
Revisionist Western movies
Westerns that challenge the myth: moral ambiguity, violence consequences, and critique of conquest and power.

1. Django Unchained
Drama Western Revisionist Western Tragic Drama2012•2h 45min
United States
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Vibe
Bounty hunter Dr. Schultz buys Django out of slavery so that he can help him track down dangerous criminals with large rewards on their heads. After several successful jobs, Schultz decides to help Django and sets out with him to find his wife.
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2. Old Henry
Western Action Drama Revisionist Western Epic Action2021•1h 39min
United States
Director: Potsy Ponciroli
Vibe
A widowed farmer and his son warily take in a mysterious, injured man with a satchel of cash. When a posse of men claiming to be the law come for the money, the farmer must decide who to trust. Defending a siege of his homestead, the farmer reveals a talent for gun-slinging that surprises everyone calling his true identity into question.
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3. The Hateful Eight
Drama Mystery Western Locked-Room Mystery Revisionist Western2015•3h 8min
United States
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Vibe
Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception.
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4. Bacurau
Mystery Western Thriller Revisionist Western Political Thriller2019•2h 11min
Brazil, France
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Vibe
Bacurau, a small town in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their community has vanished from most maps.
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5. First Cow
Drama Western Historical Drama Revisionist Western2020•2h 2min
United States
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Vibe
In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow – the first, and only, in the territory.
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6. The Nightingale
Drama Thriller Western Historical Drama Revenge Thriller2018•2h 16min
Australia, United States
Director: Jennifer Kent
Vibe
In 1825, Clare, a 21-year-old Irish convict, chases a British soldier through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. She enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
Themes
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Vibe
Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.
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8. The Power of the Dog
Drama Western Revisionist Western Tragic Drama2021•2h 7min
Australia, Canada
Director: Jane Campion
Vibe
A domineering but charismatic rancher wages a war of intimidation on his brother's new wife and her teen son, until long-hidden secrets come to light.
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9. Hostiles
Drama Western History Adventure Historical Drama2017•2h 14min
United States
Director: Scott Cooper
Vibe
A legendary Native American-hating Army captain nearing retirement in 1892 is given one last assignment: to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory back to his Montana reservation.
Themes
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10. Let Him Go
Thriller Crime Western Kidnapping & Captivity Thriller Organized Crime2020•1h 54min
Canada, United States
Director: Thomas Bezucha
Vibe
Following the loss of their son, a retired sheriff and his wife leave their Montana ranch to rescue their young grandson from the clutches of a dangerous family living off the grid in the Dakotas.
