The best way to think of The Wild Bunch is "honor among thieves." If there's a film that represents Sam Peckinpah the most, it's this one. The editing is amazing. There are some scenes that are stirring and passionate. The display of violence is unbelievable and is best described as poetic.

Is The Big Country the Citizen Kane of Western films? Absolutely yes. A favorite of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower who gave the movie four consecutive showings at the White House, The Big Country is so good that you won't be able to find more than a few that pack many lessons in one film.

What I love is the simplicity that's left open for translation. Easily the best part is how Dunbar is immersed into the Sioux culture. Near the end, his fellow soldiers show up. Dunbar takes place among them, but he looks out of place. Hence, it's the key moment of Dances With Wolves which is about human acceptance without bias. Not to be missed is the lush cinematography, and the buffalo hunt scene is terrific. Graham Greene and Rodney A. Grant turn in powerful performances.

*whistles* Gosh Almighty, that is good! I guess it's an appropriate reaction after seeing Shane. Alan Ladd is iconic as the eponymous hero: a man with a past. Brandon deWilde is special. Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, and Jack Palance all turn in terrific performances. The ending is an unforgettable classic that will never be old.

An ode to a dying genre, Unforgiven is poetic justice to dispel many of the misconceptions that numerous Western movies had established for so long. What makes it so great is how realistic the ambience feels as the mood rides heavily on William Munny's mystique. There's a touch of wry humor throughout, and the final climax is a monster of a ride.

Dusty and realistic, it has a cast of hardened men leading a cattle drive from Texas to Fort Lewis, Colorado. A kid is eager to join them but soon find out how unfit he is for the cowboy life. It's been a series of poor decisions, causing everybody to resent him. Bad things happen, and there are consequences to pay for while law and order isn't a valid concept. The ending is Peckinpah-esque.

Never mind the film's running length, Giant is simply a spectacle, just as big as Texas. Many will see it just for James Dean's final performance. Yet Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor are the true stars of the show, and they're outstanding together. The biggest winner of them all is George Stevens' direction because Giant is almost Citizen Kane and Gone with the Wind all rolled into one.

You won't find two more handsome guys in the same film than Paul Newman and Robert Redford for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It's the most famous picture of their careers. The finale is brilliant when their characters are surrounded by the Bolivian army and they're ready to come out with their guns blazing.

The Ox-Bow Incident is mob injustice at its finest. Stupid white men get together, think they possess all the facts, and go on to kill others only to find out they've been dead wrong all along by failing to gather evidence. Calling the movie one of his favorites along with The Grapes of Wrath and 12 Angry Men, Henry Fonda is great.

High Noon is a Western classic that's full of symbolism. Courageous and righteous, Gary Cooper is, simply put, Marshal Will Kane. Hence, he won the Academy Award. The story is this: good versus bad and the willingness to face fear by standing his ground alone. Former U.S. Presidents loved the movie while John Wayne called it "the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life."

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of the best Western noir pictures ever made. The plot, the performances, the setting, the atmosphere, the screenplay, and the direction are phenomenal. John Wayne is brilliant, and John Ford's direction is mesmerizing. And how the story unfolds: the hero shoots the villain dead and the other guy gets the girl.

"I'm workin' on my first million, and you're still workin' on eight seconds." Junior Bonner beautifully captures the rodeo cowboy lifestyle for the posterity to get a glimpse of what it was like back then. Looking almost finished, Steve McQueen is at his best, never having to say a lot of words. He lets the action speak for him and is therefore larger than life.

If Gene Hackman was a bad dude in Unforgiven, he's an even meaner and more sadistic motherfucker in The Hunting Party. His character's message is pretty simple: nobody fucks with him or steals anything from him. It doesn't matter if he views his wife as mere possession. Do Brandt wrong, and he'll come at you with single-minded intensity. Yet it's Oliver Reed who steals the show.

Right from the get-go, the ominous feel of what's about to come is established, and the plot thickens every second throughout. Spencer Tracy is great as the one-armed stranger who shows up in a town that looks almost dead. There's a neo-noir quality about it because of the femme fatale, the sinister villains, the town's desolateness, and the suspenseful buildup toward the climax.

Without question, Yul Brynner is the undisputed leader of the ensemble cast. He has a quiet commanding presence, setting the tone of the film. Sorry, Steve McQueen...you lost. And it's not even close. I've seen Shichinin no samurai twice, but it's an overlong, boring film. Hence, The Magnificent Seven makes for a nice substitute.

Tombstone moves well with Arizonian ambience and a strong cast of many showing off their mustaches which are all real. Unfortunately snubbed for an Oscar nomination, Val Kilmer takes the top acting honors by giving one of the greatest performances of his career and has the best lines. There are many rich scenes that make it a highly regarded Western.

Bronco Billy is one of the true greats. It's a Western film with a quirky romantic story. This is Clint Eastwood at his best. He makes a lot of personal statements about life. The cast is great, even down to Sondra Locke. What works is the chemistry among everybody.

Like The Wild Bunch and The Hunting Party, Ulzana's Raid is a brutal Western picture. Believe it or not, the fighting between the US Army and various Apache nations in the southwest from 1849 to 1886 is the longest war ever in U.S. history which ended with the surrender of Geronimo. The brutality shown by the Apaches did happen for real.

You may not recognize the name Gordon Willis right away, but you most definitely know his work from The Godfather saga. The way he took advantage of the darkness to milk more out of Comes a Horseman is priceless, and there's an amazing level of depth in light and black in scene after scene. Outshining everybody in the cast is the easygoing Richard Farnsworth. As a result, he was given an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

If you love Burt Lancaster's films, you're in a treat for The Kentuckian, the only fully directed picture of his career. The dialogue is wholesome, clean, and rich while the Technicolor cinematography is beautiful. The most impressive of all is the sight of Burt Lancaster running across the pond to get his man before he can reload his flintlock gun.