When you’re jonesing to do a deep dive into Westerns, here are the 15 Westerns on Netflix we recommend most, from celebrated Oscar nominees to little-seen independent cowboy dramas.
Best Westerns on Netflix
The Harder They Fall (2021)
The latest spin on the Western is co-screenwriter and director Jeymes Samuel’sThe Harder They Fall, featuring a historically based, all-Black outlaw gang and a fierce cast that includes Oscar winner Regina King, Oscar nominees Idris Elba and Lakeith Stanfield, plus Zazie Beetz and Jonathan Majors.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen walk a sublime line between comedy and tragedy in this anthology Western. Six short films include the surreal musical of the title (starring Tim Blake Nelson), an unlikely romance on the Oregon trail and an ominous stagecoach journey with a satisfying twist.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
There was something undeniably transporting and nostalgic about the limited-engagement presentation of The Hateful Eight over the 2015 holidays. Not many people saw that, though; The Hateful Eight was overshadowed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the box office, and was a relative box-office disappointment. Handsomely crafted, impressively acted but emotionally hollow, The Hateful Eight is ultimately a nihilistic chamber drama about a handful of uniformly awful people in a 19th-century Wyoming cabin gradually double-crossing and killing each other. That’s about it.
Concrete Cowboy (2021)
Inspired by the little-known, century-long culture ofBlack horseback riding in inner city Philadelphia, Ricky Staub’s neo-Western tells the unforgettable story of a father (the always stellar Idris Elba) who tries to reconnect with his estranged teenage son (Caleb McLaughlin of Stranger Things) by bringing him into the urban riding community.
The Beguiled (2017)
Many a classic Western is set during the Civil War. Sofia Coppola’s underrated drama moves the camera away from the soldiers and onto the abandoned women who must protect their own frontier—in this case, a Southern girls’ school where the teachers (Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst) and students (including Elle Fanning) find their isolated world turned upside down by the appearance of a wounded soldier (Colin Farrell).
In a Valley of Violence (2016)
Don’t get too attached to the dog in Ti West’s lean, darkly funny genre piece. Ethan Hawke (born to play a cowboy) stars as a gunman trying to escape his violent past, who instead gets caught up in a bloody showdown in a one-horse town.
Hold the Dark (2018)
A haunting neo-Western from low-budget thriller master Jeremy Saulnier, Hold the Dark takes viewers to a remote Alaskan village, where an animal expert (Jeffrey Wright) has been summoned to track a child-stealing wolf. The longer he stays in town, the deeper and more violent its mysteries become.
The Power of the Dog (2021)
The rare Western to sweep awards seasons, Jane Campion’s stunning drama stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank, a cruel cattle rancher trying to keep macho cowboy traditions alive in 1920s Montana. When his kind brother George marries widow Rose (Kirsten Dunst), bringing her sensitive teenage son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) into the family, Phil essentially declares psychological warfare. The rest is best left unspoiled, as the film takes some unexpected turns, but does it slowly and masterfully that viewers may not realize what has occurred until the very last scene. The Power of the Dog demands an audience’s full attention, and with Campion’s gorgeous camera work, giving yourself over is a pleasure.
The Stolen (2017)
An exploration of the American West isn’t required for a movie to be a great Western. Take this based on real-life movie gem from Down Under set during the gold rush in 1860s New Zealand. Alice Eve stars as a well-to-do British woman must venture into New Zealand’s wild and dangerous unknown when her baby son is kidnapped and held for ransom. The movie is based on the real-life 2002 kidnapping of Baby Kahu Durie.
Hell or High Water (2016)
A riveting crime film with a Western twist, this multiple Oscar nominee chronicles the bank robbery spree of two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) who are trying to save their late mother’s ranch from foreclosure. Their case is assigned to a tenacious pair of Texas rangers, one on the verge of retirement (Jeff Bridges) and his longtime partner (Gil Birmingham). At first the brothers’ crimes seem justified, the only victims being the bank; but the deeper they get, and the closer the law moves in on the them, the clearer it is that violence is inevitable. David Mckenzie’s film is one in which every scene and small character counts, right up until its brutal conclusion.
