By the 1970s, the Western was losing its old certainty. Gone were the simple heroes and clear morals—replaced by stories that were darker, more complex, and often deeply flawed. This was a decade where the genre became quieter, moodier, and more introspective.

The following films didn’t get the attention they deserved, but they reveal a Western struggling to reinvent itself—and doing so with surprising depth and grit.

1. Barquero (1970)

Gordon Douglas’s Barquero is a tense, stripped-down standoff thriller set on the banks of a river in the fading West. A gang of dangerous outlaws needs to cross into Mexico but are stopped by Travis, a stoic ferry operator who refuses to give them passage.

What unfolds is a claustrophobic siege where physical space seems to shrink and the psychological pressure builds. The film avoids traditional gunfights and instead focuses on the brutal mental warfare of waiting, threats, and endurance.

It’s a quiet exploration of control and survival, where no one is truly in the right and every decision has consequences—it’s not your average Western (despite the presence of Lee Van Cleef), and it’s all the better for it.

What makes it particularly notable is how it subverts the usual Western formula of clear-cut good versus evil. The film’s tension arises from ambiguity—characters are morally grey, their motivations not simply black or white, and the boundaries between hero and villain blur. This psychological depth reflects the era’s shifting attitudes towards authority and violence, making it feel surprisingly modern for a 1970 release.

2. The Hired Hand (1971)

This film offers a rare quiet moment in Western cinema. It follows a drifter named Harry who returns home after years on the run, seeking to reconnect with his family and start anew.

The pace is slow and deliberate, prioritising mood and atmosphere over action, and spends time musing over family dynamics—something that director Peter Fonda proves exemplary at providing.

The Hired Hand explores themes of redemption, belonging, and the quiet desperation of trying to leave behind a violent past. In some ways, it weirdly feels like David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005) set in the West.
It feels more like a poetic Western where the landscape itself looks and feels mournful, and peace seems both needed and yet constantly just out of reach. The film’s strength lies in its understatement and emotional depth, inviting viewers to linger in the moments between the atmospheric ponderings.

Additionally, the film’s use of visual storytelling—lingering shots of barren fields and the slow passage of time—enhances the theme of inevitability. Harry’s struggle isn’t just with external forces but with an internal battle between who he was and who he hopes to become. This reflective, almost meditative tone sets The Hired Hand apart from more action-driven Westerns of its day, making it a unique gem in the genre’s evolving canon.

3. Doc (1971)

Rather than celebrating the myth, Doc delves into the dark, human side of the famous gunslinger Doc Holliday. Frank Perry’s film paints a portrait of a man ravaged by illness and addiction, haunted by his reputation and his failing body.

The film focuses on his complicated relationships, especially with Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin), and the loneliness that comes with living on the edge of legend. This is a Western stripped of glamour, bravado, and gun-toting showmanship, showing Holliday as vulnerable and flawed; a man grappling with his legacy and mortality.

Doc is a quiet, intimate character study that is a lot better than it’s given credit for and what’s especially compelling about it is its refusal to romanticise the violence that often defines Westerns. Instead, it shows the toll of that violence on the human spirit and body.

The scenes where Doc’s physical weakness contradicts his legendary status offer a raw, comment upon the costs of fame and infamy in the Old West. It’s a film that quietly undermines the heroic narrative, replacing it with painful realism and tragedy.

4. Cry for Me, Billy (1972)

A brutal, melancholy post-Vietnam Western that tackles PTSD very efficiently, William Graham’s film follows Billy, a drifter haunted by war, who crosses paths with a young Native woman escaping from a massacre.

What follows isn’t a romance, or a revenge tale, but a slow spiral toward futility; something that many veterans were going through at the time of the film’s release.

The violence here feels sudden and sickening, and the tone is bleak but purposeful. It’s not pretty, but neither does it pretend to be. Films like this never get canonised —Graham’s film was far too small for any huge cinematic release, but it’s got real power if you’re willing to sit with it. It’s almost like The Hughes Brother’s superb post-Vietnam flick Dead Presidents (1995), but as a Western.

