12 Lesser-Known Westerns That Don't Get Enough Love

 Here are some of the best, lesser-known American and Italian Westerns that deserve more recognition.

Movieweb

By Blaine Turner

March 27, 2023

Ah, the Western. It’s one of the most beloved of all film genres, with many entries to it being some of the greatest American movies of all time. But the genre is not just for American filmmakers, lest we forget the incredible additions to the Western canon that come from Europe – and most especially from Italy – in the form of the typically much more wild and highly stylized Spaghetti Western. Together, these two enormous genres have proffered forth innumerable classics that continue to be celebrated today. Films like The Searchers, True Grit, Rio Bravo, and Tombstone represent some of the best of the Hollywood Western, while achievements like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West define the Spaghetti Western craze. But what about the Westerns that don’t get as much attention as those giants? Below, we’ve collected 12 lesser-known Westerns that are just as good as the classics, and deserve more love.

12 A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die (1972)

A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die is a Spaghetti Western starring two Hollywood legends, James Coburn and Telly Savalas. It’s essentially a Civil War spin on the classic World War II actioner The Dirty Dozen, following Coburn’s attempts to rally a rag-tag group of prisoners together in order to carry out a dangerous mission. The action is grand and explosive, the direction is stylish, and the acting is superb across the board, as an incredible supporting cast brings to life the colorful team of convicts.

11 Major Dundee (1965)

10 The Bravados (1958)

9 100 Rifles (1969)

100 Rifles is an action-packed Western about a crook, played by Burt Reynolds, whose attempt to rob a bank ends in a run to Mexico with a hard-nosed sheriff, played by Jim Brown, hot on his trail. Once in Mexico, the cop and robber duo end up in the middle of a war between the Mexican government and the Yaqui tribe. The action heats up even further when a tenacious freedom fighter, played by the amazing Raquel Welch, becomes romantically involved with the lawman. One of the most boisterous of all the Hollywood Westerns and one of Raquel Welch’s best films, 100 Rifles is an exhilarating blast of Wild West action that deserves more recognition.

8 Django the Bastard (1969)

One of many unauthorized Django sequels to follow in the wake of Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 muddy masterpiece, Django the Bastard is a great Spaghetti Western about a Union soldier who was once thought dead (and maybe was dead) hunting down a group of men who betrayed him during the American Civil War. The film is notable for its spooky atmosphere, which is highly uncharacteristic of a Western. According to the Spaghetti Western Database, “there's some good style to this movie, and some excellent cinematography at times. Django is presented in an almost supernatural and rather sinister way.” While the film doesn’t soar quite as high as the original Django, it nevertheless delivers an interesting horror-western combo that should be seen by more.

7 The Long Riders (1980)

6 Ride Lonesome (1959)

5 The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

4 10,000 Dollars for a Massacre (1967)

10,000 Dollars for a Massacre is an underrated Spaghetti Western about a bounty hunter who winds up working with his targeted crook to increase the bounty’s payout. Its highly unique premise is made even better by the film’s twisted sense of humor, grim atmosphere, and loads of stylish action scenes. The explosive gun battles and incredibly intense pistol duels are right up there with the best of the genre, and the score is a classic in and of itself. The film is yet another Django “sequel,” and should be essential viewing for fans of the genre.

3 The Great Silence (1968)

 One of the finest (and darkest) Spaghetti Westerns ever made, The Great Silence is still lesser known among non-Spaghetti Western aficionados than it should be. It’s about a mute gunman by the name of Silence who sticks up for a group of refugees who have been targeted by bounty hunters in a snowy, Western hellscape. Directed by Django director Sergio Corbucci, the film is surreal, political, and undeniably one of the best of its kind.

2 Four of the Apocalypse (1975)

Although Fulci is better known to most Italian cinema buffs as the king of gory horror, his grim take on the Spaghetti West is one of his best films. Four of the Apocalypse follows four small-time convicts who attempt to make their way through the frontier while both the law and a sadistic killer hunt them down. The film is equal parts shocking, humorous, and, perhaps most surprising of all, quite humanist in its portrayal of four browbeaten thieves who form an ersatz family in the Wild West. If you’re a Spaghetti Western fan, and you haven’t seen Four of the Apocalypse, do yourself a favor and check it out!

1 Ulzana’s Raid (1972)