The Western, a genre referred to as films that depict the Old West, is really popular around the world and has a cult following. After the first major Western movie, The Great Train Robbery, was released, this genre started getting recognition, and finally in the last couple of decades, the cinema witnessed a number of critically-acclaimed Western movies starring the likes of Clint Eastwood and James Garner.

From Tombstone, to Wild Wild West, to Wyatt Earp, this genre has some of the best movies that Hollywood has to offer. Now, let’s take a look at the best Westerns of the 1990s, ranked.

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7 Ride with the Devil (1999)

     USA Films

Ride with the Devil is a story about two friends, Jack and Jake, who join the Bushwackers gang to take revenge on the Jayhawkers gang for Jack’s father’s death. Jack starts developing feelings for a widow, “Shelley” but later ends up getting injured in a fight and dying from gangrene. Shelley gives birth to Jack’s daughter. Jake eventually starts developing feelings for Shelley, and ends up marrying her later.

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Ride with the Devil stars Tobey Maguire and Jewel Kilcher, was based on Daniel Woodrell’s novelWoe to Live On.

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6 Desperado (1995)

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Desperado follows the story of a man named El Mariachi, whose lover is killed. After her murder, El Mariachi sets out with guns in his guitar case to track down an infamous drug lord, “Bucho”, who killed his lover to avenge her death. While fighting with Bucho’s men at a bar, El Mariachi meets a Bucho-financed bookstore owner Carolina, who ends up deciding to help El Mariachi kill Bucho.

Desperado was Salma Hayek’s first major movie as a lead actress, and after the success of this movie, she rose to stardom.

5 Maverick (1994)

     Warner Bros.

Maverick features the story of a gambler named Bret Maverick (Mel Gibson) who wants to take part in a five-card draw poker tournament with a winning prize of $500,000, but the entry fee is $25,000, and he only has $22,000. To collect the other $3,000, he sets out to the town of Crystal River, where he meets a young con-artist named Annabelle Bransford, who decides to help him.

Directed by Richard Donner, the Academy Award-nominated movie Maverick found both critical and commercial success, earning $183 million worldwide.

4 The Quick and the Dead (1995)

     Sony Pictures Releasing 

“The gunfight is in the head, not the hands.” The Quick and the Dead is the story about a gunslinger known as “The Lady”, who takes part in a single-elimination shooting tournament organized by Herod. Through that tournament, she wants to take revenge on Herod for killing her father while he invaded the town called “Redemption”. There, she meets Cohort, a former member of Herod’s gang, who is forced by Herod to take part in the tournament, and “The Kid” who wants to win Herod’s respect, because he believed that Herod was his father.

The Quick and the Dead stars Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, and was Spartacus actor Woody Strode’s last movie.

3 Lone Star (1996)

     Sony Pictures Classics

Lone Star follows the story of Sam, a sheriff in Rio County, Texas. While growing up, Sam used to like a girl named Pilar, but Sam’s father, Buddy, who was a retired deputy chief, and Pilar’s mother Mercedes’ disapproval caused their separation. A skeleton is discovered at a shooting range. After an investigation, Sam realizes that the skeleton belongs to the town’s old corrupt Sheriff, who preceded his father. Dark secrets about the town are revealed to him, after which he decides to drop the investigation, wanting it to remain an unsolved mystery.

Lone Star was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing, and has a rating of 94% on RottenTomatoes.

2 Legends of the Fall (1994)

Legends of the Fall follows the story of Col. William Ludlow, who after leaving the army, moves to a remote country area with his three sons, Tristan, Alfred, and Samuel. The youngest of these boys, Samuel, is sent to Harvard University, and after completing his education, he returns home with his girlfriend Susannah. Susannah starts developing feelings for Tristan, but hides it from her boyfriend. Samuel decides to enlist in the military, and joins the fight in World War I, along with Alfred and Tristan. Tristan didn’t want to take part in the War initially, but he had promised Susannah that he would protect Samuel. In the war, Samuel is killed and Tristan avenges his murder. Later on, Alfred starts developing feelings for Susannah as well, which results in a rivalry between Alfred and Tristan.

Legends of the Fall stars Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, and the film won an Academy Award for best cinematography.

1 Unforgiven (1992)

Starring Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood, and set in the year 1880, Unforgiven tells a story of a town where a prostitute is left permanently disfigured by two men. After which, her co-workers offer a $1,000 bounty for the two cowboys that killed her, but the town’s sheriff, Little Bill, is not happy with that, because of his anti-gun policy in town. A young man named “Schofield Kid” convinces an outlaw, Will Munny, to help him win the bounty, and after agreeing to help, Will later asks his old friend Ned to join them as well. Little Bill’s old enemy Bob has also decided to seek the bounty, but after receiving a beating from the sheriff, Bob is kicked out of town.

Unforgiven won four Academy Awards and was a commercial success making $159 million on a budget of $14.4 million.