6 Lesser-Known Western Movies on Netflix in January 2024

Joe Kidd (1972)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

How can you have a list of Westerns and not include a Clint Eastwood flick? Although not as famous as his 'Man With No Name' movies, Joe Kidd will still scratch that Eastwood itch.

When a local group of Mexican ranchers led by Luis Chama (John Saxon) try to keep their rightful land from being stolen, they come up against an amoral landowner (Robert Duvall). Former bounty hunter Joe Kidd is content to stay out of it, but when one of his workers is attacked Joe accepts a contract on Chama's head.

Fun Fact: This is the last time someone else directed Clint Eastwood in a Western; after Joe Kidd he started directing himself.

Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61%

Call it a neo-Western: this Angelina Jolie vehicle takes place in the wilderness of Montana during the present day.

Jolie plays professional smoke jumper Hannah, living at an isolated post as she keeps an eye out for forest fires. But instead of smoke, she finds a boy covered in blood and on the run from two mysterious assassins.

Fun Fact: The fire in the movie isn't all CGI: the production crew rigged up a false forest and set it ablaze.

News of the World (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

It's been five years since the end of the civil war. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) ekes out a living by traveling from place to place and sharing 'the news of the world' – all the headlines about politics, presidents, and other stories from across the West.

On his travels he meets Johanna, a white girl raised by the Kiowa people after the death of her parents. Kidd agrees to escort the girl to her blood relatives, but Johanna is unwilling to go and the path is fraught with danger…

Fun Fact: Paul Greengrass wrote and directed News of the World. This is his first time working with Hanks since the 2013 film Captain Phillips.

Blood & Gold (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Acclaimed by critics as a 'second world war spaghetti western' (The Guardian), this period piece brings all the trappings of a Western to Germany in the final throes of WW2. A German deserter (Robert Maaser) is searching for his daughter and is rescued by a young woman (Marie Hacke). Unfortunately, her village soon runs afoul of a group of Nazi soldiers on the hunt for a Jewish family's gold.

Fun Fact: Actor Robert Maaser is a world champion at the sport of 'Rhönrad' (wheel gymnastics).

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

It's officially been 40 years since the release of Mel Brooks' masterpiece, but the bite hasn't gone out of this Western satire. When Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, the racist citizens are ready to revolt. However, it soon becomes clear that Bart and his sharpshooter friend The Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) are the town's only defense against a railway company's gang of thugs.

Fun Fact: According to the creators, the famous 'farting cowboy' scene was the first time that the sound of farting has been used in a film. (Even if that's not true, it's certainly the MOST farting ever used in a film.)

Paradox (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 25%

If you're looking for a different kind of Western, you might want to check out this odd, psychedelic musical. A group of bandits in the future hunt for scraps of old technology as they wait for the full moon, when nature allows them to meet with a band of women. In between their heists, the outlaws play music and tell stories.

Neil Young and his band Promise of the Real play the group of outlaws, so if you're a fan you'll like this movie. If not, check it out anyway – you might enjoy the bucolic weirdness of it all.

Fun Fact: Paradox was filmed in between stops on a Promise of the Real musical tour.