Every Coen Brothers western, ranked

The Coen Brothers have a bold visual style and expertly crafted dialogue that bring eccentric characters and heightened realities to life. The writing and directing duo have lent their sensibilities to various genres, including crime thrillers, comedies, and neo-noirs. They've also made several outstanding Westerns, and a few films that aren't generally labeled as part of the genre still fit the criteria. I'm not talking about Sam Elliott's narration on The Big Lebowski either. While True Grit and No Country for Old Men are overtly recognized as Westerns, the pair have made a few secret entries in the genre that traditionally wouldn't be labeled as such, and I can prove that by ranking them.

To classify each film as a Western or neo-Western and rank them appropriately, consider three main categories: setting, characters, and theme/conflict. In terms of setting, the movie should feature specific visuals, such as open landscapes, small towns with dusty roads, a specific historical era, or character appearances like Stetson hats and revolvers. Characters are also going to fit into archetypes, even if they break the mold. Outlaws, lawmen, townsfolk, and settlers are all common character types that embody recognizable archetypes in Westerns. Lastly, there are the film's themes/conflicts, with the genre often being morality tales built around binary oppositions, such as an outlaw vs. the law, expanding civilization vs. the wilderness, or an individual vs. society.

When those three criteria work in conjunction, you've got a solid argument for a Western. According to my breakdown and ranking, the Coen Brothers have five films that fit the genre, even if two of them traditionally wouldn't be called Westerns.

'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' (2018)

As With Any Anthology, Some Stories Are Better Than Others

Setting: As an anthology film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs allows six different stories to capture varied locations across the 19th-century post-Civil War American frontier. "The Gal Who Got Rattled" highlights the plains aboard a wagon train, and "All Gold Canyon" features mountains and a beautiful river valley. There are also dusty old towns, like the fictional settlement of Frenchman's Gulch, captured with an almost heightened sensibility.

Characters: The Coen Brothers gather numerous iconic Western archetypes in their anthology. Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson) is a sharp-shooting, singing cowboy, and the Impresario (Liam Neeson) runs a traveling stage show. From outlaws on horseback to bounty hunters and card hustlers, the film includes familiar fixtures of classic Westerns, while the stories deconstruct the genre with unique ideas, such as Stephen Root's angry bank teller in "Near Algodones."

Themes/Conflicts: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs uses its six distinct tales to center on mortality and fate. Across the eclectic cast, characters rarely stay in control, and karmic, universal justice often catches up with them. The Coen Brothers dissect chaos vs. control in engaging, often humorous ways, making the film enjoyable, though some stories work better than others.

'Blood Simple' (1984)

The Coen Brothers' First Crime Thriller Fits the Definition of a Neo-Western Better Than You May Think

Setting: Blood Simple is a Texas noir crime thriller that frames its neo-Western atmosphere through heat, dive bars, and seedy motels. Even early in their careers, the Coen Brothers captured the landscape’s harshness and set it against modern encroachment. Though the story takes place in the 1980s, the setting still fits a Western, presenting a modern incarnation of an Old West town where the saloon now sports neon lights. As a result, the town itself becomes an existential void rather than a harsh desert.

Characters: Another neo-Western feature the Coens will revisit with No Country for Old Men is the lack of overtly moral characters. Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) is the clear villain, and his scheme drives the central conflict. He's a corrupt private detective hired by a husband to kill his wife Abby (Frances McDormand), and Visser's scheming causes chaos. Abby's lover Ray (John Getz) gets caught up in the mess, acting more as a desperate character needing to protect himself. The confusion of information leads to murder, but as in any good Western, there's also a shootout between Visser and Abby. Visser's cowboy hat doesn't hurt the argument either.

Themes/Conflicts: Blood Simple is an ironic title, as the film's confusion traps the characters in a labyrinth of poor choices and limited information. The dusty Texas setting helps it fit the neo-Western genre, with No Country for Old Men feeling like a natural expansion of what the Coens started here. The film subverts archetypes by casting the lawman as a corrupt villain and pushing the central protagonists into harsh outlaw behavior, even though they didn't begin as paragons. Blood Simple can be considered a neo-Western that explores human conflict and modern seediness, even if it's not billed that way.

