The 25 best spaghetti Westerns ever made, according to audiences (Part 2)

[Or why I hate lists of best anything. Preferences range according to tastes and familiarity with the subject. As you can see by this list the preferences were all the usual suspects. No Sartana films no “Forgotten Pistolero” and “Django” didn’t even make the top 10. It is what it is. – Tom Betts] 

MSN

By Madison Troyer

December 25, 2025

#12. Django (1966)

- Director: Sergio Corbucci

- IMDb user rating: 7.2

- Runtime: 91 minutes

The inspiration behind Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," the original "Django" is decidedly lower budget but tells an equally fun story. In this film, a coffin-dragging gunslinger named Django saves a local prostitute named Maria from being burned at the stake. The duo finds themselves hunted by both a rogue group of white supremacists and a gang of Mexican revolutionaries, and they must fight their way out if they wish to survive. Upon its release, "Django" was considered the most violent movie ever made, and the film was either banned or given very cautionary ratings in several countries.

#11. Companeros (1970)

- Director: Sergio Corbucci

- IMDb user rating: 7.3

- Runtime: 115 minutes

In "Companeros," a Swedish arms dealer and an incompetent Mexican revolutionary team up to save a professor imprisoned in an American jail who has something they both want. A follow-up to "The Mercenary" (though not necessarily a sequel, as it has its own stand-alone storyline), the film is full of comic misadventures but still manages to make its political message heard.

#10. Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)

- Director: Enzo Barboni

- IMDb user rating: 7.3

- Runtime: 117 minutes

A sequel to "They Call Me Trinity," "Trinity Is Still My Name" follows two brothers who are trying to live as outlaws, but whose plans are continually thwarted by their hearts of gold. A massive success in Italy, the film sold 14,554,172 tickets, making it one of the country's most popular and highest-grossing films of all time.

#9. The Big Gundown (1966)

- Director: Sergio Sollima

- IMDb user rating: 7.4

- Runtime: 110 minutes

Another Lee Van Cleef picture, "The Big Gundown" sees the actor playing an experienced bounty hunter sent out on one last mission: to capture a man accused of the sexual assault and murder of a 12-year-old girl. As is the case with most spaghetti Westerns, it turns out that the story the bounty hunter has been fed may not be as simple as it seems, and gunfights abound.

#8. My Name Is Nobody (1973)

- Director: Tonino Valerii

- IMDb user rating: 7.4

- Runtime: 116 minutes

Henry Fonda stars as a retirement-aged gunfighter named Jack Beauregard, who wants nothing more than to leave his life of violence behind and move to Europe in peace. Unfortunately for him, a younger gunslinger named Nobody (Terence Hill), who idolizes Beauregard and wants to see him earn his place in history, arranges for a shootout between his idol and the 150-man Wild Bunch. "My Name Is Nobody" is noteworthy as the last Western movie Fonda ever made.

#7. They Call Me Trinity (1970)

- Director: Enzo Barboni

- IMDb user rating: 7.5

- Runtime: 115 minutes

A spoof of the traditional spaghetti Western, "They Call Me Trinity" introduces fans to the brothers from "Trinity Is My Name": Trinita (Terence Hill) and Bambino (Bud Spencer). The bumbling, are-they-good-or-are-they-evil duo protect a settlement of Mormons from a gang of bandits who want to lay claim to the land themselves. Rather than ending with a gunfight, like many films of the genre, "They Call Me Trinity" concludes with a highly choreographed fistfight.

#6. Duck You Sucker (1971)

- Director: Sergio Leone

- IMDb user rating: 7.6

- Runtime: 138 minutes

An Irish rebel and explosives expert makes an uneasy pairing with a Mexican gunman and his crew of outlaws after they all become accidentally involved in the Mexican Revolution. Also known as both "A Fistful of Dynamite" and "Once Upon a Time ... the Revolution," this oft-overlooked gem is praised for its sense of humor and its incredible score, earning a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

#5. The Great Silence (1968)

- Director: Sergio Corbucci

- IMDb user rating: 7.7

- Runtime: 105 minutes

Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece "The Great Silence" pits a mute gunslinger, leader of a band of outlaws and a widow, against a gang of ruthless bounty hunters led by a corrupt banker. The film earned lukewarm reviews upon its release, thanks to its bleak outlook and darker tone. However, in the intervening years it's developed something of a cult following, as evidenced by the high place it holds on our list.

#4. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

- Director: Sergio Leone

- IMDb user rating: 8.0

- Runtime: 99 minutes

"A Fistful of Dollars" is one of the more widely known spaghetti Westerns, perhaps because it marks Clint Eastwood's debut. The legendary actor's first leading role is a drifting gunman who pits rival gangsters against each other, playing them each for his own purpose. Critics agree that Eastwood's involvement, more than anything else, makes this movie a must-watch.

#3. For a Few Dollars More (1965)

- Director: Sergio Leone

- IMDb user rating: 8.2

- Runtime: 132 minutes

Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef co-star as two bounty hunters who team up to track down the same villain in "For a Few Dollars More." A sequel to Eastwood's first picture, "A Fistful of Dollars," production on this film started before the first was even released.

#2. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

- Director: Sergio Leone

- IMDb user rating: 8.5

- Runtime: 165 minutes

In a role that was extremely unusual for him, Henry Fonda plays a villain in "Once Upon a Time in the West." The film really has two plots—a land battle over a valuable piece of property, and a revenge mission against a cold-blooded killer—that are only loosely related. A later offering from Sergio Leone, some critics argue that the film suffers from its long run time.

#1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

- Director: Sergio Leone

- IMDb user rating: 8.8

- Runtime: 178 minutes

The best spaghetti Western of them all has to be "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Sergio Leone, Lee Van Cleef, and Clint Eastwood team up yet again to tell the story of a trio of gunslingers racing to find a trove of hidden gold buried in a cemetery amidst the chaos of the Civil War. The final installment in the "Dollars Trilogy," this movie is generally considered to be the project that launched Eastwood into mainstream stardom.