Great Westerns are good and all, with the best of the West delivering spectacle, excitement, emotion, and visual splendor like no other genre out there. When looking at both older moviesand more recent releases, the genre is no stranger to excellence, but just because some shine doesn’t mean that all are great. Just as is the case for any type of movie, some Westerns are honestly quite bad.
But being bad isn’t all bad, because sometimes, the right kind of bad movie can be fun when viewed either ironically or with a frame of mind that can celebrate – and maybe be alarmed by – certain imperfections. Most of the following Westerns don’t exactly work as “good” movies, but all have one of two things: a certain amount of charm, or so many baffling creative decisions that they become morbidly fascinating. These so-bad-they’re-good Westerns are ranked below,starting with the kind of bad/good and ending with the very bad/good.
10’Love Me Tender' (1956)
Director: Robert D. Webb
Fitting its title,Love Me Tenderispredominantly a romance movie, and also finds itself set at a time that makes it botha Western and something of a war movie, taking place right after the Civil War. There’s a young woman torn between two brothers, the youngest of whom is played byElvis Presleyin his acting debut, with the film also exploring the aftermath of a robbery that happened at the very end of the aforementioned war.
Love Me Tenderis best known for being the first of numerous movies Presley starred in, and, of course, for the fact that it had a genuinely good theme song, which was released before the movie.It’s otherwise pretty hammy and melodramatic stuff, all a bit overdone and silly, but in an old-fashioned way that makes it enough of an oddity to offer some entertainment value.
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9’Cowboys & Aliens' (2011)
Director: Jon Favreau
Despite its knowingly ridiculous title, prominent director, andimpressive cast headed byHarrison FordandDaniel Craig,Cowboys & Alienshas been kind of forgotten by time… and it’s not even particularly old. It takes a well-worn Western movie set-up of having one stranger come into a small town and initially clash with the people there, only there’s a decidedly science fiction spin, what with the other part of the title referencing aliens and all.
It’s very dopey stuff, and perhapsif it had been a little more balanced or just tonally different, it could have been something genuinely good, or at least appreciable. Instead,Cowboys & Aliensis messy and baffling, but there’s enough here to have some fun with it, as is the case for many movies that have talented people involved, but end up feeling like none of them were on the same page.
Cowboys & Aliens
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8’Ambush at Cimarron Pass' (1958)
Director: Jodie Copelan
There are plenty ofgreatClint Eastwoodmovies – Westerns or otherwise– butAmbush at Cimarron Passisn’t one of them. It’s one of the first film roles Eastwood had, with him being third billed here and the movie overall centering on a relatively small group of soldiers banding together to survive an attack from a larger band of Native Americans.
It’s so barebones in terms of the story it tells and the places it goes, with one of its saving graces being the fact that it’s only 73 minutes in length (still arguably too long, mind you).Ambush at Cimarron Passisn’t viewed favorably by Clint Eastwood either, to say the least,who went so far asto call it the worst film ever made… that could be a stretch, but such vitriol does make it sound enticing, especially for fans of the actor who might get curious about just how bad it can get.
Ambush at Cimarron Pass
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7’Jonah Hex' (2010)
Director: Jimmy Hayward
Working in tandem with the aforementionedCowboys & Alienstoinadvertently present the argument that Westerns had no business being made in the early 2010s,Jonah Hexis another infamous film somewhat lost to time. Also, similarly toCowboys & Aliens, it has some big names attached to it, includingJosh Brolin,John Malkovich,Megan Fox,and evenMichael Fassbender.
Not content with just being a Western,Jonah Hexis also a fantasy film, a superhero movie, and an action/thriller flick, trying to do it all within a comically short runtime of just 81 minutes. Its story is about revenge and saving the world, with the stakes and tone being all over the shop, and the film collapsing in on itself multiple times throughout. Still, for some viewers, this might well make it fascinating, and at least the whole thing won’t waste much of your time, in any event.
6’Sukiyaki Western Django' (2007)
Director: Takashi Miike
Sukiyaki Western Djangoreally should be so much better than it is, given it wasdirected by the usually interestingTakashi Miike, has a great title, and a relatively interesting premise/concept. Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish, so thetitle promises a movie that will put the same kind of anarchic/subversive spin on the Western genre as the similarly-named Italian spaghetti Westernsdo… only it really doesn’t.
