Westerns that Rule

One of the few things my dad and I bond over is the superiority of the western genre. There's nothing not to love about them; we watch them weekly. Unlike other lists, this is in approximate rank order. I'd like to share my favorites.

1. High Noon. I've talked about this movie before. It's one of the best movies produced in America in the past hundred years, which is a little ironic, as it was produced by an Austrian Jew. It's got that great them that Americans love to think it theirs and their's alone - a Man alone, against the world. It's got just the right pacing to tell its story.
2. Open Range. One of my favorite recent Westerns. The story of Kevin Costner's character's transformation from a heartless Confederate raider to a brave defender of a small cattle town is amazing, but what makes this movie worth it is that last gunfight, which takes up the last fifth of the movie. It's totally worth it.
3. The Magnificent Seven. Yes, it was a remake of the Seven Samurai. Yes. The original was better. But fuck all that that - it was a sweet movie in its own right. The classic (and underrated) Pixar movie A Bug's Life was based on it. It is one of the archetypal movies of them American screen.
4. True Grit. The classic John Wayne western. Yes. the Searchers was good, but this movie defines badass. You don't fuck with this.
5. Serenity. Yes, it's by the dude who did Buffy. Yes. there are spaceships. It's still A western, and it's still badass. It's the bridge betweem sci-fi and western.