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established master of his genre, John Ford, as a viable director of Westerns and turned his protg John Wayne into a breakout star. It also was one of the first Westerns to be shot on location and featured beautiful panorama shots of Monument Valley, Utah where many later Westerns were set.

4. Wild Bunch, Sam Peckinpaugh-The Wild Bunch represents an evolution in the Western. At the start of the genre, the Western hero was a protector of civilization and played an integral role in the town. By the time, Peckinpaugh's Wild Bunch came around; the town was out of the equation. Wild Bunch and later "Professional Westerns" pitted gunman against gunman for personal glory (or in some cases the glory of a small group of outlaws) and it was a celebration of anyone with a gun in their hand regardless of the side of the law that they were on. The film stars Robert Ryan as a former renegade who is granted his freedom on the condition that he capture a group of outlaws (led by William Holden and Ernest Borgnine) that he was once a member of.

5. Once Upon a Time in the West, Sergio Leone-It is hard to have a thorough understanding of the genre without looking at it through the eyes of Italian Sergio Leone in his spaghetti Westerns. Having already made a name for himself and Clint Eastwood with the Fistful of Dollars trilogy, Leone sought to take on the Western with broader strokes. He distilled what he saw in dozens of American Westerns to create an operatic masterpiece about the demise of the American West as told through the efforts of two strangers who join forces to protect a young widow from a railroad assassin. Ennio Morricone's score, in which every character has a separate motif, has become one of the most memorable of all time.

6. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidd, George Roy Hill-Paul Newman and Robert Redford might be considered the rock stars of the Western: They were flashy, handsome, and in this film, they give us an exciting ride from start to finish. The two, who have since become close friends and professional collaborators, star as two bandits who through resourcefulness and sheer luck eluded their captors on two continents.

7. Rio Bravo, Howard Hawks-Starring John Wayne as a sheriff who must rely on a band of deputies of questionable capacity to fend off a powerful gang, Rio Bravo epitomizes the sense of fun and adventure that the Western is capable of offering when done right. With his background in screwball comedy, Hawks is able to create one of the genre's

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