Nothing embodies the American spirit so much as the image of a cowboy riding across an open range atop his trusty steed, so when the first truly American art form came into being — the motion picture – what could have provided a more natural focus for the camera lens than the genre that came to be known as the western? If the British had Robin Hood, we had the Lone Ranger. We had western musicals, western comedies and traditional western gunfights. And over time, we had westerns that changed along with the landscape of the country. Since 1980, the western film has taken on a multitude of themes and settings. Here are the Top 10 contemporary Westerns, rated for audience appeal, critical acclaim and originality.
