20 best movies like Take a Hard Ride (1975)

Leon Alastray is an outlaw who has been given sanctuary by Father John, whom he then escorts to the village of San Sebastian. The village is deserted, with its cowardly residents hiding in the hills from Indians, who regularly attack the village and steal all their supplies. When Father John is murdered, the villagers mistakenly think the outlaw is the priest. Alastray at first tells them he is not a priest, but they don't believe it, and an apparent miracle seems to prove they are correct. Eventually, he assists them in regaining their confidence and defending themselves.

A mysterious woman comes to compete in a quick-draw elimination tournament, in a town taken over by a notorious gunman.

When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage; however, neither Andersen nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.

The sole survivor of a bloody massacre vows revenge on his attackers and on the men who killed his wife.

Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.

While crossing the desert, a frontier scout, Jess Remsberg, rescues Ellen Grange from a pursuing band of Apaches, and returns her to her husband, Willard Grange. He is contracted to act as a scout for an Army cavalry unit. Willard, Ellen, and her infant son are along for the ride, as is horse trader Toller, a veteran of the 10th Cavalry. The party is trapped in a canyon by Chata, an Apache chief and grandfather of Ellen's baby. Willard is captured and tortured. Jess sneaks away and brings reinforcements just in time to save the day. Jess learns that the man he has been hunting is none other than Willard Grange.

While a Mexican revolutionary lies low as a U.S. rodeo clown, the cynical Polish mercenary who tutored the idealistic peasant tells how he and a dedicated female radical fought for the soul of the guerrilla general Paco, as Mexicans threw off repressive government and all-powerful landowners in the 1910s. Tracked by the vengeful Curly, Paco liberates villages, but is tempted by social banditry's treasures, which Kowalski revels in.

A ruthless rancher, and his gang, use extremely long range rifles to kill the men who kidnapped his wife.

Catlow is a 1971 western based on a story by Louis L'Amour. It stars Yul Brynner as a outlaw determined to pull off a gold robbery and co-stars Richard Crenna and Leonard Nimoy.

An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.

In 1896, Jeff Webster sees the start of the Klondike gold rush as a golden opportunity to make a fortune in beef...and woe betide anyone standing in his way! He drives a cattle herd from Wyoming to Seattle, by ship to Skagway, and (after a delay caused by larcenous town boss Gannon) through the mountains to Dawson. There, he and his partner Ben Tatum get into the gold business themselves. Two lovely women fall for misanthropic Jeff, but he believes in every-man-for-himself, turning his back on growing lawlessness...until it finally strikes home.

Eight years after fleeing the Congo following his assassination of that country's minister of mining, former assassin Jim Terrier is back, suffering from PTSD and digging wells to atone for his violent past. After an attempt is made on his life, Terrier flies to London to find out who wants him dead -- and why. Terrier's search leads him to a reunion with Annie, a woman he once loved, who is now married to an oily businessman with dealings in Africa.

Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. Marshal she can find, a man with "true grit," Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and adventure on the journey, and each has his or her "grit" tested.

Maurizio Merli stars as a hatchet-wielding bounty hunter with a dark past and an even more desperate future. But when he disrupts the balance of power in a corrupt mining town, he unleashes a firestorm of brutality, betrayal and cold-blooded murder. Now, one man stalks a savage land where justice walks a razor and no bullets slice deeper than vengeance. He is A MAN CALLED BLADE.

Nevada Smith is the young son of an Indian mother and white father. When his father is killed by three men over gold, Nevada sets out to find them and kill them. The boy is taken in by a gun merchant. The gun merchant shows him how to shoot and to shoot on time and correct.

The archetypical renegade Texas Ranger wages war against a drug kingpin with automatic weapons, his wits and martial arts after a gun battle leaves his partner dead. All of this inevitably culminates in a martial arts showdown between the drug lord and the ranger, and involving the woman they both love.

A man saves a woman who had been kidnapped by Comanches, then struggles to get both of them home alive.

Gunslinger Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is appointed by President Ulysses Grant to track down terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), a former Confederate officer determined on unleashing hell on earth. Jonah not only secures freedom by accepting this task, he also gets revenge on the man who slayed his wife and child. Megan Fox plays a prostitute as well as Jonah Hex's love interst in the film.

When an army scout retires to a farm in New Mexico he takes pity on a white woman and her "half-breed" son recently rescued from Indians and invites them to join him. He does this even knowing the child's father is a feared and murderous Apache and that sooner or later a showdown is almost inevitable.

Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Wyatt Earp and his brothers Morgan and Virgil ride into Tombstone and leave brother James in charge of their cattle herd. On their return they find their cattle stolen and James dead. Wyatt takes on the job of town marshal, making his brothers deputies, and vows to stay in Tombstone until James' killers are found. He soon runs into the brooding, coughing, hard-drinking Doc Holliday as well as the sullen and vicious Clanton clan. Wyatt discovers the owner of a trinket stolen from James' dead body and the stage is set for the Earps' long-awaited revenge.

When half-breed Indian Yaqui Joe robs an Arizona bank, he is pursued by dogged lawman Lyedecker. Fleeing to Mexico, Joe is imprisoned by General Verdugo, who is waging a war against the Yaqui Indians. When Lyedecker attempts to intervene, he is thrown into prison as well. Working together, the two escape and take refuge in the hills, where Lyedecker meets beautiful Yaqui freedom fighter Sarita and begins to question his allegiances.

