The Western film genre forms a crucial part of cinema history, with its glory days spanning several decades in the 20th Century. Western films garnered a lot of appeal with their spectacular depictions of the Wild West. More than that, it was their heroic character archetypes that kept viewers coming back. Protagonists in Western films were often saddled with a greater purpose, and transformed for the better by it. Westerns drew a clear line in the sand; they were movies about the triumph of good over evil, about freedom from tyranny. In short, they were a celebration of the American ideals, and it was only natural for them to become a significant part of the American pop-culture.
Filmmakers have continued to explore and reinvent the Western genre all the way into the 21st Century. The neo-Western genre, in particular, is a critical reexamination of the classic Western, one that seeks to possibly modernize the ideals of the quintessential American genre. Characters in a neo-Western film find themselves in a world where their beliefs about duty and righteousness have lost their place. Placed in an unforgiving world, they are often prey to their own passions, offering a stark portrayal of fundamental human instincts — desire and avarice, loneliness and self-preservation.
The neo-Western genre comes packaged as a peculiar halfway between action and arthouse. Despite the gratuitous violence, it often chooses to take a meditative tone, making for an intriguing experience. Here are 8 of the best neo-Western movies that you should watch, ranked.
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8 El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Sony Pictures Television
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie was released as an epilogue to the Breaking Bad series, which in itself is categorized as a modern Western. The movie follows Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman after he escapes the meth lab prison at the end of Breaking Bad. Through the course of the movie, Pinkman encounters some old characters and makes a final play to start a new life. For most of the Breaking Bad series, Pinkman is shown to be without much agency of his own; any time he tries to assert his own choices, he is met with terrible outcomes. In this sense, El Camino presents itself as a story of redemption, and also of freedom.
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7 Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Optimus Films
The Mexican-American film Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia failed to attract cinema-goers when it was released in 1974. However, it has developed into a major cult classic within the neo-Western genre. Its title hints towards the movie’s tragicomic inclinations. This film is an oddly hypnotic story of greed, where the lead actor played by Warren Oates sets off on a bounty hunt placed on none other than the head of already-deceased character Alfredo Garcia. The journey ends up being a pitifully tragic one, where he loses everything from love to dignity. Despite being a box office bomb, the movie captivated the likes of famed critic Roger Ebert, who called the movie a “bizarre masterpiece”.
6 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Sony Pictures Classics
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is the directorial debut of Tommy Lee Jones. The movie reminds you of a classic Western, given that it’s set in the desert and uses a soundtrack that is quite reminiscent of the old Westerns. Jones plays the part of Pete Perkins, a rancher whose best friend is Melquiades Estrada, an undocumented immigrant. When Estrada is mistakenly killed by a border patrol officer, Perkins sets off on a journey to bury his body in his Mexican hometown, fulfilling a promise made between the two friends. He takes his best friend’s killer along for the journey, and the two have some surreal encounters in the desert.
5 The Hateful Eight
The Weinstein Company
The Hateful Eight is Quentin Tarantino’s second Western film after Django Unchained. And while both movies are set in period eras, neither of them can be called outright Westerns. The Hateful Eight, in particular, combines elements from different genres to create a plot full of suspense, mystery, and Tarantino’s customary gore. The movie has a massive runtime of nearly three hours, and stays through that entire period in a roadside lodge. Over the course of a single night, various people turn up to take shelter from a blizzard. But people soon begin to suspect that not everyone is who they say they are.
4 Hell or High Water
LionsgateCBS Films
Hell or High Water is a classic Western tale of two criminals on the run from the law. It stars Chris Pine and Ben Foster as two brothers who undertake a series of bank robberies to save their family ranch from being foreclosed. They are pursued by two Texas Rangers, played by Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham. While the movie doesn’t lay off the violence, it also brings to focus the socioeconomic circumstances that drive people to commit crimes. The American Film Institute placed this movie among its 10 Movies of the Year list. It was also nominated for four Oscar awards.
3 Sicario
Lionsgate
Sicario is a cold, ruthless tale of revenge with an unparalleled fluency for portraying violence. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, this movie stars Emily Blunt playing a by-the-book FBI agent. She accompanies an enigmatic CIA operative, played by Josh Brolin on a cross-border mission against a brutal Mexican cartel. Accompanying the two is a team of deadly military operatives led by Benicio del Toro, but he has a different motive for being on this mission.
As with the best neo-western movies, less is more in this movie as Toro’s path to revenge isn’t filled with emotional affectations. Rather, it is frigid, efficient, and quick to the kill. Blunt’s character doesn’t end up wiser or more powerful in any way either; even until the very end, she remains a powerless observer of the massive entities of violence displayed in the film.
2 Logan
20th Century Studios
As a superhero film, Logan is definitely an unusual film on this list. However, the movie is one of the most striking and emotive expressions of the neo-western themes. The 2017 movie marked the end of Hugh Jackman’s legendary run as the X-Men superhero Wolverine. Fans had come to love his portrayal of the character from his very early days, as his was a glorious embodiment of the character’s dualities — his rageful, animalistic side, and his traumas accumulated over the course of an immortal life.
Logan is set in a dismal future within the X-Men universe, where all the X-Men have died due to a tragic incident that is only hinted at. Wolverine is now a declining figure trying to come to terms with the mortality that had evaded him for more than a century. But the appearance of a young mutant girl, with powers surprisingly similar to hers, offers him the change for a final redemption. The movie features no weak performances, however, as Jackman’s tormented character offers one of the most memorable depictions of the neo-western genre.
1 No Country for Old Men
Miramax Films
“What’s the most you’ve ever lost on a coin toss?” asks one of the most terrifying villains in film in No Country for Old Men. There is probably no better movie to teach you about the callous and often senseless nature of death than this one. The movie features Josh Brolin as a Vietnam War veteran who stumbles upon the aftermath of a shootout, finding a briefcase full of cash. His decision to take the money for himself sets in place a chain of consequences putting a strange and ruthless assassin on his trail, played by Javier Bardem.
The movie’s characters display a great deal of awareness about their own place in the world. The movie features Tommy Lee Jones as the archetypal neo-Western character as a man out of time, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. On multiple occasions, his character enters into meditative conversations where he eloquently describes a fear of the world’s new strangeness. Meanwhile, Brolin’s character expresses a full awareness of his actions’ possible repercussions by his tense, effective movements on the screen. All the while, Bardem’s character, with his inexplicable set of morals, is hot on his heels, destroying everything on his path.
