | 6.2 | Burt Kennedy |
| 29 | Chisum '1970 | Western | 6.8 | 80% | - | 6.6 | Andrew V. McLaglen |
| 30 | Cahill: United States Marshal '1973 | Drama / Western | 6.4 | - | 61 | 6.1 | Andrew V. McLaglen |
| 31 | The Train Robbers '1973 | Western | 6.4 | 40% | 64 | 6.3 | Burt Kennedy |
| 32 | Return of Sabata '1971 | Western | 5.6 | - | - | 5.9 | Gianfranco Parolini |
| 33 | The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean '1972 | Western / Comedy | 6.8 | 80% | 57 | 6.5 | John Huston |
| 34 | Rooster Cogburn '1975 | Drama / Western | 6.8 | 50% | - | 6.4 | Stuart Millar |
| 35 | Rio Lobo '1970 | Western | 6.7 | 71% | 55 | 6.5 | Howard Hawks |
| 36 | Man of the East '1972 | Comedy / Western / Action | 6.5 | - | - | 6.6 | Enzo Barboni |
| 37 | Breakheart Pass '1975 | Thriller / Western / Mystery | 6.7 | 68% | - | 6.6 | Tom Gries |
| 38 | Chato's Land '1972 | Western | 6.6 | - | - | 6.5 | Michael Winner |
| 39 | Bite the Bullet '1975 | Western | 6.6 | 68% | 67 | 6.4 | Richard Brooks |
| 40 | Zorro '1975 | Action / Comedy / Western | 6.4 | - | - | 6.6 | Duccio Tessari |
| 41 | The Missouri Breaks '1976 | Western / Drama | 6.5 | 77% | 65 | 6.5 | Arthur Penn |
| 42 | The Electric Horseman '1979 | Romance / Comedy / Western | 6.5 | 62% | 64 | 6.1 | Sydney Pollack |
| 43 | The Apple Dumpling Gang '1975 | Comedy / Western | 6.4 | 60% | 59 | 6.6 | Norman Tokar |
| 44 | The Frisco Kid '1979 | Comedy / Western / Drama | 6.4 | - | 38 | 6.1 | Robert Aldrich |
| 45 | The White Buffalo '1977 | Western / Action | 6.2 | 29% | 25 | 6.0 | J. Lee Thompson |
| 46 | A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot '1975 | Comedy / Western | 6.2 | - | - | 6.3 | Damiano Damiani |
| 47 | Joe Kidd '1972 | Western / Drama | 6.4 | 80% | 52 | 6.4 | John Sturges |
| 48 | Goin' South '1978 | Comedy / Western / Romance | 6.2 | 69% | 52 | 5.8 | Jack Nicholson |
| 49 | The Villain '1979 | Comedy / Western | 5.3 | 0% | 22 | 5.8 | Hal Needham |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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Directors on this list
Clint Eastwood Mel Brooks Sydney Pollack Robert Altman Arthur Penn Sergio Leone Don Siegel Enzo Barboni Sam Peckinpah Alejandro Jodorowsky Michael Winner Ralph Nelson
Actors on this list
Clint Eastwood Gene Wilder Robert Redford Warren Beatty Julie Christie Max von Sydow Liv Ullmann Dustin Hoffman Faye Dunaway Rod Steiger James Coburn John Wayne