The 40 most popular 1970s western movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


The Outlaw Josey Wales
1976 · 2h 15m
country: United States
After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.


They Call Me Trinity
1970 · 1h 55m
country: Italy
The simple story has the pair coming to the rescue of peace-loving Mormons when land-hungry Major Harriman sends his bullies to harass them into giving up their fertile valley. Trinity and Bambino manage to save the Mormons and send the bad guys packing with slapstick humor instead of excessive violence, saving the day.


Blazing Saddles
1974 · 1h 33m
country: United States
Crafty railroad worker Bart becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the citizens of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new protector. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend Jim are their only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.


Trinity Is Still My Name
1971 · 1h 58m
country: Italy
The two brothers Trinity and Bambino are exchanged by two federal agents and take advantage of the situation to steal a huge booty hidden in a monastery by a gang of outlaws.


High Plains Drifter
1973 · 1h 46m
country: United States
A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.


Westworld
1973 · 1h 29m
country: United States
Delos is a futuristic amusement park that features themed worlds populated by human-like androids. After two patrons have a run-in with a menacing gunslinger in West World, the androids at Delos all begin to malfunction, causing havoc throughout the park.


My Name Is Nobody
1973 · 1h 57m
country: France
Jack Beauregard, an aging gunman of the Old West, only wants to retire in peace and move to Europe, but a young gunfighter known as "Nobody" who idolizes Beauregard wants him to go out in a blaze of glory. So, he arranges for Jack to face the 150-man gang known as The Wild Bunch and earn his place in history.


Two Mules for Sister Sara
1970 · 1h 54m
country: United States
When a wandering mercenary named Hogan rescues a nun called Sister Sara from the unwanted attentions of a band of rogues on the Mexican plains, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. Their chance encounter results in the blowing up of a train and a French garrison, as well as igniting a spark between them that survives a shocking discovery.


Duck, You Sucker
1971 · 2h 37m
country: Italy
At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a national bank. When it turns out that the government has been using the bank as a hiding place for illegally detained political prisoners -- who are freed by the blast -- Miranda becomes a revolutionary hero against his will.


The Shootist
1976 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Books, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler. Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow and her son. However, it is not Books' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.


Red Sun
1971 · 1h 54m
country: France
In 1870, Japanese ambassador Sakaguchi and his entourage travel by train to Washington to deliver a valuable sword to the President of the United States, a gift from the Emperor of Japan. On board the same train are two robbers, Link and Gauche, ready to make their move…


McCabe & Mrs. Miller
1971 · 2h
country: United States
A gambler and a prostitute become thriving business partners in a remote Old West mining town until a large corporation arrives on the scene.


Soldier Blue
1970 · 1h 55m
country: United States
After a cavalry group is massacred by the Cheyenne, only two survivors remain: Honus, a naive private devoted to his duty, and Cresta, a young woman who had lived with the Cheyenne two years and whose sympathies lie more with them than with the US government. Together, they must try to reach the cavalry's main base camp. As they travel onward, Honus is torn between his growing affection for Cresta.


The Cowboys
1972 · 2h 14m
country: United States
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.


Chisum
1970 · 1h 51m
country: United States
Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.


Breakheart Pass
1975 · 1h 35m
country: United States
At the height of the frontier era, a train races through the Rocky Mountains on a classified mission to a remote army post. But one by one the passengers are being murdered, and their only hope is the mysterious John Deakin, who's being transported to face trial for murder.


Chato's Land
1972 · 1h 40m
country: United Kingdom
In 1870s New Mexico, a half-breed kills a bigoted sheriff in self-defense but the posse that eventually hunts him finds itself in dangerous territory.


Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973 · 1h 46m
country: United States
Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.


Rio Lobo
1970 · 1h 56m
country: United States
After the Civil War, a former Union colonel searches for the two traitors whose perfidy led to the loss of a close friend.


Hannie Caulder
1971 · 1h 25m
country: United Kingdom
After she's raped by the outlaw trio who murdered her husband, a frontierswoman hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the ways of a gun in order to exact her revenge.


Jeremiah Johnson
1972 · 1h 48m
country: United States
While slowly adapting to the grueling life of a mountain man in the Rocky Mountains, Jeremiah Johnson encounters the Crow and Flathead tribes as well as hunters, trappers and settlers, all of whom call these mountains home.


Big Jake
1971 · 1h 50m
country: United States
An aging Texas cattle man who has outlived his time swings into action when outlaws kidnap his grandson.


Ulzana's Raid
1972 · 1h 43m
country: United States
After fierce war chief Ulzana and a small war party jump the reservation bent on murder and terror, an inexperienced young lieutenant is assigned to track him down.


Zorro
1975 · 1h 58m
country: France
A newly arrived governor finds his province under the control of the corrupt Colonel Huerta. To avoid assassination by Huerta, he pretends to be weak and indecisive so Huerta will believe he poses no threat. But secretly he masquerades as Zorro, and joins the monk Francisco and the beautiful aristocrat Hortensia in their fight for justice against Huerta and his soldiers.