'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2000)

It's Not a Traditional Western, but the Coen Brothers' Retelling of 'The Odyssey' Fits the Criteria

Setting: O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a brilliant Western with modern sensibilities rooted in Americana and atmosphere. Roger Deakins brings the film's distinct colors and brilliant landscapes to life, making it feel like a narrative tinged by the past. The film captures Depression-era Mississippi, with the characters traveling through small towns, backwoods, and farmland. As a heightened retelling of Homer's The Odyssey, Deakins and the Coens make it feel like a Western myth for America.

Characters: What better characters to follow in a Western than outlaws? The film starts with three convicts with their own quirks, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro), and Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson), who escape from a chain gang. As a result, the law is hot on their heels, and they meet numerous unique characters along the way. There's Big Dan Teague (John Goodman), who is meant to be the Cyclops, but serves as an archetypal traveling con man, and George "Baby Face" Nelson (Michael Badalucco), who represents a bank robber.

Themes/Conflicts: Through the central journey, the story embodies the freedom and lawlessness of the Old West, even if it chooses not to classify itself as such. There's even a good dose of country music, recalling when Westerns would let characters sing entire songs, like Rio Bravo. The characters are ordinary men who become folk heroes, evoking the legends of the Old West. O Brother, Where Art Thou? features conflict like outlaws vs. the law, but the ending also shows a wave washing away a town, underscoring a twisted sight of humans using nature to wash away their past. The Coen Brothers may have set out to retell The Odyssey, but they accomplished one of their greatest works by turning it into a neo-Western monument to Americana.

'True Grit' (2010)

A Remake So Good It Rivals John Wayne's Original

Setting: True Grit follows its characters through the wilds of Arkansas and Oklahoma, with sweeping landscapes and beautiful wilderness captured by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. The film was shot in Texas and New Mexico, with some towns included to solidify the era, but it largely takes place in gorgeous exteriors, making it one of the grittiest yet most visually striking movies the Coens ever shot.

Characters: John Wayne first played Rooster Cogburn in 1969, and the Coen brothers' remake cast Jeff Bridges in the role. Hailee Steinfeld is impeccable as the young Mattie Ross in her first major film role, hiring Cogburn to track the despicable outlaw Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), who killed her father. The drunk lawman may be a bit trigger-happy at times, but Bridges shines through his gravelly drawl that, dare I say, rivals Wayne's performance. Matt Damon delivers a stellar performance as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, rounding out the cast with an ensemble of classic Western archetypes.

Themes/Conflicts: The central conflict is the law chasing down an outlaw, Tom Chaney. The protagonists are lawmen who can't seem to agree, with their egos clashing over methods and jurisdiction. This also includes the debate over Mattie's justice vs. the rule of law, and it feeds into the clear dynamic between the adults and Mattie, as the movie also tells her coming-of-age story. Through it all, the characters navigate perilous terrain, dangerous locals, and the natural world, proving the film to be one of the Coens' greatest achievements in action and character work.

'No Country for Old Men' (2007)

The Coen Brothers' Neo-Western Is a Modern Masterpiece

Setting: No Country for Old Men brilliantly captures the dusty, rugged landscape and heat of West Texas in 1980. Deakins' cinematography turns the setting into a harsh visual that reinforces the film’s theme of a romanticized West that is gone.

Characters: The film brilliantly subverts genre tropes through its central conflict. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) may be wearing a cowboy hat, but he's far from the classic hero so many Westerns tend to follow. Even Anton Chigurh isn't the typical outlaw, acting as an amoral force moved by a remorseless, twisted moral code. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) plays an archetypal Western hero, which helps flip the narrative on its head as he approaches retirement. The modern chaos has grown too much, with Sheriff Bell's monologue about his dream delivering the film's final, disquieting note that the world is no longer for men like him.

Themes/Conflicts: No Country for Old Men is all about how evil is taking hold in brazen new ways, with the morality of the past losing its grip. In adapting Cormac McCarthy's novel, the Coen brothers captured the death of a romanticized West. Westerns generally have clear-cut moral codes, a sense of justice, and heroes who win out, but this film centers on a conflict in which good is tainted, evil is as vile as it gets, and the law can't get a handle on it. The film's lack of a traditional score mired the audience in a moral conflict that lacks any real sense of closure, with themes of the burden of the past and the nature of evil left to mull over. It may not be a standard Western, but it's a neo-Western masterpiece.