Westerns That Aren't Westerns
by majfoalbkeopaza | created - 4 months ago | updated - 3 months ago | PublicThe definitions of abstract concepts like genres can be notoriously hard to pin down, so, rather than leave everybody to fight amongst themselves about what exactly a "western" or a "thriller" is, IMDb has thoughtfully provided us with official definitions on their help page. What is their definition of "Western"? Read on:
In other words, the basic criteria for being a Western is based on time and place: the American West in the frontier era. This is easy enough to apply to things like The Searchers (1956) or Gunsmoke (1955-1975), titles that fit neatly within those parameters. But what about those movies and TV shows that happen to meet some, but not all, of the criteria? What about the pieces of media that only vaguely, kinda sorta fit the bill?
Should contain numerous scenes and/or a narrative where the portrayal is similar to that of frontier life in the American West during 1600s to contemporary times. Objective.
Not one single title on this list is officially recognized as a "Western" by IMDb. Yet, every last one of them has some significant connection to the genre. The question is, which of these films/TV series do you think is the best example of a Western... that's not a Western?
After voting, please discuss here. Click here for the expanded version of this list. Click here to read an alternate version of this list with detailed descriptions for each title.
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1. The Last Picture Show (1971)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
In 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson
Votes: 52,407 | Gross: $29.13M
Rural Drama North Texas, 1951
2. Short Cuts (1993)
R | 188 min | Comedy, Drama
The day-to-day lives of several suburban Los Angeles residents.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Andie MacDowell, Julianne Moore, Tim Robbins, Bruce Davison
Votes: 47,386 | Gross: $6.11M
Urban Drama/Social Satire Los Angeles, 1990s
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
R | 118 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Michael Lee Gogin
Votes: 301,598 | Gross: $10.68M
Adventure/Comedy Las Vegas, 1971
4. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
R | 113 min | Drama
A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver
Votes: 120,873 | Gross: $44.79M
Western Homage/Urban Drama New York City, 1960s
5. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
R | 134 min | Drama, Romance
Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Votes: 382,325 | Gross: $83.04M
Contemporary Western/Romance Wyoming, 1960s
6. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
R | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig
Votes: 187,723 | Gross: $75.51M
Pre-Western Upstate New York, 1757
7. The General (1926)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
After being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley
Votes: 98,167 | Gross: $1.03M
Civil War/Action-Adventure Confederate Georgia, 1860s
8. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Passed | 129 min | Drama
An Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 99,983 | Gross: $0.06M
Depression Drama/Road Movie Oklahoma and California, 1930s
9. There Will Be Blood (2007)
R | 158 min | Drama
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds, Martin Stringer
Votes: 641,337 | Gross: $40.22M
Period-Drama/Tragedy California and New Mexico, 1890s-1920s
10. No Country for Old Men (2007)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 1,060,622 | Gross: $74.28M
Neo-Western/Crime-Thriller Texas, 1980s
11. Dirty Harry (1971)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When a man calling himself "the Scorpio Killer" menaces San Francisco, tough-as-nails Police Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is assigned to track down the crazed psychopath.
Directors: Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni
Votes: 168,339 | Gross: $35.90M
Neo-Western/Crime-Thriller San Francisco, 1970s
12. Die Hard (1988)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Votes: 945,858 | Gross: $83.01M
Action/Crime Los Angeles, 1980s
13. El Mariachi (1992)
R | 81 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.
Director: Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gómez, Jaime de Hoyos, Peter Marquardt
Votes: 71,315 | Gross: $2.04M
Action/Crime/Neo-Western Small Town in Coahuíla, 1990s
14. Breaking Bad (2008–2013)
TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt
Votes: 2,137,756
Neo-Western/Crime-Thriller Albuquerque, 2008-2010
15. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
R | 111 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman
Votes: 120,640
Crime/Action Southern Great Plains, 1930s
16. Into the Wild (2007)
R | 148 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden
Votes: 658,313 | Gross: $18.35M
Wilderness Adventure Georgia, Arizona, California, South Dakota, and Alaska, 1990-1992
17. Easy Rider (1969)
R | 95 min | Adventure, Drama
Two bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.