A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot
1975 · 1h 57m
country: France
Expert conman Joe Thanks teams up with half-breed Bill and naive Lucy to steal $300,000 from the Indian-hating Major Cabot. Their elaborate plan is full of disguises, double-crosses, and chases, but Joe always seems to know what he's doing.


The Missouri Breaks
1976 · 2h 6m
country: United States
When vigilante land baron David Braxton hangs one of the best friends of cattle rustler Tom Logan, Logan's gang decides to get even by purchasing a small farm next to Braxton's ranch. From there the rustlers begin stealing horses, using the farm as a front for their operation. Determined to stop the thefts at any cost, Braxton retains the services of eccentric sharpshooter Robert E. Lee Clayton, who begins ruthlessly taking down Logan's gang.


Adiós Amigo
1975 · 1h 27m
country: United States
Two incompetent Western outlaws engineer several failed crimes, including a botched stagecoach holdup. Fred Williamson, a tough-guy perennial in blaxploitation movies, does a rare comedy turn as a blundering patsy to Richard Pryor's slick con man.


The Ballad of Cable Hogue
1970 · 2h 1m
country: United States
Double-crossed and left without water in the desert, Cable Hogue is saved when he finds a spring. It is in just the right spot for a much needed rest stop on the local stagecoach line, and Hogue uses this to his advantage. He builds a house and makes money off the stagecoach passengers. Hildy, a prostitute from the nearest town, moves in with him. Hogue has everything going his way until the advent of the automobile ends the era of the stagecoach.


Blood Brothers
1975 · 1h 32m
country: East Germany
In 1864, American soldiers massacre a Cheyenne village at Sand Creek. Disgusted by the massacre, Harmonika, one of the soldiers, deserts the army and is captured by the Indians. At first, the Cheyenne hold him responsible for the murder of the wife and the son of their chief Grauer Esel, but soon Harmonika obtains the tribe′s confidence.


Little Big Man
1970 · 2h 19m
country: United States
Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.


The Magnificent Seven Ride!
1972 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Marshal Chris Adams turns down a friend's request to help stop the depredations of a gang of Mexican bandits. When his wife is killed by bank robbers and his friend is killed capturing the last thief, Chris feels obligated to take up his friend's cause and recruits a writer and five prisoners to destroy the desperadoes.


Joe Kidd
1972 · 1h 28m
country: United States
A band of Mexicans find their U. S. land claims denied and all the records destroyed in a courthouse fire. Their leader, Louis Chama, encourages them to use force to regain their land. A wealthy landowner wanting the same decides to hire a gang of killers with Joe Kidd to track Chama.


The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
1972 · 2h
country: United States
Outlaw and self-appointed lawmaker Judge Roy Bean rules over an empty stretch of the West that gradually grows, under his iron fist, into a thriving town, while dispensing his his own quirky brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by.


Rooster Cogburn
1975 · 1h 48m
country: United States
After a band of drunken thugs overruns a small Indian Nation town, killing Reverend Goodnight and raping the women folk, Eula Goodnight enlists the aid of US Marshal Cogburn to hunt them down and bring her father's killers to justice.


Cahill: United States Marshal
1973 · 1h 43m
country: United States
J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks, so when his two young boy's want to get his attention they decide to rob a bank. They end up getting more than they bargained for.


There Was a Crooked Man...
1970 · 2h 3m
country: United States
A charming but ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison, where he enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.


Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
1979 · 1h 51m
country: United States
Before the adventures that made them legends, they were charming mastermind Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy, and crack-shot outlaw Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, soon to be known as The Sundance Kid. This is the 'prequel' of how they met, their first clumsy robberies, the heroic dangers that abound them together, the secret that nearly tore them apart, and the impossible train heist that made them notorious for life. Saddle up and ride with the showdowns, shootouts, bad guys and good times in the days before the fame when fun was the name of the game.


The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
1973 · 2h 3m
country: United States
On the run from her violent husband, a woman witnesses a train robbery and is taken prisoner by a frontier outlaw gang, led by a bandit who’s hiding a secret of his own.


El Topo
1970 · 2h 5m
country: Mexico
El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man.


The Villain
1979 · 1h 29m
country: United States
Handsome Stranger has agreed to escort Charming Jones to collect her inheritance from her father. But Avery Simpson wants the money and hires notorious outlaw Cactus Jack to ambush Charming. However, Cactus Jack is not very good at robbing people.
The 1970s are widely considered American cinema's strongest decade, when the studio system's collapse handed a generation of young directors unusual freedom. It ended with Jaws and Star Wars inventing the modern blockbuster.
The Western built the visual language of American cinema, then spent decades dismantling its own myths. Its influence runs global — the Italian Spaghetti Western and the Japanese samurai film borrowed from it and fed straight back in.