The 40 most popular 1990s western movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Unforgiven
1992 · 2h 10m · US
William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former partner and a cocky greenhorn, he takes on a corrupt sheriff.


Tombstone
1993 · 2h 10m · US
Legendary marshal Wyatt Earp, now a weary gunfighter, joins his brothers Morgan and Virgil to pursue their collective fortune in the thriving mining town of Tombstone. But Earp is forced to don a badge again and get help from his notorious pal Doc Holliday when a gang of renegade brigands and rustlers begins terrorizing the town.


Dances with Wolves
1990 · 3h 1m · UK
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.


The Quick and the Dead
1995 · 1h 47m · US
A mysterious woman comes to compete in a quick-draw elimination tournament, in a town taken over by a notorious gunman.


Legends of the Fall
1994 · 2h 13m · US
In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.


Far and Away
1992 · 2h 20m · US
A young free-spirited Irish woman from an affluent Protestant family spontaneously befriends a street-smart commoner cheated by her family’s hostile land takeovers. They escape to America, ready to take advantage of the 19th century Oklahoma land rush.


Wild Wild West
1999 · 1h 46m · US
Legless Southern inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President Ulysses S. Grant. Only two men can stop him: gunfighter James West and master-of-disguise and inventor Artemus Gordon. The two must team up to thwart Loveless' plans.


Maverick
1994 · 2h 7m · US
Bret Maverick is a gambler who would rather con someone than fight them, and needs an additional $3k in order to enter a winner-takes-all poker game beginning in a few days. He joins forces with a woman with a marvelous Southern accent, and the two try and enter the game.


Once Upon a Time in China and America
1997 · 1h 42m · US
So goes to the U.S. to open a martial arts school. Around this time, many Chinese people were sold off to U.S. railroad companies, and were brutally treated by the Americans under the harsh working conditions. Thus, the American workers' hatred towards the Chinese immigrants is high. As a result, So gets into trouble with the Americans and the mob, and calls Master Wong for help.


City Slickers
1991 · 1h 54m · US
Three New York businessmen decide to take a "Wild West" vacation that turns out not to be the relaxing vacation they had envisioned.


An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
1991 · 1h 15m · US
Some time after the Mousekewitz's have settled in America, they find that they are still having problems with the threat of cats. That makes them eager to try another home out in the west, where they are promised that mice and cats live in peace. Unfortunately, the one making this claim is an oily con artist named Cat R. Waul who is intent on his own sinister plan.


Dead Man
1995 · 2h 2m · US
On the run after committing murder, an accountant encounters a strange Native American man who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.


Wyatt Earp
1994 · 3h 11m · US
From Wichita to Dodge City, to the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp is taught that nothing matters more than family and the law. Joined by his brothers and Doc Holliday, Earp wages war on the dreaded Clanton and McLaury gangs.


Young Guns II
1990 · 1h 44m · US
Three of the original five "young guns" — Billy the Kid, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and Doc Scurlock — return in Young Guns, Part 2, which is the story of Billy the Kid and his race to safety in Old Mexico while being trailed by a group of government agents led by Pat Garrett.


Geronimo: An American Legend
1993 · 1h 55m · US
The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers. One in particular, Geronimo, is restless. Pushed over the edge by broken promises and necessary actions by the government, Geronimo and thirty or so other warriors form an attack team which humiliates the government by evading capture, while reclaiming what is rightfully theirs.


Outlaw Justice
1999 · 1h 36m · ES
In the tradition of THE WILD BUNCH and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN comes this fast paced, action filled western with unforgettable performances by an all star cast: Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt and Waylon Jennings. All hell breaks loose in this riveting story when a group of former outlaws with bad attitudes teams up to catch a killer with murder and revenge on his mind. After Tobey(Jennings), a retired member of the group, is brutally gunned down by a former member and killer, Clinton Reese, our band of reformed gunslingers, Lee (Nelson, Tarence (Kristofferson), and Dalton (Tritt), sets out on Clinton's Trail. They are joined by Tobeys reluctatant young son Bryce (Willett).


Ravenous
1999 · 1h 41m · CZ
After arriving at his new, remote Army outpost, Capt. John Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide – a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify the gruesome claims.


Quigley Down Under
1990 · 1h 59m · US
American Matt Quigley answers Australian land baron Elliott Marston's ad for a sharpshooter to kill the dingoes on his property. But when Quigley finds out that Marston's real target is the aborigines, Quigley hits the road. Now, even American expatriate Crazy Cora can't keep Quigley safe in his cat-and-mouse game with the homicidal Marston.


Bad Jim
1990 · 1h 30m · US
A cowpoke buys Billy the Kid's horse and, upon riding it, becomes an incorrigible outlaw himself.


