5 Best Sam Elliott Westerns, Ranked

When one thinks of Sam Elliot, one pictures his famous facial hair, deep Southern voice, and commanding screen presence. One also envisions him as the face of the Western movie, always sauntering across the screen in a cowboy hat atop a horse, ready to face the natural world. In reality, Elliot's actually done fewer Western movies (especially on the big screen) than one might imagine. Roles in titles like "The Big Lebowski," "The Hero," or even his work as a key helper to a country music performer in "A Star is Born," play on the idea of this California-born performer being forever intertwined with the Western.

However, fascinatingly, part of the untold truth of Sam Elliot is that his connections to the Western world are largely through TV movies or recent Taylor Sheridan shows. In theatrical cinema, Elliot's range as a performer means he's inhabited all kinds of titles inhabiting every genre imaginable, from "Road House" to "Up in the Air" to "Barnyard," and everything in between. Even if he hasn't exclusively headlined Western movies, Elliot's extensive and impressive filmography still features plenty of forays into this genre. The five highest rated Sam Elliot Westerns on Letterboxd (ranked below from "lowest" to highest rated) reflect why people still associate this man so heavily with the genre.

So saddle on up, and "get the whole cowboy thing goin' on," it's time to explore the greatest Sam Elliot Westerns in movie history.

Long ago, the cable network TNT got a lot of mileage out of making and airing original movies. As late as 2003, the realm of "Rizzoli and Isles" and "Men of a Certain Age" was a go-to home for star-studded TV movies. One of its last forays into this domain in the 20th century was the August 1999 feature from writer/director John Kent Harrison. This title starred Sam Elliot as Bill Tilghman, who, ironically, is connected here to Wyatt Earp, a famous outlaw whose brother Elliot portrayed in "Tombstone."

This project followed Tilghman poignantly attempting to bring some semblance of safety to Cromwell, Oklahoma, even as burgeoning new technologies (namely, advancements in brutal weaponry) and relentless adversaries threaten to thwart his noble plans. "You Know My Name" hasn't been viewed a ton on Letterboxd (as of this writing, only 280 people have logged it on the site), but it's got a plentiful number of 3 and 3.5 ratings from those who've witnessed it. The reviews for this one largely focus on Elliot's amiable charms  rendering the movie enjoyable.

Some Letterboxd reviewers also single out Harrison and the rest of the crew delivering admirably evocative work given the budgetary restrictions of making a TNT TV movie. A not-too-shabby feat for Sam Elliot.

While the confidently titled "You Know My Name" closed out the 1990s, Sam Elliot's other big TNT Western film, "Conagher," helped kicked off the decade when it hit the airwaves in July 1991. This project was based on the Louis L'Amour novel of the same name, while the film's two leads, Elliot and Katharine Ross, served as co-writers of the adaptation alongside Jeffrey M. Meyer. Sitting in the directors chair was Reynaldo Villalobos, an occasional director mostly known for his movie and TV cinematography exploits — a career that spans everything from "Love & Basketball" to the initial season of "Breaking Bad."

This was the eclectic creative team informing "Conagher," which saw the worlds of single mother Evie Teale (Ross) and cowboy Conn Conagher (Elliot) colliding in the Old West. Sturdy supporting performers like Barry Corbin and Buck Taylor (among others) round out the cast. All of this resulted in a movie that has a perfectly fine 3.3 average rating on Letterboxd. Many of the Letterboxd reviews for this one single out the visual chops of Villalobos as significantly elevating the proceedings from typical TV movie fodder. Elliot's deeply lived in performance, meanwhile, is also a source of constant praise across these Letterboxd reviews.

Even if some of these reviewers weren't entirely sold on the plot, Elliot's charms and gifts were enough to make them like "Conagher" more often than they didn't. Even in early '90s TNT TV movie fare, Sam Elliot was reinforcing his engrossing screen presence.