5. The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972)

This film revisits the notorious Jesse James gang but removes the almost mystical legend to reveal desperate men caught in a doomed robbery. Rather than glorifying outlaw life, it shows the toll of desperation, bad choices, and the slow erosion of the old West.

The tension is palpable as the robbery unfolds, but the film’s true focus is on character and consequence—and it would make a rather good companion piece with Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007).

Philip Kaufman’s film portrays the James gang as deeply human and fallible, far from the romanticised outlaws of folklore—and his grounded approach gives the film a sense of inevitability and tragedy that lingers long after the gunfire fades.

What’s remarkable here is how the film strips away the glamor often attached to Jesse James and his gang, instead presenting them as weary men driven by circumstance and fear. The performances humanise these figures, showing moments of doubt, loyalty, and despair. This treatment of historical figures as complex individuals rather than legends reflects the decade’s desire to re-examine myths and present more nuanced, sometimes uncomfortable truths about America’s past.

The 1970s was a turning point for the Western. While the genre was no longer the box office powerhouse it had been in previous decades, filmmakers were pushing boundaries, experimenting with style, and reinterpreting familiar tropes.

The decade saw revisionist Westerns as well as Spaghetti Westerns continuing to deliver operatic gunfights, and even genre hybrids bringing fresh ideas into play. While many classics have rightly received their due, plenty of great Westerns from the era have been overlooked. Here are ten that you might have missed.

1. Rio Lobo (1970)

Howard Hawks’ final film, Rio Lobo, often gets overshadowed by his earlier classics like Red River (1948) and Rio Bravo (1959), but it’s still a solid Western with plenty to offer. Starring John Wayne in one of his late-career roles, the film is essentially a reworking of Rio Bravo, with Wayne once again playing a tough, no-nonsense hero (what else?) leading a ragtag group against corrupt forces.

The story follows Cord McNally (Wayne), a former Union officer hunting down traitors who betrayed his regiment during the Civil War. This search leads him to the town of Rio Lobo, where he teams up with a young gunslinger and a vengeful woman to take on a ruthless sheriff and his cronies.

While Rio Lobo doesn’t break new ground, it’s an enjoyable old-school Western with romping action sequences and a charismatic performance from Wayne. Hawks’ direction, even in his final outing, after a quite staggering career, is confident and assured, delivering a film that, while formulaic, remains a satisfying genre entry. It sometimes feels like a latter-day Clint Eastwood directorial piece, not necessarily his finest work, and yet utterly consistent and replayable.

2. Zabriskie Point (1970)

While perhaps not a Western in the traditional sense, Zabriskie Point captures the spirit of the genre in a radical, counter-cultural fashion. Michelangelo Antonioni’s take on America is a visually stunning meditation on rebellion, capitalism, and the open landscape of the West.

The film follows a young man who, after a student protest turns violent, steals a small plane and flies out into the desert, where he meets a free-spirited woman. Their brief romance unfolds against the vast emptiness of Death Valley and the exoticism of Antonioni’s style is almost inevitably accompanied by dreamlike visuals.

For those expecting a conventional narrative, Zabriskie Point can be frustrating—it’s more about mood, imagery, and political subtext than storytelling. And indeed, there are many critics who have repeatedly piled in on the film over the years, but its haunting final sequence, featuring a slow-motion explosion set to Pink Floyd’s music, is one of the most striking endings in any film, let alone a Western-adjacent one. Zabriskie Point isn’t for everyone, but like it or not, it remains a film that demands a conversation more than fifty years on.

3. El Topo (1970)

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo is about as far from your average Western as you can possibly get. A surreal, mystic journey through the desert, the film blends Spaghetti Western tropes with philosophy, religious allegory, and a heavy dose of psychedelia. An Acid-Western, if you like.

Jodorowsky himself plays the titular gunslinger, who embarks on a spiritual quest, battling a series of master gunfighters before undergoing a profound transformation. The film is packed with bizarre, violent, and often disturbing imagery, but beneath its madness is a deeply philosophical core.

