Any given movie might have a strict number of requirements to justify itself as a Western, but for as tight of a scope as the genre has, many unique films within it manage to stand out for their uniqueness. Westerns are characterized by their themes of isolation, revenge, and lawlessness, typically utilizing familiar characters like the lone gunslinger and taking place in the American Wild West. While the tropes that define the Western genre may seem to limit the films to a quite standard procedure, a few notable Westerns manage to break the mold in fascinating ways.
The few Westerns that do manage to stand out in their uniqueness do so in a few ways. Some of them break the conventional story beats of the more classic Western films by introducing plot elements or thematic tones that may seem foreign or unheard of for the genre. Others use mash-ups with other genres or unorthodox filmmaking techniques that keep them on a unique visual wavelength not matched by their peers.
10 Hearts Of The West
A hilarious dissection of Western tropes
Surprisingly, many a film has attempted to cross-breed the cool sensibilities of the typical Western with the wacky hi-jinks of the average comedy. Even better when the comedy is used as a platform to humorously dissect all the specific cliches inherent to the genre, poking fun at its predecessors. One of the earliest, and to this day, most successful attempts at this sort of split genre film is Hearts of the West, a 1975 comedy starring Jeff Bridges and Andy Griffith.
Weaponizing big names that are quite familiar cultural touchstones in the same American culture zeitgeist Westerns inhabit, Hearts of the West manages to fire off some clever jokes. Bridges stars as an aspiring Western novelist hoping to immerse himself in the culture of the American West to improve his writing, only to be caught up in an altercation with a pair of dangerous thieves, winding up on the set of a Western movie. Though it was a box office bomb at the time of its release, Hearts of the West has since become a fondly-remembered gem.
9 Bone Tomahawk
A chilling slasher film in a cowboy hat
Diametrically opposite Hearts of the West on the gradient spectrum of tone that exists within the Western genre sits Bone Tomahawk. A rare horror Western, Bone Tomahawk posits Kurt Russell as a small-town sheriff who leads a rescue party hoping to retrieve three townsfolk who have been kidnapped by a depraved tribe of cannibals. What follows is a maddening descent into the depths of human evil that few straight horror films have been able to replicate, let alone among the sliver of horror Westerns that exist.
Bone Tomahawk has a slow-burn pace on the same level as iconic inspirations like The Searchers, but where it stands out is in its sheer brutality. With one of the most gory movie deaths recently put to screen, the strong cast of Bone Tomahawk convincingly portray the twisted atrocities that come with living on the edge of human civilization. There are few cinematic experiences available quite like Bone Tomahawk.
8 Sergeant Rutledge
Broke new ground exploring heavy racial themes in Westerns
If there’s one element that makes many modern audiences squeamish in the face of the classic Western’s very existence, it’s the delicate racial implications at play for the genre’s common setting. From the vicious depiction of Native American tribes like Bone Tomahawk‘s fictional Troglodytes to the time period’s proximity to the American Civil War and chattel slavery, the very setting of the Western is mired in some difficult conversations. Luckily, brilliant movies like Sergeant Rutledge were able to address these topics with intelligence.
One of the earliest American films to frankly depict racism on-screen, let alone among Westerns, Sergeant Rutledge centers on the titular soldier, a Black sergeant in the United States Cavalry being court-martialed for his supposed assault of a white woman. Not only is Sergeant Rutledge unique among Westerns for its subject matter, but it also merges typical sensibilities of the formula with that of a courtroom drama, with the protagonist’s desperate attempts to prove Rutledge’s innocence forming the crux of the action. For its cultural significance and format, Sergeant Rutledge is one-of-a-kind.
7 Rango
Gore Verbinski’s animated opus
One of the greatest films by Gore Verbinski of Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy fame, Rango is a true four-quadrant Western that stands out for its tone and artistic flair. The animated picture stars Johnny Depp as a pet chameleon styling himself as something of a Thespian that adopts the persona of the lone gunslinger Rango when he finds himself stranded in a strange town inhabited by desert creatures in the Mojave. The eccentric reptile soon stumbles into a conspiracy by the town’s government that may be behind the citizen’s suffering in the wake of a vicious drought.
On the surface, the goofball antics of Johnny Depp in Rango make the film enjoyable as a screwball comedy, enhanced by the dazzlingly realistic CGI animation. But underneath the surface, a poignant message of finding oneself, loyalty, and the impact of a legacy drive a genuinely epic odyssey through the unique, animal-populated world of the film. No film manages to merge technically family-friendly animation, humor, epic storytelling and Western sensibilities quite like Rango does, an unholy concoction of elements that somehow work brilliantly together.
6 Wild Wild West
Will Smith’s fascinating blockbuster failure
For as long as Westerns have dominated the box office in ages past, it seems unlikely that a cinematic franchise on the level of The Matrix could ever exist within the genre. Yet that’s exactly what Hollywood darling Will Smith bet on when he famously refused to star in the Wachowski sisters’ sci-fi epic in favor of Wild Wild West. A steampunk alternate-history “weird west” story, the film stars Smith as a U.S. Secret Service agent who, along with his partner, is tasked with tracking down some missing scientists by President Ulysses S. Grant.
