The Western will never reach the heights it didduring its Golden Age.

That period saw an unprecedented number of oaters produced at a rapid-fire rate.

That shouldn’t give any modern Western fan reason to despair, however.

Blended image showing characters from There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men.

Custom Image by Zanda Rice

There’sAppaloosa,Slow West, andMeek’s Cutoff, to name but a few.

Add to thatthe underratedThe Sisters Brothers, an idiosyncratic Western with a stellar cast.

Directed by recent Oscar-nomineeJacques Audiard, the film adaptsPatrick DeWitt’snovel into a darkly funny tale of the West.

John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix in ‘The Sisters Brothers’

Image via Annapurna Pictures

However, it wasn’t untilDjango Unchainedthat he tackled the genre head-on.

There are few Westerns as visceral asThe Revenant, andits technical achievements help to smooth over any middling flaws.

StarringKurt Russell, this is a slow-burn Western with heavy doses of horror.

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It’sone of the most chillingly effective films ofthe underappreciated Horror Western subgenreand is certain to leave a lasting impact.

It’sa gut-wrenching morality talewith characters that are just as savage as the landscape they inhabit.

Plainview’s downfall isn’t characterized by professional failures but by moral ones.

King Schultz and Django walking together in Django Unchained.

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

An American masterpiece and a Western that is among the best of any century.

NEXT:The 50 Best Westerns of All Time, Ranked

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Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass in a thick fur coat looking to the distant wilderness in The Revenant.

Image via 20th Century Studios

The Revenant Movie Poster

Kurt Russell as Sheriff Franklin and Richard Jenkins as Chicory in Bone Tomahawk

Image via RLJ Entertainment

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Charlie Burns aiming a gun at someone off-camera in The Proposition

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

The Proposition Movie Poster

Three men aiming rifles in 3:10 To Yuma

Image via Lionsgate

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Jesse James looking at Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Image via Warner Bros.

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Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank standing in an open field in The Power of the Dog.

Image via Netflix

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Daniel Day-Lewis sitting down in There Will Be Blood.

Image via Paramount Vantage

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Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss, looking inside an empty car and wearing a cowboy hat in No Country for Old Men

Image via Miramax Films

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No Country for Old Men

Django Unchained