John Smith is a mysterious stranger who is drawn into a vicious war between two Prohibition-era gangs. In a dangerous game, he switches allegiances from one to another, offering his services to the highest bidder. As the death toll mounts, Smith takes the law into his own hands in a deadly race to stay alive.

In 1870s Texas, a ruthless bounty hunter and an Irish desperado flee the law with a young criminal claiming to possess a treasure more valuable than gold. Crossing paths with some of the West’s most notorious figures, the three outlaws fight for their lives in the pursuit of fame and fortune. Fueled by an ensemble cast and inspired by actual events, THE LEGEND OF HELL’S GATE blends legend and history into a Western spectacle that recounts a treacherous existence in post Civil War Texas.

In 1867, a gang led by James "Stretch" Dawson robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws come upon a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents, a hostile young woman named Mike and her grandpa. The story is a Western adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Tempest".

Howard Kemp has been tracking killer Ben Vandergroat for a long time. In the Colorado Rockies, he teams up with prospector Jesse Tate and former Union soldier Roy Anderson. Thinking Kemp is a sheriff, they agree to help for a small fee. When they catch Vandergroat, he tells them Kemp is pursuing a $5,000 bounty. After demanding equal shares, the uneasy alliance heads for Kansas as Vandergroat tries to turn them against each other.

Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.

An Asian assassin (Dong-gun Jang) is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands. Also starring Kate Bosworth, Danny Huston, Tony Cox and Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush.

A posse pursues Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson) a mestizo indian after he killed a US marshal in self-defense. As they get deeper into Indian territory, just who is hunting who.

When a nun broke her covenant with God to save the life of her unborn son, Aman, he was cursed for life. As an adult, Aman has killed those who have crossed him. But his curse brings his victims back to life and they pursue him for revenge, so Aman enlists a young gunman to fight by his side against his undead victims.

A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job too well. Tom Horn finds that the simple skills he knows are of no help in dealing with the ambitions of ranchers and corrupt officials as progress marches over him and the old west.

Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.

Covering the life and times of one of the West's most iconic heroes Wyatt Earp weaves an intricate tale of Earp and his friends and family. With a star studded cast, sweeping cinematography and authentic costumes Wyatt Earp led the way during the Western revival in the 90's.

When Andrew Briggman—a young soldier in the US invasion of Afghanistan—witnesses other recruits killing innocent civilians under the direction of a sadistic Sergeant, he considers reporting them to higher-ups. However, the heavily-armed and increasingly-violent platoon becomes suspicious that someone in their ranks has turned on them, and Andrew begins to fear that he'll be the next target.

In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.

A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.

The fastest gun in the West tries to escape his reputation.

Brendan O'Malley arrives at the Mexican home of old flame Belle Breckenridge to find her married to a drunkard getting ready for a cattle drive to Texas. Hot on O'Malley's heels is lawman Dana Stribling who has a personal reason for getting him back into his jurisdiction. Both men join Breckenridge and his wife on the drive. As they near Texas tensions mount, not least because Stribling is starting to court Belle and O'Malley is increasingly drawn by her daughter Missy.

Biopic about famous gunslinger Wild Bill Hickock. The early career of legendary lawman is telescoped and culminates in his relocation in Deadwood and a reunion with Calamity Jane.

U.S Marshal Mike Donovan has dark memories of the death of his first love. He keeps peace between the Americans and the natives who had temporarily adopted and taken care of him. The evil actions of a white sorcerer lead him to confront the villain in the Sacred Mountains, and, through shamanic rituals conquer his fears and uncover a suppressed memory he would much rather deny.

The four sons of Katie Elder reunite in their Hometown of Clearwater, Texas for their Mother's funeral, and discover that the family ranch is now in the hands of Morgan Hastings, the town's gunsmith.

Farmer Frank and his ward hunt brother Jesse's killers, the back-shooting Fords.

Jean Claude Van Damme plays a dual role as Alex and Chad, twins separated at the death of their parents. Chad is raised by a family retainer in Paris, Alex becomes a petty crook in Hong Kong. Seeing a picture of Alex, Chad rejoins him and convinces him that his rival in Hong Kong is also the man who killed their parents. Alex is suspicious of Chad, especially when it comes to his girlfriend.

When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life to fighting the evil that Cavendich represents. To this end, John Reid becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue President Grant when Cavendich takes him hostage.

A mysterious stranger rolls into town on a unique motorcycle. All he carries is the bible and a desire for justice. Past vengeance collides as Ryder rights an injustice from his past and liberates the small town from a malicious oppressor.

After the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are leading two disparate groups of people through strife-torn Mexico. John Henry and company are bringing horses to the unpopular Mexican government for $35 a head while Langdon is leading a contingent of displaced southerners, who are looking for a new life in Mexico after losing their property to carpetbaggers. The two men are eventually forced to mend their differences in order to fight off both bandits and revolutionaries, as they try to lead their friends and kin to safety.

A "prequel" of sorts to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," chronicling the two outlaws' lives in the years before the events portrayed in the Newman/Redford movie.

Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County land war.

When vigilante land baron David Braxton hangs one of the best friends of cattle rustler Tom Logan, Logan's gang decides to get even by purchasing a small farm next to Braxton's ranch. From there the rustlers begin stealing horses, using the farm as a front for their operation. Determined to stop the thefts at any cost, Braxton retains the services of eccentric sharpshooter Robert E. Lee Clayton, who begins ruthlessly taking down Logan's gang.

Old West. New Soul. Big Payback.