Even if it remains an infamous critical and commerical misfire, Wild Wild West‘s mistakes are so intriguing that it still holds some value for its sheer uniqueness. The steampunk setting is quite novel for a big-budget film, and from the choice to have Kevin Kline star in a dual role for no reason to the giant mechanical spider making up the action climax, the film has no end of bizarre hooks that ultimately fizzle. Wild Wild West is also notable for being one of the last films starring Smith to feature an original rap song by the actor explaining the story’s events in it.
5 The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
A one-of-a-kind Western anthology
One of the best original Westerns by Netflix on the streaming service, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is one of the most recent feathers in the caps of the legendary director duo, the Coen brothers. An anthology film, the movie is a collection of several short stories, all taking place in or around the Old American West. Throughout all of them, the Coen brothers’ signature dark sense of humor, clever and creative gunfights, and thoughtful dissections of human nature run rampant.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is named for its most famous short, starring the eponymous singer/gunslinger on a series of Bugs Bunny-style comedy antics against various thugs. From there, the vignettes of the film get darker, but also more sensitive, unearthing all sorts of centered stories that could only be told as Westerns. For its storytelling format, striking sense of humor, and beautiful statements of the spirit of the West, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs sets itself apart from its peers in the genre while still paying homage to them.
4 Dust Devil
A British horror film baked in Western blood
Despite how ubiquitous the Western is with the United States and the early turn-of-the-century concept of manifest destiny, Western tropes can just as easily be applied to other countries. As long as a nation has sweeping desert landscapes and a tumultuous period of history marked by lawlessness, they too can inspire a great Western, as is proven by Dust Devil. Another horror Western, the film follows a lonesome drifter in the vast sun-baked plains of Namibia chased by police for his supposed involvement in a profane supernatural ritual.
In Dust Devil, the terrors that haunt traditional African folklore are very real, creating a uniquely dreadful atmosphere upon which a standard Western movie sun can beat down on. The film stands out for his hallucinogenic visuals, trapping its tough protagonist in a dizzying expanse of visual unease. In many respects, Dust Devil bites off more than it can chew with intellectual yearnings saddled with traditional spooky horror beats, but is at the very least an intriguingly unique picture with an unheard of vision.
3 Westworld
Merges science fiction and Westerns in a unique way
It’s not unheard of for science fiction stories to be married to Western imagery and thematic ideals, with triumphs like The Mandalorian making the most out of the genre’s staples. However, few movies manage to straddle both worlds as fruitfully as the original Westworld. Not to be confused with the heady HBO drama series of the same name, the 1973 film by sci-fi author Michael Crichton explores a future in which humans have created startlingly life-like androids for paying patrons to inflict their fantasies on in a cowboy-themed amusement park.
As a theatrical film debut, Westworld is quite an impressive showing for Crichton, demonstrating that he’s able to meditate on deeper sci-fi concepts in a visual medium. Yul Brynner’s terrifying gunslinger android is an unstoppable sci-fi villain on the same level as the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, flanked by equally ground-breaking special effects. Westworld begs an interesting question that sets it apart form other Westerns – Even if people indulge in their worst impulses in a way that doesn’t technically hurt anyone, what is the disturbing basis that drives those desires?
2 Dead Man
The trippiest cinematic journey through the West around
Custom Image by Debanjana Chowdhury
Adventurous romps with Gore Verbinski in Rango and The Lone Ranger aren’t Johnny Depp’s only encounters with the Western genre. Enter Dead Man, a strikingly unique film that is one of the only experiences which could be accurately called an “acid Western”. The film stars Depp as William Blake, a nebbish accountant on the run after murdering a man in self-defense. Soon, Blake meets a Native American spirit guide calling himself “Nobody” that believes him to be a reincarnation of the famous poet of the same name, William Blake.
Ignoring the eclectic story, Dead Man’s presentation is what truly sets it apart from its peers in the genre. Shot in black-and-white and accompanied by a dazzling improvised guitar soundtrack by Neil Young, few other movies look and sound quite like Dead Man. The narrative is also quite steeped in William Blake’s poetry, with the very reality of the plot shifting to accommodate visuals indicative of his most famous poems. Between its hallucinogenic visuals and thoughtful Native American representation, Dead Man stands alone, almost in a genre all its own.
1 Cowboys & Aliens
An oddly fascinating clash of genres
One of the more forgotten entries in the filmography of Jon Favreau, better known for Elf, Iron Man, and The Mandalorian, Cowboys & Aliens is a charming modern B-movie like no other. The aptly-named film does exactly what it advertises on the tin, pitting some classically gritty gunslinger cowboy archetypes against an alien invasion. Mixing extraterrestrial experiences with the American West like oil and water, Cowboys vs. Aliens might not be the most impressing Western, but it is certainly unique in its ambitions.
The ludicrous premise of the film makes the appearance of stars like Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford almost feel like cultural whiplash, doubly so due to the fact that their performances here are some of their best. This is something of a running theme for Cowboys & Aliens, as the film does a clumsy job managing the two different tones that come with its opposing forces. In recent years, Jordan Peele’s Nope may have done a better job marrying Western aesthetics to ominous alien threats.