A key film in the ‘midnight movie’ movement, El Topo, like much of Jodorowsky’s work, has become a cult sensation, drawing praise from figures like John Lennon. Its influence can be felt in everything from Mad Max to The Mandalorian; yet it remains detached from mainstream cinema. This might well be understandable, but El Topo (despite its numerous controversies) is arguably Jodorowsky’s most accessible film, if only for its obvious Western influences.

4. The Last Movie (1971)

The more well-known Easy Rider (1969) might itself be considered a reinterpretation of the Western, but too few people dipped their toes into Dennis Hopper’s cinematic return, 1971’s The Last Movie, a film that pushed the boundaries of cinema and ultimately alienated audiences and critics alike.

A meta-Western about filmmaking itself, it tells the story of a stuntman (Hopper) working on a Western in Peru, who stays behind after production wraps and becomes entangled with the locals in what becomes an increasingly bizarre and voodoo inflicted piece.

The Last Movie critiques Hollywood’s myth-making, upending potential genre cliches completely while blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Its unconventional structure and experimental style might well make it a challenging watch, but The Last Movie is a fascinating relic of 70s counterculture, offering a raw, hallucinatory take on a field of cinema that surprised its audiences at the time, and continues to be divisive today.

5. Red Sun (1971)

One of the strangest yet most entertaining Westerns of the decade, Red Sun is a genre mash-up that brings together samurai and cowboys in a way that shouldn’t work, but somehow does. Directed by Terence Young, who also directed three Bond films in the 60’s, the film stars Charles Bronson, Alain Delon, and Toshiro Mifune—without doubt one of the most impressive international casts ever assembled for a Western.

Bronson plays an outlaw, Link, who is double-crossed by his partner Gauche (Delon) during a train robbery. In the process, a priceless samurai sword is stolen, leading Mifune’s Kuroda to join forces with Bronson in pursuit of the thief. What follows is a madcap and truly unique East-meets-West revenge tale filled with blistering action, betrayal and a huge slice of dry humour; a tone that was perhaps the reason it was dismissed too easily on its release. Red Sun is self-aware as well as being a bombastic alternate Western and deserves a moment in the sun. Ahem.

It’s not the golden age anymore and western films are no longer the major box office hits they used to be but still, the 1970s was a good enough decade for the genre. Clint Eastwood was still a major star and was delivering classics like “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and if we wanted to have a laugh, Mel Brooks was there with his “Blazing Saddles”.

However, it was the era of the new groundbreaking filmmakers who preferred to make films in contemporary settings with relevant social messages. That’s just one of the reasons why Westerns got overlooked, especially the traditional ones. Here are ten films from the decade that you might enjoy, both traditional and non-traditional.

10. Eagle’s Wing (1979)

A white man steals a white Mustang from a Kiowa Native and then the chase starts. Director Anthony Harvey was attracted to Michael Syson’s short story despite it’s not structured as a movie script. He thought it was kind of story that demands strong kind of visual direction to deliver the story effectively, so it’ll be an exciting challenge for him. Besides, it’s a British film and it adds its own flavor to the western mythology. It’s hard to classify what kind of western this is and that’s probably what makes the film so fascinating to watch.

You can see various plot points you’ve seen from different Westerns like “man vs. nature” or “white woman kidnapped by the Indians” and of course, two enemies who fight against each other but the movie is never just one thing which makes it all more complex. Harvey goes for a very realistic tone here with even somewhat of an unpredictable storyline. The locations are all gorgeous and the cast which features names like Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, and Harvey Keitel are all excellent. Worth checking out for fans of revisionist westerns and especially to see this cast, because for whatever reason Sheen or Keitel didn’t really get much of a chance to do westerns.

9. The Hunting Party (1971)

After a ruthless, rich rancher’s wife is kidnapped, a gang of bandits is wiped out in a bloody massacre by him and his helpers. “The Wild Bunch” was very much successful and still an influential Western of the era, it also opened the doors for other films of the genre to be violent without fear. That said, this movie is no “The Wild Bunch” which is much more character-driven and better choreographed but for those who love their westerns very violent, “The Hunting Party” is still a great watch for the very same reason.