Director: Dennis Hopper | Stars: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Antonio Mendoza
Votes: 116,971 | Gross: $41.73M
Adventure Drama/Road Movie Los Angeles to New Orleans, 1960s
18. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 518,245 | Gross: $59.89M
Road-Trip-Comedy Albuquerque to Redondo Beach, 2000s
19. Smoke Signals (1998)
PG-13 | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
Arnold rescued Thomas from a fire when he was a child. Thomas thinks of Arnold as a hero, while Arnold's son Victor resents his father's alcoholism, violence and abandonment of his family.
Director: Chris Eyre | Stars: Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer
Votes: 12,609 | Gross: $6.72M
Native American Cinema/Road Movie Coeur d'Alene Reservation to Phoenix, 1990s
20. Ace in the Hole (1951)
Approved | 111 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall
Votes: 39,128 | Gross: $3.97M
Film-Noir/Contemporary Western Albuquerque, 1950s
21. The Living Desert (1953)
G | 69 min | Family, Documentary
Although first glance reveals little more than stones and sand, the desert is alive. Witness moving rocks, spitting mud pots, gorgeous flowers and the never-ending battle for survival between creatures of every shape, size and description.
Director: James Algar | Star: Winston Hibler
Votes: 1,716
Nature Documentary Various North American Deserts, 1950s
22. Fast and Furry-ous (1949)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
Wile E. Coyote makes 11 disastrous attempts to catch the Road Runner.
Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Paul Julian
Votes: 2,440
Comedy/Animation American Southwest, 1940s-1960s
23. Robin Hood (1973)
G | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The story of the legendary British outlaw portrayed with the characters as anthropomorphic animals.
Directors: Wolfgang Reitherman, David Hand | Stars: Brian Bedford, Phil Harris, Roger Miller, Peter Ustinov
Votes: 138,951 | Gross: $32.06M
Comedy/Animation Sherwood Forest, 13th-14th Century
24. Toy Story 2 (1999)
G | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and his friends set out on a rescue mission to save Woody before he becomes a museum toy property with his roundup gang Jessie, Prospector, and Bullseye.
Directors: John Lasseter, Ash Brannon, Lee Unkrich | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer
Votes: 619,869 | Gross: $245.85M
Comedy/Animation Fictional Tri-County Metropolitan Area in Unspecified Part of the United States, 1990s
25. Tampopo (1985)
Not Rated | 114 min | Comedy
A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.
Director: Jûzô Itami | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Yakusho
Votes: 22,576 | Gross: $0.22M
"Ramen Western" Japan, 1980s
26. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,939 | Gross: $0.27M
Samurai Film Feudal Japan, 1586
27. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen
Votes: 1,194,441 | Gross: $70.10M
Martial Arts/Action El Paso and Tokyo, 2000s
28. The Walking Dead (2010–2022)
TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to learn the world is in ruins and must lead a group of survivors to stay alive.
Stars: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan
Votes: 1,082,499
Post-Apocalypse Atlanta-Georgia region, 2010s-2020s
29. Logan (2017)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In a future where mutants are nearly extinct, an elderly and weary Logan leads a quiet life. But when Laura, a mutant child pursued by scientists, comes to him for help, he must get her to safety.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook
Votes: 831,768 | Gross: $226.28M
Neo-Western/Adventure/Sci-Fi Northern Mexico to Upper Great Plains, 2020s
30. Firefly (2002–2003)
TV-14 | 45 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Five hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.
Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin
Votes: 281,779
Space Western Outer Space, 26th Century
31. Cowboy Bebop (1998–1999)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The futuristic misadventures and tragedies of an easygoing bounty hunter and his partners.
Stars: Kôichi Yamadera, Unshô Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Steve Blum
Votes: 138,977
Space-Western/Anime Outer Space, 2071
32. Twin Peaks (1990–1991)
TV-MA | 50 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.
Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook
Votes: 215,509
Supernatural Mystery/Crime Fictional town of Twin Peaks in Washington, 1989
33. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,107,131 | Gross: $44.02M
Supernatural Horror Fictional Overlook Hotel in Colorado Rockies, 1980s
34. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,714 | Gross: $30.86M
Rural Horror Texas, 1973
35. Selena (1997)
PG | 127 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The true story of Selena, a Texas-born Tejano singer who rose from cult status to performing at the Astrodome, as well as having chart-topping albums on the Latin music charts.
Director: Gregory Nava | Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos, Jon Seda, Jackie Guerra
Votes: 31,644 | Gross: $35.42M
Tejano/Western Music Texas, 1990s
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