What's so great about Westerns? Well, for starters, the genre's approach toward morality might seem clear-cut at a glance, but the best Westerns languish in morally grey landscapes and constantly redefine codes of honor. Violence is often at the heart of these stories because, without this component, we would be painting a sanitized and inauthentic picture of a society on the cusp of change. This violence can manifest in different forms and reflect bitter truths about human history, or it can simply highlight universal human traumas from a specific point of view. Moreover, lawless spaces demand lawless men who are in tune with the West and its ethos, and sometimes, these men undergo a transformation. The rich history of Westerns extends beyond the moving image, with writers like Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx having reshaped the definitions of how Westerns can reveal the worst impulses in humanity.

Deciding which Westerns...