There’s no point in dancing around it: 3:10 to Yuma is a bad movie. Not just run-of-the-mill bad. Not just disappointing considering the cast. I’m talking painful to sit through, even if you’re drunk. But what’s really sad is that it’s a bad Western, which further tarnishes a once great film genre that has fallen into obscurity in recent years.

Forget that this remake is lazily constructed with almost zero attention to detail and sets that look like they were stolen straight out of Back to the Future III (which was probably a better Western, as crazy as that sounds). Hell, even forget that the movie has plot holes big enough to drive a stagecoach through.

What’s really terrible is its complete failure to understand what the Western is all about, even while it adopts all the worst clichés and somehow makes them seem like the best part of the movie. 3:10 to Yuma tries to sell us on the idea that it’s a film about right and wrong, about making hard choices and sticking by your convictions, but it just rings hollow and forced in this weak effort.



Despite strong performances by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, 3:10 to Yuma is enough to make you wish that Hollywood would just give up on trying to make Westerns altogether, at least until they turn Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian into a box office smash.

Fortunately, there’s a silver lining here. This failure of a movie gives us the chance to reflect on ten of the best Westerns ever made and relive what made them so unforgettable.

10. Rio Bravo (1959)

“Sorry don’t get it done, dude.”



A major hallmark of a good Western is men taking a hard stand against difficult odds. That’s what Rio Bravo is all about. That, and awesome scenes between John Wayne and the alcoholic “Dude”, played by Dean Martin.

This is the movie that your grandfather lived by, provided your grandfather wasn’t a total pussy. It’s also a big part of why your grandfather thinks you’re a total pussy, but don’t that let that ruin your enjoyment of it.

9. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

“I have vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.”



Perhaps the only great funny Western. This has some strange and forgettable scenes (Paul Newman riding around on a bicycle to the tune of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”?), but it’s also a great story about friendship and, believe it or not, honor among thieves.

Newman and Robert Redford are the perfect pair, and this manages to be both entertaining and touching, while avoiding most of the Western clichés that by this time have become movie pitfalls.

8. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

“I’ve been offered a lot for my work, but never everything.”



One thing this movie teaches us is that it’s not called a rip-off if you completely steal the concept and plot, point-by-point, from another movie. Then it’s called an homage. The Magnificent Seven is the Western version of the Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai, which is a brilliant classic that still holds up today.

It especially helps my appreciation of this movie to know that Yule Brenner insisted on appearing taller than Steve McQueen, and so had the PA’s construct a dirt mound for him to stand on in almost every scene. Not to be outdone, McQueen can be seen going out of his way to look at and/or kick that dirt mound every chance he got, drawing attention to the mound that is out of the camera’s view. Now that’s a classic.

7. Shane (1953)

“There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand…a brand sticks.”



To modern audiences, this film probably seems quaint and overly idealistic. But we also have to remember that modern audiences were climbing all over one another to see Wild Hogs, so what the hell do they know? Shane is the story of a man who shows up out of nowhere and with no explanation to help a family make – you guessed it – a hard stand against difficult odds.

The big question for many lovers of this film is whether Shane dies at the end. The movie leaves it somewhat open-ended, and if I were a real jerk I could go on and on about how the way you interpret it says everything about your personality, but I’m not going to do that. Not yet, anyway.

6. The Proposition (2005)

“Australia. What fresh hell is this?”



Does it still count as a Western if it takes place in the Australian outback? It does if it’s The Proposition. This is probably one of the most unappreciated movies in recent years, regardless of genre. Based partly on true events, it’s the story of three outlaw brothers and the British magistrate tasked with bringing them to justice in a hard, lawless land.

Beyond the great acting, eye for detail, and brutal honesty, this film is also beautifully shot, making you feel like you’ve actually been to the outback, only without all the flies swarming your filthy hide. If, like most people, you missed this in theaters, go rent it tonight. It’s a film with such stark, moving moments, you won’t be able to stop thinking about it afterwards.

5. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

“Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’, boy.”



A lot of people will tell you that this movie is inferior to The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, or High Plains Drifter, but those people don’t know anything. Josey Wales is the quintessential complicated Western hero, the one with gravel is his gut and spit in his eye.

A post-Civil War tale about a man who tries to help those in need while his past quickly catches up with him, this takes some of the conventions of Westerns and somehow makes them seem new. Plus, how can you not like the trademark Clint Eastwood laconic tough guy character?

4. Deadwood - HBO series (2004-2006)



“Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back.”

The only thing keeping Deadwood from placing number one on this list is the fact that it’s a series and not a feature film, and thus gets the opportunity to play out many more storylines and character conflicts. That being said, Deadwood is everything modern Westerns typically fail to be. It’s rife with complex characters, blurred lines of morality, and dialogue that is almost Shakespearean at times.

Quite simply, this is the best thing to come on your TV in a long time, and now it’s over. If you didn’t catch it from beginning to end, do yourself a favor and Netflix it. The language, the violence, the whores, and the unwashed alcoholics are all so real and intricately detailed that you can almost feel the mud from the thoroughfare seeping into your skin.


3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

“This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”



Maybe the greatest John Wayne movie. This John Ford classic has everything Westerns are supposed to have and does everything they’re supposed to do, only better.

Bad guy with weird name and distinctive weapon? Check. Good guys of varying degree and with conflicting life philosophies? Check. Microcosm for the political forces slowly destroying the Old West? Check.

If you don’t like this movie, then your grandfather is right to think you’re a pussy.

2. Tombstone (1993)

“You gonna do something? Or are you just going to stand there and bleed?”



This story of the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday taking a hard stand against a group of lawless cowboys that have terrorized the town of Tombstone, Arizona. Featuring Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp in all his handlebar mustached glory, and Val Kilmer as the greatest Doc Holliday, this movie is visually stunning and still tough as hell.

Kilmer said in later interviews that what he went through making this movie and what Doc Holliday experienced in that time of his life were one and the same. Of course, only a completely insane method actor like Kilmer would say that, but you can’t argue with the results.

1. Unforgiven (1992)

“You been talking about the Queen again, Bob? On Independence Day?”



Quite simply the greatest Western ever. It takes all the conventions and turns them upside down, giving us a painfully realistic take on life in the old West with characters that are so fully drawn you feel like you’ve lost a good friend when they finally die, as everybody must in a movie like this.

Retired bounty hunter Will Munny comes back for one more ride, though the evils of his youth haunt him mercilessly. It’s one of the few Westerns to deal with the idea of a psychological toll from a lifetime of violence and “wickedness”.

If Hamlet were a Western, it would be Unforgiven.