The film doesn’t work particularly well asa comedy, action movie, or a Western, being a fairly limp take on the sort of premise popularized byYojimbo(and later “borrowed” for spaghetti WesternA Fistful of Dollars). So, what makesSukiyaki Western Djangoat least a little fun ironically? It is admittedly an interesting mess, and it features a ridiculous supporting turn fromQuentin Tarantino(great actor, less-than-great actor) which does have to be seen to be believed.
Sukiyaki Western Django
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5’The Beast of Hollow Mountain' (1956)
Directors: Ismael Rodríguez, Edward Nassour
Fans of B-grade horrormight well find things to like aboutThe Beast of Hollow Mountain, which can count itself as both a not-very-good Western anda fairly bad giant monster movieall in one. Still, the clashing of those two genres does immediately makeThe Beast of Hollow Mountainstand out, as dinosaurs don’t tend to make appearances in Westerns, to say the least.
The Beast of Hollow Mountainsees a cowboy not fighting aliens, but instead going up against a somehow still alive Tyrannosaurus rex that’s consuming all his cattle. Amovie with a premise that boils down to “a T. rex causes havoc in the desert” isn’t going to be for everyone, but there are certain viewers who’ll likely jump at the opportunity to see that play out within a B-movie. For anyone after that exact thing, for whatever reason,The Beast of Hollow Mountainis the film for you.
4’Wild Wild West' (1999)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Few movies implode quite likeWild Wild Westdoes. This is another movie that shows how blending science fiction and Western genres seems much easier said than done, and the action/buddy comedy elements attempted here also fall flat. It’s also a movie where the impressive cast – includingWill Smith,Kevin Kline,Kenneth Branagh, andSalma Hayek– find themselves unable to elevate the material at hand.
Of particular note is how bad the chemistry between Smith and Kline proves to be, with their characters needing to have a good dynamic for the buddy comedy elements to work.Wild Wild Westis laughably bad, but certainly not funny or amusing in the ways it wants to be.It’s a bit of a slog in parts, but its existence is bizarre enough– and its misfires so blatant – that there is a certain something that makes it oddly fascinating to sit through.
Wild Wild West
3’BloodRayne 2: Deliverance' (2007)
Director: Uwe Boll
Uwe Bollis one of the most infamous filmmakers of the 21st century so far,with the vast majority of his movies being savaged by critics…though this never seems to slow Boll down. He’sdirected three gothic horror filmswithin what’s become theBloodRaynetrilogy, the first being set during the 1700s, the second being set a century later during Old West times, and the third being set during World War II.
So,BloodRayne 2: Deliveranceis a vampire horror movie and a Western all rolled into one, centering on the hero – a half-human/half-vampire named Rayne – clashing with Billy the Kid. Naturally, he’s a vampire in this movie, and so are all the underlings in his gang. It’s naturally quite stupid, but the low-budget clunkiness of it all does ensureBloodRayne 2: Deliverancemight well be fun for those who tend to enjoy particularly trashy flicks.
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2’Billy the Kid Versus Dracula' (1966)
Director: William Beaudine
Billy the Kid rears his head again in a horror Western, this time inBilly the Kid Versus Dracula. Both this 1966 film andBloodRayne 2: Deliverancewillrun the risk of making you wish you were watching a genuinely good Western featuring the well-known outlaw, with somethinglike 1973’sPat Garrett & Billy the Kidbeing a potentially suitable palette cleanser for anyone who’s just endured these two Billy the Kid-themed horror movies.
Billy the Kid Versus Draculais exactly what you’d expect it to be with a title like Billy the Kid Versus Dracula, centering on Billy the Kid trying to defend his fiancée from the advances of a determined Dracula, who wants her as his bride. It’s naturally absolute nonsense, but the schlock is strong with this one, and anyone intrigued will get what they think they will from the film, for better or worse.
1’Paint Your Wagon' (1969
Director: Joshua Logan
Paint Your Wagonmight not be as bad as the aforementioned Clint Eastwood Western,Ambush at Cimarron Pass, but it does feel like it leanscloser toward being “so bad it’s good.”It’s a baffling viewing experience, being a lightweight and overlong romantic comedy that’s set during Old West times and is also a musical, and certainly having ambition genre-wise, but the execution’s all off.
Paint Your Wagonstretches out and ends up being well over two-and-a-half hours in length, even though the story is fairly simple stuff, more or less being about two unlikable men causing chaos, scheming, and sharing a wife. Also, it’s worth noting that Clint Eastwood sings a song called “I Talk to the Trees,”foreshadowing how, over four decades later,he’d infamously talk to a chair.It’s like poetry, it rhymes.
