5 Western Movies to Watch on Netflix in November 2023, Ranked

Howdy, pardners! Is the wind of the Wild West blowing through the billows of your hats this November as much as we are drawn to Westerns? Whether or not you have spurs, a trusty steed, and a pair of revolvers at your disposal, it's never a bad idea to turn to the best movies in the genre. Luckily, Netflix comes to the rescue with a truly vast library of great movies and shows from all different genres.

From genre classics to deconstructive black comedies and revisionist dramas, from the American prairie to the Great Indian Desert, here are the best Western movies available on Netflix that are sure to brighten your day this cold November.

5. The Electric Horseman (1979, Rotten Tomatoes score 64%)

Box office: $61.8 million

Our list begins with the 1979 neo-western classic directed by Hollywood legend Sydney Pollack and starring equally legendary figures Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. The plot follows a former rodeo star who is disillusioned with life because a corporate conglomerate has reduced his talent to a mere cereal commercial. During one of the promos, he befriends a drugged and injured racehorse, which he eventually kidnaps in order to release the steed into a canyon inhabited by wild horses roam.

4. Thar (2022, Rotten Tomatoes score 65%)

Thar is a fascinating action thriller made: even though the events take place in India in the 1980s, the script was created with all respect for the genre, in the spirit of classic American and spaghetti westerns. At the center of events is a mysterious man who arrives in a remote village from Delhi. At the same time, a series of brutal murders occur in the village, and a local inspector must investigate the reasons for the homicides and how the newcomer from the big city is involved.

3. The Harder They Fall (2021, Rotten Tomatoes score 88%)

Box office: $8,292

What makes this directorial debut by Jeymes Samuel so special is that the story revolves around real-life black lawmen and outlaws in the second half of the 19th century, making The Harder They Fall one of the few (and worthy) examples of an all-black cast. Set at the intersection of the 19th and 20th centuries, the plot follows the famous confrontation between two black men, cowboy and writer Nat Love and outlaw Rufus Buck, and their gangs.

2. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018, Rotten Tomatoes score 89%)

Box office: around $45,000

In 2007, the Coen brothers stunned everyone with their revisionist take on the genre with the release of the iconic No Country for Old Men, which pitted the spirit of the Old West against the New, greed against blind cruelty, action against inescapable consequences. But 11 years later, Joel and Ethan Coen released an even more satirical Western, the six-story anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. This movie has everything we love about this directing duo: black comedy, equally black drama, and, of course, high morality. The film has the lowest box office in the history of the Coen Brothers' work, but the reason is it had a limited theatrical release.

1. The Power of the Dog (2021, Rotten Tomatoes score 94%)

Box office: $417,022

Directed and written by the great Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog is the story of the decline of the now overly romanticized days of the Wild West, marching in step with toxic masculinity and its attendant brutality. The plot centers on two brothers who own a ranch in Montana in 1925. But their cowboy idyll and brotherly feelings are derailed when one of them begins to treat his brother's future wife cruelly and cynically.