There Are 35 Westerns Better Than Tombstone, According To Letterboxd (& That's Definitely Not Right)

Published Nov 2, 2026, 5:00 PM EST Richard Craig is a Senior Author at Screen Rant covering film and TV. Richard has also written extensively about horror and film soundtracks, contributing a chapter to the first major academic collection on the folk horror genre, The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Richard is also a performing musician and holds an MA in Music and Sound Art. Movie ranking site Letterboxd lists Tombstone as the 36th greatest Western of all time, but that should definitely be higher. Few modern Westerns have achieved the cult status of Tombstone. Released in 1993, George P. Cosmatos' action-packed retelling of the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral boasts an extraordinary ensemble cast, led by Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as the dangerously charismatic Doc Holliday. With Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Powers Boothe, and Stephen Lang also among its formidable cast, Tombstone is practically overflowing with memorable performances. It is also notable for embracing everything audiences love about the Western genre. There are spectacular shootouts, larger-than-life outlaws, wonderfully theatrical dialogue, and an unforgettable friendship between two very different men. Tombstone isn't necessarily the most historically rigorous Western ever made, and its sprawling narrative has some noticeable weaknesses. Nevertheless, few films capture the excitement and mythology of the Old West quite so effectively. Its reputation has only grown over the decades, making its position among the genre's most celebrated modern entries feel thoroughly deserved. Unfortunately, one popular movie-ranking platform doesn't seem quite as enthusiastic. Every Western Movie With A Higher Rating Than Tombstone On Letterboxd Letterboxd's official Top 100 Western Films list ranks eligible feature-length Westerns according to their average member ratings. The list requires at least 5,000 ratings for inclusion, making it a reasonably substantial reflection of the platform's cinephile community rather than a collection of obscure personal favorites. Updated on October 29, 2026, the list places Tombstone at number 36. That means 35 Westerns currently rank above it. The public list is based on individual ratings, with Tombstone receiving a fairly paltry 3.9. There are certainly some extraordinary films here, but the idea that every single one is better than Tombstone is debatable. The 35 movies ranked above Tombstone are: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) — 4.5 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) — 4.4 Django Unchained (2012) — 4.3 No Country for Old Men (2007) — 4.3 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) — 4.3 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) — 4.3 The New Land (1972) — 4.3 For a Few Dollars More (1965) — 4.2 Unforgiven (1992) — 4.2 The Emigrants (1971) — 4.2 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) — 4.2 Rio Bravo (1959) — 4.2 The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) — 4.2 The Great Silence (1968) — 4.2 McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) — 4.1 My Darling Clementine (1946) — 4.1 The Wild Bunch (1969) — 4.1 Johnny Guitar (1954) — 4.1 Hud (1963) — 4.1 The Big Country (1958) — 4.0 The Hateful Eight (2015) — 4.0 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) — 4.0 The Wind (1928) — 4.0 El Infierno (2010) — 4.0 Red River (1948) — 4.0 The Gunfighter (1950) — 4.0 High Noon (1952) — 4.0 A Fistful of Dollars (1964) — 4.0 The Rider (2017) — 4.0 Stagecoach (1939) — 4.0 Duck, You Sucker! (1971) — 4.0 Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) — 3.9 The Lusty Men (1952) — 3.9 Dances with Wolves (1990) — 3.9 The Searchers (1956) — 3.9 Tombstone Is One Of The Best Westerns Of All Time There's no denying that several of the films above Tombstone are genuine masterpieces. Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West are monumental achievements, while Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven fundamentally challenged the mythology of the traditional Western. John Ford's The Searchers and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch are similarly deserving of their reputations. However, Tombstone offers something rather different. Its appeal comes from its exceptional ensemble, entertaining character dynamics, and ability to make historical figures feel like larger-than-life cinematic legends. Kilmer's Doc Holliday is arguably the film's greatest achievement, combining biting humor, aristocratic arrogance, and the physical deterioration of a man dying from tuberculosis. His confrontations with Michael Biehn's Johnny Ringo are particularly memorable. Russell's Wyatt Earp provides an effective counterbalance, gradually abandoning his attempts at peaceful retirement as the Cowboys terrorize Tombstone. Their friendship gives the film an emotional foundation that prevents its increasingly extravagant violence from becoming entirely superficial. The O.K. Corral confrontation is another highlight, but the subsequent vendetta against the Cowboys gives the story its real momentum. Tombstone understands that a Western needs more than spectacular gunfights: audiences need characters worth rooting for. Its combination of action, humor, tragedy, and charismatic performances makes it one of the genre's most rewatchable modern entries. Why Is Tombstone Underrated? Interestingly, Tombstone wasn't universally celebrated when it first arrived in cinemas. Its current reputation as an essential modern Western is considerably stronger than its original critical reception would suggest. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the film a 76% critics' score, compared with an impressive 93% audience score. Metacritic is even less enthusiastic, awarding it a Metascore of just 50 based on 22 critic reviews. That's a surprisingly lukewarm assessment for a film that has subsequently become such a beloved genre favorite. Contemporary reviews help explain the discrepancy. Writing for the Los Angeles Times on Christmas Day 1993, Peter Rainer criticized the film's length, clichés, and supposedly artificial presentation of the Old West. Although he acknowledged that the cast looked convincing, he felt the production prioritized visual style over historical authenticity. Richard Harrington's Washington Post review was similarly unimpressed, describing the film as awkwardly unfocused and arguing that Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday was its most interesting character. Chris Hicks of the Deseret News also criticized the overcrowded ensemble and uneven character development, although he acknowledged that Kilmer and Russell delivered particularly entertaining performances. There were legitimate production problems, too. Screenwriter Kevin Jarre was originally supposed to direct the film but was dismissed approximately a month into production after falling behind schedule. George P. Cosmatos subsequently took over, while Russell reportedly played a substantial role in shaping the production and directing scenes. The resulting film has occasionally been criticized for its uneven pacing and sprawling narrative. Ultimately, Tombstone probably suffered from being too much of a crowd-pleaser for critics expecting something more historically rigorous or formally ambitious. Its heightened dialogue, theatrical villains, and spectacular violence aren't necessarily compatible with every traditional understanding of the Western genre. Yet those qualities are precisely why audiences continue returning to it. Tombstone doesn't need to be as revisionist as Unforgiven or as visually ambitious as Leone's masterpieces to deserve its place among the greats. Sometimes, a terrific cast, an unforgettable central friendship, and Val Kilmer saying "I'm your huckleberry" are more than enough. Release Date December 25, 1993 Runtime 130 minutes Director George P. Cosmatos Writers Kevin Jarre Producers Bob Misiorowski, James Jacks, Sean Daniel