Grey Owl
1999 · 1h 57m · UK
Archie Grey Owl is a trapper in Canada in the early 1930s when a young Iroquois woman from town asks him to teach her Indian ways. They live in the woods, where she is appalled at how trapped animals die. She adopts two orphaned beaver kits and helps Archie see his way to stop trapping. Instead, he works as a guide, a naturalist writer, and then the Canadian government hires him to save the beaver in a conserve by Lake Ajawaan in Prince Albert National Park. He writes a biography, which brings him attention in Canada and invitations to lecture in England. Before he leaves, he and Anahareo (Pony) marry. In England, his secret is revealed. Will Anahareo continue to love him?


Posse
1993 · 1h 51m · UK
A group of mostly black infantrymen return from the Spanish-American War with a cache of gold. They travel to the West where their leader searches for the men who lynched his father.


Ride with the Devil
1999 · 2h 18m · US
Friends Jake and Jack Bull join up with Civil War guerrilla fighters, yet after the realities of war set in, they must decide what honor truly means.


Lightning Jack
1994 · 1h 38m · AU
Lightning Jack Kane is an Australian outlaw in the wild west. During a bungled bank robbery he picks up mute Ben Doyle as a hostage. The two become good friends, with Jack teaching Ben how to rob banks, while they plan Jack's last heist.


Bad Girls
1994 · 1h 39m · US
Four former harlots try to leave the wild west (Colorado, to be exact) and head north to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately, someone from their past won't let it happen that easily.


Wild Bill
1995 · 1h 38m · US
Biopic about famous gunslinger Wild Bill Hickock. The early career of legendary lawman is telescoped and culminates in his relocation in Deadwood and a reunion with Calamity Jane.


City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
1994 · 1h 56m · US
Mitch Robbins' 40th birthday begins quite well until he returns home and finds his brother Glen, the black sheep of the family, in his sofa. Nevertheless he is about to have a wonderful birthday-night with his wife when he discovers a treasure map of Curly by chance. Together with Phil and unfortunately Glen he tries to find the hidden gold of Curly's father in the desert of Arizona.


8 Seconds
1994 · 1h 45m · US
This film chronicles the life of Lane Frost, 1987 PRCA Bull Riding World Champion, his marriage and his friendships with Tuff Hedeman (three-time World Champion) and Cody Lambert.


Lone Star
1996 · 2h 15m · US
When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.


Pistol Pete
1996 · 23m · US
TV pilot created by Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder set in the Old West.


The Cowboy Way
1994 · 1h 47m · US
Two championship rodeo partners travel to New York to find their missing friend, Nacho Salazar who went missing there.


Troublemakers
1994 · 1h 47m · DE
Two brothers who hate themselves are going to spend Christmas with their mother. She tries to get them together.


The Jack Bull
1999 · 1h 56m · US
When the law fails to punish a fellow rancher that has abused his horses, a Wyoming horse trader sacrifices it all in a quest for justice.


Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
1994 · 1h 36m · US
A girl born with enormous thumbs in the repressive era of the 1950s learns to turn her quirks into assets.


Purgatory
1999 · 1h 34m · US
An outlaw band flees a posse and rides into Refuge, a small town where no one carries a gun, drinks, or swears. The town is actually Purgatory, and the peaceful inhabitants are all famous dead outlaws and criminals such as Doc Holiday and Wild Bill Hickok who must redeem themselves before gaining admittance to Heaven... or screw up and go to Hell.


Texas
1995 · 3h · US
In the beginning of the 19th Century many Anglosaxons are settling in the Mexican province of Texas. As the years go by, political conflicts between the settlers and the Mexican government are escalating which would lead to war and Texan independence.


Desert Spirits
1994 · 35m · US
Chris and Gordon, temporarily stranded in the desert when their car breaks down, decide to take peyote to kill some time. Unbeknownst to them, the cactus buttons they consume are tickets into another world where lizards talk and demonic forces seek prey.


Into the West
1992 · 1h 37m · IE
Accused of a crime they didn't commit, two city kids and a magical horse are about to become the coolest outlaws ever to ride Into The West.


Wild Card
1992 · 1h 35m · US
Thriller about a former preacher, now a professional gambler, who heads down New Mexico way to visit an old buddy, only for him to be killed. It is not long before the Preacher is uncovering a hotbed of corruption and murder in the seemingly peaceful town, aptly named Farewell.


Cheatin' Hearts
1993 · 1h 28m · US
Henry deserted his family years before, Henry kicks up a storm when he shows up to see his youngest daughter before her wedding. He has ulterior motives, including a divorce from wife Jenny, but her new beau, Tom, throws his plans off the rails. Meanwhile, Sally's older daughter must choose between love with a cowboy and life in New York.


Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure
1995 · 1h 38m · US
A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world, ending with a heroic confrontation in which the boy stands up to Stiles and his henchmen, and rallies his neighbors to fight back against land grabbers who want to destroy their town.
The 1990s were the independent film decade, when Sundance and Miramax pushed low-budget American filmmaking into the mainstream. It's also when Hong Kong action, Japanese animation, and Iranian art cinema found large Western audiences.
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.