Another thing that works here is definitely the performances. The script is not rich with complex characterizations but all three leads, especially Gene Hackman who won an Oscar for “The French Connection” of the same year shine in the movie. This is the genre that finally brought him another Oscar decades later anyway. The cinematography is very absorbing and the locations of Spain are well used as a stand-in for Texas. It’s a violent film even by today’s standards and that’s probably why critics were too harsh on it but if you’re interested in how gory Westerns can get, give this one a watch. Hackman and Candice Bergen later re-united for an excellent western “Bite the Bullet” which you should watch also in case you didn’t.

8. From Noon Till Three (1976)

Graham Dorsey is on his way to Gladstone City with Buck Bowers’ gang to rob the bank there. However, a nightmare he had makes him a bit uneasy as he thinks the plan might not work out well and indeed his horse breaks an ankle. That’s why he stays for a few hours with the young widow Amanda Starbuck, who lives alone in an elegant old mansion near Gladstone City. This will change the turn of events for everyone.

Graham Dorsey is portrayed by Charles Bronson but it’s one of his most unusual parts probably. He’s even charming here and his performance is filled with lots of humor. Since he shares the scene with his real-life wife Jill Ireland, it’s hard to not see the chemistry there also and for a romantic comedy to work, chemistry is everything. Yes, after a revisionist arthouse-ish western and a rather brutal, violent one, it only makes sense to follow the list with something more light in the vein of a romantic comedy.

This is a delightful film and what’s special about it here is that works on multiple levels; as a both Western and a romantic comedy. Not to mention, it also deals with myth-making and “truth vs. legend” themes which the Western genre loves. It’s a low-cost production but an amusing story, fine editing and great cast will not make you think about it.

7. Oklahoma Crude (1973)

At the beginning of the 20th century, a woman in Oklahoma is fighting for her business. She has a small oil drilling site and is being pushed out by a powerful corporation. Stanley Kramer was often celebrated for the films he made with relevant social issues and he also directed one of the greatest Western films of all time in “High Noon”. He had his own fair share of critics who called his stuff rather surface-level films that is afraid to offend anyone, hence lacking complexity.

“Oklahoma Crude” should be free of such criticisms as it’s one of the director’s more edgy projects. Weird enough this time he was attacked for having no social message and for just delivering an entertaining picture. The production design here is dazzling and both leads George C. Scott and Faye Dunaway are shining. Scott is the type of actor who can electrify the scene by doing nothing and his presence is certainly missed on screen. Dunaway is also a very charismatic here and one would wish she made more Westerns back in the time.

There’s also a plenty of violence but you won’t find any of it unnecessary. Impressively blending the genres of Western, adventure, comedy, and drama – it’s an amusing film and probably the best of Kramer’s late career. This is also the screenwriting debut for Marc Norman who later went on to win Oscars for writing and producing “Shakespeare in Love”.

6. Monte Walsh (1970)

The Old West is finally coming to an end and a group of cowboys trying to hold on. That’s the story of one of those: an aging cowboy on a lonely ranch who can no longer find his way in the rapidly changing times. His name is Monte Walsh (a great Lee Marvin) and often hangs around with his friend Chet Rollins (Jack Palance). Monte’s girlfriend, Martine (Jeanne Moreau), suffers from tuberculosis and when Monte realizes that life as a cowboy will soon be a thing of the past, he asks her to be his wife. But more challenges are waiting for him, both professionally and privately.

The film might look simple but that’s where the beauty lies. It’s a beautiful tribute to old-school Westerns. It’s not much of a plot-driven movie, but rather observation of a man at the end days of the cowboy life. It’s kind of a film made for the ones who loved old-school Western films, not because it’s an entirely old-school Western type film but a lovely tribute to them. This is a quiet, tender, and thoughtful film. There’s also a very fine TV remake of this with Tom Selleck and if you’ve enjoyed this one, you can check that out as well. We should also give a shout-out John Barry’s leading score.