Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission. This article was originally published September 4, and has been updated to include additional movies. America can only claim a few art forms as its own. Jazz, for sure. Comic books, certainly. The history of movie Westerns more or less begins with the end of the Old West itself.
A strand of violent, psychologically complex Westerns that appeared in the s, for example, captures both changing attitudes toward the settlement of the West and the treatment of Native Americans while channeling the spirit of a country still recovering from a devastating World War.
This list of the 50 greatest Westerns reflects that wide legacy from the very first entry, a film directed by a Hungarian and starring a Tasmanian. That means no modern Westerns, no stealth Westerns starring aged X-Men , and no space Westerns with blasters instead of pistols. We did, however, make an exception for a certain comedy that concludes with its stars attending its own premiere. That, of course, still leaves a lot of great Westerns. More, of course, than could possibly fit on a top list interested in capturing the full scope of the genre.
As such, not every John Ford film made the list. Anthony Mann and James Stewart made eight Westerns together. Any of them could have been included, but not all of them have been. Dodge City has no interest in subverting any of that. Directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland โ a team that had recently enjoyed great success with films like Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood โ the film wants nothing more than to be a traditional Western on the grandest scale imaginable.
Flynn plays a man compelled to clean up the lawless cattle town of Dodge City. De Havilland plays the woman who loves him eventually , and Bruce Cabot plays a lawless tough guy. Flynn and de Havilland transport the chemistry of their swashbuckling adventures to the Old West, while Curtiz makes brilliant use of Technicolor and a big budget.