It wouldn't be until the 1980s that Sam Elliot regularly appeared in theatrical movies like "Road House," "The Blue Lightning," and "Mask." However, his acting career was taking off at the dawn of the 1970s thanks to various prominent television appearances, including a recurring "Mission: Impossible" role. One especially notable early TV part came from portraying Captain Wood in the 1975 ABC TV movie "I Will Fight No More Forever." As seen by movies where the supporting character was better than the lead, not being number one on the call sheet isn't automatically a sign that an actor is playing a "weaker" role. Elliot's constantly excelled in supporting turns, including in this film.

This title explored the late 19th century struggles of Chief Joseph (Ned Romero), who belonged to the Nez Perce tribe, to protect his land from post-Civil War settlers. Here, Elliot played Captain Wood, a real-life historical figure working for the man commissioned to eradicate the Nez Perce from their home, General Oliver O. Howard (James Whitmore, who offered a brilliantly sad death in "The Shawshank Redemption"). The majority of the Letterboxd reviews for "I Will Fight No More Forever" are in the 3 and 3.5 star range. While many of the write-ups admit that the title isn't exactly revolutionary in its form, those same assessments praise its ability to vividly capture American injustices.

Among the many legacies of this well-reviewed film was providing one of the earliest (but by no means the last) major roles for one Sam Elliot.

Big things were just around the corner for two of the stars of the 1979 project "The Sacketts," a production technically released as a miniseries but now referred to as a TV film. Tom Selleck, for instance, was just a year away from scoring the titular lead role on "Magnum P.I.," which would become a key step in the transformation of Tom Selleck from childhood to "Blue Bloods." Sam Elliot, meanwhile, was on the cusp of becoming a more prominent fixture in big screen movies. Exciting new futures lay in wait for these gentlemen. Just before everything changed, though, this duo, along with Jeff Osterhage, played the titular three brothers in "The Sacketts." 

An adaptation of two different Louis L'Amour novels, "The Sacketts" followed the Sackett brothers as they navigate their hopes to find love, stability, and maybe some gold in an American West rocked by the Civil War. The same yearning underpinning the Sackett siblings here often cropped up as key motivating factors for the lead characters in the 55 best Western movies of all time. Though maybe not as beloved as those titles, "The Sacketts" still secured a respectable 3.4 average rating from Letterboxd. 

Many of the positive reviews hail the fact that "The Sacketts" assembled such a top notch cast (including Sam Elliot), though some grievances did fester regarding its erratic pacing. Nonetheless, "The Sacketts" is well regarded today and certainly helped showcase some acting chops that would explode in popularity in the following decade.

If it feels like all of Sam Elliot's best reviewed Westerns were TV movies, here comes a grand theatrical film event to balance things out. Sam Elliot played one of the lead roles of "Tombstone" (specifically the role of Virgil Earp) alongside Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, and Bill Paxton. That murderer's row of actors was assembled for the story of Wyatt Earp (Russell) and his two brothers trying to start a new life beyond gunslinging. Inevitably, chaos soon follows them and they'll have to return to their grisly outlaw ways if they want to save innocent lives and take down the adversaries littering "Tombstone."  

Today, "Tombstone" is considered one of the Western movies you need to see before you die, and for very good reason. It's a crackling good time that fully delivers on the Western spectacle. The assured actors assembled (including a masterful Elliot turn, but also Kilmer delivers career-best work) keep one's eyeballs constantly glued to the screen. Director George P. Cosmatos and company even imbue genuinely moving pathos into the proceedings by way of Kilmer's Doc Holliday. Considering just how well this movie works on so many levels, it's no surprise the average Letterboxd rating for "Tombstone" is a mighty 3.9. 

The same qualities that have informed the general, legendary reputation of "Tombstone" are celebrated all over this movie's Letterboxd reviews. With this classic, Elliot finally got to anchor a Western that was as grand as his iconic silver screen persona.