The Spaghetti Western isn’t a movie genre—no, it’s a cinematic swagger. Conceived in the arid hills of Spain and Italy, these movies took the classic American Western, stripped it bare, turned the dial of morality to gray, and filled it up with style, brutality, and some of the hippest anti-heroes ever to scowl into the sun. If you’re ready to step into a world of squinted eyes, ponchos, and perfectly timed showdowns, here are the 10 best Spaghetti Westerns ever made, counting down from 10 to 1—just like any proper duel should.
10. They Call Me Trinity (1970)
By the late ’60s, the Spaghetti Western was beginning to run on fumes. Then They Call Me Trinity came along, and suddenly it had a second wind—due to slapstick, sarcasm, and two lovable clowns with fists of fury. Terence Hill’s charmingly slouchy gunslinger and Bud Spencer’s gruff, bearlike brother comprise one of the most fun pairings in Western history. They’re not here for revenge—here for beans, naps, and perhaps rescuing a tranquil town from bullies. This one introduced comedy to the saddle and made it pay off. It’s like the genre letting its hair down for once.
9. Keoma (1976)
You can sense the genre getting back to its roots in Keoma. It’s grimy, poetic, and odd in exactly the way it should be. Franco Nero stars as a half-Native American gunslinger who’s coming home after the Civil War to discover his town in shambles, afflicted with sickness and corruption. The surreal directing, quirky score, and spiritual ideas imbue it with a haunting, nearly mythic atmosphere. It is not your typical Western, and not exactly an easy watch. But if you’re up for something bold and a little surreal, Keoma stands tall as one of the genre’s most unique late-era entries.
8. Death Rides a Horse (1967)
Vengeance is the name of the game here, and Death Rides a Horse plays it with cold precision. A young man whose family was slaughtered teams up with a hardened ex-con to track down the killers, only for their agendas to start crossing in complicated ways. Lee Van Cleef brings his trademark icy cool, and John Phillip Law adds a simmering intensity. Add in stylized shootouts, a hypnotic score, and that desert tension, and you’ve got a revenge tale that doesn’t pull its punches. If you desire the genre in its untamed, unapologetic state, this delivers.
7. The Big Gundown (1966)
What begins as an ordinary chase between a bounty hunter and an alleged criminal turns into a complex tale of class, power, and prejudice very quickly. Lee Van Cleef is an uncompromising pursuer, yet as the reality behind his target is revealed, so is his idea of justice. This is one of those Westerns that cuts more deeply than you’d anticipate—both emotionally and thematically. On a top pace and with a cracking climax, The Big Gundown demonstrates that sometimes the distinctions between right and wrong ain’t so straightforward to sketch in the sand.
6. Django (1966)
Before the name “Django” became Hollywood shorthand for badassery, it was this movie that pulled the coffin into legend. Franco Nero’s mud-soaked gunslinger is one of the most iconic characters the genre has ever produced. Armed with a mysterious past and a machine gun hidden in a coffin (yes, really), Django mows through both racists and revolutionaries with gritty flair. Violent, bloody, and unapologetically grim, this is the film that inspired dozens of knock-offs, remakes, and homages. It’s essential viewing—and the muddiest Western you’ll ever see.
5. The Great Silence (1968)
Not a sun-scorched desert but a snow-covered mountain town is where The Great Silence takes place, turning the genre’s look and morals upside down. Jean-Louis Trintignant is a silent gunslinger with his code, facing one of the iciest antagonists ever by Klaus Kinski. There is no honor here—only greed, survival, and a world that doesn’t give a damn. The conclusion remains one of the most devastating gut punches in Westerns. Gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ruthlessly anti-heroic, this is a movie that will leave you frozen to the marrow, in both senses.
4. For a Few Dollars More (1965)
This is the one where Sergio Leone came into his full stride. Combining Clint Eastwood’s unflappable Man with No Name with Lee Van Cleef’s revenge-fueled Colonel Mortimer, For a Few Dollars More feels like a high-class bounty hunter buddy pic, with a whole lot more shooting. The duel sequences are tension exercises, and Morricone’s score holds the whole thing together with unholy brilliance. It’s just the right balance of character, anarchy, and movie magic. If you’d like to witness two gunslingers at the top of their game, this one’s the ticket.
3. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
The original. Leone took Yojimbo, pared it down to its bare essentials, and threw in a dusty frontier town, some double-crosses, and a man in a poncho. The result? A completely new way of making Westerns. With Clint Eastwood hardly uttering a sentence, the movie established an archetype that many more attempted to follow. The gunfights are fast and bloody, the standoffs are lingering and tense, and the mood? Unmistakably Spaghetti. It’s lean, mean, and perpetually influential.
2. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Leone’s masterpiece. Once Upon a Time in the West is more of an epic in movie form than actually a film. All here is set to eleven—the sweeping vistas, the mournful harmonica theme, the cast (Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, and Henry Fonda playing way out of type). It’s slow, operatic, and steeped in pathos. But each frame is full of significance. This is not a revenge or greed tale—it’s about transformation, legacy, and the dying gasp of the frontier.
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
If any film epitomizes the Spaghetti Western, it’s this one. Three legendary characters, a buried fortune, and a brutal Civil War setting all converge in a dusty, epic, sprawling exercise that’s as humorous as it is fatalistic. Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach all give unforgettable performances, and that final three-way standoff? Cinematic perfection. Leone’s direction is sublime, Morricone’s score is the stuff of legend, and each scene drips with personality. It’s not only the finest Spaghetti Western—it may be one of the greatest films ever made. Period.
There you have it—ten classics that set the Western genre on its ear. Gritty, operatic, bizarre, and unforgettable, Spaghetti Westerns began as a European variation on an American theme but wound up redefining the rules. If you haven’t yet taken a journey through these cinematic badlands, it’s never too late to cock your pistol, tip your hat, and ride off into the sunset.