10 Greatest R-Rated Westerns of the 21st Century, Ranked

While Western cinema has always been defined by themes of violence, justice, and morality as much as it has been by its sweeping visuals and cowboy characters, the mid-20th century heyday of the genre wasn’t exactly renowned for its hard-hitting or confronting realism. As the decades have rolled on, however, that sense of visceral authenticity has become more enticing to viewers who want to see the genre’s air of fabled American values dismantled in taxing and truthful illustrations of what life was like in the Old West.