Western drama has been an integral aspect of cinematic storytelling since the dawn of the medium, an evergreen exploration of American history that uses sweeping visuals, striking scores, and powerful themes to tell its tales with tremendous gravitas. While this is a constant truism of the genre, Western cinema has also had to evolve dramatically over time to remain relevant. One of the best developments to come from this progression has been the advent of neo-Western cinema.
Not only an examination of traditional Western tropes in more modern settings (though that is a huge aspect of it), neo-Westerns also endeavor to revisit popular genre settings with a renewed thematic lens. While the subgenre is relatively new in the wheelhouse of Western cinema at large, it has presented many of the best movies the genre has seen, not only in recent decades, but in the history of its exploits on the big screen. This list will rank the best neo-Westerns of the last century based on their overall quality, legacy, and impact on the genre as a whole.