1. Red River
Headstrong Thomas Dunson starts a thriving Texas cattle ranch with the help of his faithful trail hand, Groot, and his protégé, Matthew Garth, an orphan Dunson took under his wing when Matt was a boy. In need of money following the Civil War, Dunson and Matt lead a cattle drive to Missouri, where they will get a better price than locally, but the crotchety older man and his willful young partner begin to butt heads on the exhausting journey.
It has an average vote of 7.378 on TMDB.
2. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster.
It has an average vote of 7.982 on TMDB.
3. Shane
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
It has an average vote of 7.401 on TMDB.
4. Legends of the Fall
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.
It has an average vote of 7.386 on TMDB.
5. Rio Grande
No relation to the 1950 John Ford classic of the same name, Rio Grande is yet another rubber-stamp Charles Starrett western from the Columbia assembly line.
It has an average vote of 3 on TMDB.
6. Gun Lords of Stirrup Basin
Lawyer Bowdre has started a war between the ranchers and the homesteaders planning to take over the homesteaders land when they are wiped out. Rancher Dan Stockton, having just married homesteader Gail Dawson, is caught in the middle. He suspects Bowdre is behind the war and it's not long before he gets a chance to prove it.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
7. The Medico of Painted Springs
Medico of Painted Springs was the first of western hero Charles Starrett's appearances as frontier doctor Steven Monroe. Riding into a small town, Dr. Monroe finds himself smack-dab in the middle of a range war between cattlemen and sheepmen.
8. First Cow
In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow – the first, and only, in the territory.
It has an average vote of 7.056 on TMDB.
9. Cattle Empire
After serving a five year prison sentence for allowing his men to destroy a town in a drunken spree, a trail boss is hired by the same town's leading citizen to drive their cattle to Fort Clemson. Complicating matters, a rival cattle baron also hires the cattle driver to lead his herd.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
10. Raton Pass
Raton Pass is a curious western based on the rules of Community Property. Dennis Morgan and Patricia Neal portray a recently married husband and wife, each of whom owns half of a huge cattle ranch. Neal is a tad more ambitious than her husband, and with the help of a little legal chicanery she tries to obtain Morgan's half of the spread. He balks, so she hires a few gunslingers to press the issue. In a 1951 western, the greedy party usually came to a sorry end; Raton Pass adheres strictly to tradition.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
11. Santa Fe Rides
The Transcontinental Broadcasting Company sends a sound truck and equipment to a ranch to obtain an audition from "Santa Fe" Evans and his musical cowboys Carver, arch enemy of Evans and a rival for the love of Carol Sheldon, fails in an attempt to spoil the audition. Carver frames Mr. Sheldon and Carol's brother Buddy on a charge, by Al Jensen, of receiving cattle stolen from him by Evans. Carver blames Evans for all of the Sheldon's troubles and, what with one thing or another, it looks like Evans and his cowhands will miss the big broadcast.
12. Smoky
Clint Barkley first sees Smoky as a runaway, and drives him back to the ranch where he meets the owner, Julie Richards. He is given a job on her ranch, but the head cowhand is doubtful about Clint and fears that since he refuses to talk about himself, he must have some dreadful secret in his past. Clint and Smoky become close to each other, weathering the hardships of Western life and the suspicions of others together, until one day, Smoky tragically vanishes. Will Clint ever see him again?
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
13. El Dorado
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
It has an average vote of 7.345 on TMDB.
14. The Thicket
An innocent young man, Jack, goes on an epic quest to rescue his sister Lula after she has been kidnapped by the violent killer Cut Throat Bill and her gang. To save her, Jack enlists the help of a crafty bounty hunter named Reginald Jones, a grave-digging alcoholic son of an ex-slave, and a street-smart prostitute. The gang tracks Cut Throat Bill into the deadly no-man’s land known as The Big Thicket — a place where blood and chaos reign.
15. The Cowboy from Sundown
The drought-plagued ranchers of Sundown have to market their cattle at a loss in order to meet mortgage payments held by banker Cylus Cuttler. Then, Sheriff Tex Rockett is forced to quarantine all the cattle on the local ranches because of a hoof-and-mouth disease outbreak. Steve Davis herds his cattle to the railhead anyway, and Tex is forced to arrest him. Urged on by the banker's son, Nick Cuttler, the angry ranchers storm the jail, but Steve's sister Bee persuades them to await the trial. Steve, with Nick's help, breaks jail and is told he must kill Tex to aid the ranchers. Meanwhile, government man Bret Stockton and Tex see Nick and his men treating cattle in an unusual way. Tex finally proves that the Cuttlers have been treating the cattle with acid to give a false impression of the hoof-and-mouth disease.
16. A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari)
The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit.
It has an average vote of 7.836 on TMDB.
17. The Return of Josey Wales
In a small, dusty border town, two long-time best friends of the mysterious gunman Josey Wales are brutally murdered by marauding rurales. The rurales, led by the beastial Commandante Escobar, head back to Mexico with gambler Ten Spot as hostage. Told of his friend's peril, Josey sets out on a trail of bloody vengeance.
It has an average vote of 3.5 on TMDB.
18. Dances with Wolves
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.
It has an average vote of 7.849 on TMDB.
19. Duel at Diablo
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Native wife, and a housewife abandons her husband to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.
It has an average vote of 6.332 on TMDB.
20. The Missing
When rancher and single mother of two Maggie Gilkeson sees her teenage daughter, Lily, kidnapped by Apache rebels, she reluctantly accepts the help of her estranged father, Samuel, in tracking down the kidnappers. Along the way, the two must learn to reconcile the past and work together if they are going to have any hope of getting Lily back before she is taken over the border and forced to become a prostitute.
It has an average vote of 6.299 on TMDB.