- The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
- The Big Country *
- Broken Trail (mini-series)
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
- The Claim
- Dances With Wolves
- The Grey Fox
- Into the West (mini-series)
- Heartland
- Hidalgo
- High Noon
- Jeremiah Johnson
- Lonesome Dove (mini-series)
- McCabe and Mrs. Miller
- Open Range
- Shane
- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
- Silverado
- The Three Burials of Malquiades Estrada
- Tom Horn
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Unforgiven
Runners-Up: Fistful of Dollars, The Good the Bad and the Ugly (wah wah wah...), The High Country*, The Long Riders, The Magnificent Seven, The Man from Snowy River, The Missouri Breaks*, Once Upon a Time in the West*, One-Eyed Jacks*, The Proposition*, Ride the Pink Horse*, The Searchers, The Shooter, Comanche Moon (mini-series)
I included the mini-series here because they were classic westerns and should not be missed. Interesting how many were directed by actors: Dances and Range (both by Costner), Three Burials (Tommy Lee Jones), Unforgiven (Eastwood). Was there ever a villain as bad or as great as Jack Palance in Shane? You kinda had to pull for a guy that well-dressed, especially when Alan Ladd looked like an urban cowboy! Hidalgo, though not technically a western, was about men racing horses cross-country, close enough for me!
[update: 9.18.09]
