No matter how much the world changes, the western keeps moseying back into theatres as if time hasn’t passed at all. Its endurance is a curious thing. Historically, it’s a ‘white’ genre celebrating conservative ideas of masculinity – and that’s not to mention all the outdated ‘cowboys and Indians’ stuff. In theory, the western should have died with John Wayne.

But in recent years, films from Jane Campion’s quietly moving The Power of the Dog , the all-Black The Harder They Fall and even Ari Aster’s pandemic-set Eddington have taken the genre in bold new directions, which has only made it easier to appreciate the true classics. And so, here are 50 of cinema’s best oaters, spanning the golden-age to today, with psychedelic odysseys, slapstick satires and heaping help

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