If Western movies know how to do one thing right, it is climatic endings; whether it’s a cowboy riding off into the sunset or pistols at dawn for a showdown, this genre of film knows how to close the credits in style.
Here’s a list of 18 Western movies with the best endings ever.
The Hateful Eight
Directed by Quentin Tarantino and rated 7.8 stars on IMDB, this film is going to go out with a bang. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, and Channing Tatum, it has a pretty gruesome end that sees the outlaw Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) cut off The Hangman’s arm (Kurt Russell) to free herself before she shoots Major Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) dead.
Shane
This highly acclaimed film is often cited as one of the best Westerns of all time, and the fact that it was made in 1953 makes it an O.G. of the Western genre. This film has a spectacular ending, which sees Shane injured in a saloon shootout before riding off into the sunset as a wounded hero while his young friend calls after him to please come back. It’s a dramatic and emotional ending that you might need some tissues for.
Django
Made in 1966, this movie inspired Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 Django Unchained, and with one of the best Western movie endings of all time, we can see why. This film ends with Django (Franco Nero) kneeling to pray at the headstone of his former lover; as he does so, the men who killed her arrive and begin to mock his prayers. Django then says, “Amen!” and releases a shower of bullets onto the men, killing them all.
High Noon
Regarded as the father of Western films, High Noon has an epic ending that has echoed throughout cinematic history ever since. The famous actress Grace Kelly plays a heroic role in this movie’s ending as she not only assaults a man trying to kill her lover, Marshall Kane (Gary Cooper), but she also shoots some of the bad guys. Thanks to her, Marshall Kane lives, and the couple ride off into the sunset together. Kelly’s heroic role was unprecedented for a female in the 1950s, and this film was a trailblazer for feminine heroines.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
This Western has legendary status, with Warren Beatty as John McCabe and Julie Christie as Constance Miller. After failing to sell their profitable, successful gambling and prostitution business, this pair of lovers find themselves surrounded by assassins at the end of the movie. While McCabe ends up shot and bleeding alone in the snow, Miller is seen getting high in the town’s Opium den, and none of the townspeople come to their aid, a dramatic and tragic ending.
Unforgiven
Starring the one and only Clint Eastwood, this film was the talk of the town in 1992. Eastwood plays a bounty hunter, Will Munny, who tracked down and killed some cowboys who disfigured a prostitute. Will discovers that his friend Ned has been killed by Sheriff Bill (Gene Hackman) and that his body has been displayed in the town. Upset and vengeful, Will murders the Sheriff’s entire posse.
The Wild Bunch
After a bloody massacre in which both sides are brutally gunned down, one of the main characters, Thornton, played by Robert Ryan, arrives and ensures that his comrades’ bodies are properly buried. After witnessing the carnage and destruction, Thornton leaves his former life behind and joins the Mexican Revolution.
The Harder They Fall
Starring Idris Elba (Rufus Buck) and Jonathan Majors (Nat Love), this is one of the few modern Westerns who give the old guard a run for their money. Made in 2021, the movie ends with Nat Love killing Rufus Buck, whom he discovers is his half-brother. Nat decides to abandon the outlaw life, and his comrades agree to claim that he is dead and buried. Nat rides off into the sunset to start a new life, but the film’s ending also alludes to a possible revenge plot, paving the way for The Harder They Fall 2.
El Mariachi
This movie ends with the drug lord Moco (Peter Marquardt) shooting El Mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) in his left hand for having a liaison with Domino; Moco also kills Domino for the betrayal and is then killed himself by El Mariachi. It’s safe to say that it’s a dramatic ending, and the final scene concludes with El Mariachi riding off into the sunset on a motorbike with his dead lover’s dog and a guitar case full of guns.
Brokeback Mountain
This notorious neo-classic Western ends with Ennis (Heath Ledger) recalling his dead lover Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal), who was murdered in a hate crime. As Ennis gets dressed to attend his daughter’s wedding, he sees a shirt once worn by Jack, and while staring at a postcard of Brokeback Mountain, his eyes fill with tears as he says, “I swear Jack…”. A deeply emotional ending that encapsulates the pain, grief, and heartache of forbidden love and desire.
Tombstone
Starring Kurt Russell (Wyatt Earp) and Val Kilmer (Doc Holliday), Tombstone is loosely based on real-life events in Southeast Arizona during the 1880s, including the infamous gunfight at the end of the film in the O.K. Corral. After the shootout, in which many cowboys die, we see Doc Holliday dying from tuberculosis in Colorado. Wyatt pursues his love interest, Josephine (Dana Delany), and the couple leaves Tombstone together.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Ask anyone to name a famous Western, and this is the film that they will most likely choose. Starring Clint Eastwood as Blondie, Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes, and Eli Wallach as Tuco, this film ends on a high in more ways than one. After Blondie kills Angel Eyes, he shows Tuco where the treasure is buried, but he also makes him stand under a tree with a noose around his neck. As Blondie rides off with half the gold, he turns around and shoots the rope to free Tuco, who falls forward onto his share of the gold. An iconic, dark, and funny ending to an epic movie.
The Great Silence
In one of the most dramatic and tragic endings of any Western movie ever, Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant) kills the man who sliced his throat as a child and made him mute and then faces a duel with the notorious bounty hunter Loco (Klaus Kinski). After Silence loses the duel, all the outlaws he was trying to save are executed. It’s a tragic finale by all accounts, but it has all of the drama and showdowns you could wish for in an authentic Spaghetti Western.
Jeremiah Johnson
Not all Westerns need to end in a deadly duel to be considered a good ending, and Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) ends peacefully. Jeremiah had been fighting with local Crow native Indians and had killed so many who had attempted to murder him that the Crow people had erected a monument in his honor. The film ends with the Crow Indian Chief raising his palm as a sign of peace; Johson reciprocates the gesture, signaling mutual respect and peace, meaning that their feud is over.
Once Upon a Time in the West
The ending of this Western is brutal and evocative, and it’s still so impactful decades later. We learn that the character Harmonica (Charles Bronson) always carries the instrument due to a cruel memory from his childhood. Frank (Henry Fonda) had forced him to bear his older brother’s weight while his neck was in a noose under a tree, and he also placed the instrument in his mouth. Eventually, the young boy fell under the weight, and his brother died. In the final scene, we see Harmonica revengefully kill Frank and return the instrument to his mouth as he dies.
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
This film ends with a hail of bullets as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) are surrounded by the Bolivian Army; as they prepare to try and fight their way out, the movie concludes with a freeze frame of them both as the army opens fire, and all that can be heard is the sound of bullets raining down.
For a Few Dollars More
This is the second film in a trilogy of the Dollars movies, and For a Few Dollars More ends with Clint Eastwood (Manco) and Lee Van Cleef (Mortimer) killing the notorious criminal El Indio (Gian Maria Volonté) and all of his men. Manco remarks to Mortimer how similar he looks to the picture of a woman inside El Indio’s pocket; Mortimer then admits, yes, she’s my sister. It transpires that Indio had taken the photograph of a woman that he had raped, and Mortimer was here for revenge. After killing everyone in El Indio’s posse, the pair ride off in a wagon full of dead bodies.
My Name is Nobody
This film ends with Nobody (Terence Hill) finally persuading his role model, Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda), to achieve legendary status by facing the Wild Bunch alone. Nobody then stages a fake duel against Beauregard and pretends he killed him to gain the title of the fastest gunslinger in the West. Meanwhile, Beauregard uses the opportunity of his fake death to follow his plan of retiring to Europe.
