Yeehaw and chill.

6 Western movies to stream on Netflix right now

Yeehaw and chill.

By Sezin Devi Keohler and Kevin Jacobsen

March 7, 2026 8:00 a.m. ET

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Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon in 'The Power of the Dog'; Jeff Bridges as Marcus Hamilton in 'Hell or High Water'; Idris Elba as Rufus Buck in 'The Harder They Fall'. Credit:

Cross City Films Limited/Courtesy of Netflix; Lorey Sebastian/CBS Films; David Lee/Netflix

The Western is among the most classic film genres, spinning rousing, mythmaking stories of good and evil. Typically set in the mid-to-late-1800s on the American frontier, these films often feature characters who make their own rules, from bounty hunters and cowboys to outlaws in lawless territories.

Westerns may not be the box office powerhouse they once were, but revisionist Westerns, which subvert tropes and deal more in moral ambiguity, are on the rise. Westerns centering Black characters, such as *Concrete Cowboy* (2021) and *The Harder They Fall* (2021), have offered creative, splashy takes on what has long been a primarily white genre, while psychological dramas like *The Power of the Dog* (2021) turn Western symbolism on its head.

Here six Western movies we recommend on Netflix.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Tim Blake Nelson as Buster Scruggs in 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'. Netflix

*The Ballad of Buster Scruggs *is far from the Coen brothers' first Western, but this time it’s an anthology film stitching together six darkly funny tales. *Ballad *takes us through the American frontier on horseback, in a covered wagon, on foot, and even, in the titular short, through the sky on angels’ wings. One story involves a prospector (Tom Waits) digging for gold alone — or so he thought, until a not-so-friendly fellow fortune-seeker arrives with ill intent. Another is about death itself and the portentous ride to the other side.

Like much of the Coens’ work, these are tragedies tinged with mordant humor and punctuated by the bleakest twists of fate. The directors' six tales are mythic and intimate, comic fables only they could have made, while their longtime composer Carter Burwell makes the most of the opportunity to score six movies in one. All the while, each vignette feels simultaneously familiar and alien, at once classically old-fashioned and brazenly unorthodox. —*Sezin Devi Keohler*

Where to watch *The Ballad of Buster Scruggs*: Netflix

**EW grade:** B

**Directors: **Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

**Cast:** Tom Waits, Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Heck

Broke (2025)

Wyatt Russell as True Brandywine and Dennis Quaid as George Brandywine in 'Broke'.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

This independent hidden gem is infused with classic Western imagery, with Wyatt Russell starring as our modern-day cowboy hero. Russell plays True Brandywine, a bronc rider who gets stranded in a severe blizzard and must fight against the elements. While struggling through brutal conditions, he looks back on his life and finds himself haunted by past regrets.

Bolstered by Russell's subtle, lived-in performance, *Broke* is a quietly profound meditation on life for a man whose narrow focus on his career led him to neglect what really matters. —*Kevin Jacobsen***

Where to watch *Broke*: Netflix

**Director:** Carlyle Eubank

**Cast:** Wyatt Russell, Dennis Quaid, Auden Thornton, Mary McDonnell, Tom Skerritt**

Concrete Cowboy (2021)

Idris Elba as Harp and Caleb McLaughlin as Cole in 'Concrete Cowboy'.

Aaron Ricketts/Netflix

This may be an unorthodox choice. After all, *Concrete Cowboy* isn’t set in the great wide open of the American frontier. It’s not a period piece, either. Rather, it’s a contemporary drama set in North Philly — more specifically, on and around Fletcher Street, where urban cowboys raise horses and train riders in the city.

But *Concrete Cowboy*’s Western bona fides go further than simply having characters riding on horseback. After all, it revolves around a stranger with a complicated past coming to town — 15-year-old Cole (Caleb McLaughlin), who’s in from Detroit to stay with his estranged father, Harp (a subdued Idris Elba). The film takes place within an inhospitable environment where brushes with outlaws (and the law itself) can lead to death by gunfire. Scattered imagery further reinforces the genre traditions: a horse-drawn cart on a dusty street, saddled cowboys riding in a line and blurry from the rising heat, a wild horse that needs to be wrangled, and a cowboy funeral. —*S.D.K.*

Where to watch *Concrete Cowboy*: Netflix

**EW grade:** B

**Director: **Ricky Staub

**Cast: **Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, Lorraine Toussaint, Jharrel Jerome, Method Man

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The Harder They Fall (2021)

Regina King as Trudy Smith, Idris Elba as Rufus Buck, and LaKeith Stanfield as Cherokee Bill in 'The Harder They Fall'. David Lee/Netflix

Jeymes Samuel’s slick and splashy film pulls its carriage into town with a swagger recent Westerns have yet to surpass. With its percussive score and tough-as-nails cast, *The Harder They Fall *comes out gunslinging — and doesn’t stop until its open-ended conclusion sets up a potential sequel.

Following real-life figure Nat Love in a fictionalized revenge tale and heist caper, the film weaves Nat’s story toward a brutal twist that even the sharpest shooter didn’t see coming. And the epic smackdown between Trudy Smith (Regina King) and Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz) is a must-watch not just for genre fans, but for anyone who enjoys a beautifully choreographed fight scene played to perfection. —*S.D.K.*

Where to watch *The Harder They Fall*: Netflix

**EW grade:** B

**Director: **Jeymes Samuel

**Cast: **Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Delroy Lindo, Regina King, Zazie Beetz

Hell or High Water (2016)

Jeff Bridges as Marcus Hamilton and Gil Birmingham as Alberto Parker in 'Hell or High Water'.

Lorey Sebastian/CBS Films

As the mind behind *Yellowstone*, Taylor Sheridan has been hailed as one of the kings of modern Westerns, and this propulsive crime thriller is one of his essential watches. Written by Sheridan and directed by David Mackenzie, *Hell or High Water* centers on Texas brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner Howard (Ben Foster), whose family ranch is being threatened with foreclosure. Desperate, the brothers resort to going on a bank-robbing spree, which becomes a game of cat and mouse as they are tracked by a pair of Texas rangers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham). Entertaining in nature while also delving into themes of economic instability, *Hell or High Water* earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. —*K.J.*

Where to watch *Hell or High Water*: Netflix******EW grade:** A

**Director:** David Mackenzie

**Cast:** Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Gil Birmingham

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank in 'The Power of the Dog'.

Kirsty Griffin/Netflix

Jane Campion’s haunting psychodrama *The Power of the Dog *is among the most unique takes on the genre in recent years. Much of that owes to Jonny Greenwood’s score — its cello solos replacing the genre’s traditional guitar strings and sweeping orchestras — which gives the onscreen action an otherworldly feeling.

The film, set in 1920s Montana, unwraps the lives of the Burbank brothers, Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (Jesse Plemons), after George marries lonely widow Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst), setting surly Phil into a tailspin of cruelty that envelops the family. While quiet, peculiar surgeon-in-training Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) may seem like a babe in the woods on the ranch, he’s far more wily than anyone — especially Phil — could ever imagine. This is not a Western of shootouts and fistfights; instead, Campion sketches a thoughtful reflection of masculinity, sexuality, and what it takes to keep family safe in an inhospitable cultural and physical climate. —*S.D.K.*

Where to watch *The Power of the Dog*: Netflix

**EW grade: **A–

**Director: **Jane Campion

**Cast: **Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee

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Source: “EW Movie”